250 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



present use from different parts of 

 tlie hive, tides them over another cold 

 spell and enables them, with health 

 and vigor, to greet tlie invigorating 

 rays of the sun on every salubrious 

 day of the winter solstice. In colder 

 latitudes, cellar wintering must be 

 preferable ; in warmer latitudes cellar 

 wintering would be intolerable. 



Every bee-keeper has his own fancy 

 for hives. Every novice in bee-keep- 

 ing tries to invent some new arrange- 

 ment for a hive superior to all others. 

 Not long since such an inventor ex- 

 hibited to me a device to prevent 

 drones from building drone comb, 

 which he declared with great sin- 

 cerity and earnestness to be wholly 

 his own. He positively affirmed he 

 had not got the idea from any book 

 whatever, and extorted from me the 

 promise not to make public his device 

 until he had obtained a patent. In 

 imagination he could see millions in 

 it, notwithstanding he is the only per- 

 son in the world who ever knew of 

 drone bees making any comb at all. 



But nearly every bee-keeper, in 

 some easy or naturid way, becomes 

 attached to some particular kind or 

 form of hive, and as he makes the 

 business a specialty disposes of or dis- 

 cards others and develops his favorite 

 kind. We thus see nearly every 

 prominent apiarist in the country (all, 

 however, with movable frames) using 

 a different style of hive. 



The Langstroth, undoubtedly, has 

 the call at present, being exclusively 

 recommended by several prominent 

 bee journals, but I very much doubt 

 its general adaptation or desirability. 

 The length of its frame, 17 inches, and 

 depth only i» inches, makes it objec- 

 tionable for successful wintering and 

 springing of its inmates. It is un- 

 doubtedly too large and barn-like. 

 Going between that and the American 

 frame, I have found, by an experi- 

 ence of 20 years, that a .similarly con- 

 structed frame, 14 inches long and 11 

 inches deep is best. 



Little attention is usually given to 

 the ventilation of hives, especially in 

 summer. Not unfrequently the front 

 of a hive remains for weeks covered 

 with bees while they hang in festoons 

 from the bottom board, and all for the 

 want of ventilation. Let a hive, thus 

 covered, be raised one-quarter of an 

 inch from the bottom board, and kept 

 so raised by blocks under its corners, 

 and every one of this idle crowd will 

 go inside the hive or into the fields to 

 work in less than a single hour. 



Its a mistake to say that bees clus- 

 ter outside the hive for the sake of 

 swarming. They never stop work for 

 that purpose, but when they cannot 

 sufficiently ventilate their hive to pre- 

 vent danger of their comb melting 

 down, they have sufficient sense to go 

 outside, and thus save their stores. 



One of the most provoking, and 

 probably the most fatal malady among 

 the bees, in this locality, is dysentery. 

 We know its effects, but we can only 

 guess at its cause. To say that it has 

 diminished numbers, or cold weather, 

 or impure honey, does not satisfy the 

 anxious inquirer; for some colonies in 

 the cellar are atHicted with it, and as 

 the sick ones die, of course their num- 



bers diminish ; while the claim that 

 impure honey causes it. is answered 

 by the fact that other colonies, feeding 

 from the same source of supply, are 

 not affected in the least. I would 

 suggest faithful inquiry and observa- 

 tion among the members of this as- 

 sociation as to the real cause or causes 

 of dysentery among our bees and the 

 resultant remedies for the disease. 



It is always noticeable that some 

 colonies build up and increase much 

 faster in the spring than others. To 

 have them all full of bees and ready 

 for the honey harvest is the great de- 

 sideratum of tlie apiarist. The most 

 prosperous colonies, early in the 

 month of May, can suffer the loss of 

 a frame of brood without apparent 

 injury, while the impetus, energy and 

 strength given to a weak and strug- 

 gling colony, by the insertion of such 

 frame, is almost wonderful. 



I deem it of the utmost importance 

 to have every colony in an apiary as 

 nearly equal, both iii stores and bees, 

 by the middle of May, as possible, and 

 this equality can easily be effected by 

 the interchange of a few frames be- 

 tween them. Of course all queenless 

 colonies should be supplied with 

 queens before this time, and weak 

 ones united. 



The question as to how many bees 

 can profitably be kept in one place is 

 not readily determined. I see it no- 

 ticed that' in some parts of C4ermany 

 several thousand colonies are fre- 

 quently found in a single compact 

 neighborhood, while in this country 

 the weight of authority seems to place 

 a much smaller limit to the number 

 that can profitably be kept in one 

 locality. 



