1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



355 



at pleasure. They were contracted by 

 division boards and covered Willi nice 

 woolen quills over t tie frames, and I lie 

 supers filled with chaff around the out- 

 side of the hive; about 12 inches was 

 packed closely with chaff and straw, 

 and then I shaded the entrance with 

 a board. Thus my bees remained ion 

 days without a Bight, and on Feb. 1, 

 all but 2 colonies showed some signs 

 of dysentery. On March 1. it being 

 the first warm day since their con- 

 finement, I cleared away all the snow 

 in front of my bee house lor about 20 

 feet wide, tore down the front wall, 

 and opened the entrances of the hives 

 fully. Soon the air was tilled with 

 bees, and I verily believe that this 

 flight saved my oees. They all came 

 through strong in number, compared 

 with the condition they were in when 

 they went into winter quarters. But 

 the two queens which had been kept 

 16 days in October and November 

 from their colonies, proved to be dead, 

 and I had to unite them with other 

 colonies. 



So I commenced the spring of 1881 

 with 6 colonies ; have, with the aid of 

 20 pounds of Dunham comb founda- 

 tion, and 2 Italian and 1 Cyprian queen 

 (bought from Rev. A. Salisbury), by 

 means of artificial increase, now 14 

 colonies in the best of condition. 

 Seven colonies are very heavy, and 

 when they are contracted into proper 

 space for wintering, considerable sur- 

 plus will be taken from them, while 

 my weakest colonies have plenty of 

 stores to winter on. 



I have come to the conclusion, that 

 bees will do well, even in this part of 

 Nebraska, if properly handled, and by 

 the growing of melilot, borage, buck- 

 wheat and other suitable honey pro- 

 ducing plants. I am convinced that 

 apiculture here, will pay better than 

 the growing of wheat and other grains. 

 My Cyprian colony, so far, has done 

 best of all. Their queen is by far the 

 most prolific, and I have failed to find 

 the Cyprians less amicable than my 

 Italians; but my experience is too 

 brief to be conclusive, and I will try 

 them another season before I can speak 

 intelligently. 



I have sowed quite a variety of seeds 

 for honey producing plants, and found 

 borage (the seeds of which was sent 

 me by the Agricultural departmental 

 Washington), to do exceedingly well. 

 Ever since June up till date. Bo- 

 rage is full of bloom, and bees are to 

 be found on from early morning till 

 late in the evening. 



Melilot, of which I have sown 1 acre, 

 has come on well, and I am anxious to 

 see how it will winter, and then turn 

 out next summer. I rind that my cat- 

 tle have commenced to feed upon mel- 

 ilot, and would eat it clean if I would 

 let them. The specimen. No. 1, which 

 I have sent you for identification, does 

 best on very high and dry land ; it is 

 not injured by drouth, but on the con- 

 trary is benefitted by it after it is well 

 established, and then yields an abund- 

 ance of honey, and is visited by bees 

 every day and at all times during the 

 day ; but I do not know anything as to 

 the quality of its honey. I think 

 enough of it to plant at least 1 acre 

 with this shrub this fall. 

 Grand Island, Neb. 



[No. 1 is matrimony vine (Lycium 

 vulgare); No. 2 is aster, and the grass, 

 as Prof. Beal tells me, is Bromus cilia- 

 tus, a poor species of grass.— A. J. 

 Cook.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Too-Early Brood Rearing. 



o. o. POPPLETON. 



I judge from what Mr. Kohnkesays 

 on page 339 of the Bee Journal, that 

 he has misunderstood Prof. Cook's re- 

 marks on how pollen is detrimental to 

 bees in winter. I did not understand 

 Prof. Cook to say that he thought 

 " the presence of a large amount of 

 pollen would induce bees to gluttony 

 and cause sickness," but think he sta- 

 ted as his opinion that such is not the 

 case. His idea was that the presence 



of pollen was apt to induce bees to 

 breed largely early in the season, and 

 that this too-early raising of brood 

 was. in his opinion, a common cause 

 Of dysentery, followed, of course, by 

 spring dwindling and loss. I do not 



attempt to give his exact words, but 

 the above is a concise statement of 

 his views as l understood them. If I 

 understood him wrongly, the Professor 



can easily correct me in the next issue 

 of the Journal. 



I have lost so few colonies during 

 the (>ast ti or 7 winters, that I have 

 had little opportunity of observing 

 how far pollen may be detrimental to 

 bees, but I pay no attention to whether 

 there are large or small amounts of 

 pollen in the combs selected for win- 

 tering. I have noticed, however, that 

 of late years my bees have not com- 

 menced brood rearing in earnest until 

 the weather has been such that they 

 could fly nearly every day, and I am 

 strongly inclined to the opinion that 

 Prof. Cook's idea of early brood rear- 

 ing being one of the prime causes of 

 loss in wintering, is correct. 



