THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



139 



has been to winter bees safely, and I 

 feel satisfied that I have finally suc- 

 ceeded in linding the true way. My 

 cellar has no ventilation, only when I 

 visit my bees, and that is every day. 

 I look at them with a light, and it 

 does not disturb them at all. They 

 have consumed only 2 pounds per 

 colony, and only a few dead bees can 

 be found on the cellar bottom. They 

 have had no Bight since I put them 

 in. I prevented them from swarming 

 last season. 



Cleansing Foul-Broody Hives and 

 Combs.— N. II. Ward, Winchester,©* 

 Ind., on Feb. 22, 1886, says : 



For cleansing foul-broody hives and 

 combs I use lye made from wood 

 ashes ; close the" entrance of the hive, 

 put in the lye, and with a stiff broom 

 give it a good scouring. If you wish 

 to see how nicely the hive will be 

 cleansed, try it. To clean foul-broody 

 combs, take a sharp knife with a 

 rougli edge, and shave off the cap- 

 pings, have a vessel of lye large 

 enough to take in a frame and dip it 

 in until all the cells are filled ; then 

 throw the lye out of the cells,and pour 

 cold water upon the combs until they 

 are well washed. You can then place 

 them in the hive, and the bees will 

 accept them and go to work on them. 



Good Increase, etc.— Moses Bailey, 

 Winterset,? Iowa, on Feb. 18, 1886, 

 writes : 



On May 1, 188-5, 1 had 4 colonies of 

 bees left— 1 good colony, 1 of medium 

 strength, and 2 quite weak, the 4 

 making not more than one strong 

 enoueh for surplus honey gathering. 

 The strongest one had the most bee- 

 bread, probably as much as the other 

 3,if not more ; they also had one frame 

 of very good honey close to them, 

 which "they used from liberally. I 

 increased them to 47 colonies, and 

 about 35 of them had plenty of stores 

 to supply them until May 1. The 

 balance were quite short of stores, 

 and several of them may starve. I 

 took about 200 pounds of honey, three- 

 fourths of it being extracted. Two 

 starved colonies came to my apiary 

 in the latter part of June, which were 

 fixed up, and they went to work finely. 

 So far as I know my bees are winter- 

 ing finely. 



with. These I increased to 94 colo- 

 nies, and obtained 2,000 pounds of 

 honey, 300 pounds of it being comb 

 honey, and thebalance extracted. We 

 had hardly any fall honey, and so the 

 bees were left rather light in stores, 

 thus causing much feeding. Last fall 

 I put 94 colonies into the cellar on 

 Dec. 16 and 17, and they are doing 

 finely so far. There is no disease to 

 be seen yet. 1 read Mr. J. M. Good- 

 rich's article on page 57, about up- 

 ward ventilation in wintering, and I 

 think that he is correct. I tried it 

 last winter, and got enough of no up- 

 ward ventilation. Had I given my 

 bees upward ventilation as I always 

 had done, my loss would not have 

 been nearly as large as it was. 



My Experience with Bees.— H.J. 

 Smith, Burlington, o. Wis., on Feb. 

 16, says : 



On Nov. 16, 1884, 1 put 100 colonies 

 of bees into the cellar. Twelve of 

 them were lost in the cellar, 3 starved, 

 9 died with diarrhea, and a great 

 many more were affected witii tlie 

 disease, so that when I put them out 

 in the spring of 1885, they dwindled 

 badly. The spring was so cold and 

 wet that when they left the hives 

 they chilled before they could return 

 again ; that weakened them so tliat I 

 had to keep on doubling them up 

 until the lioney season came, when I 

 had only 60 colonies left, and weak 

 ones at that, to commence the season 



Bees Doing Well.— Wm. Anderson, 

 Sherman,o Mo., on Feb. 23, 1886, 

 writes : 



After such a hard winter so far my 

 bees are doing very well, except that 

 we had some weather that was mod- 

 erate enough to cause an uproar in 

 the hives, and not warm enough to 

 allow tliem to get out ; so they voided 

 as best they could, and smeared the 

 hives and combs very much. A great 

 many of the bees are frozen in this 

 locality, as so many bee-men were not 

 expecting a very cold winter, and ^o 

 failed to put their bees in condition 

 to stand very much cold. My loss 

 will be very little, unless something 

 happens in the future. 



