86 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



•conviction, and will be, till proof of the 

 contrary is presented. 



But ttie bees mutilate the rinds of 

 <;orn stalks ! Well ! well ! ! If that is 

 so we will have to acknowledge that 

 they can break the skin of a grape, 

 and confess that we are liable to the 

 grape growers for the damage to their 

 crops, which we have claimed was done 

 by birds, wasps, and, more than all, by 

 the weather. But the thing is too ab- 

 rsnrd to be treated seriously. Surely, 

 Mr. Stewart must be joking. If Mr. 

 Morris ever saw bees sucking at the 

 joints of corn stalks (I never did, and 

 I was raised among corn-lields and 

 bees,) the corn was infested with 

 ■chinch bugs, or some species of plant 

 lice. In very dry weather I have seen 

 bees among the foxtail grass when 

 tlie chinch bugs were working on it, 

 but only one season. 



Huntington, Ind., Jan. 24, 1883. 





forties below zero ; the snow is about 

 2 feet deep, and somewhat drifted. 

 As the cold dreary days and long 

 evenings of midwinter pass storraily 

 by, would not a bee-keeper have a 

 thought occasionally about the wel- 

 fare of his stock y I miss the little 

 bees greatly, during the long term 

 of their imprisonment. O how I 

 should like to live in a land of (lowers, 

 where the music made by their tiny 

 wings could be heard from the first 

 to the last day of tlie years, as they 

 come and go— time would glide so 

 sweetly by. John Morris. 



Mauston, Wis., Jan. 2-5, 1883. 



Size of Hives and Frames. 



How many square inches should 

 there be in the brood chamber V What 

 Is the right distance between the 

 frames (in the brood chamber), the 

 frames being % in. wide? What is 

 the size of sections that will hold 2, 3 

 and 4 lbs. of honey with separators. 



Morven, Ont. W. R. IIbnwood. 



[The brood chamber of the hive 

 should be about 2,000 cubic inches, un- 

 less a smaller breeding apartment is 

 required for the purpose of driving 

 the bees into the boxes above, when 

 running for comb honey. 



The distance between frames, from 

 centre to centre, should be a little less 

 than IJ^ inches. 



The one-pound section for honey is 

 434x4>4x2 ; the two-pound section 

 measures 5}4^G}4x'2. Larger ones are 

 now entirely out of date.— Ed.] 



Trial of Packing: in Different Ways. 



Some of my bees flew a little on Dec. 

 24th, and I swept the dead bees off of 

 the bottom boards ; on some there 

 were more than I desire to see so early 

 in the winter. I hope they will be 

 able to have a cleansing flight before 

 many more weeks. In my two-story 

 hives there are no dead bees. I have 

 20 hives of bees, packed in different 

 ways, on the summer stands. Those 

 that have the honey above are now in 

 the best condition. 



Matteson, 111. A. Wicherts. 



Rearing of Drones. 



I started this spring with 5 good col- 

 onies, and increased to 15, by natural 

 swarming. One swarm, coming out 

 on June 17th, gathered 218 lbs. of sur- 

 plus comb honey ; all the others did 

 well. In the Bee Journal for Dec. 

 20, Mr. Morse speaks of taking frames 

 of honey away and replacing them 

 with frames of foundation. Do you 

 consider that a good practice V What 

 would be the consequences to use all 

 foundation in the brood chamber V 

 Where would they raise lirones ? 

 Please anewer through the Journal. 



Toledo, Iowa. H. L. Fisher. 



[Mr. Morse mentions the plan of 

 taking frames of honey from the hives, 

 and putting in frames filled with comb 

 foundation in their place. These are 

 readily filled with eggs or honey, as the 

 case may be, and the practice is a good 

 one. The bees will be sure to make 

 drone cells enough on the edges to ob- 

 tain all they need. This plan is pur- 

 sued to prevent, as much as possible, 

 the rearing of drones.— Ed.] 



but I have had this same honey at the 

 same time (June) for 3 con.secutive 

 years. This honey candies as white 

 as the best lump sugar when extracted, 

 but will not candy at all in the comb. 

