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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Bee-Keeping for Profit. — In order 

 to make bee-keeping pay every year 

 in succession, we need experience, be- 

 ■cause experience will teach ns, as 

 nothing else will, that it pays in the 

 long run to let bees have all the honey 

 in the hive they can possibly use, at 

 all times, for with us what is a 

 harvest one year may fail tlie next, 

 and what fails the first year will give 

 plentiful bloom the next, and if not a 

 plentiful bloom, if bees are very 

 strong, or rather have an abundance 

 of lioney in the hive, they seem much 

 more inclined to gather it. In 1881, 

 the year just [jassed, our bees paid 

 well, although the early part of the 

 season Mr. Axtell and myself were 

 both very sick for some weeks, and 

 ■our bees suffered for care; but as they 

 had a great abundance of honey at all 

 times of the year, they did not feel 

 the neglect tliat they would have done 

 if on scanty fare. We do not believe 

 it pays to give bees very close atten- 

 tion if we have to hire inexperienced 

 help to do it, unless we can be with 

 them ; or if they do have experience, 

 if they are careless or neglectful they 

 will injure the bees more than they 

 will do them good. If bees have an 

 abundance of honey in the brood nest 

 abundance of bees and a large hive, 

 they need but little care from spring 

 until fall, except to see to tliem in 

 swarming time, that they do not fill 

 up too closely with honey, and to care 

 for the swarm, if one issues. We 

 think it pays, also, to have young 

 •queens, or cells just ready to hatch, 

 to insert into the parent hive ; but 

 the idea some throw out, that each 

 ■colony must be opened and examined 

 every 10 days or 2 weeks, we think 

 erroneous. If one has but a few 

 colonies and will be very careful not 

 to injure them, then no liarm is done 

 if opened every day, but it will not 

 pay; better have more bees and less 

 ■care. The above suggestions are 

 where we run bees for honey, which 

 we think pays ever so much better 

 than queen rearing or selling bees. 

 At least such has been our experience. 

 In fact, we would not sell bees at all, 

 if it was not we could not keep so 

 many in two locations— one for Mr. 

 Axtell to look after, and one for my- 

 self. We think from 75 to 12-5, or 

 perhaps a less number, are all that 

 should be kept in one location, unless 

 it is an extra locality for bee forage. 

 We believe it pays to rear our own 

 •queens, too ; except to buy one oc- 

 ■casionally to introduce fresh blood. 

 Perhaps our hive has something to do 

 with our success in getting lioney, 

 rather than bees and queens, at the 

 present cheap price for queens and 

 bees, while honey brings a good price 

 and ready sale, makes honey gather- 

 ing the most profitable. We use the 

 Improved Quiiiby hive with our own 

 improvement on it, which affords an 

 abundance of room above as well as 

 below, and without the tiering up 

 process, having always plenty of room 

 in the hive. When surplus frames 

 for honey are removed, then ample 

 room is given for chaff packing, which 

 keeps the bees dry and warm whether 

 in the cellar or out. Last winter, 

 U880-81, we lost but 1 colony out of 



over 100 wintered in the cellar. Some 

 have felt a little disposed to laugh at 

 us for packing with chaff for cellar 

 wintering, but we tlhink it pays every 

 time. We tliink it pays to keep them 

 in the cellar until about the time they 

 can get natural pollen; then, when 

 set out, next day or so crowd, them 

 down on to about % their number of 

 frames, add more as warm weather 

 and brood increases. This cures dys- 

 entery and prevents spring dwindling. 

 Mes. L. C. Axtell. 

 Boseville, 111. 



A Bee Celhir.— Tiling is now laid in 

 my cellar and grading going on around 

 the sides of my dwelling. The tiling 

 is about 6 inches bore, most of it; 50 

 feet next the house is a little short of 

 6 inches, and 4 inches fall to the rod. 

