236 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



room ; also, by confining the bees to -I 

 or 5 frames by using an adjusting- 

 board. I liave had bees for 4") years, 

 and I liave never lost a colony from 

 the so-called bee cholera. ]5ee chol- 

 era and spring dwindling can be pre- 

 vented by a proper preparation in the 

 fall. Thomas Heaton. 



Moore's Hill. Ind., March 29, 18&i. 



Are Bees Property ? 



Mr. Southwick, who, on page 200 of 

 the Bee Jouknal, says bees are not 

 property,has not " caught Prof. Cook'" 

 wrong this time ; as he, Mr. S., is 

 laboring mider a mistake in thinking 

 that bees are what in law are termed 

 "/ern; 7iat!«-ce." They are not only 

 considered in law as property, while in 

 hives; but, if a swarm leaves my 

 apiary and flies directly to my neigh- 

 bor's yard, and I can keep in sight 

 of them all the time, so as to be able 

 to positively identify them, I can re- 

 claim and hold them. This has been 

 the law for more than 300 years, and 

 many cases can be cited iii proof of 

 the same if it was necessary so to do. 

 I simply correct Mr. S. in order that 

 no wrong impressions may be given 

 as to the status of our pets. 



J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Foxboro, :Mass., March 28, 1884. 



"Why Eat Honey ? 



Bko. Xewman : — Sample of " l.,eaf- 

 let No. 1 " is received. You ask : 

 "Does it please you V" I answer, most 

 emphatically, yes. You are always 

 at the helm, ready to help us out; 

 which, I hope, all enterprising bee- 

 keepers will appreciate. 



E. J. SCOKIELD. 



Hanover. Wis., March 29, 1884. 



"White Clover Promises Well. 



Bees have wintered well here, for 

 so cold a winter. White clover prom- 

 ises to be a good crop. Some patent- 

 Tight bee-hive men got in some of 

 their work, in an adjoining county. 

 about the middle of March ; claiming 

 that then was the right time to trans- 

 fer, and liave the bees to begin to make 

 new comb and get ready for the honey 

 harvest. These men knew better. 

 The frost was not out of the ground, 

 and not a bud liad started. 



Isaac Sharp. 



Waveland, Ind., March 29, 1884. 



'Warm Cellar for Wintering Bees. 



I have kept bees during the past 20 

 years, for pleasure only, and not for 

 profit; therefore, I did not take the 

 •care of them that I knew they re- 

 quired. Two years ago last winter, 

 there being no cellar under the house 

 in which I lived, I built one 14x24, 

 and 8 feet high. I enclosed it with 

 planks ; studdeii the width of sills, 8 

 inches, and sealed up the inside, mak- 

 ing a 10-inch space, which I filled up 

 with sawdust. I also lathed and 

 plastered the room, then divided it 

 into two nearly equal rooms ; one of 

 which we used for a kitchen, the other 

 as a store-house for vegetables, etc. 

 In this latter room I placed my f> 

 strong colonies of bees in Langstroth 



hives ; then darkened the room : raised 

 the front end of the cap, and laid 

 pieces of carpet over the entrance ; 

 thus making it very dark. A ther- 

 mometer near, ranged from 50° to 90° 

 the whole winter. In the spring, 

 upon taking them out of their winter 

 (piarters, all the dead bees that I could 

 find could have been put into a tea- 

 cup. I can endorse Mr. Barber's idea 

 of keeping bees warm. I think if 

 those bee-keepers would study as 

 hard how to fix a warm place for their 

 bees as they do to find out the cause 

 of dysentery, foul brood, spring 

 dwindling, etc., there would be less 

 loss in winter. Keep your bees as 

 warm as Mr. Barber or myself, keep 

 ours, and you save all trouble. 

 Forestvi'lle. N. Y. A. Poi'E. 



Wintering Bees in Cellars. 