Let us, if possible, add something 

 to the solution of this question at our 

 future meetings. 



Since brimstone has, in a great 

 measure, been discarded, the question 

 of increase enters seriously into the 

 calculations of the bee-keeper. 



How to overcome the great dis- 

 asters of winter and spring without 

 detriment to the crop of honey ? If 

 he works for increase he can obtain 

 no surplus honey, and consequently 

 no revenue, as the demand for colo- 

 nies is limited and prices very un- 

 satisfactory. 



The natural tendency of bees is to 

 swarm, not only once, but twice or 

 three times. The parent colony is 

 thus left without workers, and can 

 produce no surplus. The second and 

 third swarms are often too small to 

 obtain a livelihood until the coming 

 spring, while the first swarm can only 

 furnish a small amount of honey to 

 the bee-keeper. He must, therefore, 

 restrain swarming, and keep his forces 

 united in order to obtain the best 

 results. 



As time for swarming approaches, 

 I remove two frames of brood and 

 bees from each of the most prosper- 

 ous colonies, being very careful not 

 to take the queen, and uniting eight 

 of these frames in a single hive, thus 

 construct one-fourth as many new 

 colonies as I have in my apiary. By 

 giving these new colonies a queen- 

 cell ready to hatch, I soon have this 

 number of full and prosperous colo- 



nies, all capable of collecting surplus 

 stores. The old colonies being fur- 

 nished with frames of fotmdation, 

 have such additional work to perform 

 that in a majority of cases they forget 

 to cast a swarm that season. Such 

 swarms, however, as do issue, I fur- 

 nish with two or three frames of 

 brood from the hive whence they 

 came (first removing all queen-cella 

 therefrom), and then place them on 

 the old stand. The parent colony I at 

 once break up into nuclei for queen 

 rearing, or unite the frames with 

 others into full colonies. 



Other questions readily present 

 themselves for consideration, but I 

 desist, with the remark that it is 

 probably a good tiling that we do not 

 all think exactly alike. 



The discussion which followed was 

 based mostly on points made by the 

 essayist. 



L. W. Baldwin says he prefers cel- 

 lar wintering. He placed 207 colonies 

 in the cellar the 1st of December, and 

 wintered every one. He returned 

 them to the summer stands on the 1st 

 of March, and found, by weighing, 

 that they had consumed only five 

 pounds and one ounce of honey each ; 

 while out of doors they would have 

 consumed ten or twelve pounds each. 



J. D. Meador prefers small frames 

 of 10 or 11 inches depth ; he would not 

 use the Langstroth frame ; he thinks 

 bees prepare themselves for swarming 

 by quietness and fattening ; he thinks 

 bees on summer stands must have the 

 sun to shine on their hives in winter ; 

 he lost heavily this last winter of such 

 colonies as he did not properly pre- 

 pare for winter. 



r. Baldwin says bees prepare for 

 swarming by clustering and resting, 

 and that they will do so inside of the 

 hive and in boxes if not on the out- 

 side ; he does not want foundation nor 

 old combs for swarms. His bees do 

 best in making their own comb. 



D. G. Parker wants foundation to 

 prevent excess of drones, if for no 

 other purpose, because bees construct 

 drone comb largely, especially in 

 swarming time. 



The 20th day of September was des- 

 ignated as the time, and Independ- 

 ence as the place for liolding the next 

 convention. Committees "were ap- 

 pointed to prepare premium lists for 

 said occasion, and to make arrange- 

 ments for a two days' session. 



Thanks are extended to Mrs. J. D. 

 Meador for providing a sumptuous 

 collation, which was served in an ad- 

 joining room in the court house, and 

 heartily relished. 



Sundry other miscellaneous busi- 

 ness was transacted and convention 

 adjourned. S. W. Salisbury, Sec. 



1^ The Southwestern Iowa Bee- 

 Keepers' Association will hold its 

 annual meeting at the apiary of L. E. 

 Mercer, Lenox , Taylor county, Iowa, 

 May 26, 1883. Meeting called at 10 

 o'clock sharp. Forenoon : Election 

 of officers. Afternoon : Work in the 

 apiary, when any question, with re- 

 gard to handling bees, will be practi- 

 cally explained. Accommodations will 

 be provided for visitors from a dis- 

 tance. W. J. Oliver, Sec. 



