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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURiSTAL. 



In 1884. waspnblished at New York, 

 a "Dictionary of Practical Apicul- 

 ture," by John Phin. It contains 80 

 pages. 



In 1885, at Dowagiac, Mich., an 8vo 

 pamphlet of 128 pages was published, 

 entitled " Success in Bee-Uulture, as 

 Practiced and Advised," by James 

 Heddon. 



In 1885 " The Australasian Bee- 

 Manual " was published in Matamata, 

 ^ew Zealand, by Isaac Hopkins. It 

 is an 8vo, and contains 336 pages, and 

 is illustrated. 



In 1886 a 16mo of 114 pages was 

 published in Chicago, Ills., entitled 

 ''A Year Among the Bees," by Dr. 

 'C. C. Miller. 



In 1886, at London, appeared a 64- 

 page 12mo, entitled " Sinimins' Origi- 

 nal Non-Swarming System." 



In 1886. at Mt. Vernon, Iowa, was 

 published a 12mo of 16 pages, entitled, 

 " How to Eaise Comb Honey," by O. 

 Foster. 



In 1886, at New York, was issued 

 a 12mo of 134 pages, entitled, "Buz, 

 or the Life and Adventures of a 

 Honey-Bee," by Maurice Noel — a 

 Novelette. 



In 1886, at Beeton, Ont., appeared a 



fioem by the Rev. W. F. Clarke, en- 

 itled "A Bird's-Eye View of Bee- 

 Keeping." It contains 60 pages, and 

 is all in rhyme. 



In 1886, was issued the first volume 

 of a 12mo, entitled, "Bees and Bee- 

 Keeping," by Frank Cheshire, F.L.S., 

 London, England. It contains 336 

 page's. 



In the line of periodicals devoted to 

 bee-culture, there is quite enough for 

 another essay, and as this is already 

 too long, even though condensed as 

 much as possible, let the Periodical 

 Literature be a subject for another 

 time. 



The books enumerated do but rep- 

 resent " mile-stones " upon the high- 

 way to progress towards the goal to 

 which we are all journeying ; find in 

 mentioning them, we are reminded 

 that we are only a " small detach- 

 ment " in the grand army of apiarists 

 the world over. In the French, Ital- 

 ian, German and Russian languages 

 many more books have been published 

 than in the English language. They 

 are all workers in the same enchant- 

 ing pursuit. 



Dr. C. C. Miller moved that a vote 

 of thanks be accorded Mr. Newman 

 for his valuable essay. Adopted with 

 applause. 



Mr. C. F. Muth then followed with 

 bis essay on 



SUCCESS IN BEE-CULTURE. 



Success in life is our object-lesson 

 from childhood. We were taught to 

 be industrious, saving, persevering, 

 and prudent in order to accomplish 

 the object. It is not my intention to- 

 day to give you any essay on success 

 in life nor success in business, as 

 these are matters which are not only 

 taught, but lay within us to a great 

 extent, and are often determined by 

 surrounding circumstances, and our 

 individual sagacity, of making use of 

 them. My object to-day is to give 

 you my own manner of manipulating 



an apiary by which the largest crop 

 of honey may be produced with the 

 least expense and the least loss of 

 time. 



I have kept bees for the last thirty 

 years or more, and the average num- 

 ber of colonies I commenced each 

 season with, for the last 25 years, was 

 between 45 and 50. Being in the 

 mercantile business I had the chance, 

 almost every spring, of selling all the 

 bees I meant to dispose of, which I 

 did. My wintering during all this 

 time was as successful as that of the 

 best of my neighbors, and none 

 of them produced larger crops of 

 honey in proportion. I should have, 

 therefore, an idea of '.bee-keeping, if I 

 am no specialist. 



A successful wintering of the bees 

 is one of the foremost requirements 

 of the coming crop. The subject 

 having been discussed by a number 

 of able writers, I shall not dwell upon 

 it now, but will state that success 

 depends upon a strong healthy colony 

 in the fall, plenty of honey and dry 

 comfortable quarters. Honey and 

 pollen are the natural food of the bee, 

 and the most wholesome, unless our 

 negligence or ignorance causes them 

 to decoQipose, and when, then, they 

 act as a poison, we should blame our- 

 selves only. 



We know that the strongest colo- 

 nies, at the beginning of the honey 

 season, will give us the largest re- 

 sults. Most of us have the experi- 

 ence that a strong colony had col- 

 lected 150 pounds or more of honey 

 while the product of its next neigh- 

 bor, a pretty strong colony also, was 

 not more than 10 or 20 pounds. The 

 difference in the strength of the colo- 

 nies was the sole reason for the dif- 

 ferent results. 



