THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



203 



Wintering Well.— The winter lias 

 been very favorable for our bees so 

 far, whether on summer stands or in 

 cellar. Last winter my bees were left 

 on the summer stands in very open 

 hives ; in fact, they were so open at 

 the sides and top that I expected to 

 lose all of them before spring, but out 

 of 18 I only lost 2 colonies ; they were 

 in box and log hives. When the sea- 

 son opened last spring I transferred 

 them to frame hives, and increased to 

 25 by using foundation comb (Dun- 

 ham), putting it in witli Goodrich's 

 fastener. This machine works nicely 

 and places the foundation solid in the 

 center of the frame. I was very suc- 

 cessful with tlie foundation; not one 

 sheet dropped, and I put in large 

 swarms. What were once log and 

 box hives, now have frames, so that I 

 can handle them with some pleasure. 

 I have them in the cellar, with the 

 tops raised and bottoms open ; they 

 seem to be very quiet. Should they 

 be put out for a fly, or leave them 

 until spring opens up, so that they 

 will not have to be put back in the 

 cellar ? W. H. Beckwith. 



Saybrook, 111. 



[If the bees show signs of uneasi- 

 ness, put them out for a ily ; other- 

 wise, let them remain in the cellar 

 while all is going well— " let well 

 •enough alone," is an old maxim asap 

 plicable to bee-keeping as anything 

 «lse.— Ed.] 



Ninety Colonies in the Cellar. —Have 



had 90 colonies in tlie cellar since 

 Nov. 24 ; a few show signs of dysen- 

 tery; 2 in the open air are quite strong. 

 Bees in this section liave wintered 

 well. J. C. Thorn, M. D. 



Streetsville, Canada. 



Good Bee Pasturage. — I have 57 

 colonies and cannot get along with- 

 out the Bee Journal. The last was 

 a poor season for honey in this locality. 

 My bees are in good condition. We 

 have one of the finest localities in the 

 State for bee pasturage. 



Hezekiah Smith. 



Fredericksville, 111. 



The Season, Smokers, etc. — The 



opinion of many writers for the Jour- 

 nal is that we shall get a large crop 

 of honey the coming season. I sup- 

 pose they base their opinion on the 

 condition of bees at the present, but 

 we should not shout too loud until we 

 get nearer the clearing ; we have a 

 spring to contend with, just ahead of 

 us ; then comes the harvest. Farmers 

 in tliis vicinity are all expecting a 

 very light crop of grass; they say 

 that the winter has been very unfavor- 

 able for the meadows ; that timothy 

 and clover have " winter-killed." The 

 roots are on the top of the ground, 

 thrown out by the frost. Bees are in 

 splendid condition ; tliat is good so 

 far, but if white clover is killed out, 

 we cannot expect a very large surplus. 

 In No. 9, page 137, Mr. T. F. Bingham 

 has an article entitled, " A Partial 

 Review." I think the action of the 

 Northeastern Bee-Keepers' Associa- 



tion must have touclied him in a sore 

 spot. Be that as it may, I do not de- 

 sire to keep rasping on a sore spot, 

 when one is found, so I will try to 

 heal it up. Mr. Bingliam in his re- 

 marks, brings nw in, and all I want to 

 say is that if I understand the case, I 

 do not wish to take back what I said, 

 but to reiterate it in fiilly-as strong 

 language. I iniderstand that Mr. 

 Quinby was the llrst to get up a prac- 

 ticable bellows smoker, and I believe 

 he is accorded that by all. I am in- 

 formed that Mr. Bii'.gham got out a 

 patent on bellows smokers; I do not 

 know what the patent covers, but I 

 am told that he came down and for- 

 bade L. C. Root and others from manu- 

 facturing the liellows smokers. My 

 point is tliis, if Mr. Bingham patented 

 whatotlierstiad invented, and tried to 

 stop others from making, I condemn 

 such in the strongest terms ; but if 

 Mr. Bingham's fertile brain has origin- 

 ated anything that is worthy of a 

 patent, he is entitled to all its bene- 

 fits, and I will hold up botli hands to 

 sustain him or any other man in his or 

 their rights. W. E. Clark. 



Oriskany, N. Y., March 17, 1882. 



Beginning. — I am commencing 

 with bees here, and have S colonies, 

 and will report progress hereafter. 

 There are quite a number of amateurs 

 here and all need such instructions 

 and help as the Bee Journal gives. 



Boulder, Col. C. P. Waldron. 



