THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



309 



and alwaj's will be. The way " we " 

 agree so nicely in our opinions in re- 

 gard to apiciilture here, is because 

 " we,'" the family and .S apprentices, 

 arc. numerous enough to hold daily 

 JJee Conventions, and wlien we differ, 

 we just discuss the subject till we 

 agree, if possible, and ui)on iioints 

 tliat we do not agree, I do not say 

 '• we '" think so. Now, you have not 

 said any unkind things of me. that 1 

 know of. I do not consider sarcasm 

 unkindness, any more thun it is logic. 

 I rather like "smart'' hits, and 

 would rather they would hit nie than 

 to never be shot. I smoke the pipe of 

 peace with you, and if you will drop 

 in upon me some time, I will convince 

 you that my stomach is not sour — no 

 not acid — not even bacterious. 

 Dowagiac, Mlcli. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Wintering: Bees in Clamps. 



W. Z. HUTCHIN.SON. 



About a year ago an article appeared 

 in the Bee Journal upon the above 

 subject, by Mr. C. J. Eobinson. I 

 was very ranch interested in the mat- 

 ter, and, after some correspondence 

 witli Mr. R.. I decided to give this 

 method of wintering a trial. 



Learning that dampness was one 

 great foe to success, I selected a dry, 

 sandy knoll as a site for my clamps. 

 I use the word in the plural, because 

 I buried bees in two pits, in order 

 that I miglit open one early and the 

 other late, and note the difference in 

 the condition of the bees. 



In burying the bees, 1 first dug a 

 trench two feet wide at the top, and 

 two feet deep. This trench was filled 

 with dry straw, then jiieces of scant- 

 ling were laid across the trench, and 

 tlie hives set over the trench upon 

 these pieces of scantling. With rails 

 and pieces of rails a pen was built 

 around the hives, and the space be- 

 tween hives and rails, which was 

 about one foot, was filled with dry 

 straw. The pen was built about a 

 foot higher than the tops of the hives, 

 the tops of the hives were covered 

 with straw to the depth of one foot, 

 and then the straw was covered with 

 rails, the ends of the rails resting upon 

 the outside pen. The sides of the 

 pen were built slightly sloping, so 

 that the top of the jien was smallei' 

 than the bottom. The pen was covered 

 upon the outside witli about a foot of 

 straw, and then the whole was covered 

 with earth to the depth of about 18 

 inches. 



On Nov. 1.5, four colonies were 

 buried in one clamp, and six iu an- 

 otlier. No openings were left for 

 ventilation, and. during the past win- 

 ter, I was obliged to " tell about those 

 bees " imtil it really became tiresome. 

 "What! don't you give them any 

 air 'i " " No, only what was in there 

 when they were buried, and what lit- 

 tle finds its way through the earth." 

 " Whv : they'll smother won't they ?" 

 " No,"I think not.'' " Well, I wouldn't 

 give you much for them,'" etc. 



1 selected the lightest colonies, as 

 Mr. Robinson said that he thought 



that they wintered better in clamps 

 than did strong colonies. The light- 

 est colony did not cover three combs. 

 while the" heaviest covered six combs. 



One clamp was opened April 1st, 

 and the bees were found in fine con- 

 dition. There were but few dead 

 bees, scarcely any honey consumed, 

 the bees very quiet with no signs of 

 dysentery, no moldy combs, and the 

 straw so dry and sweet that the cow 

 ate it readily. The other chunp was 

 opened April ITtli. and the bees found 

 in the same condition as in the other 

 clani]), except tlud the lightest colony 

 was dead, for which 1 can give no 

 reason, unless it was because there 

 were so few bees. With the excep- 

 tion of this one colony, the bees ap- 

 penred to lie in about the same con- 

 dition as wlien i)laced in the clamps — 

 as though they had slept only over 

 night, instead of over live months, as 

 ^ome of them had. 



Tills experiment helps to confirm 

 my belief that, if properly managed, 

 bees can be successfully wintered 

 without carrying them "out, in the 

 winter, for a " lly.'' 



I have been so" successful in this at- 

 tempt at wintering bees in clamps, 

 that I shall try it again next winter 

 upon a larger scale. If I remember 

 rightly, Mr. Robinson has, for several 

 years, wintered liis light colonies in 

 this manner, and wintered them suc- 

 cessfully, too. I wish to thank Mr. 

 Robinson and the Bee .Journal for 

 information upon this subject. 



Rogersville, Mich. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Fasteninsr Fotiiidalion in Sections. 