For over 8 years,40 of my neighbors 

 have wintered their bees in cellars, 

 and have not lost one-tenth part as 

 many as those who have tried it only 

 once, and given it up. We do not look 

 for bee-bread ; all we care for, is a 

 good, prolific queen, and as much 

 as 20 pounds of honey. Neither is it 

 all capped ; yet we hardly ever lose 

 one colony out of SO, unless the queen 

 is "played out"' in the fall. For 7 

 years I had not lost one colony, until 

 last year, when several colonies were 

 lost 6y starvation, which was an over- 

 sight "of mine. If any one should 

 come here and say to "some of those 

 40 men, take this chaff hive and save 

 trouble, they would reply : " As long 

 as Crowfoot Bros., near Hartford, 

 keep their 1.000 colonies in cellars, we 

 can ours."" Who of those men would 

 take Doolittle's advice about founda- 

 tion being no profit in the brood-cham- 

 bers. If a man can make foundation 

 to hold 1.5 inches without wire, it 

 matters not whether he uses a wash- 

 wringer or press. I told Mr. Given 

 that [ could get along without wiring, 

 after a little practice. By the use of 

 2}4 pound foundation and one Cyp- 

 rian queen, a woman extracted 3.50 

 pounds of honey from one colony dur- 

 ing the past s'eason. The secret is 

 merely a quilt, not a honey board in 

 tlie cellar, if put there in time. 



John II. Guentiieh. 



Theresa. Wis. 



Wintered in Langstroth Hives. 



My bees are flying freely ; have lots 

 of brood, and are now 'in as good 

 condition as I ever saw them ; al- 

 though they were wintered on the 

 summer stands in that outrageously 

 poor hive (V), the Langstroth ! 



J. E. Pond, Jk. 



Foxboro, Mass., March 27, 1884. 



Convention Notices. 



^' The Des Moines County Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, will meet in R. 

 C. Crawford's Hall, in Middleton, 

 Iowa, on Tuesday, April 22, 1884, at 

 10 a. m. sharp. All who are interested 

 in apiculture are invited to attend. 

 We will have a programme on various 

 subjects of interest to bee-keepers. 

 John Xau, Sec. 



^ The Central Illinois Bee- Keep- 

 ers' Association, will meet at the 

 Court House, in Lincoln, Logan Co., 

 111., on Thursday. April 17, at 2 p. m. 



L. C. SCnWERDTFEGUS, Sec. 



1^" A general meeting of the County 

 of Oxford. Out., Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, will be held in Woodstock, 

 Out., on Saturday, April 19, com- 

 mencing at 10 a. m. Important sub- 

 jects will be discussed, among which 

 will be. " Foul Brood," " Spring Man- 

 agement of Bees," " 13est Methods of 

 Increase," etc. M. S. Schell, Sec. 



J. B. Hall, Pres. 



1^ The Union Kentucky Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold its 

 spring meeting at Eminence, Ky., on 

 April 24, 1884. 



G. W. Demakee, Sec. 



^° A bee-keepers" association is to 

 be organized in \Vestern New York 

 on Tuesday, May (>, 1884, at Randolph, 

 Cattaraugus County. In this south- 

 ern-tier district there are a large num- 

 ber engaged in bee-keeping, and an 

 association of this kind has long been 

 needed. A general invitation is ex- 

 tended to all interested in bee-keeping. 

 W. A. Shewman. 



®" The fourth semi-annual meet- 

 ing of the Western bee-keepers will 

 be held at Independence, Mo., April 

 24 and 25, 1884. This will be the most 

 interesting convention of bee-keepers 

 ever held in the West. The associa- 

 tion numbers among its members 

 some of the most successful bee-keep- 

 ers in the country, and many outside 

 the association, from abroad, will be 

 here to take part in the discussions. 

 Let each one come prepared to take 

 part in the discussions, and bring 

 something to exhibit. The program- 

 me, when completed, will comprise 

 all the interesting subjects of the day. 

 The committee appointed at our last 

 meeting on " marketing honey," will 

 report trie first day, and it will be of 

 great interest; for the committee 

 IS composed of thorough men who 

 liave given the subject a large amount 

 of attention since' our last meeting, 

 .lerome Twitehell, of Kansas City, has 

 kindly consented to address the con- 

 vention on the subject of " Preparing 

 honey for market." 



C. M. Ckandall, Sec. 

 Independence, Mo. 

 H. ScovELL, Pres. t'olumbus, Kans. 



^^ The Iowa Central Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will hold its semi-an- 

 nual meeting in the Court House at 

 Winterset, Iowa, on April 18, 1884, at 

 10 a. m. All are cordially invited. 

 All visitors from abroad will be hos- 

 pitably cared for. Members are re- 

 quested to bring their baskets well 

 hlled, and we will have a general good 

 time. Any one having new apiarian 

 implements, or any thing that will ad- 

 vance the interest of the association, 

 are requested to bring them for exhi- 

 bition. J. E. Pryou, Sec. 



A. J. Adkison, Pres. 



Maple Grove, Iowa. 



