THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



417 



eggs, and this is why I came to doubt 

 the"Dzierzon drone theory." That 

 is, "a pure queen mismated will pro- 

 duce pure drones;" it may be true, 

 but the colony containing this queen 

 will not have all pure drones, if any. 



I wish Mr. Heddon, or some able 

 bee master, could have had this col- 

 ony to have made observations from, 

 for the benettt of us more illiterate 

 bee-keepers. It seemed from the 

 color of the bees that appeared to do 

 the most of the laying, that they were 

 bees not over three weeks old. I 

 could not find one of those old, shiny, 

 black-tail fellows at the egg business. 



Our honey flow that promised us a 

 good thing about the middle of July 

 from the cotton bloom, is over on 

 account of drouth ; not a particle of 

 rain have we had since June 12 until 

 to-day, when we had a good rain ; the 

 thermometer averages from 96° to 104° 

 in the shade. The cotton plant, and 

 every other green plant, had about 

 petered out. 



Dresden, Texas, Aug. 6, 1883. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



A Report for One Year. 



W. H. STEWAKT. 



I will now try to give a report of 

 my bee-keeping for one year, begin- 

 ning May 1, 1882, and ending Mayl, 

 1883. As I liave never before given 

 a report in the Bee Journal, it may, 

 perhaps, be proper to preface this one 

 with a mere hint as to the reason why 

 my bees were all very weak in the 

 spring of 1882. 



I have always wintered my bees on 

 the summer stands, until the last two 

 winters. In the fall of 1880 I had 85 

 colonies in first-class condition. In 

 the spring of 1881,1 had but 14 left 

 alive. I ran them through the sum- 

 mer for increase, and increased to 4.5, 

 but they were all quite light and weak 

 when I put them in the cellar. This 

 explains why they were weak in the 

 spring of 1882. As the weather was 

 wet and cold in the spring of 1882, 1 

 was compelled to feed them regularly, 

 and give them extra attention up to 

 June 10. 



I use a very simple hive, one that 

 I would not like to exchange for any 

 of the so-called standards. It is just 

 a plain box of inch boards ; top and 

 bottom both movable ; box 17x17 out- 

 side, and 13^^ deep. I use 10 frames 

 12x12 inside measure ; end-bars %x%, 

 and 12 inches long (these end-bars ad- 

 mit of strong nailing) ; top-bars ^xfl 

 inches ; bottom bars %x}4 inches ; 

 the bottom bars being narrow, allow 

 dead bees to fall down between the 

 combs without cloying the spaces. 

 The grooves on which 1 hang the 

 frames are % deep ; this gives % 

 passage over the frames, both summer 

 and winter. The space between the 

 end bars of the frames and the sides 

 of the hive is^^ inches; this allows 

 the handling of such deep frames with 

 perfect ease and without danger of 

 crushing the bees, and I have never 

 found comb built between the frames 

 and the side of the hive. The space be- 

 tween the bottom bars of the frames 



and the bottom board is % inches, 

 which gives ample room for dead bees 

 to be carried along on the bottom, 

 towards the entrance, without cloy- 

 ing under the frames. 



1 use no division boards. I consider 

 them worse than useless. I never 

 give the bees but two combs more 

 than they can cover, and I always 

 chose to keep weak colonies in the 

 back part of the hive. I find that 

 they will build towards the entrance 

 much more readily than they will 

 build back. I hang the frames with 

 the sides towards the entrance. Cold 

 winds do not drive in between the 

 combs as bad as when the ends of the 

 combs are towards the entrance. 



My way of feeding is to go after 

 dark and lift off the top board; lift 

 out the empty comb on the back side 

 of the cluster and pour into it thin 

 syrup, or honey thinned up with thin 

 flour starch. I give only enough to 

 last one or two days. I then hang 

 the comb in again, put the cover 

 carefully on, and pass on to the next 

 hive. This work may be done after 

 dark without smoke, as the bees will 

 not leave the combs when they cannot 

 well see to get home again. A lan- 

 tern may be used if it is not held too 

 near the bees. Robbers are more apt 

 to make trouble if fresh feed is placed 

 on the side of the cluster nearest the 

 entrance of the hive. 



I found on June 10, 1882, fresh 

 clover honey in these feed combs, and 

 from that time we had rather a good 

 honey season. We extracted 1,000 

 pounds of white clover honey up to 

 July 14; then came basswood bloom, 

 and we extracted 2,000 pounds ; then 

 we took of buckwheat and other late 

 honey 1,000 pounds; making 4,000 

 pounds in all. 



