THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



287 



new home, and so were not put to the 

 test of cold weather. Their untimely 

 failing must have been caused by 

 sometliing else than climatic influ- 

 ence. I have Ivuown queens bred in 

 the North to do tlie same. On the 

 otiier hand, I have had queens from 

 Georgia which were unexceptionable 

 in every respect. 



The charge of inability to stand our 

 severe winters, must apply with equal 

 force to queens coming from Italy ; 

 while for other reasons I prefer home- 

 bred queens, 1 believe that tliis com- 

 plaint has never been made of im- 

 ported ones. 



If it is a fact that Southern-bred 

 queens are inferior to those reared in 

 the North, the result will be an injury 

 to the business of Southern breeders, 

 and a loss to Northern apiarists who 

 wish to buy early queens. 



I cannot speak of the Bee Journal 

 except in praise; the avidity with it 

 seizes new subjects, and the ability 

 with which it discussed them, makes 

 it invaluable to those who would 

 keep up with the times. 



Detroit, Mich., May 21, 1S83. 



For fhe American B,;e JournaL 



Bee-Keepiug in Canada. 



JAMBS SHANNON. 



I have been interested in bee-cul- 

 ture for a number of years, but like 

 many others, was content with the 

 old box-hive and the old methods, and 

 the result was a limited supply of 

 honey for home consumption, and 

 sometimes a little to spare. But 

 about three years ago my attention 

 was accidentally called to the sientitic 

 methods of bee-culture, and I at once 

 became an enthusiast in the business, 

 and went to work in good earnest to 

 learn the principles of this pleasing 

 occupation. While studying, I have 

 been practicing, thus demonstrating 

 the advantages or difficulties of differ- 

 ent methods. After reading the 

 standard works on bee-culture, I sub- 

 scribed for the Bee Journal, which 

 has been a welcome visitor every 

 week since. 



I have wintered 7 colonies, 6 of 

 which are in excellent condition, but 

 one has dwindled badly. The weather 

 here has been very cold and back- 

 ward since the winter protection was 

 removed. I think they should have 

 remained in winter quarters until 

 now. It seems to me that double- 

 walled hives are almost a necessity to 

 provide against this lingering cold in 

 the spring, which so often prevails 

 here ; until this date, and even after, 

 cold waves that greatly retard opera- 

 tions in the hive unless they have al- 

 most winter protection. I am experi- 

 menting in this matter. I have been 

 greatly interested in the discussions 

 about the coming bee. Surely, we 

 should be as wise as the old iiatriarch 

 who cared not whether his cattle 

 were ring streaked, speckled or spot- 

 ted ; and, if we can bring out the 

 good points by careful breeding, none 

 need care about color or bands. I am 

 trying to unite two valuable traits in 

 my bees ; one part are superior honey- 



gatherers ; the others, having a slight 

 dash of Cyprian blood, have shown 

 remarkable powers of building up. 

 The only difficulty I have is the near- 

 ness of other bees. 



I have sown 12 pounds of Bokhara 

 clover, this spring, and intend trying 

 other plants, believing pasturage to 

 be a necessity. We have, however, 

 good natural pasturage consisting of 

 white clover, abundance of raspber- 

 ries, and some basswood and golden- 

 rod, and other plants upon which the 

 the bees work vigorously. 



There is a growing interest in bee- 

 culture here, and a good demand for 

 colonies. I hope to report progress, 

 from time to time, with the result of 

 my experiments. 



VVolverton, Out., May 15, 1883. 



If'or the American Bee Joamal. 



How I Get Bees into the Sections. 



