134 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



West.— Early provide for winter 

 quarters. As the setting sun betolcens 

 the time for and the need of rest, so 

 when 



"The melancholy diiys are come the saddest of the 



year, 

 Of wailing winds and naked woods, and meadows 



brown and sere," 



then the successful apiarist makes all 

 snug and safe for winter according 

 to his best knowledge and ability. 

 He sees to it that tlie colony has a 

 young and vigorous queen, great 

 store of young bees, and suitable food, 

 be it honey or sugar syrup. He puts 

 them into winter quarters in the 

 cellar, or on tlieir summer stands ac- 

 cording to his locality and experience. 



Northwest. — A good and quiet 

 rest. Do not disturb the bees more 

 than is actually needed, while in win- 

 ter quarters. If on the summer 

 stands, have no rabbits and dogs, or 

 other stock fooling around, and do 

 not awaken tiiem out of their quiet 

 sleep, by jarring the ground, which is 

 too often done by walking or driving 

 near them. 



Jacksonville, 111. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Talk about Sundry Bee Matters. 



WM. F. CLARKE. 



In common with all who have e.x- 

 pressed themselves on the subject, I 

 think the present size and ''get up" 

 of the Bee Journal all that can be 

 desired. It will make a very handy 

 volume for reference when l)ound, 

 and is not too large for the shelf of 

 an ordinary bookcase. The editorial 

 management also ' deserves higli 

 praise. 



"those fine bees in CANADA. " 



Mr. Henderson hardly does me 

 justice in complaining of my "failing 

 to remember little Tennessee, or tlie 

 name of that little Tennessean who 

 furnished Mr. Sturgeon with those 

 fine queens," I saw in the Kincardine 

 apiary. Yet he had refreshed his own 

 memory by looking atmy communica- 

 tion in No. 29, .luly 20th. How then 

 came he to say I had failed to remem- 

 ber "little Tennessee'i*" These were 

 my words: "Mr. S. procured a dozen 

 queens from Tennessee, Iforgethow 

 long since, and also imported a few 

 from Italy." Since I have been pulled 

 over the coals for it, I am compelled 

 to state in self defense, that Mr. S., 

 for reasons best known to himself, re- 

 quested me not to name "that little 

 Tennessean." So I am cleared. I 

 surmised that the dollar-queen busi- 

 ness might have had something to do 

 with his reticence, but may have 

 been wrong. However, if all goes 

 well, I shall sample Mr. Ilender.sbn's 

 queens for myself, and then I can 

 "speak in meeting" without let or 

 hindrance. Mr. H. seems to harp on 

 the word " tentative," used by me. I 

 thought it was very modest and suit- 

 able. See its dictionary meaning. 



MR. mace's kind proposition. 



Mr. Mace wishes experiments made 

 with alcohol as a remedy for bee- 

 stings, and as his "wife and father- 



in-law" think it would be " too much 

 much like suicide" for him to try 

 them, he kindly suggests that I make 

 a martyr of myself in the cause of 

 apiculture. This is considerably like 

 Artemus Ward's disinterested will- 

 ingness to liave his wife's relations go 

 to the war. 1 had thouglits of calling 

 a family council in regard to the mat- 

 ter on first reading Mr. Mace's pro- 

 posal, but fearing it might be decided 

 that it was my bouuden duty to suffer 

 for the public good, I concluded to 

 take the responsibility of acting for 

 myself, I therefore beg to decline sub- 

 mitting to the proposed ordeal and 

 would suggest that there are plenty 

 of men fonder of whisky than I am, 

 who would be quite willing to take a 

 sting and a drink turn and turn- 

 about, for the indefinite period indi- 

 cated by Mr. Mace. I am not a rabid 

 temperance man, still I think the 

 remedy miglit prove worse than the 

 disease. Alcohol has a sting as well 

 as the honey-bee, and it woidd be a 

 melancholy thing if any one were to 

 begin using alcohol to antidote bee- 

 stings, only to find out that, " at the 

 last it bitetli like a serpent, and 

 stingeth like an adder." Let us ran- 

 sack the entire pharmacopo'ia for 

 remedial appliances, before we add 

 another to the thousand and one ex- 

 cuses wliich people make for using 

 spirits. For myself I get along pass- 

 ably well with veil and gloves, and 

 after seeing a Cyprian colony sting 

 Mr. Jones to their heart's content, 

 and finally drive him into the bushes, I 

 don't feel it any disgrace to wear 

 them. 



professor cook. 

