THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



615 



The third question did not take 

 much time, ana was decided tliat it 

 was not necessary to liave winter 

 passages in tlie coiiil)s. 



In regard to the fourth question : 

 Mr. B. llayen, one of our oldest bee- 

 keepers, claimed tluit our bees swarm- 

 ed altogether too late, this year, lie 

 laid it to a spell of coid, rough 

 weather just at the time wlien colo- 

 nies ought to cast swarms, lie further 

 says that if our bees had swarmed as 

 they should have done, or as they 

 generally do, we would have had fully 

 as much honey, this year, as we did 

 last ; and when we had our best 

 honev-tlow, this year, bees laid before 

 their hives looking at us, and waiting 

 for a swarm to issue. Every member 

 present agreed with Mr. llayen that 

 this was the cause, and nothing else. 



Mr. Cassens made amotion that our 

 next meeting should be held at 

 Beecher, Will County, 111., on Nov. 

 10, 1884, at the office of Dr. Charles 

 Ruden, which was unaniuiously car- 

 ried. By motion the meeting then 

 adjourned. 



GusTAvus Kettering, See 



Chas. Ruden, Pres. pro tern. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Winter Management of Bees. 



J. M. HICKS. 



It is usual for the apiarist to look 

 after his colonies of bees and see that 

 each one is in good condition for 

 wintering. We will suggest, as a 

 rule, that from Xov. 1 to the middle 

 of December is a good time to look 

 after the bees, and see that they have 

 a sufficiency of honey to last" them 

 through the winter. Perhaps in some 

 seasons it should be attended to 

 earlier. A good colony of bees should 

 have at least 15 to 20 pounds of honey 

 stored in the combs. It is now a 

 mooted question as to whether it is 

 advisable for a colony to possess a 

 very great quantity of pollen in their 

 winter stores. 



It has been asserted, and we think 

 very justly too, by some who profess 

 to be well versed in the science of 

 apiculture, that pollen is the true 

 cause of so much disease among bees 

 during the winter montlis, and es- 

 pecially very early in the spring do 

 we often hear of complaints afiout 

 the bees having diarrhcea. As a rem- 

 edy for this trouble, we further suggest 

 that salt-water be placed in wooden 

 troughs and set within a few yards of 

 the bees, and then we think there will 

 be but little risk to run in bees keep- 

 ing perfectly healthy if all other 

 things are in proper condition, such 

 as ventilation, good, pure food, and a 

 comfortable shed, which should al- 

 ways be provided for them by the 

 bee-keeper. The shed should have an 

 eastern front, but if it cannot be thus 

 made, our next choice would be a 

 south front. All bee-sheds should 

 have a close-fitting back, and a well- 

 shingled roof. 



If these suggestions are attended 

 to at the right time, and prepared 

 with as due regard to comfort for the 

 bees as any other stock on the farm, 



we would have no cause for com- 

 plaint" A good farmer never thinks 

 that he has done too much for his 

 horses, cows, sheep and hogs, by 

 building good barns, stables and pens 

 in which he can have all his farm 

 stock protected from inclement 

 weather. 



The question has often been asked, 

 " Is it necessary to build good winter 

 quarters for bees V We answer that 

 it is just as essential as it is for any 

 other stock. It is true that we do not 

 pay as much for a colony of bees as 

 we" do for a cow or a horse ; but it is 

 no less the duty of the husbandman 

 to protect and care for the bees by 

 providing the proper sheds for them, 

 when they "board themselves," and 

 often return a large surplus of honey. 



Battle Ground, Ind. 



ror tne American Bee Journal. 



Management of Long Hives. 



W. U. S. GKOUT. 



Mr. Buswell wishes me to describe 

 my system of management of long 

 hives, and wliy I prefer them to two- 

 story hives. I use, substantially, the 

 Kidder frame, IS inches long and 11 

 inches deep, inside measure, and hives 

 40 inches long inside, made double- 

 walled at the sides, and high enough 

 to allow of packing over the frames. 

 Finishing nails are driven into the 

 frames to hang by, and hoop-iron to 

 hang on, whicm facilitates rapid hand- 

 ling, and very few bees are crushed. 

 Italian bees" are preferred, for it is 

 generally conceded, I believe, that 

 they will labor best near their brood. 

