1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



365 



experience, this would imply that 

 there are no such bees. I have colo- 

 nies in my apiary that will show the 

 three yellow bands at any period of 

 life, from the time they get dried off 

 niter emerging from the cell, until 

 they are too old to By. I have also 

 seen such colonies in the apiary of 

 Mr. Theodore .lames. North Adams. 

 Mass., and 1 know of several others 

 Who have SUCb bees. The bands are 



not quite so light-colored on the very 



Old bees, slill they are there as plain 



as day. Although I think the age of 

 the bee has something to do with its 

 markings, still I should consider bees 

 that had to lie Idled with honey and 

 placed on a window in the sun, as im- 

 pure. 



I am surprised to see Mr. I), take 

 the position he has, on account of the 

 effect it will have on those who are 

 not very well acquainted with Italians. 

 Sucll might lie led to believe that bees 

 having black blood in them were all 

 right. 



1 cannot see how there is any dan- 

 ger of applying too severe a test, and 

 it seems to me that the danger lies 

 more in the opposite extreme. Bee- 

 keepers cannot be too careful in test- 

 ing queens, and all bees that will re- 

 quire one of Sam Weller's "patent 

 double-million-magnifying gas micro- 

 scopes of hextry power" to determine 

 whether they are pure or not, should 

 be got rid of as soon as possible, and 

 When such stock is got rid of, we may 

 hope to improve the race. 



Coleraine, Muss. 



For the American llee Journal. 



How I Winter My Bees. 



J. II. ROBERTSON. 



To best illustrate my method of 

 wintering bees, we will take hive .No. 

 1, which stands about 4 inches from 

 the ground, the entrance some lower 

 than the back ; made from pine lum- 

 ber % of an inch thick, IS inches long, 

 12 inches deep and 12 inches wide, in- 

 side measure. The bottom board pro- 

 jects 4 inches in front, and is securely 

 nailed to bottom of hive ; entrance, y z 

 inch wide and from tj to 11) inches long. 

 Around the top of the hive less 1 inch 

 is an inch band ; cover or top is some 

 larger than outside of hive, resting on 

 band ; no paint ; the hive contains 8 

 frames, all worker combs running 

 from entrance to back of hive ; over 

 frames is burlaps cover. The comb 

 ranges from 2 sheets of foundation 

 worked out this season to combs 15 to 

 20 years old. These contain 15 to 25 

 lbs. of sealed honey, some unsealed, 

 quite a quantity of pollen, and very 

 little, if any, brood. The queen is a 

 pure, vigorous dark Italian, and less 

 than 2 years old. The hive is fairly 

 boiling with young, healthy matured 

 bees, and so full of them that if you 

 lift the corner of the cover they boil 

 over, seemingly pleased to get a little 

 more room. 



To insure success, we enforce these 

 conditions on every colony by remov- 

 ing all light and empty frames, crowd- 

 ing the bees on as few combs as they 

 will cover well, using division boards. 

 If but one comb it must be an old one 

 M or ?i full of sealed honey, and from 

 4 to 5 holes through it. Place in cen- 

 ter of hive with division board on each 

 side, leaving Jo inch space on each 

 side of comb; cover over with bur- 

 laps and till balance of hive with dry 

 sawdust, always using full sized hive 

 for winter. 



I have in my home yard a half score 

 of rows 10 rods long, about 5x10 feet 

 from center to center of hive, where 

 under my own supervision, every col- 

 ony will till these conditions with less 

 than 1 score of division boards in use, 

 and not one ounce of packing of any 

 kind, we are ready for winter. I 

 let them stand out until winter is 

 fairly on us; then carefully remove 

 the top. place a block over the en- 

 trance, load 15 or 20 on car and run to 

 bee house door. 



The bee house is a frost-proof build- 

 ing, 48 feet long, 10 feet wide and 8 

 feet high ; 6 feet from the entrance is 

 a partition with a door in the center ; 



on each side are two stringers 40 feet 

 long, 6 inches high, securely fastened. 

 Commencing at back end OI Hie room. 

 1 place my lirsl hive about 12 inches 

 from the walls, entrance to the center. 

 on top place two pieces of lath eut the 

 right length ; on these, our next hive, 

 two more pieces of lath and another 

 hive, and so on until they are (i feet 

 high, filling up both sides— putting in 

 every colony in the yard— leaving an 

 alley in the center and room to pass 

 all around both rows. After all are 

 in, will gauge the entrance with blocks 

 as 1 think necessary. As soon as pos- 

 sible I will put 6 or 8 tons of ice in the 

 front room, always keeping it well 

 filled and covering the floor witli 2 or 

 3 inches of slowly moving water, the 

 ventilators being so arranged as to 

 keep the air pure, and the thermome- 

 ter in the neighborhood of 40 3 , bor- 

 row iug no troub'e if it occasionally rises 

 to 50 J or GO 3 , leaving them here from 

 140 to 150 days, requiring all the time, 

 constant and careful attention. 



As soon as the weather is favorable, 

 I take them out, not over 1 or 2 car- 

 loads per day, being careful to place 

 them upon the stands they were taken 

 from in the fall. I will now leave 

 them entirely alone, not disturbing or 

 handling them only when necessary; 

 this we will know at a glance when 

 flying. 



