328 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



December last. Let a colony come 

 out of winter quarters strong and 

 with combs fullot stores, and it wants 

 no tinkering. Like a darkey said, its 

 '■ boun' for de kingdom," and nothing 

 short of some dire catastrophe, such 

 as the loss ot its queen, can stop it. 

 Colonies cannot become strong and 

 populous too early in the season, and 

 tliey will build up more quickly by 

 having plenty of stores in the hive, 

 than they will by having food doled 

 out to them day by day. Bees have 

 more sense than some human beings. 

 They will not increase and multiply 

 unless they see a rational prospect of 

 their children having bread to eat. 

 While they have more wisdom than 

 the improvident and reckless poor, 

 they are more true to nature than the 

 self-pleasing rich, who do not want to 

 be bothered with children. Give bees 

 plenty with which to support a 

 iininerous progeny, and they like 

 iioiliing better than to have a house 

 fall to overflowing with children ; 

 and this condition of an apiary in 

 early spring is far more important to 

 its prosperity and prolitableness than 

 any particular set or kind of " lixins." 

 Tne Doctor sets an example which 

 it would be well for bee-keepers gen- 

 erally to follow when they write for 

 the papers. lie refuses to say " we " 

 when he means " L" '>iic' if the 

 printer runs out of big " I's " toward 

 the close of the book, tells him to use 

 Utile ones. That's good. 



*' Piemies are pigmieB Btill though perched on Alps, 

 And pyramids :ire pyramids in vales." 



(iuelph, Out. 



For the Amencan Cee JoumaJ- 



cleaned off. This gives honey a good 

 appearance, and inquiry is soon made, 

 if not labeled, as to who the producer 

 is. We cannot be too careful in pre- 

 paring our honey, either for home 

 trade or for shipping, and we should 

 never suffer rough, unsightly honey 

 to leave our premises ; even at a re- 

 duced price. Some of it we can use 

 in our families, and the balance feed 

 back to the bees. 



We must make our honey do its 

 own advertising both in purity and 

 appearance, and put such guaranty 

 on it that when our consumers try it 

 they will buy again ; thus enabling 

 us to obtain a fair price for our 

 honey. The only trouble I have in 

 this line is in not being able to supply 

 my customers, as I am always short 

 of honey at. the end of the season. 

 While I am not a large producer, my 

 effort this season will be to accom- 

 modate my trade. 1 have orders now 

 waiting for at least 500 pounds, as 

 soon as it is produced ; and I hope to 

 get a good supply, as I have 30 colo- 

 nies in good condition for honey- 

 gathering. 



Fillmore,K3 Ind. 



queen. It is quite necessary to use 

 sections l)i inches wide, for if they 

 are more than that they will try to 

 make two combs in one section, as 

 they want to make brood-comb after 

 swarming. I have been running my 

 bees on this plan for a number of 

 years, and it is very satisfactory. 

 Mears,»o Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



HiEli Tenmeratiire iu Bee-Cellars, 



W. H. STEWART. 



For tbe American Bee Joumni 



PreTeution. of Swaraing, 



ERWIN STANHOPE. 



Marketing Honey. 



W. SIASON. 



On account of some observations 

 taken of honey in the markets last 

 fall, and the honey season being near 

 at hand, I desire to make a few sug- 

 gi-stions in regard to the unmarket- 

 able condition of lioney placed on the 

 markets— both of comb and extracted 

 honey — by some of our honey-pro- 

 ducers. I do not wonder at our honey 

 consumers manifesting some disgust 

 and prejudice toward our honey, as to 

 purity and quality, from the un 

 merchantable condition in which it is 

 placed on the market. 



1 hold that every honey-producer 

 uiakes his own market for his honey 

 trade. JKvery honey-producer should 

 be careful to always put his honey in 

 the best possible shape to attract tne 

 attention of the consumers, and its 

 sippearance should bespeak the quality 

 it represents. If it is honey in sec- 

 tions, the sections should be bright 

 and clean, and never used the second 

 time, as they become stained and be- 

 smeared with propolis, and broken or 

 split, as I have seen on tlie markets. 

 This manner of marketing honey will 

 ruin any producer's trade, and 1 was 

 about to say that it ought to. 



