B94 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



becoming clogged, and the remainder 

 by starvation, with plenty of honey 

 in the other frames next to them. In 

 some cases they had passed over and 

 taken a little honey from the top of 

 the comb, and then died with plenty 

 of honey just below them. Loss, 2-5 

 per cent. From these experiments I 

 draw the following conclusions : 



1. That it is better to reduce the 

 size of the hive in the fall, to the size 

 of the colony. 



2. That each comb should contain 

 sufficient honey to last what bees 

 cluster on it, luitil the Hrst or middle 

 of April. 



3. That passage ways through the 

 combs are more reliable in cold 

 weather than any other way. 



i. Tliat muchopenspace above the 

 combs is an injury, as bees will some- 

 times cluster there in cold weather 

 and starve to death with plenty of 

 honey just below them. I do not 

 think they ever move downwards for 

 food when it is too cold for the cluster 

 to break. 



•5. That it is better to remove those 

 frames that contain much pollen, in 

 the fall, as it is not suitable food for 

 bees in the winter season, and it oc- 

 cupies room that should be tilled with 

 honey ; but such combs should be re- 

 turned to the hive in the early spring, 

 so that it might be used up in brood- 

 rearing before they can get a supply 

 from the flowers. 



Wellington, Me. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Will County, 111,, Convention. 



The meeting of the Will County 

 Bee-Keepers" Association was held oh 

 May 26, 18&4, at Monee, 111., and was 

 called to order by the president, A. 

 Wicherts. Secretary Xelson being ab- 

 sent, G. Kettering was elected to 

 that ofDce. After roll-call the Presi- 

 dent read a brief essay about bees 

 and bee-keepers, which "was very in- 

 teresting. The committee reported a 

 constitution and by-laws, which was 

 unanimously adopted. 



The following topics relating to bee- 

 culture were then discussed : 1. "In- 

 door or out-door wintering.'' 2. " Is 

 it wise to encourage everybody to keep 

 beesV" 3. " Prevention of robbing."' 

 4. "Transferring bees." 5. "The 

 difference between the bright Italian 

 and the leather-colored bee." 



The first topic was then discussed, 

 and a majority of the members con- 

 cluded that they had better success 

 in wintering their bees in a good, dry, 

 ventilated cellar— especially weak col- 

 onies and nuclei. However, several 

 preferred out-door wintering if the 

 bees are well protected. 



Mr. C. Schreier"s opinion on the 

 second topic was, that every man 

 ought to keep bees to produce his own 

 honey. The prevailing opinion was 

 though we should encourage all to 

 keep bees, we should tell them not 

 only the advantages, but also the dis- 

 advantages of bee-keeping. 



Concerning the third topic, the 

 President stated that lie had a colony 

 which was robbed. He first put a 

 wet bag on the hive, so as to let the 



water drop down in front of it, but it 

 had no effect. He then followed the 

 robbers to their own hive, opened it 

 and disturbed some of their combs to 

 make tlie honey run out of the cells ; 

 this gave them work at their own 

 home, and the robbing ceased. 



About the fourth topic, all thought 

 it advisable to transfer bees from all 

 box-hives into movable-frame hives. 



The prevailing opinion concerning 

 the fifth topic was, that the leather- 

 colored bee is a cross between the 

 Italian and a dark-colored German 

 bee. 



Tlie question about deep or shallow 

 frames was discussed at some length. 

 Mr. C. Sehreier is altogether in favor 

 of the Langstroth frame, while Mr. 

 A. Wicherts claim that a short, deep 

 frame would be preferable because 

 bees could have more honey above 

 them, and they would winter better. 

 Bees ought to have honey enough 

 above them where they cluster. But 

 as for handling during the honey sea- 

 son, he would prefer a shallow frame. 



Mr. W. Cassens was elected Treas- 

 urer, and- the sum of 2-5 cents from 

 eacli member was collected. 



The convention then took a short 

 recess. After resuming business 

 again, several new members joined 

 the association. It was decided that 

 the next regular meeting should be 

 held on the first Monday in Septem- 

 ber, at 1 p. m., in Monee, III. After 

 tendering a vote of thanks to .los. 

 Jordan, for tlie free use of his Hall, 

 the convention adjourned. 



