THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



43 



clean up and make fast to the section. 

 This would be no more work than to 

 put the foundation into the sections, 

 and all nice combs of honey could be 

 used up in this way. If 1 have any 

 sections made for one-half pound, 

 they must be 4>4 one way so they can 

 be put into the same clamp on hives, 

 and the same crate for market— with 

 pound sections. This will save any 

 extra (ixtures. The extra amount of 

 labor to get the half-pound section 

 will absort) a large share of tlie extra 

 receipts. Yours for progressive bee- 

 keeping, L. C. Whiting. 

 East Saginaw, Mich., Jan. 11, 1883. 



Which Race of Bees 1 



I send you a bee in this letter and 

 would like you to state in the Bee 

 Journal to which race it belongs. I 

 bought a colony last spring from a 

 farmer in a box hive ; they are all 

 about this size, some a little thicker. 

 But I do not think they are very good, 

 for they have not obtained any surplus 

 honey since I had them. 



Ed. LaSallb. 



Champaign, 111., Jan. 11, 1883. 



[The bee was all mashed up and it 

 is difficult to say, yet it looks very 

 much like one of the large brown bees 

 of the South.— Ed.1 



Colorado nud Bee-Keeping. 



I clip the following from Pomeroy's 

 Democrat, issued at Denver, Col., Jan. 

 6,1883: " The second annual meeting 

 of the Colorado State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will convene in the rooms 

 of the Horticultural Society, next Sat- 

 urday, for the purpose of electing offi- 

 cers and the transaction of other 

 important business pertinent to the 

 occasion." Colorado, the youngest 

 commonwealth in the American 

 Union, the centennial State, proudly 

 boasts of her wealth in minerals, yet 

 lias leisure to cultivate bees. The 

 flora of her mountains and canyons 

 must be utilized, as well as her deep, 

 hidden treasures. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111. 



My "Bee Business" in 1882. 



In April, 1882, 1 had 61 colonies and 

 by inserting empty combs in center of 

 the hives every few days, I succeeded 

 in getting all colonies very strong by 

 ^ay 1st. But the most precious 

 •queen of all in the world tome (my 

 wife) was taken sick at tliat time, so, 

 of course, the bees were neglected. 

 Many colonies had limited supplies, 

 Hud, when I stopped feeding and car- 

 ing for them, they dwindled rapidly. 

 ■One colony starved todeatli. My wife 

 died on May 21st, and for a few days 

 after tliat I still paid no attention to 

 the bees, so, in reality, my bee season 

 began June 1st, with 60 colonies in 

 only ordinary condition. They were 

 not so strong on the last day of May 

 as they were on the last day of April. 

 Prom June 1st I gave my whole time 

 to the bees and as they had no " gap" 

 in their business, I had no holidays 

 till frost came. I had a great many 

 swarmsbut" doubled up " persistently 



all through the season. I hived as 

 many as 6 swarms that clustered to- 

 gether all in one hive, or rather in 3 

 hives tiered up. By doubling, and 

 tiering up for room, I only increased 

 from 60 to 130. I obtained 2,773 lbs. 

 of comb honey, and 7,402 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey, making a total of 10,17.5 

 lbs. I only used 30 lbs. of comb foun- 

 dation and paid $18 for hired help. 

 C. VV. McKowN. 

 Gilson, 111., Jan. 8, 1883. 



Frames across the Entrance. 



Mr. Editor :— Please give me your 

 views, through the Bee Journal, on 

 the plan of placing frames crosswise 

 of a hive instead of lengthwise ? 

 Where can we obtain half-pound sec- 

 tions ? I have my bees packed on a 

 summer stand, in sawdust, and, so 

 far, they are doing splendidly. I see 

 some objection to the Syrian bees on 

 account of their restless disposition. 

 I have one colony of Syrians and I 

 find them quieter than any others. 

 Days that other bees will fly, they re- 

 main perfectly quiet. 



E. W. Thurston. 



Hagerstown, Ind., Dec. 29, 1882. 



[The half-pound sections can be ob- 

 tained of the dealers in apiarian 

 supplies. Within a few weeks you 

 will find many of such, advertised in 

 the Bee Journal. 



