THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



low temperature, or a point below 50'^ 

 Palir., and a seuii-doruiant condition 

 of tlie bees. In some northern locali- 

 ties, wintering by the " liigh pressure 

 plan " ot Mr. Ira Barber {see page 72.5 

 of tlie Bee Jouknal) in which the 

 bees are liept at a temperature not 

 much below 70 ' Fahr., do their own 

 ventilating, and eat pollen witli im- 

 punity all winter, may be very desir- 

 able. Mr. Barber and his neiglibors 

 have wintered their bees for many 

 years by the plan given, with very 

 trifling losses. It also has tlie sanction 

 of the very learned Dr. Dzierzon (see 

 translation of Mr. Kolnike, page 153 

 of the Bee Journal), who says : '" It 

 is my conviction that tlie average 

 temperature which bees enjoy during 

 their working season, which is from 

 60^ to 7(P P^ihr., is most conducive to 

 their well-being in winter also." While 

 a large quantity of bees are lost by 

 running or flying out of the hives 

 (about 8 bushels io 100 colonies), it is 

 likely that as m uiy would be lost in a 

 given time liy any other method of 

 wintering. The plan would be salu- 

 tary in one respect, it would not be 

 hampered by differences of opinion on 

 the best mode of winter ventilation 

 at high temperatures. 

 New Philadelphia, O. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Eastern Michigan Convention. 



The Eastern Michigan Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met in Detroit, Michigan, 

 Si pt. 26, 18S2; as the meeting was not 

 the annual one, no business of impor- 

 tai I IB was brought up, and topics for 

 discussion were immediately brought 

 forward. Among them were : 



How large should the lower story be? 

 Not, less tlian 2,000 square inches. 



What is the best absorbent to use in 

 the upper stories V Sawdust, short 

 shavings, chaff, or hay seed. 



What is the best plant to grow for 

 bee pasture, when its other qualities 

 are considered V Alsike clover ; it is 

 a good honey plant, and makes excel- 

 lent hay; it prefers a damp soil. Mr. 

 Hunt sows 4 pounds of seed to the acre. 

 Mr. Cottrell esteemed raspberries very 

 highly. 



What is the best plant for honey 

 alone V Figwort first, and tlien motlf- 

 erwort. Mr. Mooihouse thought that 

 certainty of yield should be considered. 



How often should hives be exam- 

 ined V Several thought at least live 

 times a season, but that surplus honey 

 should not be allowed to accumulate. 



How much food is necessary for 

 ■winter? From 20 to 80 pounds. 



When the construction of hives was 

 spoken of. Mr. Higgins said he made 

 the ends of his U inches thick ; this, 

 beside securing greater protection, 

 was a convenience vv'hen handling the 

 frames, as it admitted of wide rabbets. 



Several other questions of minor im- 

 portance, were also discussed. 



A great deal of interest was taken 

 in the meeting, and the attendance, 

 which was larger than at any previous 

 time, has been steadily increasing 

 since the organization of the society. 



Delegates were appointed to attend 



the national convention to be held in 

 Cincinnati. 



Adjourned to meet at the call of the 

 secretary in the spring of 1883. 



A. B. Weed, Sec. 



In looking over some papers I found 

 the above Report ; by an oversight 1 

 neglected to send it to the Jouunal 

 immediately after the meeting. I send 

 it now, hoping tliat it may still be of 

 use. 



I was mucli interested in the article 

 on wintering bees, by S. Cornell, which 

 appeared lately ; it contained very in- 

 teresting facts, and was without the 

 personalities which are contained in 

 the communications of some apiarists. 



I think that the enterprize of the 

 Jouunal is one of its most prominent 

 characteristics. A. B. Weed. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Separators a Necessity. 



J. V. CALDWELL. 



The use of separators having be- 

 come to me "a necessity," and as 

 some prominent apiarists seem to 

 think " they are a useless appendage " 

 in the modern bee-hive, a little discus- 

 sion, pro and co?i, will not be out of 

 place, to all who have the good of the 

 profession at heart. Now, in the first 

 place, let me ask will it pay to use 

 them, counting the extra cost. 