GusTAVus Kettering, Sec. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Increasing Colonies by Division. 



J. M. HICKS. 



It has been many years since I first 

 practiced increasing my colonies of 

 bees by tlie above method of swarm- 

 ing, and thus saved a great deal of 

 trouble as well as time m waiting for 

 them to swarm at will ; which I think 

 is money to the bee-keeper who de- 

 sires to prosper in the business of 

 keeping bees tor profit. 



I am well aware that many object 

 to the management of bees on any 

 other than the old style, and say, " let 

 the bees swarm naturally if you would 

 succeed, as did our fathers ;" but I 

 desire different success from that of 

 -5U years ago. when we so well recol- 

 lect liow father, mother, and some- 

 times grandpa as well as grandma 

 frequently came over to show how to 

 hive bees' when they should swarm; 

 and of all the whang-to-bang-bangs 

 and jingling of cow-bells, played so 

 as to get tlie bees to settle, frequently 

 resulting in a total failure. Often tlie 

 bees would return to the liive from 

 which they came out, and sometimes 

 going off to the woods, for there was 

 plenty of woods here in the Iloosier 

 State about thnt time, and were thus 

 lost, or failed to cast a swarm at all. 



It is a well known fact, too well es- 

 tablished to be misunderstood by any 

 one except an old-time bee-keeper, 

 that two-fifths of the colonies which 

 are allowed to swarm in the old way. 



are lost by going to the woods. While 

 it is a well established fact to the 

 more modern and scientific bee-keeper 

 that a swarm produced by dividing a 

 colony, at the right time, there will 

 be no trouble about losing a swarm, 

 or having them come out and leave 

 the hive. 



I think tliat it is much easier to 

 swing the brood frames out and select 

 such of the brood as is fit for putting 

 into a new hive of the same shape 

 and size (which they should all be) ; 

 thus making up your new colonies in 

 five to ten minutes. This should be 

 so managed as to come as near to the 

 time when the oldest of the brood 

 would have swarmed had they been 

 left to luck and chance. 



But says one old fogy, " How are 

 you going to do all this and not let 

 the bees swarm in the old way V" 

 Truly, this old question is a poser to 

 us; but we must make ready one of 

 our improved hives, just the same as 

 all the bees are in, and we set it by 

 the side of the hive of bees that we 

 think is ready for dividing. We now 

 swing the doors open and take out a 

 frame from the middle of the new 

 hive, then open the strong colony of 

 bees, and swing the brood frames 

 apart carefully, and we find the frame 

 on which the queen is situated. Per- 

 haps she is laying eg^s at the rate of 

 a hundred per hour ; but we now lift 

 the frame of brood, queen, and adher- 

 ing bees on the same, and hang it in 

 the new hive in place of the frame 

 just taken out, and then hang the 

 new frame in the old hive, and close 

 up both hives carefully. 



Put the new hive with the frame of 

 brood, bees and queen, in the same 

 place where the old hive stood, and 

 move the old hive some distance off 

 to a new location. Now, the work is 

 done, the old colony which would 

 have swarmed, returned to the new 

 hive at the old location, thus strength- 

 ening them, and goes to work with a 

 will, already having one sheet of 

 brood, eggs, and the mother-queen as 

 a start in house-keeping. 



Battle Ground, Ind. 



1^ Cook's Manual in cloth and the 

 Weekly Bee Journal for one year 

 will be sent for S3. Manual and 

 Monthly, §2.00. We have no more of 

 the old edition left, and, therefore, the 

 club price of that edition at S2.75 and 

 S1.75 IS withdrawn. 



®" Do not let your numbers of the 

 Bee Journal for 1884 be lost. The 

 best way to preserve them is to pro- 

 cure a binder and put them in. They 

 are very valuable for reference. 



1^" Dzierzoirs new work entitled 

 '■ Rational Bee-Keeping,"" we now 

 club with the Bee Journal as fol- 

 lows : The Weekly for one year and 

 tlie book, bound in" cloth, for S3, or in 

 paper covers for §2.7.5. The Monthly 

 Bee Journal and the book, $1 less 

 than the above prices. It is an im- 

 ported book, printed in the English 

 language, and the price of the book is 

 SI. 50 bound in paper covers, or $2.00 

 when bound in cloth. 



