THE AMERICAN BEE. JOURNAL. 



235 



hive every year, and a year ago last 

 Slimmer we got over 30 pounds ; last 

 year only about 15 ponnds, as it cast 

 a large swarm on July s, which pro- 

 duced about 20 pounds of honey. This 

 old colony is of a stock of bees that 

 have been on the place for .50 years. 

 Father got his bees tirst in 1837, his 

 father having had bees in 183(1. 



Hard Weather for Bees.— I. H. 



Good, Nappanee,5 Ind.. on Aprils, 

 1886, says: 



On April 6 we had a terrible snow- 

 storm. Snow fell to about the depth 

 of 15 inches. The mercury was 17" 

 below freezing this morning. Bees 

 have come through the winter in fine 

 condition, but this weather must be 

 hard on them. 



Cold Weather for April.-B. VV. 

 Peck, Richmond Centre. 6 O.. on April 

 6, 1880, writes : 



Reports from different localities are 

 interesting. I have to report very 

 cold weather for this time of the year. 

 It has been cold, freezing weather for 

 about a week, and it is now snowing 

 hard with about 6 inches of snow on 

 the ground. I took 5 colonies out of 

 a clamp on March 15, and 2 were 

 dead, 1 was weak, and the other 2 

 were fair. Twenty-five out-doors, 

 packed in chaff and sawdust, have 

 wintered well ; so it will be seen that 

 so far my loss is 2 out of .30. I think 

 that I shall not lose any more, al- 

 though this weather will give them a 

 set-back. White clover looks well. 



Honey-Dew for Winter Stores.— H. 

 T. Hartman, Freeport.xj Ills,, on 

 March 30, 1886, writes : 



From reports that 1 have read in 

 the Bee Journal, it seems as though 

 bees have wintered well nearly all 

 over the country; but through this 

 part of the State they have wintered 

 very poorly, half of them already 

 being dead ; some have lost all they 

 had. The cause of the heavy loss of 

 our bees was the honey-dew, of which 

 they gathered a great deal last sum- 

 mer, as honey was very scarce. They 

 had most of this black stuff for win- 

 ter stores. To prove that honey-dew 

 was the cause of our loss, I would 

 say that last fall 30 colonies out of 82 

 were light in stores. They were fed 

 34 pounds of coffee A sugar about 

 Sept. 20, and were all numbered. 

 They were all taken into the cellar 

 about Dec, 1, and about Feb. 1 those 

 that had Lmiey-dew became uneasy 

 and diseased. On March 1 it was 

 very warm, and the bees were all 

 taken out of the cellar and placed on 

 the summer stands. The sugar-fed 

 colonies were all in splendid condi- 

 tion, strong and healtliy. Nearly all 

 those having honey-dew" had the diar- 

 rhea. As the weather was nice and 

 warm for 3 days, I cleaned things up 

 as well as I could ; some were queen- 

 less, and some were very weak, which 

 were united ; a good many were put 

 into clean hives, and some were sup- 

 plied with honey. As the weather 



became colder on the fourth day after 

 they were out, they were all taken 

 into the cellar again, where they shall 

 remain until there is something for 

 them to do. I have already lost 12 of 

 tlie colonies having honey-dew stores, 

 and a great many are too weak to pull 

 througti. It is snowing again to-day, 

 and it does not look as though bees 

 could come out of the cellar for some 

 time yet. A good many bee-keepers 

 here did not return their colonies to 

 the cellar again. As most of them 

 are weak it is very hard on them, 

 considering the much snow and cold 

 we have now had for over a week. 



Division-Boards. Straight Combs, 

 etc.— Cyrus G,Pugsley, Denver. vsMo,, 

 asks the following questions : 



1. What is the use and advantage 

 of a division-board, and. how is it 

 they are made 'i 2, How can I cause 

 my bees to build straight combs? I 

 am often bothered a good deal by 

 crooked combs, and they being fast to 

 two or more frames. (I use home- 

 made Langstroth hives.) 3. Are the 

 hives advertised by Mrs. Lizzie Cot- 

 ton good, practical hives V 4, I win- 

 tered my bees in the cellar, and they 

 came through all right with plenty of 

 stores, I put them on the stands 

 about a month ago, fearing my cellar 

 was too damp, and I found some 

 moldy comb in one hive, and lots of 

 brood in all stages in every hive, 



[1, A division-board should be made 

 just to fit the hive, and its use is to 

 contract the brood- chamber in the 

 spring, or to force the bees into the 

 sections, 



2. Use full sheets of comb founda- 

 tion. 



