THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



139 



sufficient ventilation above the pack- 

 ing to let off any excess of moisture, 

 ijg or 2 inch holes would be better 

 than 1 inch ; the latter not being suf- 

 ficient, in my chaff hives, to Iceep the 

 cliaff as dry as I would wish. Here is 

 another remedy for bee stings, taken 

 from" Peterson's "for March : Honey- 

 suckle — Lonicera Japonica and L. 

 Caprifolium. Ornaments of our gar- 

 dens, lawns and piazzas. A. syrup pre- 

 pared from the sweet-scented (lowers 

 has been used with benefit in some 

 cases of asthma. The expressed juice 

 of the leaves is used to relieve the 

 pain and inflammation of bee stings. 

 Who has ever tried it ? 



John S. Snearly. 

 Williamsville, N. Y., Feb. 25, 1883. 



Drones Now in tlie Hive. 



My bees were shut up from about 

 Nov. 1 until Feb. 16 ; tliey flew on that 

 day. I have been sick and confined 

 to the house since Jan. 4 ; on Feb. 16, 

 it was very warm and pleasant ; in 

 the afternoon, about 3 o'clock, I went 

 out to look after my bees. Upon 

 looking at one colony, having a black 

 queen, mated with an Italian drone, 

 tliat did well last summer, I noticed a 

 drone leave the hive. To satisfy my- 

 self that I was not mistaken, I sat 

 down to watch for his return. In 

 about 5 minutes 4 drones entered the 

 hive. I have had some experience 

 with bees, and have read a good deal, 

 but never noticed any account of 

 drones this time of year. I have 22 

 colonies ; they looked all right on Feb. 

 16, there were no signs of dysentery ; 

 they looked slim, and were active. 

 H. M. Grove. 



Titusville, Pa., Feb. 28, 1883. 



[Drones are sometimes tolerated in 

 the hives all winter, if the colony is 

 queenless ; which yours probably 

 is.— Ed.] 



Preventing Increase. 



In reply to J. B. Hall, I will state 

 that I have practiced the method of 

 disposing of natural swarms, as given 

 by Prof. A. J. Cook, on page 474, of 

 the Bee Journal for July, for sev- 

 eral years, and found it a perfect suc- 

 cess, before writing it for Gleanings, 

 4 years ago, when Mr. Root said it 

 might do, but was sure they would 

 swarm and swarm over again. How 

 did he know when he had never tried 

 it V Does Prof. Cook claim the idea 

 as originating with himself V 



Carson City, Mich. Hiram Roop. 



An Enthusiastic Beginner. 



Last spring I commenced with 2 

 colonies, and made them into 10, but 

 got no honey, the season being poor. 

 I have taken great interest in this (to 

 me) new business. Have read enough, 

 the last 12 months, to set up a dozen 

 bee-keepers, and remember about 

 half enough for one. I lately read 

 the last year's volume of the Weekly, 

 the loan of which I got from a friend, 

 and was particularly pleased with the 

 letters of Messrs. lleddon, Doolittle 

 and Hutchinson. Mr. D.'s plan of 

 collecting the valuable, as mentioned 



in the issue for Feb. 14, is good. I 

 have my bees in a bed room, and 

 tlilnk they are all right, so far. They 

 have been very quiet, still quite a 

 number comes out to die. 1 am long- 

 ing to see the industrious little crea- 

 tures at work again. I hope that tlie 

 coming season will be good, and that 

 we will get some honey. A great 

 depth of snow has been covering this 

 part of tlie country, but a thaw on 

 the 16th and 17th turned, perhaps, a 

 third of it into water, which sunk into 

 the ground, there being little or no 

 frost below. F. Malcolm. 



Innerkip, Ont., Feb. 20, 1883. 



The Bees in Cellar All Right. 



I have just finished carrying out the 

 bees to-day. All colonies are alive, 

 and in good order. I put them in the 

 cellar on Dec. 7. I have 34 colonies. 

 I started, last spring, with 11, all in 

 Langstroth hives. I feel quite pro- 

 voked, after reading in the Bee Jour- 

 nal about the dimensions of the 

 Langstroth hive to find, on measur- 

 ing my hives, that they are too small ; 

 the frames are only 16x8 inches, and 

 the brood chamber contains only 1,800 

 cubic inclies, in the clear. 



John J. Stengeb. 



Fort Madison, Iowa, Feb. 23, 1883. 



Bees Easy and Quiet in the Cellar. 



