20 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. IS, 



will have enough bees to cover from 2 to 5 Langstroth frames. 

 Does Mr. Mead mean that a colony having enough bees to 

 cover 2 frames March 21 will have May 11 enough bees to 

 cover 50 frames, and one that has March 21 enough bees to 

 cover 5 frames will have enough bees May 11 to cover 125 

 frames ? — Inquirer." 



Answer. — It seems I did not make my explanation as 

 clear as It ought to be. 



March 1 you have many old and a few young bees. March 

 21 the old bees are dying fast, and the young bees are hatch- 

 ing equally fast, tf In a closed-end frame hive, or well packt 

 loose frame, log or box hive. Introduce an Italian queen to a 

 colony of black bees in October, and It is a rare thing to find 

 a teacupful of black bees the first of next May. Reverse the 

 process and you probably will find a few more Italian workers 

 on May 1. 



Now in a poorly-protected hive the ratio of increase will 

 not be so large. Sometimes the increase is so slow that the 

 old bees die so fast that the brood is left bare and the colony 

 plays out. So the ratio of increase varies in proportion to the 

 warmth of the space occupied by the bees. The colony is at 

 a standstill in early spring in proportion to the death of the 

 old bees. In a box or log, or closed-end frame hive, or well- 

 packt hive, there will be a ratio of increase of 5 in every 21 

 days after the old bees are nearly gone, till the capacity of 

 the queen is reacht, which, in this locality. Is June 1, on an 

 average, or from 10. to 12 Langstroth frames of brood. If the 

 queen could keep up the same ratio of 5 the summer through, 

 but one queen would be needed. 



Now, to show what I mean, I will explain again how I 

 winter 4-Langstroth frame nuclei and small colonies : 



I place a big hive on a large staud with the entrance In 

 the bottom, with a slanting alighting-board. Around this 

 hive the size of the stand I place a rim of % boards, one foot 

 high. I then pack the big hive as warm as I can. I put four 

 one-inch blocks of wood on the rim % inch from the top. On 

 these blocks rest the long bottom-board of the nucleus. Make 

 a bridge from the hive to the rim ; have a 2-inch by ?^-inch 

 notch cut in the bottom of the next one-foot rim. The en- 

 trance should not be on the same side as the lower hive. 

 Screw an alighting-board just under the 2-lnch entrance. Set 

 the second rim on top of the first rim, with clay in the joint. 

 Put on the third rim and pack all around, and a foot above 

 the nucleus. Put on a water-tight cover, that allows a free 

 current of air to pass under it to carry off any moisture. I 

 leave a full entrance to the lower hive till pollen comes in 

 freely, then I contract it so as to make them uncomfortably 

 warm so they have to fan all the time. 



Now as to results : The nucleus Is as warm, or warmer 

 than the big hive colony below It, and will need more room 

 early in the season. They usually equal, and often surpass 

 in strength, the big 10-Langstroth-frame colonies below by 

 June 1, which shows how bees can increase when In hives 

 where the heat is economized. I have done this for the past 

 10 years or more. Cook Co., 111. 



No. 2 — Recollectious of an Old Bee-Keeper. 



BY DR. E. GALLUP. 

 (Continued from page 4.) 



Studying about the wintering of the before-mentioned 

 colony, the following winter I raised up all my box-hives from 

 the bottom and placed an inch block under each corner, and 

 then I had solved the wintering problem, providing they had a 

 sulBcient amount of surplus. 



Canada was a great honey country In those days. The 

 country was new, with large bodies of basswood, elm, willow, 

 maple, wild flowers, hundreds of acres of red raspberries, acres 

 of buckwheat, white clover, etc., and abundance of snow to 

 protect the ground, so it did not freeze. The summers were 

 warm, moistand sultry — just the rightcondltions for the secre- 

 tion of large quantities of nectar. 



Well do I remember the first time I saw an old "king- 

 bee." The bees had swarmed and partially clustered, and 

 before I could hive them they commenced going back to the 

 old hive, and In watching them go back, I saw the old "king- 

 bee " crawling on the ground. Igotheroutona piece of shingle 

 and helpt her into the hive. People used to tell me that there 

 always was an "old king-bee" that controlled everything 

 about the hive, but never having seen one I was a Doubting 

 Thomas up to that time. 



Now I must tell you something about buckwheat. 