 I also have a 6-inch stove-pipe con- 

 nected with the chimney. The toj) of 

 the chimney is 28 feet higher. Will 

 this give sufficient ventilation V The 

 cellar extends under about two-fifths 

 of the ground floor. The whole ground 

 floor is 221^x16 feet. The smaller til- 

 ing comes about 30 feet from the 

 house. There is a door between the 

 tvi'o cellars or parts. It is about 7 feet 

 from the sleejiers to the ground floor 

 above. Will not this arrangement 

 give suflicient ventilation to keep the 

 bees in a healthy condition, winter 

 and summer, if put in ? We put our 

 bees in Jan. 5. They appear to be 

 doing reasonably well. Some colonies 

 were quite light, and we have been so 

 busy they liave not been cared for 

 since. The mercury has stood in the 

 cellar most of the time at 44-. The 

 winter here* has been very pleasant, 

 so much so we have been hauling dirt 

 and grading annmd the house. Here- 

 tofore the floor in the east part of the 

 cellar has been laid right on the ground, 

 and the atmosphere was quite musty; 

 but now I think we have obviated 

 this, if not, I will cement the whole 

 floor soon as I get time. I had i-g acre 

 of sweet clover last year, which was 

 cultivated the first year. It gave a 

 tremendous bloom. It was drilled in 

 long rows 4 feet apart, and the ground 

 was wholly covered with bloom, clear 

 above one's head, some growing over 

 8 feet high, and the bees were busy 

 on it for weeks. I wish to put in 6 

 or 8 acres of it this and next month. 

 Will it do enough better to drill and 

 cultivate it, to justify the care, over 

 broadcast sowing V I would like, also, 

 to drill in 3 or 4 acres of mammoth 

 mignonette seed. Moses Bailey. 



Winterset, Iowa. 



[Your drain tile, as described, ought 

 to give suflicient ventilation to meet 

 the requirements of the bees, espe- 

 cially with the stove-pipe connection 

 with the chimney, to act as a draft to 

 bring the air through the tiling. Un- 

 doubtedly, a partial cultivation of the 

 sweet clover will pay, as you have 

 already demonstrated with your 

 eighth of an acre. Should you con- 

 clude to put in tlie mammoth mignon- 

 ette, why not drill it in with tlie sweet 

 clover, nasmuch as the latter does 



not bloom the first season, and thereby 

 make the one cultivation answer for 

 both ? The mignonette will bloom 

 the first season, and also form a good 

 protection for the sweet clover, and 

 save extra ground room for one year, 

 at least. — Ed.] 



Poultry in the Apiary. — I am not 



regularly in the bee business, but read 

 the JouuNAL with much interestand 

 no little profit, and venture, therefore, 

 to ask for information in your columns 

 on these two points: 1. Whicliisbest 

 for bees, for the hives to sit on the 

 ground or in frames, or on benches ? 

 2. May poultry be allowed to run 

 among the bees without injury to 

 either? W. P. II^lNCOck. 



Salado, Texas. 



[1. Each method has its advantages. 

 We prefer for the hives to sit ou 

 frames, as they give an opportunity 

 for a free circulation of air under- 

 neath the hives in summer, are cheaper 

 of construction than platforms, and 

 are not so liable to rot the lumber in 

 the bottom-boards. 



2. We have watched for hours, in 

 vain, to discover chickens destroying 

 bees while running in the bee-yard; 

 but they do work great destruction to 

 moths, spider, ants, and other insects. 

 So far as we know now, we certainly 

 favor the plan of giving poultry, 

 especially chickens, free range of the 

 apiary. We know nothing about 

 ducks, and will not express an opinion 

 regarding them.— Ed.] 



Bees Breeding and Gathering Pollen. 



— My bees have wintered well so far, 

 and were bringing in pollen on the 

 14th of this mouth. The colonies are 

 all strong and in good condition. I 

 have 12 colonies in all, 3 Italians, and 

 9 liybrid, in 11-frame Langstroth hives. 

 It snowed here all last night, and is 

 still snowing. Will this cold snap be 

 a back set on the brood y 



Edmund Db Lair. 

 Oketo, Kans., Feb. 20, 1882. 



[No; if your colonies are very strong, 

 as the cold will probably be of very 

 short duration. Of course, brood- 

 rearing will not progress so favorably 

 as if the weather was milder, and with 

 moderate nights ; but you will un- 

 doubtedly get enough young bees to 

 off -set spring dwindling, especially as 

 natural pollen has been comiuf^iu, 

 and will continue to do so.— Ed.] 



Hill's Winter Bee-Hive.- Is there a 

 patent on Hill's winter bee-hive, hav- 

 ing a cap to slip over the lower part 

 for winter protection ? 



Salem, Ohio. • A Subscriber. 



[There is, and the cap, we believe 

 is embraced in the patent.-7-ED.] 