I use the hives 2 stories high during 

 honey season, and in the last week of 

 August, the upper stories were nearly 

 full of capped honey, and the lower 

 stories were full of brood. I then 

 divided the bees, making two colo- 

 nies of each one ; giving each colony 

 (as near as I could) one-half of the 

 brood that was below, and of the 

 capped honey that was above. 



The queenless colony had to rear 

 a new queen, and it only gathered 

 about what they consumed during 

 the balance of the season. I put them 

 in the cellar on Nov. 16, after dark. I 

 do not use the bottom boards of my 

 hives in the cellar. The top boards 

 are made 17x17, the same width of the 

 hive, and do not project over. I nail 

 a cleat on each end to prevent warp- 

 ing. This cleat is 3 inches wide, and 

 sets up edgewise, and is on top of the 

 cover. I lay down some loose boards 

 on the bottom of the cellar, and then 

 lay a top board on the loose boards. 



When these top boards are thus 

 arranged all around the cellar, I set 

 the hives on top of them, and then 

 another tier on the top board cleats 

 of this first row, and so build them up 

 4 or 5 hives deep. You will under- 

 stand that each hive thus arranged 

 has a bottom ventilation 3 inches 

 deep and 15 inches wide, both front 

 and rear of the hive, which, all 

 counted, makes 90 square inches of 

 bottom ventilation. How is that 



compared with i4 inch blocks, Mr. 

 Doolittle y 



I give not a particle of upward ven- 

 tilation. No quilts, no chaff, no 

 enameled cloth, or any such flumeries, 

 but just the naked smooth hive board, 

 and it is nicely made to fit close. I 

 calculate for the vapor from the 

 breathing of the bees to condense on 

 the top board and keep a constant 

 supply of water for the bees. I can 

 at any time go into the cellar (and I 

 go about once a week) with a tallow 

 candle (a lamp gives too strong a 

 light) and look under each hive and 

 up among the combs, and see the 

 bees as bright and lively as in sum- 

 mer. I can use a wing, or even my 

 hand, and reach clear across under 

 each hive, and brush off all the dead 

 bees that have fallen from the frames 

 of one liive down on top of the next 

 one below it without making any jar 

 or disturbing the bees in the least. 



I kept 85 colonies through this last 

 hard winter in a cellar just large 

 enough to contain them by building 

 them 4 deep on each side, and 5 deep 

 at the back end ; and, in the spring, 

 there was not more than 3 quarts of 

 dead bees on the cellar bottom, and no 

 dead bees or mold at all among the 

 combs. All came out of the cellar 

 Marah 10 (after dark) in flrst-class 

 condition (except 2 nucleus that 

 starved), and have done splendidly up 

 to the present date. 



On May 1, at the expiration of the 

 year for which I am now reporting, . 

 the bees were in better condition than 

 in the middle of June, 1882. My bees 

 are Italians, hybrids and blacks, 

 about an equal number of each kind, 

 and I must say that the hybrids are 

 by far the best workers ; the blacks 

 the best breeders; the Italians the 

 best to keep out moths, and I think 

 that one kind is just as good on a 

 sting as the other, but I use no veil 

 for either. The only great advantage 

 that I am able to see in keeping the 

 Italians is to get the hybrids. 



How sweet this Maj morning, Iruit trees all In 



bloom. 

 Prophetic of summer, and a harvest to come. 

 All nature is crowned with her fl.iral bouquet. 

 O'er flowing with nectar, this bright morn in May. 



But what of the nectar, and what of the bloom? 

 What "f the sheen of the May morning sun? 

 And what of the spring time: no harvest could 



come. 

 Of unfertilized flowers to gladden our home. 



Then liie away bees, sweet treasures bring home, 

 Gi», scatter the pollen, o'er pet -I and bloom, 

 Go, make sure of the promise of a harvest to come, 

 O, grand is the lesson we learn in thy bum. 



Orion, Wis., May 20. 1883. 



Frankford, Pa., Herald. 



Robbing— Words of Caution- 



JOHN SnALLCROSS. 



Young bee-keepers will, in their 

 early experience, be freauently re- 

 quired to call a halt, while they inquire 

 into the nature or remedy tor some 

 existing trouble. A few days ago 

 there came a sudden cessation of the 

 honey supply. The dry weather, the 

 hot sun and the advanced season, had 

 deprived the white clover bloom of its 

 nectar-.secreting properties. The lin- 

 den blossoms had yielded to the en- 