Extracted honey slionld be well 

 rip-ned, with no pieces of comb in 

 it; then put up into clean jars with 

 the honey on ihe outside of jars well 



My plan to keep bees from increas- 

 ing, and to turn their swarming 

 habits to honey-producing, is as fol- 

 lows : I use the 8-frame Langstroth 

 hive, and a box on top jnst 20 inches 

 long in the clear. The box holds 13 

 frames just 5x10 inches in the clear, 

 which hang crosswise in the box. The 

 frames are made of heavy ijxlj^ inch 

 stuff, and each frame holds 2 sections 

 5 inches outside by 1}^ inches wide. 

 Each box has an entrance at the bot- 

 tom of one end. Now suppose we are 

 looking for swarms, the queens being 

 clipped. We have some boxes ready, 

 sections with starters all in if a large 

 swarm, and two boxes, one on top, 

 with 52 sections. When the swarm 

 comes out cage the queen and hang 

 her in among the sections. Move the 

 old hive away and cover it with a 

 sheet. Put the sections, queen and 

 all on the old stand. The bees will 

 go into the boxes. (Sometimes a 

 swarm will fly out once or twice, but 

 hold the queen and they will soon 

 quiet down.) The next day toward 

 night, move the old hive back near 

 the boxes. The bees will work hard 

 in the sections, and they will put in 

 lots of bee-bread, ibit do not be 

 afraid, for it will be all right in the 

 fall. After 7 or S days cut out all the 

 queen cells but one; or, what is bet- 

 ter, let a yiHing queen out on the 

 comb. Put the sections, old queen 

 and all on top of the old hive ; put the 

 old hive on the old stand, and you will 

 see big work. In 15 to 18 days let out 

 the old queen, and the young queen 

 will make way witli her; or if any- 

 lliing has happened to the yoniig 

 ipieen, yon will still have the old one. 

 Second swarms need only one box of 

 21) sections. Do not cage an unfertile 



In Mr. Barber's essay on " Winter- 

 ing Bees in Cellars," on page 809 of 

 the Bee Jouknal for 1885, he says : 

 "It is quite often said that no one 

 has learned the secret of wintering 

 bees, so that they can be ivintered 

 safely every time, but I deny the asser- 

 tion." ("Italics are mine.) Mr. B. 

 bases his denial on the fact that he 

 has wintered hundreds of colonies for 

 the last 25 years, and bringing "80 

 per cent, out as good as when they 

 were placed in winter quarters, ana 

 losing none." lie tells us that he 

 winters his bees in a "warm, damp 

 cellar," and if we do not misunder- 

 stand him, he keeps the temperature 

 in his cellar up to from " (iOJ to 90'-'." 

 He also says that " the cellar must 

 be closed, with no currents of air, 

 either hot or cold, passing through 

 it." Will Mr. B. please tell us how 

 he keeps his cellar thus warm in his 

 cold climate, and at the same time 

 " damp " without injecting a current 

 of hot, or warm, damp air V Again, 

 will he please tell us how he can keep 

 a " constant draft " Ihrough his " ven- 

 tilator from the top of the room '' 

 without a volume of either warm or 

 cold air equal to that which passes 

 up through the ventilator, passing 

 into the cellar, and thus keeping up a 

 constant current through it V 



He says that his " plan of wintering 

 bees is no theory, but is one that is 

 practiced by scores of bee-keepers in 

 Northern New York, and invariably 

 without loss in winter." How can it 

 be possible that in the same State, 

 and only a few miles distant from Mr. 

 Doolittie's locality, "scores of bee- 

 keepers" should be wintering hun- 

 dreds of colonies without loss, and 

 the wide awake Mr. Doolittle never 

 become acquainted with the fact? 

 Why should Mr. D. have such winter 

 troubles, and suffer such losses? 

 There seems to be a mystery con- 

 nected with this matter. 



Further, Mr. 15. tells us that what 

 he claims for his plan of wintering is, 

 that it is the safest plan ; and in the 

 next to the last paragraph he tells us 

 that "where but few bees are kept 

 where he lives, they have no trouble 

 in wintering them in any cellar where 

 vegetables will keep without freez- 

 ing." How can Mr. Barber's OO^-to- 

 90'^ cellar be safest, as he claims, 

 when his neighbors winter bees with- 

 out loss, iu cellars of any kind where 

 the temperature stands as low as 33° 

 or 85' above zero. Will not 25 colo- 

 nies winter as well in a temperature 

 of 3-5^, as will 200 y How far from 

 Mr. Barber's immediate neighbor- 



