THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



121 



tion; also at the National Convention 

 liekl in Xew York, wlien Messrs T. G. 

 Newman antl A. J. King complaineil 

 so sadly; the first named, about tlie 

 "lish bone"' in the center of the comb, 

 and the latter commented so severely 

 upon a case of honey he liad received 

 from Mr. A. I. Koot, in wliich founda- 

 tion had been used full size for starters. 



The next fall Mr. King, in the Bee 

 Keeper's Mitgazine, spoke of a carload 

 of lioney shipped to New York by 

 Messrs. Newman & Son, of Peoria, 

 N. Y.,and myself, as itstood piled up 

 on the sidewalk in front of Messrs. 

 Thurber's store, as being the hand- 

 somest lot of honey ever brought to 

 New York, yet thissame pile of honey 

 owed its line appearance to having 

 been built upon wax foundation 

 whose use for surplus he had severely 

 condemned only the fall before. 



It was some of this lot of honey 

 which found its way to the Queen's 

 table, giving it a place in the menu of 

 the titled aristocracy of Great Britain, 

 thereby lielping to open up a foreign 

 market for tlie surplus product of our 

 apiaries. 



Tliin wax foundation properly made, 

 in the language of one of New York's 

 foremost apiarists, is a "grand suc- 

 cess," and I believe wooden separa- 

 tors are destined to supply the great 

 desideratum for tlie cheap production 

 of surplus honey. 



Peoria, N. Y. 



[Mr. Isham is a practical and pro- 

 gressive apiarist, aud we hope that 

 anotheryear's experience with wooden 

 separators will fully equal his ex- 

 pectations. "We object to uotliing that 

 is progressive and practical, but must 

 say that this needs some further 

 demonstration . — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Plau for Wintering Bees. 



J. E. 



One of the desiderata in the suc- 

 cessful wintering of bees, is pure 

 honey, and the absence of pollen in 

 the brood nest. An excess of pollen 

 in the combs will lead to brood-rear- 

 ing, during a warm spell in winter. 

 This is an abnormal state, and, if fol 

 lowed by i)rotracted cold weather, will 

 result in dysentery. 



To obviate this ditliculty, I propose 

 the following plan : Put away nice 

 worker combs, well Ulled and sealed, 

 containing pure honey gathered early 

 in the season, as this will be found to 

 contain the least pollen, in number 

 equal to two combs for each colony. 

 Then, after brood-rearing has ceased 

 in the fall, go round to each colony ; 

 lift out all the combs, shaking the bees 

 back into the hive, and jilace two of 

 these reserved combs of honey, 1!>2 

 inches apart, in the center of the hive; 

 place a division board on the outside 

 of the combs, packing the outside 

 empty spaces witli some absorbing 

 material ; cover with a quilt and chaff 

 cushion in top story, and leave them 

 until pollen begins to come in freely 



in the spring ; then place an empty 

 worker comb in the central open 

 sp.ice ; the queen will quickly fill it 

 with brood, wlien one of the division 

 boards may be moved back and 

 another empty comb inserted in the 

 brood-nest. 



This operation may be repeated 

 every 10 or 12 days, according to the 

 weather and amount of the lioney 

 flow, until the hive is filled with 

 combs. 



The advantages claimed for this 

 method of wintering, are that the bees 

 are packed up siuig and warm, the 

 open space in center giving them op- 

 portunity to cluster together in acom- 

 jjact mass, thus enabling them to keep 

 up a proper temperature, and prevent 

 loss by small bodies of bees being 

 caught between the outside combs 

 during a cold spell. Also brood-rear- 

 ing can be regulated in the spring, 

 according to the judgment of the bee- 

 keeper, as they will rear no brood of 

 any consequence during an absence of 

 pollen in the hive; and every bee- 

 keeper knows that too early rearing 

 of brood is detrimental to the welfare 

 of the colony. 



Gainsville, Ky. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Location is an Important Matter. 



.J. A. BUCHANAN. 



No doubt the kind of hive used, and 

 skill in management, has much to do 

 in making the pursuit of apiculture a 

 success, but location plays the most 

 important part. Perhaps one-half or 

 more of the bee-keepers of the coun- 

 try have a location where nearly the 

 entire crop of surplus honey is secured 

 from white clover, and but little from 

 other sources during the season. 

