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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the Auiericjin Bee .Journal. 



Wintering, the Season in England, etc. 



SAMUEL SIJIMINS. 



While there is yet time, before the 

 bees are prepared for their long coii- 

 Hiieiuent, allow me to suggest what 

 appears to me to be the principal 

 cause of the frequent heavy losses, 

 which occur during the severe and 

 protracted cold, to which some of 

 your States are subject. 



The all important and life-giving 

 element, "fresh air," seems to have 

 been lost sight of, and 1 believe that 

 hives judiciously ventilated, without 

 direct draught, will stand any weather, 

 even should they have an excess of 

 pollen, which some writers suppose to 

 be tlie grand cause of wintering 

 troubles. 



Dysentery rarely occurs among my 

 bees. Our winters are never so severe 

 but what the bees can occasionally re- 

 new tl>e air by their usual method of 

 fanning ; but with you the case is 

 different, and it stands to reason that 

 when the cold is so severe that they 

 are unable to leave the cluster for 

 many days in succession, the atmo- 

 sphere must become foul, and, conse- 

 quently, the health of the bees is ma- 

 terially affected, and then follows dys- 

 entery and generally the loss of the 

 colony. 



I do not mean to say that dysentery 

 Is always caused by the want of o.xy- 

 gen, but that its absence is the prin- 

 cipal source of winter mortality with 

 colonies well stored. 



My idea is to give a gentle, continu- 

 ous supply of fresh air, without per- 

 mitting direct draught, and those in- 

 tending to experiment in this direc- 

 tion will, of course, adopt the means 

 most suited to theii- own style of hive. 

 The season with us has been generally 

 unfavorable ; the only honey-How oc- 

 curring during the second week in 

 August, when colonies in fair condi- 

 tion stored more than sufficient for 

 winter. Previous to tliis the bees ob- 

 tained just enough to keep the queens 

 breeding, enabling me to increase to 

 twice the number I had at the begin- 

 ning of the year. I should have done 

 better than this, but the weather was 

 too windy and cool for the mating of 

 queens; hardly one in five succeeded 

 in meeting a drone, although I had a 

 large number of the latter in my 

 apiary. 



1 have come to the conclusion that 

 drones are useless except for the one 

 purpose of fertilizing queens. They 

 consume a large quantity of honey. 

 This year two of my strongest colo- 

 nies contained not only their own 

 drones, but, toward autumn, others 

 from hives where they were being 

 turned out, and when at last a few 

 <lays of honey weather set in, these 

 two made but little show, while oth- 

 ers having no drones, were enabled to 



store and cap sufHcient for their win- 

 ter consumption. During June and 

 July, those having an average num- 

 ber of drones could not seal a single 

 cell of honey, while even weaker colo- 

 nies with none, managed to keep 2 or 

 3 lbs. capped over. 



Drones that are not required for 

 breeding are abnost a triple loss to the 

 bee-keeper. The same space of comb 

 which produced these idle consumers 

 would have given a larger number of 

 working bees, who not only get their 

 own living, but add to the wealth of 

 the hive. 



I do not think the drones are at all 

 instrumental in ripening the honey. 

 What can do this more effectually 

 than the constant circulation of air 

 created by the peculiar fanning mo- 

 tion keptup by the bees V Neither do 

 I see how it can be supposed that 

 drones are necessary to help keep the 

 brood warm. We know tliat wben 

 there is sufficient honey in the fields 

 to entice nearly the whole working 

 force of the hive, the brood is par- 

 tially deserted only during the hottest 

 part of the day, when no danger will 

 occur by its being so left. It cannot 

 be said that the presence of the drones 

 will liberate a larger number of work- 

 ers, for it must always be borne in 

 mind that they are produced only at 

 the expense of a much larger number 

 of actual laborers. 



Rottingdean, near Brighton, Eng. 



Bee-Keepers' Exchange. 



Jottings on California Bee Topics. 



W. A. PEYAL. 



The honey season has closed and 

 now the wise bee-keeper is working to 

 get his bees to fill their hives with 

 honey for the winter requirements. 