" AVhat shall I do to coax my bees 

 into the honey-chamber V" Tiiis in- 

 nocent question has brought out a 

 number of ridiculous answers. My 

 answer would have been : Build 

 your brood-chamber up by having it 

 strong in brood and bees, and then 

 pray for a yield of nectar. Without a 

 strong colony there will be no crop, 

 and unless the blossoms yield, there 

 is no honey forthcoming. If we ac- 

 quaint ourselves with the laws of 

 nature, we shall not commit the folly 

 of " coaxing." 



The largest crop of honey being our 

 object, we want a large brood-cham- 

 ber the capacity of which accommo- 

 dates the laying capacity of a good 

 prolific queen as near as this is pos- 

 sible. We want a large surface above 

 the brood-chamber, for we know that 

 bees store most readily their honey 

 above their brood. The 10-frame 

 Langstroth hive suits me best, as it 

 affords room enough for most prolific 

 queens, providing we manage to have 

 the 10 frames filled with brood. All 

 frames filled partly with brood and 

 honey should make room, in due 

 time, for empty combs, and be used 

 to strengthen weak colonies. Wish- 

 ing to avoid all " coaxing," no honey- 

 chamber is put on any one of my 

 hives until the lower story has every 

 comb filled with brood. Exceptions 

 are indulged in only during poor sea- 

 sons when we have to save our combs 



from the moth, and " coaxing " is out 

 of the question. 



It being my object to get my colo- 

 nies strong as early in the spring as 

 possible, they were overhauled in 

 March or early in April, and all colo- 

 nies confined to as many combs as 

 each one could well cover. As long as 

 the weather is cool, enough honey 

 should be between their division- 

 boards, so as to have it within easy 

 reach. But combs with honey placed 

 on the outside of division-boards 

 when the weather becomes warm, 

 answers every purpose, and are pref- 

 erable as a stimulant for breeding up 

 to all stimulative feeding of liquids. 

 The division-boards should not touch 

 the bottom by about % inch, allowing 

 the bees an easy passage to the other 

 side. They should be spread in due 

 time, and an empty comb inserted as 

 the growth of the colony requires it. 

 But— make haste slowly. Brood will 

 chill in the combs during cold nights 

 unless there are bees enough to 

 cover it. 



In order to be prosperous, bees 

 should be crowded from the begin- 

 ning of spring to the end of the honey 

 season, and to know what is " crowd- 

 ed," without over-crowding, shows 

 the standard of the bee-keeper. When 

 the queen feels crowded for the want 

 of room to deposit her eggs, she im- 

 parts the swarming impulse, and is 

 among the first to leave the hive. If, 

 however, the queen is ever so well 

 accommodated by young queens 

 hatching, and thereby making room 

 for her, and yet the bees are crowded 

 for the want of room to deposit honey, 

 they create the swarming fever when 

 the queen is one of the last leaving 

 the hive. We know that all the honey 

 gatherers except those in the field are 

 gone with the swarm. 



No honey will be collected for a 

 week or two, and the honey-chamber 

 should be placed on the new swarm 

 as soon as liived. There is no excuse 

 for a bee-keeper allowing a second 

 and third swarm to issue, as it is an 

 easy job to look over the brood-cham- 

 ber on the tenth day, or earlier, and 

 to make use of the surplus queen-cells 

 or destroy them as the case may be. 



Honey being the object, we make a 

 mistake depending upon natural 

 swarms for an increase, as we thereby 

 deprive our colonies of their force of 

 foragers during, perhaps, the best 

 flow of honey ; and if a bee-keeper 

 does so, he shows a neglect, of which, 

 I admit, any one of us may be guilty, 

 or he betrays a lack of knowledge, or, 

 perhaps, a fear of the " tail end " of 

 the bee. 



As stated above, I want a large hive 

 and a large colony of bees. I make 

 no early swarms, but equalize my 

 colonies before the harvest com- 

 mences, taking, however, no frames 

 of brood and adhering bees from any 

 colony until it is very strong, near 

 the point of swarming, and no honey- 

 chamber is put on until the 10 frames 

 of the brood-chamber are filled with 

 brood. If this equalizing cannot be 

 done with every one of my colonies 

 before the season opens, I leave those 

 weak colonies to fill their side combs 

 with honey until they can be ex- 



