THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



251 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Burying Bees in Clamps. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



In the Bee Journal, page 177, is 

 an article by Mr. \Vm. Bradford on 

 clamp wintering and ventilation. On 

 April 19, I visited two box-hive men 

 ■who both wintered their bees as de- 

 scribed in tlie lirst part of Mr. Brad- 

 ford's article. 



One of the men is very old, and has 

 kept bees for a number of years, al- 

 ways with success, whenever he has 

 buried his bees. He showed me the 

 places where tliey wintered last win- 

 ter. He liad taken out 12 colonies the 

 day before I visited him, and the bees 

 were Hying out of the hives and carry- 

 ing in pollen, and were very strong. 

 The hives were clean and not " spot- 

 ted," in the least ; the combs were 

 all clean and bright, with plenty of 

 honey. He winters about 10 or 12 

 colonies in a place. 



After packing straw around the 

 hives, he puts straw on top, then some 

 dry dirt on the tops of the hives, then 

 covers over with boards to keep out 

 the wet; then covers all up with earth, 

 3 or 4 inches deep. The hives came 

 out as dry as when put in. He gives 

 no upward ventilation ; the hives are 

 sealed \\\) as tight as the bees can do 

 it. There is a hole in ttie side of the 

 hives, 5 or 6 inches from the bottoms. 

 The hive sets upon a 4x4 joist, in the 

 bottom of trench. He puts straw or 

 buckwheat chaff on the bottom. He 

 said, one fall, he had 100 colonies of 

 bees ; he put them in on Oct. Land 

 they remained there until April 1 ; 

 when he took them out they were in 

 tine condition, without loss. Some of 

 the colonies were very small, but they 

 came out with plenty of bees and 

 honey. 



He covers up his trenches with 

 boards, and that saves digging new 

 trenches every fall. He cleans out 

 the straw sometime before he wants 

 to put the bees in, and lets them dry 

 out. It does not take a very large 

 place to bury 100 colonies. It saves 

 carrying them in the cellar, and is not 

 half'the work that it is to pack them 

 in chaff. 



I shall have him help me bury some 

 of mine, next fall, if all is well. I 

 have tried almost all kinds of ways, 

 but lose some in any way. 



I thought I would write this, and, 

 perhaps, it might give some light on 

 the wintering subject. Some may 

 think they are right, but when they 

 test their ways of wintering, year 

 after year, they may fail in some 

 years. Tliis man told me he heard so 

 much about wintering in chaff , that 

 in the winter of 1881-82, he packed all 

 of his in chaff, except .5 or 6 which he 

 buried, and these were all he had left 

 for seed. One of his neighbors, who 

 had buried his bees, in other winters, 

 thought he would let them go that 

 winter, and lost tiiem all (some 80 col- 

 onies) ; all the man had to depend on 

 for a living, and an old man at that. 



One of my neiglibovs winters his 

 bees, packed in cliaff He uses an ex- 

 tra box, and sets the hive in the bot- 



tom. There is about 1}i inch of space 

 under the frames ; the entrance is 4 

 inches long and % high ; he leaves tlie 

 quilts on. the same as he puts them on 

 after taking off the surplus boxes. 

 The bees wax them down as close as 

 they can ; lie has nothing over the 

 frames, and does not cut holes through 

 the combs. His bees come out good. 



In the year of 1881-82, when I lost 

 7.T colonies, his came out without loss. 

 There was no chance for upward ven- 

 tilation, for the quilts were all covered 

 with propolis, and waxed tight to the 

 frames. 



Fi-anklinton, N. Y., April .30, 1883. 



ror tne American Bee Journal. 



The Standard Langstroth Frame. 



G. M. ALVES. 



Mr. .James Heddon, on page 224 of 

 the Bee Journal, advocates 17^8 

 inches as the proper length ot the 

 Lang;stroth frame, on the sole reason 

 that it is so given by Mr. Langstroth, 

 in his book published about 20 years 

 since. Now, I submit four proposi- 

 tions why 17^8, and not 17?-^ inches, 

 should be universally accepted as the 

 standard length. 



1. There are more Langstroth 

 frames in use of that length than any 

 other. 



2. The largest manufacturers of 

 hives, and the greatest number of 

 them, have adopted this size. 