3. It is an ordinary frame hive, per- 

 haps just as good, but certainly no 

 better than th§ ordinary Langstroth 

 hive which will cost less than one- 

 half the price asked for the "Con- 

 trollable."' 



4. The bees will clean up the moldy 

 combs as soon as the weather becomes 

 dry and warm.— Ed.1 



Were they Hibernating?— A. C. 



Fassett. Watson. p.^Iich.. on April 4. 

 1886, writes : 



Since reading so much of late on 

 hibernation, and especiallyMr, Clarke's 

 article on page 197, 1 would like to 

 relate a little circumstance. It is as 

 follows : Last November, when I put 

 my bees into the cellar, I found that 

 one colony which I had neglected to 

 feed, was in a dormant condition I 

 thought they were dead, but I took 

 them into a warm room and brushed 

 all the bees off the combs into a large 

 pan, when I saw some of them begin 

 to move. I immediately put the combs 

 back into the hive, emptied the bees 

 on them, put on the cap or cover 

 without the honey-board, put warm 

 feed under the frames, and closed the 

 entrance, and soon they were all 

 right. I fed them enough, and tney 



came through the winter all right. A 

 few days ago one of my neighbors 

 told me that one of his colonies had 

 died, but upon examination I found 

 that they were in the same torpid 

 state as mine were. I then poured 

 some warm syrup on their backs, and 

 they immediately came out of their 

 sleep. What is this condition of the 

 bees called y They were just as 

 dormant as a wasp ever was. Were 

 they hibernating, in a trance, or is 

 there some wasp bloiKl about them i* 

 Ilow long would they live in this con- 

 dition V My bees have wintered with 

 no loss so fai\ 



Cold and Windy,— C. W, Dayton, 

 (116-116), Bradford, (^ Iowa, on April 

 8, 1886, says : 



The snow is not all gone, and we 

 are now having the eighth day of 

 a cold north wind. Pollen will not 

 appear for some time yet. I have 

 not taken the bees out of their 148 

 days' confinement, and will not unless 

 it gets warmer. 1 have colonies packed 

 on the summer stands that have not 

 had a flight for 140 days. It beats all 

 how cold it is ! 



Italian Bees, etc.— W. M. Barnum, 



Angelica,? N, F,, says : 



I would like to have the following 

 questions answered in the Bee Jour- 

 nal ; 1, Would you oblige me by 

 giving a short history and full descrip- 

 tion of the common Italian bees V 2. 

 What is the best food for bees through 

 April ? 3: Which is considered the 

 best bee-hive V 



[1, For a full description and history 

 of Italian bees, we refer to any of 

 bee-books. It would be too long for 

 our columns, 



2, Honey. 



3. The Langstroth, or any movable- 

 frame hive, is good enough'for general 

 purposes.— Ed.] 



Disagreeable Weather.— J. Nebel 

 &Son, High nill,o+ Mo., on Aprils, 

 1886, writes : 



The time has now come, in Missouri, 

 to take bees from their cellar confine- 

 ment and place them on the summer 

 stands ; but the weather has been so 

 bad all this week that we could not 

 do it. We have worse weather now 

 than we had all winter,only it is not .so 

 cold, the temperature being 24-' above 

 zero. It has been snowing some 

 nearly every day and night. We have 

 now 4 inches of snow, and it continues 

 to snow. Our bees are all apparently 

 in good condition so far. We have 

 lost only one colony out of 189. We 

 hear that our farmer bee-keepers 

 have lost heavily. 



Anticipating a Good Harvest.— 

 Jacob Oswalt, Maximo, d O.. on April 

 6. 1886, writes : 



I wintered my bees in chaff hives 

 on the summer stands, and they have 



