THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



171 



should not bees use all such things in 

 the same way ? For the past 8 years 

 I have run a large cid»r-mill every 

 alternate year, and .have thrown out 

 tons of pomace within a few rods of 

 my bee-yard in which I had not less 

 than 50, and from that to 120 colonies, 

 and I have never seen any injurious 

 effects upon either bees or honey. 

 While we censure fruit-men for igrior- 

 antly condemning bees, let us not do 

 the "same thing by ignorantly con- 

 demning cider-makers. 



Valuable for Reference.— W. E. 



Clark, Oriskany.O N. Y., writes : 



I desire to state that I think the 

 bee-keepers of America owe the 

 editor of the Bee Journal a vote of 

 thanks for compiling the Convention 

 History and publishing it in such a 

 nice pamphlet. Its value as a refer- 

 ence and record is beyond estimating. 



Bees Wintering Well.— B. VV.Peck, 

 Richmond Centre, d O., on March 4, 

 1886, says : 



In the fall of 1884 I had 24 colonies ; 

 in the spring of 188-5, 12 ; and in the 

 fall of 1885, 34. I sold 4 colonies, so 

 I now have 30, 25 being packed on the 

 summer stands, and are wintering 

 well, and 5 being in a clamp. Last 

 season 1 took 676 pounds of extracted 

 honey and 66 pounds of comb honey. 

 It was my poorest season since I have 

 been keeping bees. The Bee Jour- 

 nal grows better every year, and [ 

 shall not keep bees without it. 



ftueen-Exclnding Honey-Boards-— 

 C. E. Boyer, of Ainger,x3 O., writes : 



I notice that Dr. Tinker claims the 

 original invention in making the 

 Heddon slat-honey-board to be queen- 

 excluding, by inserting sliding strips 

 of perforated zinc into their saw-cuts 

 in the edges of the slats. While I do 

 not doubt its being original with the 

 Doctor, I wish to state that I know 

 that the device was also original with 

 Mr. Heddon and myself. I was one 

 of his students last summer ; not an 

 hour after I thought of the plan, he 

 came and proposed it to me, and 

 afterwards received a letter from W. 

 Z. Hutchinson proposing the same 

 thing. But Dr. Tinker freely gives 

 it to the public, as Mr. Heddon and 

 many others have done with .similar 

 devices. 



Foul-Broody Hives and Fixtures.- 

 Kufus E. Holmes, (22-^), West Win- 

 sted,-o Conn., on March 6, 1886, writes 

 thus: 



On page \?,7, Mr. G. J. Pease wants 

 to know how to cleanse foul-broody 

 hives, etc. I have had all the experi- 

 ence I want. There is no foul brood 

 on his tin-roofs. The sun and rains 

 will take care of all that, and hives 

 and fixtures. (Uean the Vjrood-frames 

 by scraping them with a knife or 

 glass thoroughly. Do not try to save 

 any comb, but turn it into wax. Wash 

 thoroughly the hives inside and out, 

 and all the frames and boxes which 



you wish to use again, with carbolic 

 soap-suds, as hot as you can comfort- 

 ably use. Then expose them to the 

 sun and air. Do not feed any of the 

 old honey or let it get where bees can 

 get at it. Foul brood is perpetuated 

 in honev. Honey from a foul-broody 

 colony fed to a healthy one will nearly 

 always inoculate the healtiiy colony. 

 The old honey will make good vinegar. 

 I have tried both tlie " Cheshire " and 

 the " starvation " plan of curing foul 

 brood. It is not necessary to destroy 

 the bees. I prefer the " starvation " 

 plan. 



Do Bees Hear?— Ellas Fox, Hills- 

 borough,K) Wis., on Feb. 20, 1886, 

 writes : 



On reading Mr. Osburn's article on 

 bees hearing, on page 120, I was 

 amused at the evidence which he pro- 

 duces. He says that if bees do not 

 hear, how do they communicate so 

 quickly? My opinion is that they 

 scent the formic acid or bee-poison 

 produced by the sting. His statement 

 does not show in the least that they 

 do hear ; neither have I ever read or 

 heard any that did. I do not claim 

 to know that they do not hear, but I 

 would like to see some proof. I would 

 like to ask Mr. O. why bees do not 

 notice a loud noise around their hives, 

 which we all know they do not, but 

 will arouse at the slightest jar, or 

 offensive or inoffensive odor. Let one 

 bee sting you and the others will 

 follow the smell and be more liable 

 to sting as long as the scent lasts. 

