170 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ice Attracting Moisture.— On page 

 412, vol. 15, of the Bee Journal, I 

 find a statement by Chas. Dadant, 

 that ice, phiced in a Ijee-cellur to Iceep 

 down the temperature in spring, will 

 draw moisture to itself, instead of 

 giving it otf; and if I remember cor- 

 rectly, I tliinlc it was Professor Cook 

 who said tlnit water in the cellar would 

 accomi)lish the same purpose. In 

 view of a discussion in another paper 

 just now this matter is of special in- 

 terest. I have great confidence in 

 Mr. Dadant as one of our most scien- 

 tific bee-keepers. If he would ex- 

 plain ttirough the Joujinal how it is 

 that ice will take moisture from the 

 air, making it drier, and how such is 

 known to be the fact, perhaps he 

 would oblige otliers besides. 



Lindsay, Ont. A Bee-Keeper. 



Bees In Maine. — lam much pleased 

 with the Bee Journal, and am es- 

 pecially interested in the correspond- 

 ents' columns, when the writers give 

 their own methods in the manage- 

 ment of bees, together with the result 

 obtained, so that by studying the ex- 

 periences of many, all may learn wis- 

 dom in the management of the apiary. 

 As I take it for granted that in this 

 business, as in everything else, all is 

 not yet known that liiay be. Much is 

 said in the Journal about Mrs. Liz- 

 zie E. Cotton, and in nearly every in- 

 stance it is to her discredit. Mrs. C. 

 may have treated some others in a 

 manner to convince them ttiat slie is 

 a fraud, and if what some of the cor- 

 respondents say in the Bee Journal 

 is true, she certainly desires censure. 

 1 believe in speaking well for a bridge 

 that carries one safely over, and must, 

 in justice to Mrs. Cotton, say that in 

 my dealings with her she has been 

 perfectly " square." I judge this has 

 been a good winter for bees in this 

 section of the country. Mine have 

 had a flight nearly every week, al- 

 though some days the mercury went 

 28^ below zero. The cold would last 

 but a day or two, then we would have 

 several days of warm, sunny weather, 

 and the " yellow jackets '' would come 

 out for a sport in tlie open air. As I 

 write, the mercury in my yard near 

 the hives stands at 60-' above. How 

 is that for southern Vermont in mid- 

 winter. Seyjiour H. Wood. 



.St. Albans, Vt., Feb. 1.5, 1882. 



Does Cold Weatlier Kill the Bees.— 



r think my bees will come out all 

 right this spring. I am wintering out 

 of doors, as I did last year. They 

 have not been a month without hav- 

 ing a flight all the winter. What a 

 contrast to last year, wlien from Oct. 

 IS,, ISSO, till the middle of March, ISsi, 

 not a bee was out of the hive. Mine 

 were out yesterday and flying all over 

 the village, and appear vel'v strong 

 and healthy, with no sign oif dysen- 

 tery. The cold wave struck here in 

 January; 33^ below zero; only a 1 

 inch board (the hive) between that 

 cold and my bees, and yet they are 

 alive, strong, and healthy — is it the 

 cold that kills bees ? I think not, or 

 mine would have been dead now. 



Geo. Gablick. 

 Warsaw, Ont., March 3, 1882. 



How My Bees Wintered.— I have 

 about 65 colonies of bees of my own 

 and 10 others under my care. Of these 

 7.5 colonies 1 has died from starvation 

 and 2 from queenlessness. I have 20 

 colonies that I am working on the 

 shares, which I have not seen yet. I 

 have nodoul)t but they are doing well, 

 as they were in a good cave. I left 9 

 colonies on the summer stand. Those 

 that were in the cellar did the best. 

 Some think that bees winter best on 

 the summer stands, but I l)egto differ. 

 There is nothing better for bees than 

 a good dry cellar, and that can be ob- 

 tained by walling with Ijrick, flooring 

 with brick and cementing the whole 

 with a coat of plastering ; veltilate 

 the cellar with a pipe from the center 

 above, to allow the foul air to escape, 

 to give health to the bees. 



Thomas Prall. 



Carlisle, Iowa, March 3, 1882. 



Humbug. — I enclose you a circular 

 which I received from Mrs. L. E. 

 Cotton. I sent her six dollars for one 

 of her controllable hives, expecting 

 to receive a full size hive, but in re- 

 turn got a little model worth about 

 10c. 1 consider that I did not receive 

 any value formy nioney, as the whole 

 thing cost me !?6.75, and was of no 

 value whatever except tire wood. I 

 think she should be published as a 

 first-class humbug. C. II. Parker. 