As I stated at the Convention, I do not 

 believe the loss of bees in winter can 

 be traced to any one cause. Of course 

 the fewer causes of loss we have pres- 

 ent with our bees, the more certain 

 will we be of wintering safely, and I 

 am glad Prof. Cook has called atten- 

 tion to the fact of too-early brood rear- 

 ing being one of those causes. 



Williamstown, Iowa, Oct. 28, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Apiary Record Book. 



E. A. THOMAS. 



There seems to be a much-felt want 

 among bee-keepers, and a want which 

 has hitherto never been met, and that 

 is for a neat, tasty record book for the 

 apiary. Cannot our friend, the editor 

 of the Bee Journal, get us up such a 

 book, neatly and durably bound with 

 printed headings all ready for use ? I 

 am sure, from numerous correspond- 

 ence on the subject, that such a book 

 would meet with a ready sale among 

 those who are desirous of improving 

 or keeping up the standard of their 

 bees. It should be in convenient form 

 for carrying in the pocket, so that the 

 apiarist can have it with him while at 

 work and take, it out, make an entry 

 and return it again to his pocket with- 

 out minding the time. Such a book 

 must be used in order to be apprecia- 

 ted, and I am satisfied that no one, 

 after having once used it, will be will- 

 ing to give it up. For many years I 

 have kept a careful record of every 

 queen and colony in my apiary, using 

 tor that purpose a small memorandum 

 book which I ruled and headed my- 

 self. There are many advantages to 

 be derived from keeping such a book, 

 among the most important of which is 

 the accuracy with which a queen 

 showing any remarkable qualities 

 may be traced, and the help it affords 

 the bee-keeper in selecting and rear- 

 ing the finest drones and queens. 



While examining a gentleman's 

 bees last summer, my attention was 

 called to a remarkably fine queen, and 

 I inquired what stock she sprung 

 from ? 



" Well," said he, " I really don't 

 know ; I wish I did, for I want to get 

 some more queens of the same party." 



"How old is she? " 



" I can't tell you that, either." 



" Don't you keep a record of the age 

 of your queens V " 



" Yes, I have intended to keep a 

 record of them on the hives, but by 

 changing hives, etc., they have got 

 badly mixed." 



Happening to have my book in my 

 pocket, I showed and explained it to 

 him, when he exclaimed : 



" Why, I would give a good deal if 

 I had such a record of my bees ex- 

 tending back 5 years or so." 



The following is a description of my 

 book : Each number or stand occu- 

 pies two opposite pages, and has two 

 spaces at the left for dates, and then a 

 wide space for any remarks which 

 would not properly belong under any 



of the other headings. The next 

 space is for writing the number of the 

 hive to which the queen is removed, 



i'ii her in a colony or for any purpose. 

 The next is for writing the age of the 

 queen, and the next two for the race 

 of 1 s and the particular strain re- 

 spectively. Then follows live narrow 

 spaces headed respectively. Industry, 

 Prolilieness, Hardiness, (ient leness. 



Beauty. I use 100 as a standard and 



mark my queens by that, and I can 

 It'll in less than a minute just what a 

 queen is and how valuable. This is 

 what has enabled me to breed up my 

 present superior strain of Italians. 



I have given this brief description 

 in order to draw out friendly criticism, 

 as I do not doubt but that some of you 

 may be able to suggest improvements. 

 1 think Mr. Newman can get up just 

 such a book as we want, and if bee- 

 keepers will use it, and base their re- 

 ports upon it, we may arrive some- 

 where near the truth as regards the 

 value of the different strains of bees. 



My bees are all ready for their win- 

 ter quarters, and in a few days we 

 shall put them in. Having kept them 

 breeding very late, they will go into 

 winter quarters strong in bees and 

 with plenty of good food. I know of 

 no reason why I cannot winter them 

 as successfully as I did last winter. 

 My Holy Land bees outstrip every- 

 thing as breeders. I have one colony 

 which has 5 good frames of sealed 

 brood and larvae, and several others 

 which have 4 frames. 



Coleraine, Mass., Nov. 1, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Would it be an Honest Transaction? 



WILLIAM CAIRNS. 



I notice the following editorial re- 

 marks in Gleanings for Oct., page 496 : 



" The Holy Land bees certainly have 

 some strong points of difference that 

 promise well. We often send them 

 out to fill orders, and I have never yet 

 heard them called anything else than 

 nice Italians. The bees would please 

 almost anybody in appearance, and we 

 have never yet had a complaint of 

 their being cross, like some of the 

 Cyprians." 