 You know that millers always have fat hogs, altho you may 

 not know whose grain they are fattened on. Well, I had 

 about an acre fenced In for the hogs, and they rooted it over 



and over, and of course manured it thoroughly in the course of 

 four years. When sowing my patch of buckwheat for the 

 bees, as I usually did, I thought that hog-yard is so rich and 

 mellow, why not shut the hogs In the pen and harrow in some 

 buckwheat? Well, the result was that patch turned out the 

 most nectar to the rod that I ever saw. One could smell the 

 perfume for rods, and It was litterally alive with bees, while 

 my other patch, that was seeded at the same time, and not 

 manured, was visited by scarcely a bee. The lesson is that 

 manure, or a rich soil, produces more nectar than a poor soil. 

 I have noticed the same fact many times since. Here in Cali- 

 fornia a heavily fertilized orange-grove shows It in a remark- 

 able degree. In Iowa I had about six acres that I cleared up 

 and yarded sheep on for two seasons at night, and seeded It to 

 white clover, and the way the bees workt on that was a cau- 

 tion ; while outside they scarcely visited white clover. Keep 

 your eyes open and you can always learn. 



About the year 1843 I hired a young man from Vermont 

 to help In the sawmill, and he informed me of a man by the 

 name of Weeks who had publisht a book on bees and got up a 

 patent hive, so I obtained the book and right to use his hive. 

 That was the first writing of any description I ever saw on 

 bees. The hive was simply a box with a chamber for two 

 drawers or boxes for honey, and the hive was suspended in a 

 frame by two cleats, one on each side, with a slanting bottom, 

 and the bottom-board fastened to the hive with hooks and 

 staples at the corners. A button was at the back of the hive, 

 so that when the bottom was buttoned forward the hive was 

 closed except the entrance; when it was unbuttoned It left an 

 inch space all around the bottom of the hive to allow for win- 

 ter ventilation, or hot weather ventilation, also ; and being so 

 slanting, when a moth-worm fell onto it, he would roll out and 

 break his neck in falling to the ground I Bees would winter 

 in that hive with the Inch ventilation all around the bottom, 

 providing they had sufficieut stores. I had demonstrated that 

 fact by raising my box-hives on inch blocks at the bottom. I 

 took a lesson from that In cellar wintering. 



I received a good many good points from Mr. Weeks' little 

 book, as well as erroneous points. Here is another fact that J 

 discovered : Honey gathered in the forepart of the season, 

 thoroughly matured and ripened, is the very best kind of 

 stores for wintering; while honey gathered late In the season, 

 or at a time when the weather Is wet or cool, is not sufficiently 

 ripened or matured, and Is not good for wintering. Bees will 

 consume more pounds, get the dysentery and die, or what some 

 call bad spring dwindling, etc. An early swarm and a lata 

 one, weighed in the fall at the same time, the early swarm 

 weighing considerable less, would winter well, while the late 

 swarm weighing more would frequently starve before spring. 



Have not many of you made a great mistake since the ex- 

 tractor has come into use, by not regarding the above fact ? 

 You have trusted to your late-stored honey for wintering pur- 

 poses, and met with loss, and then, like the old lady who took 

 her death o' cold by eating gruel out of a damp basin, you are 

 ready to attribute your mishap to anything but the right 

 cause. In order to cure remove the cause. 



Orange Co , Calif. 

 [To be continued.] 



Honey as Food is the name of a 24-page pamphlet, 

 3Kx6,!ii inches, which we are now printing for general dis- 

 tribution among those who should be users of honey. It Is 

 just the thing for bee-keepers to hand to every one of their 

 customers, and also to those whom they would like to have as 

 customers. It is very handy In size — just right to go into an 

 ordinary business envelope. It contains 12 illustrations, five 

 of which are somewhat comic, and help to make it attractive. 

 There is a blank space for your name and address. About 

 y^ of the pamphlet was written by Dr. Miller, and then we 

 added thereto many new and valuable honey recipes — for 

 cooking and for medicinal purposes. In all. It makes a neat 

 little pamphlet. Send name and address and we will mail you 

 a sample of " Honey as Food." 



Prices for quantities, postpaid — 25 for 30 cents; 50 for 

 50 cents; 100 for 85 cents : 200 for $1.40. By express, 

 not prepaid, 500 for $3.00; 1,000, $5.00. 



Langfstrotli on the Honey-Bee, revised by 

 The Dadants, Is a standard, reliable and thoroughly complete 

 work on bee-culture. It contains 520 pages, and is bound 

 elegantly. Every reader of the American Bee Journal should 

 have a copy of this book, as It answers hundreds of questions 

 that arise about bees. We mail it for $1.25, or club it with 

 the Bee Journal for a year— both together for only $2.00. 