They have been confined so long 

 they have forgotten all about civiliza- 

 tion. For a few days after taking 

 them out the greatest care must be 

 taken to keep them from stinging us, 

 which they usually seem bent on do- 

 ing with a vengeance. I will now take 

 nuclei and put them in colonies that 

 tire queenless, crowding them to work- 

 ing order as soon as .possible. My 

 loss in 6 years has been 2 per cent, of 

 colonies put up in the fall, and \% per 

 cent, of queens. 



Fevvamo, Mich. 



Canadian Bee-Keepers' Convention, 



An interesting and profitable gath- 

 ering of the bee-keepers was held in 

 Lindsay, Ontario, Oct. 11th and 12th 

 in the council chamber. Mr. S. Cor- 

 nell was called to the chair, and Mr. 

 C. Neads was requested to act as Sec- 

 retary. There was a good attendance. 

 It was resolved to form an association 

 to further the interests of bee-keepers 

 in the Midland district included by 

 the Central Fair Association. On 

 motion, Messrs. W. G. Russell, C. 

 Neads and S. Corneil were appointed 

 a committee to .draft a constitution 

 and report the following evening. 



Reports from those present were 

 called for, which being summed up, 

 show that the number of colonies now 

 owned is 500. increased from 188 in 

 spring ; and that the surplus honey 

 obtained was 16.240 lbs., 14,900 lbs. 

 being extracted, and 1,340 lbs. in the 

 comb. 



The best method of marketing the 

 honey crop was then taken up and 

 fully discussed. It was stated that 

 much injury is often done by parties 

 who, making bee-keeping altogether 

 a secondary matter, bring their honey 

 to the market as soon as taken in poor 

 shape, and are obliged to sell for what- 

 ever is offered, thus breaking down 

 the market at the start. The general 

 opinion seemed to be that it was best 

 not to rush the honey on the market 

 too early. Most of those present 

 wished they had their crop still un- 

 sold, as prices are advancing. 



The next subject taken up was the 

 different methods of wintering and 

 their results. This was a very im- 

 portant discussion, and much valua- 

 ble information was elicited. One 

 method was to place the hives in a 

 row on scantling, or raised from the 

 ground a short distance in some way, 

 and pack them on all-sides with sev- 

 eral inches of either chaff, cut straw, 



or dry sawdust, in fact, placing them 

 in a large chaff bin outside, each hive, 

 of course, having a shute from the en 

 trance, allowing the bees to fly when- 

 ever I he weather was suitable. Messrs 



W. Hicksou, John Calvert, A. E.Cal- 

 vert, W. G. Russell, Arthur Russell 

 and ('. Neads were very successful 

 last winter with this method. Mr. 

 Carnegie, of the Peterboro Review, 

 was present during the meeting and 

 was invited to a seat at the table. 



At the meetingon Wednesday even- 

 ing, the report of the committee ap 

 pointed to draft a constitution was 

 read and adopted. 



The election of officers then took 

 place and resulted in the election of 

 the following gentlemen to the differ- 

 ent offices, VIZ : S. Corneil. Lindsay. 

 President; VV. G. Russell. Millbrook, 

 1st Vice President; Mr. Ilineman. 

 Grafton, 2d Vice President ; C. Neads, 

 Lindsay. Secretary and Treasurer ; A. 

 E. Calvert, Reaboro, Thos. Hicksou. 

 Reaboro, and Arthur Russell, Mill- 

 brook, Executive Committee. 



It was resolved that, whereas ad- 

 vanced bee-culture is comparatively a. 

 new industry in this part of the coun- 

 try, the importance of which has not 

 heretofore been fully recognized, this 

 association beg to suggest to the di- 

 rectors of the Central Exhibition the 

 propriety of giving greater encourage- 

 ment by granting more liberal prizes, 

 and making a better prize list. 



Resolved, That the thanks of this 

 association be tendered to the Mayor 

 and Council of Lindsay for their lib- 

 erality in placing the use of council 

 chamber at our disposal. 



Jttesolcecl, That each member be a 

 committee of one to canvass for mem- 

 bers for this association, and to send 

 to the Secretary names of bee-keepers 

 in their vicinity, or any in the terri- 

 tory covered by this association. 



A question drawer was opened, and 

 a committee appointed to reply to the 

 queries. This elicited the following 

 questions : 



Would it pay to expose at this sea- 

 son of the year empty surplus combs V 

 One reply was that if the combs were 

 placed at some distance from the 

 hives, the bees would clean them up 

 and would not start robbing. Another 

 opinion was that it was better to set 

 them in the back part of the hive sep- 

 arrted from the brood nest by a divi- 

 sion board. 



How to winter with the best results 

 was the next question in the drawer. 

