THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



89 



stands. Again, JSlr. C. places his bees 

 to the number of :200 or more colonies. 

 in a warm cellar with a temperature 

 at times of (;■) . or warmer, with no 

 ventilation in tlie cellar, and but little 

 in the hive. One must have them per- 

 fectly dry ; another must have them 

 perfectlv" wet (I was going to say). 

 My own experience has shown me that 

 at'least. thev do not need to be kept 

 dry ; that is, the room need not be a 

 dry one. Mv bees 4 years ago were 

 kept iu a cave in a side hill, and were 



Ent in as soon as it was finished, the 

 ottom fresh, damp clay, and the sides 

 ■were new green boards. They were in 

 about 100 days, and came out in the 

 best possible condition, as they did not 

 spot their hives in the least, when 

 taking their lirst flight. 



The past winter of 1882-83, one of 

 the coldest we have ever had, my bees 

 ■were wintered in the same kind of a 

 cellar, and came out in just as good 

 condition, except the ones that were 

 drowned, as the water got in while I 

 was away from home, and rose to the 

 depth of a foot or more ; these dead 

 ones had quite a large amount of 

 brood, 7,000 to 8,000 bees in process of 

 hatching. 



I cannot see how the pollen theory 

 can figure in such cases. It may be 

 possible that Mi'. Heddon's bees get it 

 in such excessive amounts that makes 

 it such a difficult job to bring his bees 

 safely through a cold winter. But, 

 Mr. lleddon, I cannot resist the temp- 

 tation to give you a piece of friendly 

 advice. You must not persist in win- 

 tering your bees on the old fogy plan, 

 so much in vogue with our ancestors 

 centuries ago. 



Who are the successful winter bee- 

 keepers? They who safely -ivinter 

 them in both cold and warm ■winters. 

 Do they let them set out-doors in snow 

 and wind, and zero weather V Stand 

 up, ye successful ones who do this. 

 I have a vision, and behold, before me 

 agi-eat multitude of bee-keepers, as 

 it were, in a vast level plain, and I see 

 a hill in the midst thereof, and he it is 

 ■who does this very thing, and he keeps 

 them safely ; but where are the ninety- 

 and-nine who lose them all ? But I 

 must bring this article to a close. 

 Thousands of the most skillful bee- 

 keepers are safely keeping their bees 

 from year to year in warm cellars, and 

 will I tliink continue to do so. 



Cambridge, 111. 



Kor the American Btfe Journal. 



To Bee-Keepers of Illinois and lo^wa. 



The regular annual meeting of the 

 Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois 

 Bee-Keepers" Association will be held 

 at Moore's Hall, No. 110 East Third 

 street, on Thursday, Friday and Sat- 

 urday, Feb. 21, 22 and 2.S, 1884. 



Mr. T. G. Newman, of Chicago, 

 editor of the Weekly Bee Journal, 

 will be with us, and has been engaged 

 to give two lectures on " Bee-Keep- 

 ing"" on the 22d and 23d. 



It is hoped that the members of the 

 Association, and others will bring or 

 send honey, apiarian supplies, etc. 

 Any shipment of these, sent to Mr. 

 Israel Hall. Treasurer of the Bee- 



Keepers' Association, Davenport, will 

 be taken from the express office, re- 

 moved to the Hall and cared for. 



Also be ready to report results of 

 last season's work. 



Invitation is hereby extended, not 

 onl>- to the members, but also to their 

 friends. 



We want you to just swarm. 



.J. V.McCagg, Pres. 



1. .J. Nagle, jScc. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Middlesex, Ont., Honey Crop. 



AV. H. WESTON. 



Just at this time of the year it is 

 advisable to bring our industry as 

 much as possible before the public, 

 and as we have not formed a Bee- 

 Keepers' Society for this county yet, 

 I took it upon myself to address the 

 Western Fair Association of this city 

 on the advisability of increasing their 

 prize list for this year, and as the di- 

 rectors have not met yet, I sent the 

 following letter to our daily paper, 

 thinking' that if any of them should 

 read it, perhaps it would impress 

 them favorably. 