3. This size will exactly take eight 

 standard one-pound sections— a very 

 important consideration with those 

 who prefer to take their honey in 

 frames. 



4. The editors of the principal bee 

 periodicals liave, and do now, give 

 this size as the standard, and on the 

 authority of the Editor American 

 Bee Journal, Mr. Langstroth him- 

 self has approved the change. See 

 American Bee Journal for 1882, 

 page 251. 



Now, if these propositions are all 

 true, and Mr. Heddon cannot success- 

 fully disprove them, the conclusion to 

 all wlio appreciate their weight is, that 

 the standard Langstroth frame should 

 be, and is 17^ inches in length. 



Now, in the light of the above, I 

 must submit that Mr. Heddon, in 

 selling and advocating a frame 11% 

 inches in length as the standard 

 Langstroth frame, is in this particu- 

 lar detrimental. 



Henderson, Ky. 



[As stated by Mr. Alves, in 1878 we 

 referred tliis matter to Mr. Langs- 

 troth, and he replied that he now con- 

 sidered 17'';; the correct measurement 

 for the length of the standard Langs- 

 troth frame. See Bee Journal for 

 1878, page 427. As Mr. Alves remarks, 

 the fact that this size of frame is 

 better adapted to the use of cases to 

 hold 8 small sections, should be very 

 potent in deciding tfie point in con- 

 troversy This small difference often 

 makes serious trouble.— Ed.] 



For tbo American Bee JuumaL 



How to Press and Mount Flowers. 



F. A. HUNTLEY. 



In reply to Mr. N. Z. Hutchinson'a 

 inquiry in the Bee Journal of April 

 25, asking liow to press and mount 

 flowers for study, I will give the 

 metliod by wliich the students of the 

 Iowa Agricultural College make up 

 their herbariums. 



In the rtrst place the collector should 

 have everything in readiness for col- 

 lecting, pressing and mounting his 

 specimens before he begins the work. 

 The tools and apparatus for collecting, 

 consist of a good sharp pocket knife 

 to be used for cutting and trimming, 

 a gardner's trowel, or a good strong 

 butcher-knife for digging, as it is 

 sometimes advantageous to have a 

 portion of the root with the flower, 

 and a botanizer's can, or some other 

 convenient vessel, for carrying the 

 plants and keeping them from the dry 

 air and.sun. The collector will lind it 

 greatly to his advantage to have a 

 good pocket lens with him, to enable 

 him to examine more closely the va- 

 rious parts of his specimens. He 

 should have a note book in which he 

 may note down anything that he 

 might want to look up, at some other 

 time ; and if he wishes to classify hia 

 specimens while out, he should have 

 a good classitier's manual with him. 

 The one used here, and probably the 

 best in the United States, is the one 

 edited by Dr. Asa Gray, the well-. 

 known professor of botany in Harvard 

 University. It is always easy to class- 

 ify specimens while they are fresh^ 

 as all parts may then be easily dis- 

 cerned. 



The apparatus for pressing consista 

 of two wide boards, about 12x18 

 inches ; these should have cleats nailed 

 on them, to keep them from warping, 

 and to keep the lower one up from the 

 floor, so that no dampness will con- 

 tract about the press. 



The pressing paper should be thick 

 and reasonably soft in texture, so aa 

 to be a good absorbent. The paper 

 sold for putting under carpets is 

 about as good as can be procured. 

 Tissue paper is the best for keeping 

 the specimens from direct contact 

 with the drying paper. All the paper 

 should be cut to tit the press. In 

 placing the plants in the press, great 

 care should be taken to arrange the 

 parts, as to the position they are to 

 have after mounting ; the leaves 

 should be so arranged as to show both 

 upper and under surfaces. Where a 

 portion of the root is to be saved, it is 

 best to cut one side entirely otf , so aa 

 to avoid unevenness in the specimen. 



The amount of weight to be ap- 

 plied to the press should be enough to 

 flatten the specimens without crush- 

 ing. Driers should be changed twice 

 a day and placed in the sunshine, or 

 near a Hre, so that they may be thor- 

 oughly dried before exchanging them 

 for the damp ones in the press. 



The value of a specimen depends 

 upon the rapidity and care with which 

 it has been dried. Therefore, the 

 press should always be kept in a dry 