 The Professor's nice little article on 

 " Honest and kind criticism," in the 

 Bee Journal of Feb. 8, lias taken 

 quite a load of anxiety off my mind, 

 but still, influenced by the curiosity 

 which is luitural to all the sons and 

 daughters of Eve, I am acliing to 

 know who that apicultural ignoramus 

 is. In Yankee phrase I would say, 

 " du tell." The Professor promises to 

 " explain more fully in regard to the 

 pollen matter." There are other 

 points that await explanation; that of 

 "dry feces," for example. 



N. a. bee-keepers' association. 



I thoroughly indorse your editorial 

 remarks on the proceedings of the 

 Nortlieastern Bee-keepers' in regard 

 to tile "National" organization, as 

 you call it, but please remember, it is 

 a continental body. Its name was 

 given to it for the express purpose of 

 including us Canadians, and though 

 but few of us have ever attended its 

 meetings, it must be remembered that 

 Chicago is the nearest place to us at 

 wliich it has ever been convened. We 

 live in hope that some time it may be 

 held at Detroit, Buffalo, or some 

 border city, possibly in Toronto itself, 

 and then you may look for a grand 

 muster of bee-keepers from this side 

 of the lines. Having assisted at the 

 bir.th of the North American body, 

 and watched its liistory closely ever 

 since, I hardly think it is open to the 

 charges made against it. At the out- 

 set there were little jealousies which 

 it happily allayed, and all the meet- 



ings I have attended, have been pleas- 

 ant reunions of kindred spirits. It 

 has certainly done much to form and 

 strengthen " a brotlierly tie," and I 

 would earnestly say, '■ destroy it not, 

 for a blessing is in it." Perhaps it 

 was not wise for the convention to 

 endorse Mr. Bingham's views quite so 

 fully. Still, I am sure there was no 

 intention of robbing Mr. Quinby's 

 honored brow of anyof its well-earned 

 laurels. I do not concur in the repre- 

 sentation of Mr. Quinby's labors as 

 belonging to the closing chapters of 

 old-time apiculture. They helped 

 largely to usher in the new era, and 

 the eminent services of Messrs. 

 Langstroth and Quinby (I don't 

 know which should be named first in 

 order of time), will go down to history 

 as the "twin-brothers' yeast" that has 

 leavened the wh^-le lump of modern 

 bee-keeping. I had the pleasure of 

 knowing Mr. Quinby personally, and 

 can fully agree with the graceful 

 tribute to his memory penned by Cap-v 

 tain Iletherington as a preface to the 

 new edition of the " Mysteries of 

 Bee-keeping." Mr. Quinby was him- 

 self so modest, that those who knew 

 liim best do well to guard his fame, 

 still I think ]Mr. House has been 

 unduly excited. No "heinous of- 

 fense" has been committed; no "un- 

 just discrimination" perpetrated, and 

 I hope the kind words penned by 

 yourself and others may have the 

 effect of " oil on the troubled waters." 



the present season. 



I fear the " cold dip " we had about 

 a month since has proved very de- 

 structive to bees. Here the ther- 

 mometer went down to 30° below 

 zero, and in some parts of Canada it 

 was even lower. On Tuesday last, 

 Feb. 14, it was mild enough for bees 

 to fly, and I saw evidence enough in 

 my own little apiary of the havoc 

 done by the Arctic wave. Having no 

 cellar "or bee-house, I am wintering 

 out of doors in chaff hives, with the 

 exceptionof a single colony, which is 

 in a plastered hive. The "cold dip" 

 seems to have caught the bees sud- 

 denly. One colony was much spread 

 out on the combs, and had entirely 

 succumbed. Anotlier, partially .scat- 

 tered, was reduced to great weakness, 

 and others ap|)ear to liave had the 

 outer circle of the cluster chilled to 

 death. This is my first trial of chaff 

 hives, and I must own, I have serious 

 doubts as to its suitability for the 

 climate of Canada, unless, indeed, we 

 thicken the walls. 



PARLOR wintering. 



This is a failure for the present 

 season, but I believe I know the 

 reason. The bees were not lioused 

 soon enough. There had been some 

 cold niglits before they were taken in- 

 doors, and I think a mere handful of 

 bees once chilled tlirough is not apt 

 to recover. My little colonies never 

 seemed lively, they acted as if they 

 had the rheumatism, or a bad cold. 

 They never fed to please me, and 

 gradually dwindled away. So, Mr. 

 Heddon will not have the pleasure of 

 crowning me as a great discoverer 

 just yet. But I am not discouraged. 