W. H. BALCH. 



Years ago it used to be a hard job, 

 sometimes, with some colonies of 

 bees, even when all seemed propitious; 

 while others, no stronger in numbers, 

 were working with a will in sections, 

 these would lay around for several 

 days. Now, as soon as I get the hive 

 tilled with brood, I begin to open or 

 ventilate the hives as fast as the bees 

 will bear it and not chill the brood ; I 

 open the entrances a little each day, 

 turn back the quilt, a little at a time, 

 and soon. When the honey begins to 

 come in, put on the sections, close all 

 ventilation and the entrances as small 

 as not to hinder them working. The 

 liive is not cooled so much but that 

 they have some bees to spare, and 

 these will immediately go into the 

 sections and begin work. Have one 

 or more sections fliled with natural 

 comb, or foundation that was drawn 

 out the previous year, and if you do 

 not care for very much increase, watch 

 the sections, and as soon as the hrst 

 are hlled, take them off and replace 

 with empty ones ; as the bees increase, 

 give more ventilation. In this way I 

 have prevented one-third of my bees, 

 in a good honey season, from swarm- 

 ing; and many that did swarm, 

 swarmed but once, and those that did 

 not swarm, averaged a little over 300 

 pounds per colony, of honey in the 

 comb. 



Oran, N. Y., May 24, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How to Make Out Reports. 



W. H. STEWART. 



There seems to be a general desire 

 expressed by leading bee-keepers to 

 collect and publish full and reliable 

 statistics on bees and honey. Bee- 

 keepers can never know their relative 

 standing with other producing classes 

 until they can obtain such statistics. 

 To us it seems impossible to get a full 

 and correct statement of our condi- 

 tion, products and prospects in any 

 other way than to first get a full and 

 correct report from each individual 

 engaged in the business. 



To do this, under the present condi- 

 tion of affairs, is no small matter. If 

 each bee-keeper was taking a bee 

 paper, and was able and ready to make 

 out a full and correct report each 

 year, then a committee could, by com- 

 paring those papers, approximate very 

 nearly to the truth. But, unfortu- 

 nately there are many bee-keepers 

 who do in)t take a bee paper, or even 

 take the trouble to borrow one to 

 read ; therefore, they cannot be ex- 

 pected to report ; tience, it would 

 have to be the business of some other 

 person to pump a report from such 

 men, and report for them. 



It appears to be useless to depend 

 upon assessors to gather these statis- 

 tics, from the fact that in some States 

 no account is taken of bees in the as- 

 sessment. Again, if assessors and 

 town boards sliould undertake to col- 

 lect and report the full and correct 

 condition of bee-culture in their re- 

 spective towns, not one in one hun- 

 dred of such officers know anything of 

 bee-culture, and, consequently, could 

 neither frame, ask or answer an im- 

 portant question on the subject. 



There is yet another impediment in 

 the way of getting even a correct re- 

 port from those that do take and read 

 bee literature. Many get a good crop 

 of honey, and seem to be so overjoyed 

 that they rush into print with the re- 

 port, not stopping to ascertain at the 

 year's end, whether or not bee-keep- 

 ing has paid, all things considered. 

 Others get discouraged when the year 

 is, perliaps, half-passed, and report 

 their discouragements, and then, may 

 be, we hear no more from them. 

 Others seem to be ambitious to ex- 

 cel in making outward show, and 

 they double up as many bees as can 

 be made to work together, and then 

 take all their stores, and leave the 

 bees to perisli for the sake of report- 

 ing big yields from one colony, and, 

 perhaps, a fair, aggregate report would 

 show that the same man is losing 

 money on his bees, all things consid- 

 ered. Others report good and honest 

 as far as they go, but their reports not 

 being full, are of but little value. 



Allow me to give some examples of 

 reports, and my reasons for thinking 

 that such reports are in the end 

 worthless. First, let me say that 

 what I write on bee-cultute, is only 

 calculated for this northern latitude. 

 Even in this region of long, cold win- 

 ters, almost any one can manage bees 

 safely and prolitably through the sum- 

 mer seasons, but then comes the win- 

 ters, during which the law of natural 

 selection proves that the only road 

 to successful bee-keeping is a well- 

 arranged and closely-followed system 

 deduced from reason, observation and 

 experience. 



To be useful, a report should em- 

 brace an experience for at least one 

 whole year; not only so, but that year 

 should begin and end at such dates, 

 that we could learn from it what ef- 

 fect such and such management 

 through the spring, summer and fall 

 had on the bees during the winter, 

 and the manner they were wintered. 

 I believe that all well-posted bee- 

 keepers are agreed that if we begin in 

 the spring with two colonies of bees 