On page 227 of the current volume 

 of the Bee .Joui;x.\L is an article by 

 Dr. iMiller upon the above subject, 

 and its perusal as well as many others 

 that have appeared at various times 

 in the Journal, leads me to believe 

 tliat it is not known generally among 

 the fraternity how easy a thing it is 

 to fasten either fiiundation or combs 

 in frames or boxes, that will remain 

 just where you put them. And if the 

 Doctor or Mr. Doolittle will give it a 

 fair trial, I think the former will have 

 no further " trouble in having it drop- 

 ping out of sections just at tlie most 

 annoying time when honey is coming 

 in with a rush." and that the latter 

 will lay aside his hot iron. 



In practice it is simple, and the 

 foundation can be inserted rapidly 

 and .securely. I will give to the fra- 

 ternity my method of fastening 

 starters of combs in surplus boxes, or 

 whole sheets of bee combs in frames 

 for the body of the hive for the past 

 1.5 or 20 years, with entire satisfac- 

 tion, and I find it answers equally 

 well in securing foundation in place. 

 To hold the foundation in the frame 

 (or section if that n;nne is more ex- 

 pressive) conveniently for fastening it 

 there, I make what I shall call a sup- 

 port, as follows : Take a piece of 

 3-16 inch board (a piece of cigar box I 

 prefer) and cut it M inch less on all 

 sides than the inside of the section. 



On one side of this piece and flush 

 with the edge nail a strip ;i| or ^ 

 inch thick, and the same in length, 

 and wide enough to project I4 inch 

 beyond the side of the top-bar of the 

 frame, when the opposite side of the 

 support is a trifle less than half way 

 through the section (less the thickness 

 of the foundation). To the lower out- 

 side edge of this :'i inch strip nail ,1 

 piece ig inch thick. ^4 inch wide ;i d 

 of the s;ime ler.gtli to eaiige the e." ct 

 distance the support will stand in the 

 section so as to hold the found ^tion 

 centrally in the section. Cut the top 

 and one side of the foundation at right 

 angles to each other so lh;(titwill 

 come in close contact with the top-bar 

 and one side of the section. Turn the 

 section upside down and clap the sup- 

 port inside with the thumb placed on 

 the % inch strip and the lingers on 

 the outside of the top-bar holding it 

 securely in place, lay in the founda- 

 tion carefully so as to have the straight 

 edges lit nicely to the top-bar and 

 side. This will prevent the melted 

 cement from running under it. Tip 

 the section a little to one side to pre- 

 vent the foundation from falling out. 

 To fasten it hold the frame in such a 

 position as to liave one of the straight 

 edges at a suitable angle for the 

 melted cement to run quickly down 

 its edge to the corner of the "section, 

 if there is a surplus of it, fiy adroitly 

 turning the section allowitio traverse 

 on down the other straight edge of 

 the foundation. It is not advisable 

 to pour on too much at first, but after 

 it has started down to keep dropping 

 it from ttie spoon upon the descend- 

 ing current as it shows signs of stop- 

 ping. Some practice and care is 

 needed to keep the cement at a proper 

 temperature ; if too hot it will melt 

 the fonndiition, and if too cool it will 

 not flow fast enough to make a neat 

 job. It requires but little cement to 

 hold the foundation firmly in its place, 

 and all beyond this is worse than use- 

 less. A little practice will enable the 

 operator to hold the frame in a proper 

 liosition to liave the cement travel 

 quickly along in its course so as not 

 to liave it spread too much on either 

 the foundation or frame. If, however, 

 too much has been used, or dropped on 

 the frame. I find a table knife with 

 the blade broken off so as to leave it 

 an inch long on the back and half an 

 inch longer on the cutting edge, giv- 

 ing itnn acute angle (most conveni- 

 ently done by grinding), a conveni- 

 ent ' tool to remove the superfluous 

 cement. With the thumb placed on 

 one side of the blade to act as a guage 

 it can quickly be removed if attended 

 to before it becomes too cool. 



The cement I use is made by melt- 

 ing together in my wax cup three 

 ])arts of clean bees wax and one of 

 clear, clean rosin, well incorporated 

 by stirring after they are melted. The 

 quantities are by bulk, and as near 

 their proi)ortions "as I can guess, as it 

 is added from time to time as I need 

 it. 



The best thing I have found for ap- 

 plying the cement with is a thin tea- 

 I spoorf with the point of the bowl 

 drawn out to a narrow pitchnr mouth 

 shape, by haraniering; I also lind the 