Wiring Brood-Frames.— M. P. C, 



of Newport, 6 Vt., asks the foUowing^ 

 question : 



In wiring brood-frames for the pur- 

 pose of putting in comb foundation, 

 what would be the objection to having 

 tlie wire run liorizoutally instead of 

 perpendicularly, the usual way, thus 

 lessening the labor of wiring 'i 



[Foundation warps from two causes 

 — expansion and grsivity. Vertical 

 wires avoid the latter cause, and in 

 any case the closer together the wires 

 are placed, the less liability to warp- 

 ing from expansion. Many have tried 

 both ways, and a large majority pre- 

 fer vertical wiring—" the usual way," 

 as you say.— James Heddon.] 



How I Winter my Bees.— O. F. 



Beal, of Mineral Point, o* Mo., writes: 



We have had 3 very cold winters, 

 and it has thinned out the bees con- 

 siderably here. Last season was a 

 poor one for honey ; during white 

 clover season the weather was cold 

 and wet, and in the fall, when we had 

 a little flow of honey, it rained for 5 

 or 6 days, thereby leaving the bees 

 short for winter stores. I "have had 

 so many bees to freeze, that I finally 

 constructed a house that holds 8 colo- 

 nies (4 below and 4 above). The house 

 is double-walled,with two thicknesses 

 of lumljer, and also two thicknesses 

 of building paper— forming a dead-air 

 space of lialf an inch all about it. The 

 doors are made double also. I had 7 

 colonies in one liouse and 6 in the 

 other. Three colonies were very small, 

 not over a quart or two of bees in 

 each, and they froze. These bees 

 were in apartments 15 inches square 

 by 20 inches in depth. I took out the 

 honey-boxes in the top-tier and hung 

 the brood-combs in their place. Had 

 the other 3 colonies been a little 

 larger I think that they would not 

 have frozen. I make a hive after the 

 same pattern for only one colony, but 

 it makes an expensive hive. I believe 

 if we would make better hives we 

 would not lose so many bees. We 

 have had a temperature of lO'^, 1-5° 

 and 20"^ below zero, at different times 

 this winter. I examined my bees 

 (opened the door to see how they were 

 getting along) when the thermometer 

 was at zero, and there was but very 

 little frost near the door. 



Condition of Bees in Kentucky, etc. 

 — G. W. Demaree, Christiansburg,5 

 Ky., on Feb. 20, 1886, writes : 



I was very much surprised, as well 

 as very sorry, to see the discouraging 

 report of my good friend, Eev. L. 

 Johnson. His location is less than -50 

 miles north of mine, and my losses 

 are not serious at this date. Two or 

 three good colonies, and some weak 

 nuclei perished, being unable to reach 

 their stores on account of continued 

 low temperature. My apiary is in 

 better condition now than it was last 

 winter at this time. I have not heard 

 from all the bees around here, but I 

 am satisfied that the losses will be 

 less than that of last winter, and less 

 than that of 1881 . Allow me to say 

 that the old American Bee Jour- 

 nal leads all bee-periodicals, in my 

 estimation. I admire it the more be- 

 cause it treats bee-culture solely as a 

 business industry. Success to it. 



The Honey Trade.— Jerome Twich- 

 ell, Kansas City,*o Mo., writes : 



Having sold my interest in the firm 

 of demons, Cloon & Co., it is with 

 regret that I announce my retirement 

 from the honey business for the pres- 

 ent. It is now five years since I com- 

 menced handling honey in this city, 

 and from a few thousand pounds sold 

 only during' the fall and winter sea- 

 son, I have seen the trade grow to 

 nearly a quarter of a million pounds 

 yearly, and sold during every month 

 from January to December. But my 

 alliterative hobby, "Honey, health 

 and happiness," has made me an en- 

 thusiast on this subject, and I pre- 

 sume it will be impossible for me long 

 to remain out of the business. I must 

 acknowledge my heartfelt gratitude 

 for the many courtesies received from 

 bee-keepers, and my continued in- 

 terest in their welfare and success, 

 and should I again become associated 

 with them in a business way, I hope 

 to meet the same cheerful co-opera- 

 tion that I have had in the past. 



Preserve your papers lor reference. 

 If you have no BINDEK we will mall you 

 one lor 1^ cents, or you can have one FREK 

 if you will send us 4 new yearly subscrip- 

 tions for the Bee JoniiNAL. 



