THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



167 



the local market orshippingto distant 

 markets. These local clubs again 

 <;onki be units of district associations, 

 and altogether a common plan of 

 shipiiing or marketing honey could be 

 adopted, that would enable them to 

 unite, and, by their unity, work for the 

 <;ommon good. They could resolve, 

 for instance, on supplying such and 

 such quantities of comb or extracted 

 honey ; they could educate the home 

 market to either. 



Suppose, for instance, the local 

 market would take nothing but comb 

 honey, and the bee-keepers in that 

 locality wanted to introduce extracted. 

 They could keep coinb entirely out of 

 the market, but supply and talk ex- 

 tracted, till the dealers and their cus- 

 tomers, finding they had only Ilob- 

 son's ciioice, " that or none," would 

 try the extracted. 



I live at Austin. Texas, and if there 

 are any l>ee-keepers near, who agree 

 with my idea, I shall be glad to hear 

 from tlieni. 



Austin, Texas. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee Notes from Mississippi. 



OSCAR F. BLEDSOE. 



We have had an unusually severe 

 winter on bees. Last season my bees 

 gathered pollen in January. This 

 season they have gathered it only at 

 times during February. With It i\- 

 ians, swHrniing usually commences 

 here during the last week in March. 

 I do not expect any swarms now be- 

 fore the middle of April. I lost a 

 number of nuclei and small colonies 

 from starvation and robbery, owing 

 to want of care, caused by uiy pro- 

 tracted absence during the fall and 

 winter. 



The conclusions 1 have reached 

 about wintering bees in this latitude, 

 is that with plenty of honey and a 

 well covered hive, even very small 

 nuclei can be wintered safely, out of 

 doors — that the full amount of stores 

 needed must be provided in the fall, — 

 or the robbery of weak colonies will 

 always attend, by any method of 

 feeding in the spring, and that strong 

 colonies, in large hives, winter best, 

 «ven comparatively. 



I have observed, with great satis- 

 faction, that all the colonies in my 

 Jarge hive are in the highest degree of 

 vigor. It has a short Langstroth 

 frame, is 33 inches long, from right to 

 left, containing nearly 4,000 cubic 

 inches in the lower story, with a half 

 story added, i^4 inches high, to con- 

 tain sections. As a rule, I put on 8.5 

 sections at one time, immediately 

 above the brood nest, leaving 4 frames 

 on each side of the sections at the 

 ends of the hive, easily accessible for 

 manipulation at all times. I place 

 the sections across the frames and 

 prevent them from being glued to 

 frames by a tin device of my own in- 

 vention. 



I use wooden separators, purchased 

 in Memphis, being the material cut 

 out of poplar, used for making straw- 

 berry boxes. They are much better 

 Mid cheaper than tin. 1 chisel small 



holes in them, so that, with the tin 

 device, there is perfect intercommuni- 

 cation between sections and brood 

 nest, and of the sections with each 

 other. I think it very desirable not 

 to be compelled to use brood frames. 

 On raising the cover I can see what 

 sections are completed, and take such 

 out, one at a time, without disturbing 

 the rest, and put others in their places. 

 I leave the sections on, all winter. If 

 I can make each of my large hives 

 yield an average of 100 pounds of 

 comb honev up to Aug. 1 (a point I am 

 trying to attain), I will consider that 

 I can make bee-culture a profitable 

 branch of agriculture. 

 Grenada, Miss. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Nebraska State Conveution. 



The following is a statistical report 

 of bees and honey represented at the 

 Nebraska State Bee-Keepers' Conven- 

 tion, which met at Wahoo, Saunders 

 countv, January 11, 1883. As our As- 

 sociation is but in its infancy ,we have 



been unable, as yet, to obtain a com- 

 plete table of the whole State, but 

 would estimate that there is between 

 18,000 and 20,000 colonies in the State, 

 this year they produced not less than 

 50 lbs. of honey per colony. 



The next annual meeting will be 

 held on the second Thursday in Jan- 

 uary, 1884, at which time we expect to 

 obtain a fuller report. 



M. L. Teester, (Sec 



Lincoln, Neb. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Ventilation of Cellars. 



ALLEN FUINGLE. 



In a late Bee Journal, Mr. J. B. 

 Mason, of Maine, asks for informa- 

 tion on the above subject. lie wants 

 a " rousing article on how to venti- 

 late a damp cellar," with " plain^ 

 simple instructions how to do it." 

 Now, if iny article proves to be a 

 " rousing " one in the sense of arous- 

 ing people to tlie imperative necessity 

 of thorough cellar ventilation for the 

 preservation of their own health as 

 well as that of their bees, I will feel 

 repaid for the little precious time 

 spent in writing this. 



The amount of sickness, doctors' 

 bills, and even death resulting from the 

 foul air and poisonous gases of cellars 

 without ventilation, would be quite 

 appalling, were it adequately realized. 

 The disease engendering blood-poison- 

 ing gases arise into the pantry and 

 kitchen, and spread themselves 

 through the whole house, to be taken 

 into the lungs and blood of the occu- 

 pants thereof, producing impaired 

 health, sickness, and in many cases 

 death, which, instead of being 

 ascribed to the cause, is usually as- 

 cribed to a " Mysterious Providence !" 

 Such, still, is life in this latter half of 

 the nineteenth century. Intelligent 

 people, who are fairly educated, and 

 well posted in the ordinary sense of 

 the word in all that pertains to bu.si- 

 ness, etc., are lamentably ignorant of 

 the very elements of physiology and 

 hygiene. Of the laws and conditions 

 upon which health and physical well- 

 being depend, they know but little. 

 Now, when we consider that such 

 knowledge is really the most impor- 

 tant of all knowledge, this is certainly 

 a very bad state of things. And tor 

 its existence our educational institu- 

 tions are primarily to blame. Self- 

 knowledge should stand first on the 

 curriculums of our schools and col- 

 leges instead of, as now, last, or not 

 at all. Every parent should be com- 

 petent to instruct his or her child in 

 the elements of physiology and hy- 

 giene—in the laws and conditions 

 governing life and health. 



But now. as to the best methods of 

 cellar ventilation. There are various 

 plans, but the very best 1 have been 

 able to find, and \vhicli is at the same 

 time inexpensive and practicable, is 

 as follows : There is, at least, one 

 stove in every house, and sometimes 

 two or three, standing over the cellar. 

 We will begin with the cooking stove, 

 which, in winter, is kept burning 

 most of the time, night and day. Get 

 a tin or zinc pipe, made from previous 

 measurement, to tit, and put it up 

 from the cellar through the house 

 floor, just behind the stove, and close 

 to it, where it will be out of the way. 

 Let this enter the stove-pipe by means 

 of an elbow just above the top surface 

 of the stove. Have a damper placed 

 in this pipe near where it enters the 

 stove-pipe, so that you can turn the 

 draft on or off at pleasure. As to the 

 size of this pipe you can have it made 

 from 3 to 6 inches or more in diameter, 

 according to the size of your stove- 