 In addition to the methods given at 

 the previous meeting, Mr. I. G. Moy- 

 nes, of Fenelon, who lias scarcely lost 

 any bees during the last 11 years, 

 gave his method of wintering tiis box 

 tiives in the cellar. His chief points 

 were an even temperature slightly 

 above freezing point, perfect darkness 

 and no jarring, but above all, raising 

 the hives one or two inches above the 

 bottom boards for ventilation. If 

 these points are attended to, it is not 

 of so much importance whether the 

 cellar is dry or not. We may state 

 en passant that, after witnessing the 

 bee-keepers 1 exhibit, Mr. Moynes has 

 determined to reform next spring and 

 exchange his box hives for more mod- 

 ern appliances. 



How would you transfer from box 

 hives to frame hives and when, was 

 the next question. As to the time, 

 the answer was during fruit bloom, 

 because the hives are then light, and 

 there is something for the bees to 

 gather. The process of taking bees 

 and combs from the box hive and fix- 

 ing them up snugly in movable frames 

 was fully gone into, but a description 

 in detail would be too lengthy here. 

 Any one having such a job before 

 him, can get full information in ttie 

 books on bee-culture, any of which 

 Mr. R. S. Porter will order on appli- 

 cation. 



Whether is natural or artificial 

 swarming the best method of in- 

 crease, came next in order. This 

 called forth a most interesting dis- 

 cussion, both methods having very 

 warm advocates. Against artificial 

 swarming, it was urged that more at- 

 tention was required to prevent nat- 

 ural swarms than could be given by 

 those not devoting their time exclu- 



sively to the business ; but its advo- 

 cates claimed for if a larger yield of 

 honey. On the oilier hand, if was 



urged against natural swarming, that 

 bees were sure to come out while the 



family were at church, or at Other 



most inconvenient times, and if not 



promptly attended, they would go lo 

 the woods. Its advocates, while ad- 

 mitting the necessity of a watch, 

 claim thai new . swarms worked with 

 so lunch vigor, that a larger yield of 

 honey was obtained. This brought 

 out a comparison Of what had been 

 accomplished by an advocate of each 

 method. Thomas Hickson, of Ops, 

 had 13 colonies in the spring, in- 

 creased to 43, and took 1,600 lbs. of 

 surplus honey by natural swarming. 

 Joseph Russell, of Manvers, had 17 

 colonies in the spring, which be had 

 increased to 65 by artificial swarming, 

 and obtained 2,1100 lbs. of surplus 

 honey. These results were considered 

 so nearly equal, that it was thought 

 better for each to follow the method 

 best adapted to his own particular 

 circumstances. 



The association sat till a late hour, 

 but everyone went away pleased with 

 the discussions, and satislied the I hue 

 was well spent. The next annual 

 meeting is to be held at the time and 

 place of the next Central Exhibition. 



Saunders Co., Nebraska, Convention. 



On call of Rev. E. L. Dodder, a 

 meeting of those interested in the cul- 

 ture of the honey bee was had tit 

 Wahoo, Neb., Oct. 8, 1881. Present, 

 15 persons, all residents of this County. 



Rev. E. L. Dodder was selected as 

 temporary Chairman, and Rev. J. J. 

 Bnrtch, Secretary. 



The object of the meeting was to 

 consider, and if deemed desirable, 

 proceed to the formation of an associa- 

 tion in this County. 



After due deliberation, by unani- 

 mous consent, the meeting proceeded 

 to the permanent organization of the 

 Saunders County Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation by the election of T. L. Whit- 

 beck, President, Mrs. C. L. Stocking, 

 Secretary. S. V. Decker, Treasurer 

 and keeper of supplies. Members en- 

 rolled, 15. 



A committee was appointed to draft 

 a constitution to reportatasubequent 

 meeting to be called by the President. 



Numerous valuable suggestions were 

 made by those, present, on the care 

 and management of bees. 



Rev. E. L. Dodder, by request, de- 

 livered an excellent address, covering 

 the entire subject of bee-culture, 

 which was considered a rare treat by 

 those interested in the propagation 

 and management of bees in the most 

 approved and scientific manner. 



The speaker has shown by the man- 

 agement of his apiary while residing 

 in our midst, as well as by precept, 

 tfiat he is not only a bee-keeper, but a 

 bee-master, and those who follow his 

 instructions with judgment and care, 

 must succeed. Adjourned. 



ADJOURNED MEETING. 



The Saunders County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met in special session 

 pursuant to call of President, at Wa- 

 hoo, Neb., Nov. 5, 1881. 



The Secretary being absent, C. F. 

 Williams was chosen See. pro 3}m. 



The Committee appointed to draft 

 a constitution, presented the same for 

 action, which was adopted. 



The officers of the association con- 

 sist of President, Vice President, Sec- 

 retary, Treasurer and keeper of sup- 

 plies, who are elected annually. 



Regular meeting, first Saturday in 

 October and April of each year. 



Any person may become a member 

 of this Association on application and 

 payment of 50 cents. 



Office of Vice President being va- 

 cant, C. C. Turney was elected to that 

 office for 1 year. 



Additional members enrolled 5; 

 whole number of members 20. 



On motion, the Secretary was in- 

 structed to furnish each of the town 

 papers, also the Chicago Bee Jour- 

 nal, with a copy of the proceedings. 

 C. F. Williams, ISec'y pro tern. 