 I use a division-board, and when the 

 bees are strong enough— say, crowd 

 half their hive— give them the whole 

 length by alternating frames of empty 

 comb with the brood (when the honey 

 flow comes). When the honey is ripe 

 enough to extract, the bees are shaken 

 inside more readily than in two- story 

 hives, and a frame nearly filled with 

 brood is left for them to cluster on, 

 and all tlie rest emptied by a 4-frame 

 extractor, and then returned. When 

 the honey-flow is abundant, I spread 

 the combs so as to use 18 in a hive. 

 I have repeatedly tested two-story 

 hives against the long ones for ex- 

 tracted honey, and every time 1 have 

 received more honey from the long 

 ones. They are very convenient to 

 use as tenement hives ; in fact I 

 usually winter 2 colonies in a hive. 

 Feeding is very readily done, and by 

 means of the division-board the col- 

 ony can be contracted at will. I 

 could always get more honey in two- 

 story hives by putting part of the 

 brood into the upper story and filling 

 out with empty combs, than by hav- 

 ing all empty combs in the upper 

 story. The swarming-impulse is more 

 readily controlled in long hives, as 

 there is plenty of room and shade re- 

 ducing it to a minimum. None have 

 issued this year, and when they do all 

 the queens' wings are clipped, so 

 that they cause little trouble. I 

 think that the (jueens are more pro- 

 lific in this style of hive. One queen, 

 this summer, kept up 17 frames of 



brood, averaging % full. Right here 

 allow me to say that natural queens 

 either reared under the swarming- 

 impulse or supersedure are, in my 

 opinio!!, much superior to artificial 

 queens uiilcss they are reared by 

 some such !nethod as Alley's. They 

 are more rcndilv packed on the sum- 

 mer stands for'wiuter, there being no 

 loose boxes to move away during 

 eacli spring. The main entrance is 

 in the front e!id, and by placing the 

 hives 3 or 4 feet apart, one can have 

 a side entrance midway, and artificial 

 swarms are !nade very' readily by the 

 use of a division-board. I think two 

 or more colonies will winter better 

 together tha!) i!i separate hives. It is 

 a questio!! witl! me whether they are 

 as suitable for comb honey, but I 

 think that I would risk it. By using 

 a side entrance, and only one colony 

 in each hive, one could have side 

 stoi-age as well as top. Their main 

 disadva!itage is in being too cumber- 

 some to readily move into winter 

 quarters. 

 Kennedy, N. Y. 



Somerset, Maine, Convention. 



The fourth semi-annual convention 

 of the Somerset and Western Pisca- 

 taquis l?ee- Keepers' Association met 

 at the lesidence of W. 11. Norton, at 

 Nortli Madison, Me., on the 20th ult. 

 The meeting was well attended, there 

 was an unusual interest evinced in 

 the objects of the meeting, and all 

 seemed to enjoy the occasion highly. 

 There were representatives from four 

 different counties. 



The first hour of the forenoon was 

 spent in Mr. Norton's apiary, exam- 

 ining his bees, queens, appliances, 

 furniture, etc., and in an informal 

 talk by all in relation thereto. Mr. 

 Norton has about fifty colonies ar- 

 ranged in due form on his lawn in 

 front of his house, with as many small 

 nuclei colonies for rearing queens, 

 arranged systematically between the 

 other colonies. His bees are of the 

 Holy Land or Syrians, and a cross 

 between them and the Italians. 



At eleven o'clock the members were 

 summoned to the stand beneath the 

 wide-spreading foliage of Mr. Nor- 

 ton's noble apple trees, where ample 

 seats were provided. After the usual 

 opening exercises, Mrs. Wm. Law- 

 rence, of Wellington, gave a resume of 

 the essentials of practical and suc- 

 cessful bee-keeping for beginners, or 

 those who would keep only a few col- 

 onies for supplying honey for their 

 own tables. It was an able digest of 

 those necessary things which go to 

 make bee-keeping a pastime and a 

 profit. At noon the whole " swarm" 

 of bee-keepers in attendance were 

 invited by Mrs. Norton, to dinner, 

 where several bountifully laden tables 

 were provided for regaling the phys- 

 ical system, and no "drones" were 

 there among the " busy workers " 

 during the repast. 



The afternoon's exercises consisted 

 in discussing the care and preparation 

 of bees for tlie fall and winter months, 

 with brief addresses by the principal 

 members, on their methods of man- 

 agement of bees. 



