THE AMERICAJ^ BEE JOURNAL. 



121" 



Cellars Safest for Wintering Bees. 



I commenced the spring of 1881 witli 

 1 colony, received 75 lbs. of surplus 

 comb honey, besides leaving a good 

 supply for winter ; had 1 swarm come 

 out, but it went to the woods. I 

 bought 5 colonies the following spring, 

 increased to 15, and have taken over 

 400 lbs. of surplus. I am wintering 

 part in cellar and part in chaff hives. 

 I think those in the cellar are doing 

 the best, but all are doing well. I 

 have about 75 lbs. of wax, which I 

 want worked up for my own use. 

 When would be the proper time to 

 have it worked in order to have it 

 fresh, and when ought I to commence 

 giving it to bees to draw out for my 

 young swarms V T. S. Johnson. 



Bogart, O. 



[You should get it made up soon, so 

 as to have it on hand when you want 

 to use it, which will be in the spring. 

 Insert a full sheet in the centre of the 

 brood nest only as fast as the bees will 

 use it. All that depends on the 

 weather, and the honey flow. — Ed.] 



Chaff Packing Eaten up by Stock. 



On Jan. 18 and 19 we had a blizzard 

 that has made havoc among our bees. 

 It was 20° below zero, on the 19th ; on 

 the 31st it again started at \(P below 

 zero, and has been cold up to the pres- 

 ent date. Most of the bees are win- 

 tered on the summer stands, packed 

 in sawdust and chaff. One thing with 

 our wheat chaff : the thrashing-ma- 

 chines do not take all the wheat out 

 of the straw and chaff, and it becomes 

 a harbor for mice, and they disturb 

 the bees too much during the cold 

 weather. One of my neighbors had 

 his bees packed in the old style of 

 stack hive, with corn fodder, and an 

 old cow just feasted on the fodder un- 

 til she had bared the most of his hives, 

 and it is much the same with lucern 

 chaff, if the calves get into the lots 

 where it is, they will be around all 

 night disturbing the bees and eating 

 the lucern. Jno. Dunn. 



Tooele City, Utah, Feb. 12, 1883, 



The Half-Pound Section Craze. 



There seems to be a great deal of 

 enthusiasm displayed, for the past 

 few weeks, by some, in trying to in- 

 vent a half-pound section. While I 

 admired the good judgment, used by 

 some, in determining the proper size 

 and dimensions most desirable for 

 such sections, I must say that it seems 

 to me as if they are directing their 

 energies in the wrong way to aid in 

 the proKtable production of comb 

 honey at a reasonable price. I admit 

 that if but a few of these half-pound 

 sections were used, they might be sold 

 for a price that would pay for the ex- 

 tra cost and trouble, but I predict 

 that, if any are used, many will be 

 used, for this is Anurica; and few are 

 willing to be outdone in extravagance, 

 but the time will soon come when we 

 shall be unable to sell these half- 

 pound sections of honey for enough 

 more to pay for the extra cost, which 

 would be no small matter in large 



apiaries, if we consider all the mani- 

 pulations, preparing for market, etc. 

 The retailer will want more profit, per 

 pound, for the trouble of selling a half- 

 pound package just as much as for a 

 pound. This I know by experience, 

 for in disposing of about 8,000 lbs. of 

 honey, during the past season, I had a 

 few cases of partly-filled sections, and 

 as they were well finished, I sent them 

 to a retailer who sold them out and 

 found no fault with the honey, but 

 said the per centage he received per 

 pound did not pay for the trouble of 

 handling, unless the boxes weighed 

 1 lb. each. Now, the question in my 

 mind is, can bee-keepers afford to in- 

 troduce anything smaller than one- 

 pound sections V Frank McNay. 

 Mauston, Wis., Feb. 10, 1883. 



Wintering Bees. 



I have 24 colonies of bees ; they are 

 in the cellar, and are all quiet, as yet ; 

 the uncapped honey was extracted, so 

 they have had capped honey to winter 

 on. The hives I make myself ; they 

 are 20 inches long, outside, by 15 

 wide ; frames run crosswise of the 

 hive. I use 2 division boards, and 

 winter the bees on 7 frames, and give 

 them from 10 to 15 lbs. of honey to the 

 colony, with a passage way through 

 each comb. In the winter of 1880-81 

 I lost 1 out of 9 ; increased to 34, and 

 sold 15. In 1881-82 I took 500 lbs. of 

 extracted honey from them. (I had no 

 losses in the spring of 1882.) From 

 the 19 colonies remaining I got 1,000 

 lbs. of extracted honey and 200 lbs. of 

 comb, and sold 10 colonies. I keep a 

 thermometer in my cellar ; it stood 

 from 4° to 8° above freezing, except 2 

 or 3 nights, thus far. When the mer- 

 cury was down to the freezing point, 

 they roared. John Benham. 