" If full statistics could be given of 

 the honey crop of this county, the 

 figures would be as interesting as they 

 ■n-ould be surprising. During the last 

 few years quite a large number of 

 farmers and mechanics have under- 

 taken the care and development of 

 bees, with the result that thousands 

 of dollars' worth of rich and useful 

 honey has been gathered that would 

 otherwise have dried up in the flowers 

 under the summer sun. The small- 

 ness of the capital required is the 

 greater temptation to those who in- 

 vest in bee-keeping. As an instance 

 both of the profitable characters of 

 this industry and the extent to which 

 it is being developed in this district, 

 the case may be given of Mr. Pettit, 

 living near Belmont. He began last 

 season with 72 colonies, and at the end 

 of the summer he sold $970.-53 worth 

 of honey, and kept 22-5 lbs. for his own 

 use, which would bring up the total 

 value of his season's yield to $1,000. 

 Now, on a fair estimate, $700 of that 

 sum would be profit. There have 

 been many others besides who have 

 found the production of honey to be 

 so profitable that they have made 

 arrangements to largely increase their 

 bee accommodations for next year. 

 At the Western Fair, last year, there 

 was about $10,000 worth of honey 

 shown, and many of the leading bee- 

 keepers were not on hand, owing to 

 the meagreness of the prize list and 

 lack of accommodation. There are 

 many interesting facts in connection 

 with bee life that may be given at 

 another time." 



London, Ont., Jan. 28, 1884. 



Sample Copies of the American Bee 

 Journal will be sent free to any per- 

 son. Any one intending to get up a 

 club can have sample copies sent to 

 the persons they desire to interview, 

 by sending the names to this office. 



Si:i-ecT/0XSe>mpM 



c- •^ r^s-- "^dC'^*, — 



?opr 



Mild Winter in England. 



We are experiencing a very mild 

 winter. I have not heard of much 

 mortalitv amongst bees, at present. 

 15ut, of course, it is too early to con- 

 gratulate ourselves on this point. 



Alfred NEronBOUR. 



London, England, Jan. 1.5, 1884. 



Home Market for Honey. 



I commenced the season with 23 

 colonies, after selling some; increased 

 them to 48, and received 1,420 lbs. of 

 extracted honey, nearly all from Al- 

 sike clover. I raise no comb honey, 

 for I can sell 100 lbs. of extracted 

 honey better than I can sell 1 lb. of 

 comb honev. I sold at home, besides 

 my own crop, 1,.500 lbs. of extracted, 

 aiid 150 lbs. of comb honey. I used 

 quite a lot of the pamphlets, " Honey 

 as Food and Medicine," and it paid 

 me well. I use the Langstroth hive 

 with the Simplicity top, at the home 

 apiary. E. S. IIildemann. 



Ashippun, Wis., Jan. 29, 1884. 



"Wintering in Three "Ways. 



Yesterdav being a fine day, my bees 

 took occasion to air themselves a lit- 

 tle. I liave about 20 colonies on the 

 summer stands, without packing of 

 any kind. Some of them show dysen- 

 tery, but not bad, as yet. I have 12 

 packed in timothy chaff, which ap- 

 pear to be all right yet, with the 

 covering all dry and in good order. 

 All together things are in a much 

 better shape than 1 expected to find 

 them after such unusual cold weather. 

 I have 22 in my cellar that, to all ap- 

 pearance, are doing well. This win- 

 tering in, three ways, is just like a 

 disciple of G. M. Doolittle, is it not? 

 T. N. Marquis. 



Woodland, 111., Jan. 31, 1884. 



Dysentery. 



Will any of the bee-keepers of Iowa 

 who winter bees in cellars, please no- 

 tice the first signs of dysentery, and 

 carefully note the date and report in 

 the Bee Journal ? I have 140 colo- 

 nies in one cellar, and to-day, Jan. 26, 

 I find them aU well ; they have been 

 confined 44 days, temperature 38° to 

 40° since Jan. 1.; before, at 4.5-'. 



L. L. TiiiEJi. 



La Porte City, Iowa, .Jan. 26, 1884. 



How far Bees go for Honey. 



This is a cpiestion which is very un- 

 satisfactorily answered. A number 

 of years ago, when the Italian bees 

 were first introduced in this part of 

 the country, a man noticed his bees 

 working very busily in the direction 

 of the river ; he followed them up and 

 found them working on the river bot- 

 tom, six miles from his farm ; this 

 was on fall flowers. My own bees 

 have frequently worked on sweet 