Some like to have the frames across 

 the entrance, but nearly all bee-keep- 

 ers prefer the ends to come to the 

 entrance. It is more convenient for 

 the bees coming home loaded to get to 

 the desired place of deposit. It, how- 

 ever, is quite an unimportant matter, 

 and, but for the sake of uniformity, 

 might be subject to the notion of the 

 apiarist.— Ed.] 



A Swarm Filled its Hive in 9 Days. 



I had 6 colonies in 1881 ; bought 4; 

 and lost 1 by queenlessness in March. 

 They have increased to 29. Several 

 gave 3 swarms each, and one gave 4 

 swarms. A swarm tliat came out on 

 July 18, filled its hive in 9 days. I ob- 

 tained from them 500 lbs. of honey 

 besides the increase. 



D. Watterson. 



Roscoe, 111., Jan. 8, 18;j3. 



The Use of Separators. 



Seeing that there is a diversity of 

 opinion in regard to tlie use of sepa- 

 rators, in obtaining comb honey, I 

 will give what little experience I have 

 had in trying to obtain comb honey in 

 marketable shape, without the use of 

 separators. In 1881, 1 tried two hives 

 without the use of separators. One 

 of them has twenty-four sections filled 

 full of foundation. I got four boxes 

 that could be glassed, the rest of them 

 were either bulged or the comb built 

 into each other so badly that the sec- 

 tions could not be separated without 

 breaking the honey bad'y. Of the 

 other hive, 27 sections, only 8 could be 



flassed and tit to be put on the mar- 

 et. In the .season of 1882 I had no 



better success than the year before, so 

 I do not want any more box honey 

 without using separators. I have al- 

 ways used tin separators until the last 

 season. In the spring of 1882 I bought 

 a very nice lot of wooden separators 

 of C. Van Eaton, and I believe they 

 are a great improvement. They make 

 the entrances to the boxes larger and 

 the bees enter the boxes more readily, 

 and being wood they are warmer than 

 tin, and the bees will cluster in the 

 sections in cool weather a good deal 

 quicker than they will where metal is 

 used. Such has been my experience 

 during the past season. I shall give 

 them a more thorough trial next sea- 

 son, and shall use the wood separators 

 almost exclusively. L. Dunsmore. 

 Livonia, N. Y., Jan. 9, 1883. 



Feeding In Winter. 



Last fall I bought a colony of bees 

 in a bee hive ; they did not have much 

 honey and I commenced to feed them. 

 Cold weather came on soon after, and 

 I put them in the cellar ; the ther- 

 mometer standing about 40^. I put 

 some honey over them in the hive, but 

 they do not move around, and their 

 honey is almost gone. Now, how will 

 it do to put them in a warm room V 

 A Subscriber. 



Nashua, N. H., Jan. 9, 1883. 



[It might do to put the colony in a 

 room just above the freezing temper- 

 aturf", and feed the bees with some hot 

 syrup made of coffee A sugar. This 

 they will store in convenient cells for 

 use, as they need it. — Ed.] 



Another Step Higher. 



In reply to that article in the Bee 

 Journal on "Another Advance 

 Step," to prepare young men who de- 

 sire to become scientific apiarists. 

 For a young man to do this, he should 

 work in the apiary at least three years, 

 in order to quality himself in all the 

 branches and be able to handle any 

 apiary. I was an apprentice 3 years 

 and have made several mistakes that 

 have cost me from $300 to $")00 each, 

 besidescoming very near discouraging 

 me in bee culture. If a man wants to 

 qualify in the business he should work 

 under some of the best talent in the 

 country for awhile, and, after that, 

 they should continue to practice and 

 study. Practice is better than all the 

 book learning a man can get. I would 

 not take an apprentice for less than 

 three years, and a man that cannot 

 spend that time should not handle 

 bees at all. It has taken me six years 

 to get where I am, and I consider that 

 I am in advance of my instructor, Mr. 

 J. W. Lindley, who had a large apiary 

 when I commenced and my means 

 were limited. I have 112 colonies of 

 bees in good condition. I advise all 

 to commence business right and they 

 will then know what they are doing. 

 Chas. Follett. 



Osage, Iowa, Jan. 7, 1882. 



Advertisements intended for the Bee 

 Journal must reach this office by 

 Saturday of the previous week. 