 Dysentery has commenced to show 

 itself, but in hives with the lime pro- 

 tection I have failed to discover a 

 trace of the disease. I should be 

 pleased to have yon try some experi- 

 ments witli the lime idea this winter 

 (gratis). I do not claim a cure, but a 

 preventive for dysentery, and if it is 

 not what I claim, I want to know it at 

 once, or as soon as possible, as I hope 

 to solve the problem of " wintering on 

 the summer stands " before I give it 

 up. F. Della Torre. 



Baltimore, Md. 



[The honey is candied solid, as white 

 as cream, and very pleasant to the 

 taste, but we cannot state definitely 

 the source from which it was gath- 

 ered ; the white clover flavor seems to 

 be oveipowered. so that but little of 

 its taste can be discovered in it. We 

 shall be glad to publish the experi- 

 ments of Mr. Della Torre with lime ; 

 we are not situated so that we can ex- 

 periment with it now. — Ed.] 



The Forties Below Zero. 



We are having some very cold 

 weather now. The temperature has 

 been very low, continually, since the 

 first week in December, but I shall 

 not venture to tell you just the exact 

 depth that has been reached ; suffice 

 it to say that it did go down to the 



Home Market for Honey. 



As there was an error in my report, 

 I will give it as it should be : I started 

 last spring with 9 colonies, and have 

 increased them to 29 by natural 

 swarming. I have obtained from 

 them 500 pounds of honey in the 

 comb, and also extracted 500 pounds. 

 I realized from 15 to 20 cents per 

 pound for it in my home market. 

 The bees are all packed for the 

 winter in a bee cellar. 



F. A. Gibson. 



Bacine, Wis., Jan. 25, 1883. 



I 



A Sample of Peculiar Honey. 



I left with C. H. Lake a small bottle 

 of honey to be forwarded to you to 

 identify, if possible. Tlie sample sent 

 is }^ clover honey, which does not alter 

 the taste, but I had to add something 

 to darken the shade, before the honey 

 would sell. This honey is, when pure, 

 about as clear as water— the lightest 

 honey in the world, and, to uiy taste, 

 the best. I took a small sample to the 

 Cincinnati convention, hoping to get 

 some information as to the source 

 from wlience derived, and was sus- 

 pected of putting up " a joke on the 

 convention '"with "rock candy syrup." 

 Dr. Miller said, "glycerine and sugar," 

 Mr. Bingham proposed " honey dew," 



Wood Separators,— Thin Boxes. 



I have used wood and tin separators 

 during the last 7 years, and now pre- 

 fer the wood. Would like Mr. Ripley 

 to give us more on the size of honey- 

 box and also any others that wish, un- 

 til we get a size that suits merchants, 

 consumers and tlie bees. What thickness 

 is best for the box V If boxes are 5 or 

 6 inches high, and 1 or 1>4 thick, hold- 

 ing 1 pound, would they be liable to 

 fall down in handling, in retailing, etc. 

 Has any one had experience with such 

 thin boxes ? If so, please report on 

 the practicability of them. At pres- 

 ent I use boxes 2 inches thick. 



P. MOYER. 



Havtstown, Pa., Jan. 29, 1883. 



Comb Foundation a Great Help. 



Uiad 18 colonies last spring, and I 

 piit into winter quarters 34 colonies. 

 They did nothing till the middle of 

 July ; since that I obtained from them 

 $100 worth of comb honey. I could 

 not get along without comb founda- 

 tion. I think it pays well to use it, 

 as it saves the expense of separators. 

 I have Italianized part of my bees, 

 and like them much better than the 

 blacks. Alfred Gale. 



Shelby, Ind., Jan. 23, 1883. 



Two Queens in a Hive. 



The hive was occupied by a colony 

 of pure Italians, with a queen two 

 years old, having her wings clipped. 

 1 had been giving my bees a good 

 deal of attention, honey was coming 

 in fast, and the bees were showing 

 signs of swarming. About August 

 2.5th, I was passing the hive, when my 

 attention was called to it, by seeing 

 quite a large ball of bees on the 

 alighting board. I pushed theui apart 

 and discovered the clipped queen in 

 a dving condition. I took her to the 