I commenced, last spring, with 30 

 colonies; some were very weak. I 

 had to feed most of them, up to June 

 1, to save them from starvation. I 

 got 3,200 lbs. of honey (2,000 lbs. of 

 comb, and 1,200 lbs. of extracted); in- 

 creased to 41 colonies, which are in 

 the cellar and seem to be wintering 

 nicely ; they are quiet. They became 

 somewhat restless about two weeks 

 ago, when it was raining, and the 

 snow melting off. I put a ball of 

 snow in front of each hive, in the 

 portico, and as it melted they got 

 water from it and became quiet, and 

 have been so ever since. The ther- 

 mometer stands at 65° to-day. 



Mrs. a. B. Winder. 



Grand View, Iowa, March 1, 1883. 



Too Much Pollen. 



Ten of my colonies are all right, so 

 far ; 5 have died (1 starved, the other 

 4 had the dysentery) ; tliey were the 

 strongest colonies I had. Those fed 

 with granulated sugar are all right. 

 One of the colonies that died had the 

 hive full of bees on one side ; it had a 

 comb with pollen, and all the bees on 

 that side had the dysentery ; and an 

 awful mess there was. The bees on 

 the other side of the hive, without 

 pollen, were as dry as they are at mid- 

 summer. Next fall I shall feed them 

 all with granulated sugar syrup, and 

 take out all the pollen. 



Racine, Wis. Hugh Williams. 



A Cold, Cold Winter. 



We liave had some very cold 

 weather, Dec. 7, it was 26° below 

 zero ; Jan. 21, 40° below ; 22, 36°; 23, 

 34° ; and Feb. 5, 29°. We have had 

 two days in this month that it has 

 thawed, and the mercury reached 43° 

 above zero. We have 3 "feet of snow 



on the level ; we had to shovel snow 

 from the roofs of our buildings, to 

 keep them from being crushed, by 

 the weight. I have lost 1 colony of 

 bees with dysentery, and I am fearful 

 for the rest, if we do not have a day 

 soon that they can have a good flight. 

 They have been housed for 114 days. 

 The Bee" Journal is always wel- 

 come, and I read it through before I 

 leave it. I think we will have a good 

 season for honey, in this part, for the 

 ground is well protected, and no frost 

 in it. We hope for the best. I shall 

 be glad when I can hear the hum of 

 my pets, and see them bringing in 

 pollen for their perpetuation. 



Edwin Bump. 

 Marshfield, Wis., Feb. 21, 1883. 



Bees Flying To-Day. 



The mercury is 50° above zero, and 

 the bees are now flying a little, for 

 the first time since Nov. 11. My bees 

 have wintered well, so far ; they have 

 been under a snow drift, all winter, 

 with the snow kept away in front, so 

 that they could get fresh air. I think 

 we have a i)retty eveu temperature up 

 here for wintering bees on the sum- 

 mer stands. The coldest it has been 

 is 10° below zero twice, and it run up 

 to 27° above zero before noon both 

 days, and it has not been higher than 

 45'-' above. Most of the time it was 

 from 35° to 40° above zero. 



G. L. Pkay. 



Petoskey, Mich., March 1, 1883. 



Bees Wintering Well. 



I put the bees in the cellar Nov. 29 ; 

 temperature about 35° ; took them 

 out for a flight Feb. 14, all wintering 

 well, except one, which had the dysen- 

 tery very badly. I removed all their 

 combs and gave them clean ones, and 

 fed sugar, saturated with honey. 

 They are doing well now. Bees con- 

 sumed very little honej^ ; I used no 

 chaff cushions or quilts ; I raised 

 hives about % an inch off the bottom 

 board, putting sticks under the cor- 

 ners, and kei)t the cellar perfectly 

 dark. R. Grinsell. 



Baden, Mo., Feb. 26, 1883. 



Cellars Best for Wintering Bees. 



On Dec. 6, 7, 1882, 1 put 130 colo- 

 nies in the cellar. I had to pile them 

 3 high, in order to get them all in. I 

 put 100 on summer stands on Feb. 28, 

 1883 ; the other .30 on March 1 ; all are 

 in fine condition, except one, which 

 had the dysentery some, and had lost 

 about half the bees. If sugar syrup 

 and chaff can beat that, let us hear 

 from them. I still vote in favor of 

 the cellar to winter in, if intelligently 

 done. J- E- Hunter. 



Wyoming, Iowa, March 3, 1883. 



Prospects are (Jood. 



The thermometer registered 65° at 

 sunrise to-day. The bees have been 

 flying lively, after a confinement of 

 100 days. They began to show signs 

 of dysentery, but all answered to roll 

 call, but one, which starved with 25 

 lbs. of honey in the hive, because I 

 neglected to give them more bees in 

 the fall. My bees consumed but little 