 Now, as we can here only count on 

 from 3 to 6 weeks' yield from clover 

 bloom, it may be easily seen that ordi- 

 narily, not very large quantities of 

 surplus can be obtained. And, in- 

 deed, taking into account the number 

 of seasons clover bloom fails to secret 

 honey, save .in limited quantities, it 

 may be questioned whether in such 

 localities, bee-keeping, as a specialty, 

 can be made to pay V Where even 

 fair yields of surplus are secured from 

 apiaries so situated, much more credit 

 should be given to the apiarist than to 

 those favored with a location giving 

 them a'secoiul opportunity to secure 

 surplus from fall flowers. 



The .seasons following long, cold 

 winters, bees are usually left in a 

 weak condition, and do not become 

 strong in numl)ers, and of proper age 

 to take the field and secure the full 

 benefits of this short yield, and the 

 chances are that many will only get 

 there in time to find tlie season ended, 

 and no surplus secured. Bee-keepers 

 so located as to be favored with both 

 an early and a late bloom, in such 

 abundance as to give good yields of 

 surplus, have more than a double ad- 

 vantage, and for such, with almost 

 any kind of hive, it would indicate a 

 poor knowledge of the business, if re- 

 ports of large yields of surplus honey 

 could not be shown. There would be 



for the fall yield, or for any yield after 

 clover bloom, bees in such great 

 abundance, and of the proper age, 

 together with the favorable weather 

 usual for that season of the year, to 

 give the most satisfactory results. 



Since the same form of hive and 

 management will not give in all local- 

 ities similar results, 1 am by the na- 

 ture of the subject led to briefly con- 

 sider the question of the hives best 

 adapted to location. Why is it that 

 there is such a diversity of opinion as 

 to tlie best form of hive or depth of 

 frame. I claim that location and 

 time when bees store winter supplies, 

 has much to do in bringing about 

 tliese conflicting opinions. 



Take a locality where the honey sup- 

 ply for winter is stored during the 

 blooming season for white clover 

 (June and theearly part of July), when 

 the season for storing is ended, and 

 the liive well sujiplied, the honey, if 

 in shallow frames, will be in good con- 

 dition for the bees to winter well, but 

 by the approach of cold weather, if no 

 fall honey is to be had, it is found that 

 the honey in the center combs is 

 nearly all consumed, and the colony in 

 poor condition to pass safely through 

 a cold winter. 



In this case we have a helpless con- 

 dition of things, unless means are 

 provided for a safe and ready pass- 

 age for the bees over the frames to 

 the stores in the outside combs; but 

 tliis timely precaution is not always 

 attended to, and here follows heavy 

 losses, and a vehement condemnation 

 of the shallow frame. But if the 

 honey had been stored in the fall, the 

 same as before described, and not be- 

 ing much drawn on for the support of 

 the colony before winter, there would 

 be no complaints about the shallow 

 frame. I think this a reasonable ex- 

 planation, founded on facts, which 

 makes plain why such gre.it differ- 

 ences of existing opinions as to best 

 form of hive to adopt. '"What is one's 

 meat is another's poison."" That form 

 of hive most successful in our locality 

 may be a failure in another. Hence to 

 draw the inference that deep frames 

 with li^i'ge storing room in the breed- 

 ing apartment, for localities where 

 stores for the whole season are 

 gathered during the early bloom, and 

 shallow frames and smaller breeding 

 apartment, if supplies are gathered 

 during both early and later in the 

 season. Taking this as a correct view 

 of the matter, there is no necessity 

 for so much controversy as to the 

 best hive or best manner of manipula- 

 tion. 



Experiment a little and ascertain 

 the kind of hive and management 

 best suited to each peculiar location. 



Holliday's Cove, W. Va. 



[gg° It would save us much trouble, 

 if all would be particular to give their 

 post oflice address and name, when 

 writing to this oflice. We have letters 

 (some inclosing money) that have no 

 name, post-oflice. County or State. — 

 Also, if you li'-e nearone postollice and 

 get your niaii at another, be sure to 

 give" the address we have on our list. 