Answered to lioll Call.— On the 18th 

 inst. my 21 colonies answered to roll 

 call. My apiary is in my yard, which 

 contains about one acre, and is well 

 set in blue grass and beautifully 

 arranged shade trees and shrubs. In 

 the southeast corner of my apiary, 

 where there are no liives yet, I put 

 some boards and set some troughs on 

 them in which I put syrup made of 

 pure A sugar, and then placed a layer 

 of dry corn stalks on the syrup. At 

 10 a. ni. I procurred a few coals on a 

 shovel, and jiut a little piece of old 

 comb on the fire, and in less than 3 

 hours the syrup was all gone clean and 

 dry, and only 3 dead bees left at the 

 troughs. They put in the rest of the 

 day bringing pollen from the maples 

 and elms, which are plentiful here, 

 and in the evening I found that colony 

 No. 8, was robbing colony No. 4. 

 They would not let any others rob 

 them but No. 8. They would fight all 

 others, and all winter this colony No. 

 4 was uneasy, and at times acted like 

 they would swarm, so I examined 

 them and found tliat No. 8 had all the 

 honey, and botli are strong colonies 

 of bees. I tlien took tlie brood cliam- 

 ber of No. 4, and set it on top of the 

 brood chamber of No. 8 ; they re- 

 mained there about 20 minutes ; I then 

 took it ofE ; the bees had gone down 

 into No. 8, and left their queen alone 

 above. I then examined her and 

 found her to be a deformed, unmated 

 voung queeen with 1 leg off. I killed 

 her and the bees united and went to 

 work without any trouble. My20col- 

 onies are now hatching young brood. 

 The prospects are good, although too 

 much rain. R. M. Osborn. 



Kane, 111., March 20, 1882. 



A High Fence.— I think Mr. Casson is 

 right regarding the higli fence around 

 the apiary. I had a colony that got to 

 robbing last season. There was an 

 orchard in their line, and some of the 

 bees in coming back would go around 

 the orchard instead of going over it. 

 I wish to make some foundation for 

 section boxes. I have a set of dies, 

 but do not know how to prepare the 

 sheets to be pressed. Will you give 

 me light on the subject? 



H. W. Cleveland. 



North Sheffield, O. 



[Nearly every manufacturer has, 

 from experience, acquired methods 

 peculiarly his own in some of the de- 

 tails of preparing sheets for the rolls 

 or press. Until quite recently, the 

 method was generally to dip a sheet 

 of galvanized iron or thin wood into 

 a boiler of melted wax. Care must be 

 taken that the wax is about the right 

 heat, and the dipping plate or board 

 is kept cool by immersing in cold 

 water before putting it in the hot 

 wax. A solution of soap bark, as it is 

 called, and which may be procured 

 from nearly all druggists, is used in 

 washing the plate or board, and espe- 

 cially the edges to prevent the wax 

 from sticking, after they have been 

 unused for some time. Some little 

 practice will be required to make 

 everything work smoothly and satis- 

 factorily.— Ed.] 



Improvements In Bee Hives. — I hope 

 the bee hive question is not too hack- 

 neyed to merit special and general 

 discussion at present. I have given 

 the subject much consideration, and 

 would like to have the question fully 

 discussed, for it seems to me that im- 

 portant changes are imminent. 



Montpelier, Vt. A. Webster. 



Good Increase.— In the spring of 

 1880 I commenced with 4 colonies of 

 black bees. I transferred them to 

 frames 8^x15 inches, with success for 

 a new liand. Increased to 10 in fair 

 condition, but lost all but 2 weak 

 colonies in the spring of 1881. In May 

 I bought a colony in a box hive, and 

 on transfering them found the combs 

 full of brood. This colony started me 

 up afresh, and I increased to 12 good- 

 sized colonies, and obtained 50 lbs. of 

 honey in 1 lb. sections. Of these, 5 

 strong colonies were left on their 

 summer stands, in double boxes filled 

 with sawdust all around, and lime 

 cushions over them, which were 

 covered with cut straw, and corn- 

 stalks set all around. The 7 lighter 

 colonies were put in an 8x16 cellar 

 under the house, partitioned off from 

 the other cellar, witli a 4 inch pipe 

 under ground. I bored 3 holes in tlie 

 floor under a partition, which takes 

 the dampness up to the rafters of the 

 house, and by which it escapes. The 

 bee cellar is always fresh. 1 put the 

 bees in the ISth of November. They 

 seem to like it, and are very quiet. 



Matteson, 111. A. Wichbrts. 