 Let one fasten itself in your veil in 

 an attempt to sting you, and if you 

 pinch it with your nngers you will 

 find a dozen or more dart at the same 

 place, after the first one is dead. I 

 would like to hear from others on this 

 subject. 



A Chip.— W. Z. Hutchinson, Rog- 

 ersville,c$ Mich., writes: 



Please allow me to thank Dr. 

 Miller for his very timely article on 

 page 1.32. Also, please allow me to 

 explain that I was not ''putting a 

 chip on my shoulder," but was knock- 

 ing one off of the shoulder of another. 

 (See the closing paragraph of the first 

 article on page 6. ) 



Hibernation of Bees —W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson, Rogersville.d Mich., on March 

 1, 1886, says : 



Last fall I piled up in my shop 20 

 Heddon cases of honey just as they 

 came from the hives. They were un- 

 covered, and remained undisturbed 

 until the last of December, when they 

 were taken into a warm room prepara- 

 tory to crating the honey. The honey 

 was in the warm room three days 

 before the work of crating com- 

 menced. When crating it, a few 

 straggling bees were found, some- 

 times singly, and sometimes in little 

 knots. All the bees were dead ; not 

 so, however, with the few wasps, 

 hornets, and flies that had found their 

 way into the cases. They were slow 

 in their movements, but wer« alive ; 



and in time became quite lively. They 

 had been hibernaUng. Bees never 

 enter this state, and must have food 

 and warmth or they perish. They 

 become quiet, it is true, but they do 

 not hibernate. As Prof. Cook very 

 appropriately says, we need this 

 stronger term to describe a different 

 phenomenon. 



Bee-Keeping in Arkansas.- Prank 

 Thiaville, ForreslCity,oArk., on Feb. 

 27, 1886, writes : 



The season of 1885 was an average 

 one here. We had at least 70 pounds 

 of extracted honey or 35 pounds of 

 comb honey per colony. In June and 

 July we had some honey-dew that 

 spoiled our honey. From 103 colo- 

 nies I obtained 3 natural swarms. The 

 fall weather was line. On Jan. 7 it 

 turned cool, and for one month the 

 temperature was sometimes as low as 

 H^-' below zero. On Feb. 8 the bees 

 had a good flight, and a great many 

 were lost on the snow. For several 

 rods around the apiary it looked as 

 if a yellow rain had fallen. They 

 spotted the snow very badly, prob- 

 ably liaving eaten too much pollen. 

 In 106 colonies I had only one queen- 

 less colony. I have lost none so far. 

 Bees at present are doing wel), and 

 are breeding very fast. The honey 

 market is dull here, extracted honey 

 bringing 4 cents per pound, and comb 

 honey 8 cents. A great many bee- 

 keepers have lost their bees. They 

 say that they froze, but that is a mis- 

 take, for Ijees never freeze here until 

 all the honey has been eaten. 



Good Weather for Bees.— John Rey, 

 East Saginaw,© ^lich., on March 5, 

 1886, writes : 



It is four weeks since the bees had 

 a flight, and they are now having 

 another good time. The snow is all 

 gone, and tlie weather is fine- just 

 right for bees. I think that they will 

 pull through all right now. My bees 

 are bright and healthy so far. I have 

 68 very strong colonies, but I will not 

 "count my cliickens before they are 

 hatched," for tliey may not be so 

 strong in May. 



Flights in Winter — Eeversible 

 Frames-— I. N. Boyles, Urbanna,o» 

 Iowa, on Feb. 7, 1886, writes : 



1 notice that quite a number of bee- 

 keepers have taKeii their bees out of 

 the cellars for a tlight. It has not yet 

 been warm enough here for our bees 

 to fly. There is about 4 or 5 inches 

 of snow in my bee-yard, and it has 

 snowed all day to-day, but it melted 

 as fast as it fell. My bees are in the 

 cellar yet, and some of them are 

 affected witli diarrhea. If they do 

 not get a flight soon I fear that I will 

 lose quite a number of them. Last 

 season was not a very good one for 

 honey in this part of tlie country. I 

 hope that this year will be better. 

 Much has been written about reversi- 

 ble frames. I think that the extra 

 labor it would take to use them would 

 mor« than over-balance the profit. I 