That we can have tine straight 

 combs, that can be crated and sliipped 

 without damage, and consequent loss, 

 and yet have them built without sep- 

 arators, I am not ready to admit. In 

 the Bee Jouunal for Dec. 20, tlie 

 opinion is advanced that, at least in 

 tlie production of honey in one-half 

 pound packages tliey will notbe need- 

 ed ; but as the reason is not made 

 apparent, perhaps some one will rise 

 and explain. 



It is just possible there may be cer- 

 tain conditions in which we may get 

 good combs without them, but I have 

 yet to' find them. It has been said the 

 hive must be full of bees, and honey 

 coming in fast, then, with sections 

 filled with good thin comb foundation, 

 no trouble would be experienced. 



Well, during the past season I de- 

 termined to give this matter a fair 

 trial, and so prepared six good colo- 

 nies, with upper stories filled with 

 wide frames, all being filled with one- 

 pound sections, and each containing a 

 full sheet of thin foundation; thus 

 giving them such good facilities for 

 comb building, that I thought, if evei" 

 good combs could be had without sep- 

 arators, I would have them. The re- 

 sult proved e.xaetly the reverse. The 

 honey season being a good one, the 

 bees soon built tiiem but and filled 

 them with honey, but when I came to 

 crate these same boxes for market, 

 more than one-half had to be laid 

 aside for the home market ; — and even 

 then, they are a " bother and vexation 

 of spirit," as they are sure to crowd 

 against each other and start the honey 

 to leaking ; and these corahs, be they 

 bulged ever so little, are likely to have 

 tlie caps of the cells broken, if they 

 but touch each other. Jt seems to me 



the only advantage we could gain in 

 discarding them, lies in the fact that 

 more honey can be stored in the same 

 box ; but this is of little account when 

 we sell the wood in the box at the 

 same price as the finest honey. Sup- 

 posing, then, we must use separators, 

 shall we use wood, tin, or paper V I 

 have never used anything but tin, 

 thougli 1 am assured by a friend of 

 mine, who uses wood entirely, that it 

 is just as good as tin. However, an- 

 other important item comes in here. 

 Will as much honey be stored with, as 

 without them V I have thought some 

 seasons the bees were reluctant to 

 work among ttiem ; then, again, they 

 seemed to pay no attention, but worked 

 as busily as though no separators were 

 present. Let us hear from others on 

 the subject. 

 Cambridge, 111., Dec. 23. 1882. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Small Sections for Honey. 



F. C. BENEDICT. 



By the report of the Michigan State 

 convention, I see that the above sub- 

 ject was discussed, and seemed to gain 

 favor with some of our producers. As 

 was remarked, bee-keeping is progres- 

 sive, but let us be careful not to pro- 

 gress in the wrong direction. The 

 small sections meet with ready sale, 

 in limited quantities, at fair prices, 

 but as soon as we place them upon the 

 market in quantities that shall reduce 

 the price below a fancy figure, then 

 will the producers become losers. 



A prime colony of bees will produce 

 one-third more honey in pound than 

 half-pound sections. To obtain 1,000 

 pounds in half-pound packages, you 

 must liandle and make double the 

 amount you would to get the same in 

 one-pouiid packages, besides one-third 

 more work while upon the hives. In 

 order to obtain the same amount of 

 money one must get one-third more in 

 price for the half-pound sections than 

 for pound sections, and the extra work 

 of making and handling the smaller 

 ones must not be taken into consider- 

 ation. I speak from three years' ex- 

 perience with the different-sized pack- 

 ages, and I write this article to place 

 the subject in its true light, so that 

 those who are going to use the small 

 packages may not be disappointed in 

 the result, for I know that half-pound 

 packages cannot be used in large quan- 

 tities with profit to the producer. 



While progression is our motto, we 

 do not want to progress in a direction 

 that shall cause our purses to get any 

 leaner than by producing large pack- 

 ages, for the sake of supplying an "un- 

 necessary demand. Tlie "small pack- 

 age should be used as a dessert, to 

 give our product a little more variety, 

 when placed upon the market. 



No producer can afford to use half- 

 pound packages exclusively. I think 

 I am safe in saying that J. C. Newman 

 & Son, of Peoria, N. Y., were the first 

 to place the half-pound sections upon 

 the market in any amount, in 1879. 

 They took well. In 1880 thev used 

 4,000 half-pound .sections, and I used 

 the same amount'; but we found we 