Coldbrook Springs, Mass. 



[In the circular of Mrs. Cotton, she 

 proposes to furnish " one sample hive 

 complete,*' and she should do so, or be 

 content to be classed as a fraud. — Ed.] 



A Correction.— The Bee Journal 

 for Feb. 22 is at hand. In my article 

 on page 120, 2d line from the bottom 

 of the 1st column, the types make me 

 say, " capable of sexual semen and 

 fecundation," etc., instead of " capa- 

 ble of sexual union," etc. Please 

 make correction. 



Wm. E. Howard. 



Kingston, Tex. 



Bee Bacterium. —I must inform Dr. 

 Southwick that I, too, have an 

 encyclopedia, and that I was aware 

 of "the technical definition of the 

 words bacteria and bacterium ; but 

 that I used it with the meaning usu- 

 ally applied by cliemists and physi- 

 cians. As the Doctor says they are 

 the beginning of fermentation, and I 

 guess the middle and end of it, too, 

 those conditions which favor fermen- 

 tation, favor bacteria. More honey 

 ferments in the hives about the time 

 that dysentery is present (in spring 

 and w-iiiter) thiin at any other time. 

 All of the '• considerate," please con- 

 sider this fact, viz : That bacteria 

 tlirives best in a damp, medium tem- 

 perature when in bee hives, as is 

 proven by all our experiences. I am 

 getting out a patent on bacteria, and 

 1 wish the Doctor would desist from 

 meddling with it. I have just spent 

 a pleasant 24 hours with George 

 Grimm, here at mv home, and I was 

 surprised to find" a man of only 22 

 years. But then, he cannot blame me 

 for this mistake, for he was surprised 



at not finding me "much older;" 

 probably he expected to find me in 

 my dotage. We liad a hard-listed 

 practical visit, talking over market- 

 ing honey, overstocking the field, etc., 

 not saying a word about bees by the 

 lb., or Cyprians in any quantity vidiat- 

 ever. We had the pleasure of seeing 

 the bees flying strong and lively, and 

 carrying in large loads of pollen from 

 the pussy willows and soft maples on 

 that day, March 2. Bees all through 

 this vicinity are in fine order ; that is, 

 all there are left from 1880-81 winter's 

 fury. James IIeddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., March 4, 1882. 



All)ino Bee.— I would like a, descrip- 

 tion of the Albino bee. 

 Canton, O. Ciias. A. Pontius. 



[See Bee Journal for Oct. 19, 1881, 

 page 331. The article is too lengthy 

 for reproduction, with justice to our 

 readers.— Ed.] 



Remarkably Strong.— I examined 

 my bees March 2, and was surprised 

 to find some light colonies, that I put 

 on to four or five frames last Novem- 

 ber, to be strong in bees now, and 

 hundreds of young bees liatching. I 

 had to give them more room, and the 

 full colonies then have brood in 6 

 frames now. Only 1 colony in the 

 yard that had no brood, and that was 

 a black queen that I obtained late 

 last fall, to put in a queenless colony — 

 the only black queen- I have, and I 

 have sold her, with 10 others, if I can 

 get ready early in tlie season. If the 

 weather holds favorable, I can divide 

 by May 1, if I can get the queens. 



Jas. S. Lord. 



Linden, N. Y., March 6, 1882. 



From Oregon.— I found a man on 

 the other side of the Santiam river 

 that had 5 colonies of bees, and I pre- 

 vailed on him to sell me 1 colony, as 

 he said he only aimed to keep about 4 

 colonies as there was danger of over- 

 stocking. I think it is a good place 

 for bees, for the settlers say there is a 

 good number of v^'ild bees in the 

 woods, and it has been less than 30 

 years since the first were brought 

 here and sold for S140 per colony. 

 They have increased very fast to be 

 many in the woods. There is very 

 little interest taken in keeping bees 

 liere. We do not have winter here like 

 in Illinois ; it rains almost any day, 

 and snows some, and the sun shines 

 some. I sowed some wheat here the 

 23d day of December. It is up and 

 looks very nice. David Rice. 



Lebanon, Ore., Feb. 15, 1882. 



Rye Meal for Bees.— The best way 

 to feed bees with rye flour, is to fill 

 a bag made of mosquito netting and 

 hang it up in a box with the open 

 part exposed to the sun. In this way 

 the bees are not smothered. They 

 cluster around the outside of the bag 

 and gather the flour through the 

 meshes. My bees are working at it 

 now very busily. D. C. Millett. 



Holmesburg, Pa., March 3, 1882. 