 No matter how good the yield may 

 liave been at the regular season, the 

 bees will, as soon as it is over and the 

 short drouth is lasting, empty the 

 greater part of the cells of the sweet 

 liquid. This spell of no honey and in- 

 door boarding commences as a gen- 

 eral rule toward the middle of July 

 and continues perhaps for some weeks. 

 During its continuance all the drones 

 are banished from the hives, never to 

 be replenished till the following 

 March. In this short time too the 

 large force of workers that remained 

 at the close of the last honey consume 

 fully one-half of the supplies ; and as 

 there are but few flowers of any con- 

 sequence, after July the wise apiarist 

 lias to manage his bees carefully to 

 keei) them from consuming the re- 

 mainder of their stores. It is true 

 that there are .some flowers to be found 

 at all seasons of the year in this cli- 

 mate, but where many bees are kept 

 no one colony can manage to lay in 

 anything like an adequate supply of 

 winter provisions from these flowers, 

 unless the bloom is abundant and the 

 flow of nectar free and plentiful as it 

 is some years. At this time, too, the 

 queen ceasi^s to lay eggs except in two 

 or three frames ; the bees gradually 

 begin to grow less. So it is important 

 for the apiarist to be attentive to the 

 needs of the apiary at this season. 



Just a little judgment will save him 

 perhaps many a valuable colony of 

 bees. 



From five to fifteen pounds of honey 

 will suffice to winter a colony in this 

 climate, if the bee-keeper is only care- 

 ful and watches them. A few ounces 

 of honey fed to them at the proper 

 time may take them through the 

 worst part of the season, and from 

 thence on they will be able to earn 

 their own living. 



My bees have gone through the 

 "hard times" with the aid of a few 

 pounds of honey, that was fed to them. 

 The eucalyptus will soon be in bloom, 

 ,111(1 this feed with the juice they will 

 " steal " from peach and apricot or- 

 chards, will provision tlipm for the 

 winter. In the middle part of Feb- 

 ruary they may require a little more 

 feeding, in fact, if they do not really 

 require it, it is always a good plan to 

 give them a few ounces every evening 

 to stimulate the queen to greater exer- 

 tions towards filling the combs with 

 eggs so that a large force of bees will 

 be ready for the first honey flow. 



Orchardists in this vicinity do not 

 complain of the beesas do their breth- 

 ren in the lower part of the state. 

 Their great annoyance is caused by 

 birds, especially the linnets. When a 

 fruit is once pecked by a bird, it is no 

 •longer of any account and the neigh- 

 borly fruit grower would sooner have 

 the bees get the rest of it than his 

 arch enemy the bird. 



The latest reports from the honey 

 section of the state say that the crop 

 will be abouta fourth of a crop. Still, 

 though the crop is light it is of good 

 quality, and the bee-keepers have 

 made such in;iterial advances in 

 knowledge, etc., during the last year, 

 that they are demanding higher prices 

 for their honey. No more do they in- 

 tend to let speculators grow fat at 

 their expense, and we hope they will 

 succeed in their demands. 



This county (Alameda) is not noted 

 for its bee-keeping interests ; it being 

 more of a manulacluring, commercial, 

 agricultural and horticultural county. 

 As far as I know I am the only indi- 

 vidual in it who has made any success 

 of apiculture, and then oiily to a 

 limited extent. No other person has 

 an apiary "equipped " with the mod- 

 ern appliances like myself. In the 

 adjoining county, Santa Clara, on the 

 south, there aie several successful 

 bee-keepers. 



I have, during this unfavorable 

 vear, taken 41! pounds of extracted 

 honey from my hives; this is nearly 

 half a crop. The honey is of three 

 grades, corresp(uiding to the season m 

 which it was gathered. The first is of 

 a (lark amber, and of a fine flavor, be- 

 ing what we call eucalyptus honey; 

 the second lot, which was taken dur- 

 ing the principal honey flow, is of a 

 pale amber, anil is a fine article ; and 

 the last is a little darker than the sec- 

 ond and nearly as good. There are 

 none of the honey sages in the woods 

 liereabouts that they have in the south, 

 and consequently we do not obtain any 

 of the peculiar lioney they :?et down 

 there; but still our honey sells as 

 readily as does theirs. We get five or 

 six cents per pound more for ours than 