Homer, Mich., Feb. 16, 1883. 



Never Lost a Colony in Winter. 



The mercury is up to 66°, this morn- 

 ing, and I have just examined 2 colo- 

 nies of bees, finding them in fine con- 

 dition ; one having orood in all stages. 

 I can hardly miss the honey they have 

 eaten ; but since they have com- 

 menced rearing brood, the honey will 

 go fast. I have yet to lose my first 

 colony in wintering. J. P. Mooeb. 



Morgan, Ky., Feb. 16, 1883. 



345 lbs. of Honey Per Colony. 



I have hesitated for sometime to give, 

 in the Bee Journal, my success with 

 bees in 1882; but reading of so many 

 having large yields of lioney, I felt 

 that I was but a small bee man in the 

 business, which I readily concede. I 

 have been in the apicultural business 

 some 16 years, using the Langstroth 

 hive, and also a patron of the Bee 

 Journal, under the late Sam uel Wag- 

 ner, and always found it full of good 

 logic. Last spring I had 5 strong 

 colonies of bees (Italians and hybrids), 

 to start with. Tlie honey season was 

 one of the best I ever experienced. 

 From 5 colonies, I had 6 increase. 

 One colony gave 2 swarms, and some 

 of the others gave second swarms, 

 but I removed all queen cells and sur- 

 plus queens, and returned the swarms 



to the present colonies. This stopped 

 their swarming. I caught 4 traveling 

 swarms by decoy hives, that contained 

 a few sheets of empty combs, making 

 my number 15 in the fall. My honey 

 crop was 1,725 lbs., or 345 lbs. per col- 

 ony, spring count. (9.55 comb, and 770 

 extracted.) Considering my explana- 

 tions below, all will certainly give me 

 credit for not exaggerating. Two 

 years ago this winter I lost all my 

 bees (35 colonies) ; leaving many good 

 frames of empty comb, of which I 

 took good care. As each of the 6 

 swarms came out, they were supplied 

 with these frames, as also those 

 caught in the decoys. There were but 

 2 colonies of the 15 but gave surplus 

 honey. For me to claim (as some do) 

 that all the honey comes from the first 

 5, would be unfair. This proves the 

 great advantage to be obtained by tak- 

 ing care of all surplus comb, as well as 

 benefits derived from foundation. 

 Mr. Editor, does this explanation sat- 

 isfy you that mine is a correct state- 

 ment V I have nothing to gain by a 

 misstatement, and nothing to lose by 

 straight talk. H. W. Wixom. 



Mendota, 111., Jan. 27, 1883. 



[The explanation is sufficient ; and 

 would account for a large yield.— Ed.] 



More Light. 



In the Bee Journal, page 27, Jan- 

 uary, 1883, is a report from Mr. W. 

 H. McLendon, Lake Village, Ark., 

 headed " 200 lbs. from 1 colony." 

 After mentioning the amount of ex- 

 tracted and comb honey, he says, " as 

 well as 200 lbs. of beeswax from 70 

 colonies in the spring, and increased 

 them to 130, by natural swarming." 

 AVill Mr. McLendon be kind enough 

 to explain, through the Bee Journal, 

 how he obtained the large amount of 

 wax ? It will gratify some who have 

 kept bees for many years. 



N. B. Tindall. 



Grafton, HI., Feb. 8, 1883. 



Bees in Dakota. 



I started the season with 26 colo- 

 nies, in fair condition, but owing to 

 the cold rainy weather throughout 

 May and June, I was compelled to 

 feed my bees, to ka^p them from 

 starving. I had no early swarms, my 

 increase was obtained during the lat- 

 ter part of July and early in August. 

 I only got 16 swarms, giving me 42 col- 

 onies to put into winter quarters; 

 they were in good condition, and up 

 to the present time are doing nicely. 

 I took 2,200 lbs. of comb honey and 

 276 lbs. of extracted, making an aver- 

 age of 95}4 lbs to the colony, spring 

 count, which I consider very good for 

 last season. I use a double-walled 

 hive and winter on the summer 

 stands. I will give you the result for 

 the past 4 winters, as follows : In the 

 fall of 1878 I had 5 colonies, and lost 

 one during the winter. In the fall of 

 1879 I had 10 colonies, and lost none 

 during the winter. In the fall of 1880 

 I had 22 colonies, and lost one during 

 the winter. In the fall of 1881 I had 26 

 colonies ; lost none. Last fall I had 

 42, and as above stated, have done 

 nicely up to the present time ; although 