Now, are we to understand by the 

 above that, should we order from Mr. 

 Root an Italian queen he is to send us 

 just what lie chooses, and it is all right 

 so long as we do not know the differ- 

 ence ? That is on a par with the dai- 

 ryman who would ship a customer a 

 tub of oleomargarine, and would con- 

 sole himself that the customer would 

 not know the difference between that 

 and good butter. 



Rockland, N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee Items from Maine. 



S. H. HUTCHINSON. 



I am a constant reader of the Weekly 

 Bee Iournal. Bee-keepers of Maine, 

 or at least those in this section, have 

 not had very great success in obtain- 

 ing a large crop of honey, but we have 

 not entirely failed in this respect. 

 We know nothing of the large yields 

 of honey that bee-keepers report in 

 other States, but what we do obtain 

 we get a fair price for ; we readily ob- 

 tain 25 to 30 cents per pound for all 

 the comb honey we can produce. So, 

 if we do not get as many pounds, it is 

 in some degree made up to us in price. 

 Our bees have done quite well here 

 this season. If we can obtain, say, 25 

 lbs. of comb honey per colony and one 

 good swarm, with plenty of good honey 

 for winter, we feel satisfied. I find, 

 by looking around among the neigh- 

 boring bee-keepers, that the Italians 

 and hybrids are the best off by far in 

 the line of honey for winter. The 

 blacks have done very poorly in this 

 section as a rule. 



Those who like black bees can keep 

 them, I want none in mine. For comb 

 honey give me a good hybrid, from a 

 pure Italian queen mated with a black 

 drone. I have always had the best re- 



sults with hybrids; in fact. I never 

 had a very light-colored queen, purely 

 mated, anil whose bees were very yel- 

 low, that gave me a pound of honey 

 in sections. I have had very dark 

 Italians that done well in sections. 

 How it would be with the extractor I 

 am unable to say. as 1 have never used 

 one. Extracted honey has no sale 

 here, as long as comb honey is in the 

 market. Perhaps if people could lie 

 brought to see that extracted honey is 

 better and more healthy, it would he 

 better for us all, as I am quite sure we 

 could get more honey by the use of the 

 extractor. I think I shall try it in a 

 small way another season. 

 Mechanic Falls, Me., Oct. 24, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Preparing Bees for Winter. 



w. H. STOUT. 



I have wintered my bees success- 

 fully for several seasons by preparing 

 them as follows : 



Contract the brood chamber to or 7 

 frames in which have 20 to 25 pounds 

 honey, cut a hole of about % inch 

 through each comb about 2 inches be- 

 low top bar, lay a stick about 8 inches 

 long, % inch square across top of 

 frames, cover with sheeting, woolen 

 cloths or quilts, then an old sack of 

 loose texture containing about a bushel 

 of oat chaff pressed in close, then the 

 cover or cap with a hole lf4 inch bored 

 at each gable end, and covered inside 

 with wire cloth for ventilation. 

 Around the hive a box, about 6 inches 

 space all around for packing, which is 

 filled with oat chaff and covered to 

 prevent getting wet. For entrance, 

 have a 5-inch bottomless trough 7 

 inches long, about 5 inches wide and4 

 inches high inside. 



My hives are mostly simplicity style 

 2 story, movable cap, frames. 10J^xl4 

 inches. I pack chaff about 6 inches 

 higher than the brood chamber. Dur- 

 ing the winter I keep the snow from 

 entrance, and on fair days I remove 

 the cover from outside box and cap 

 from hive, to dry the packing as the 

 moisture passes through the chaff and 

 settles on top like frost. 



If the weather is mild enough, we 

 take the bags with chaff off, and ex- 

 pose to sun and air until "dry. This 

 had best be done only on days when 

 the bees can fly, as to work around 

 the hives will likely disturb them and 

 break the cluster, which should be 

 guarded against. I usually leave 

 them packed until the weather is set- 

 tled and the bees find some honey and 

 pollen. 



During warm days in March, I place 

 rye and oats chopped together, where 

 the bees can work at it in sheltered 

 places, and they work at it quite read- 

 ily. By this plan I have wintered suc- 

 cessfully and had early swarms, while 

 most bees around me were either dead 

 or very weak the past season. 

 Pine Creek, Pa. 



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 It is a journal that pays to take and 

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 volume begins Jan. 1, but those sub- 

 scribing now for 1882 get the rest of 

 this year free. Terms : $1.50 a year ; 

 four copies §5 (English or German 

 edition). Single copy, 15 cts. 



^* The Texas State Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention will be held at McKinney, 

 Texas, on Tuesday, April 25, 1882. 



