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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



It is known that bees buried under 

 snow will winter safely, providing 

 there is a vacant space within the 

 bive, or surrounding it externally. 

 Depositing bees in clamps should be 

 as late as it can be delayed before 

 freezing of the ground prevents the 

 undertaking. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



The School of Experiments. 



W. H. STEWART. 



Bee-culture is a trade. Many en- 

 gage in the business, but only a few 

 sracceed and become masters ; such 

 persons are possessed of an enterpris- 

 ing spirit. They not only love the 

 arts mechanical, but they delight in 

 Oie arts line. They are not always 

 asleep when their eyes are shut. They 

 are often found performing one job 

 mechanically with their hands, and at 

 the same time engaged mentally solv- 

 ing some knotty problem— exploring 

 new and untried fields of usefulness. 

 Such persons are full of new plans 

 and projects. They are never satis- 

 fied with the present state of things. 

 Their mental feelers are ever reaching 

 outward and onward, and coming in 

 contact with blessings that never 

 have been, but are to be enjoyed. 

 Such persons never have time to be 

 lazy. They have no time or disposi- 

 tion to write letters for a department 

 of " Blasted Hopes." No difference 

 •whether they occupy a higher or 

 lower step in the ladder of progress ; 

 either is to them but a temporary 

 position from which they are ever 

 climbing to the next higher. 

 ','. From their standpoint the world is 

 full of beauty ; every cloud has a 

 silver lining ; every shadowy vale is 

 spanned by a beautiful bow of promise. 

 To them the word demand means a 

 corresponding supply. To them, bad 

 luck in bee-keeping means improper 

 management. If they get a line crop 

 of honey this year they are thankful, 

 but notsatislied. They will strive to 

 do better next year. It is to this 

 Class of bee-keepers that we are in 

 debt for the present improved hive ; 

 for the present strains of bees; the 

 improved modes of wintering bees ; 

 the improved methods and tixtures 

 for feeding bees ; artificial swarming; 

 preveiuing natural swarming; pre- 

 venting drones ; rearing queens ; sup- 

 E lying witluirtiticial combs; prevent- 

 ig the ravages of the moth ; success- 

 ful handling of bees without Hre and 

 brimstone, and without being stung 

 to death. 



To this same class of bee-keepers 

 we must continue to look for answers 

 to the many questions not yet an- 

 swered. To them we must look for 

 ways and means by and through 

 which the many present and future 

 demands are to be supplied. Obstacles 

 have ever and ever will contend for 

 the way that leads towards the prom- 

 ised land of success. Another class 

 of persons undertake bee-keeping 

 because they are fond of honey ; or, 

 perhaps, they hope to realize large 

 profits from a small amount of capital 

 or labor that they think to invest in 



the business. They admire the beau- 

 tiful honey that the masters have put 

 in the market, but they fail to discern 

 the close practical application of the 

 finely-spun theories, the never-tiring 

 energy, the non-surrendering enter- 

 prise that has been most potent, and 

 is so indispensible to successful bee- 

 keeping. They are slow to pay their 

 money for bee papers, or take the 

 time to read one ; no patience to lie 

 awake two or three hours in the still- 

 ness of night in mental labor, devis- 

 ing ways and means by and through 

 which they may realize a large crop 

 of fine honey. 



His grandfather kept bees in hollow 

 gums, and bees in the natural state 

 live in old hollow trees, and it is {to 

 him) all nonsense to attempt an im- 

 provement on nature's ways and 

 means. He believes that the world is 

 as flat as a pan-cake, and after about 

 two or three turns of the crank, he 

 finds that he has had bad luck in bee- 

 keeping, and his bees are as flat as a 

 pan-cake, too. 



The above mentioned classes of 

 bee-keepers are the two extremes, 

 viz. : the most successful, and the 

 most unsuccessful. 



There is another class of bee-keepers 

 which we will call the conservatives. 

 They are the middle men (not women). 

 We do not know of a female bee- 

 keeper who is not of a progressive 

 nature. This conservative class of 

 men are often ready to invest in bee- 

 keeping, and sometimes are easily 

 persuaded to use hives and other 

 fixtures that the advanced bee-keepers 

 have long ago laid aside ; or he may, 

 and often does, start out with the 

 latest improvements. He learns to 

 use those things, perhaps, tolerably 

 well, and is perfectly satisfied. He 

 thinks that the art of bee-keeping 

 has been worked up to a science ; that 

 the whole truth is told ; that those 

 who propose to give any new light on 

 the subject are fanatical crazy heads, 

 and unworthy of his attention. Let 

 well enough alone, is his watchword. 

 We admit that he is right to a certain 

 extent, for we have all learned that it 

 is better to go slow in making great 

 changes without first counseling with 

 that tried and trusty teacher— ex- 

 perience. Yet there are those that 

 have learned many items in the school 

 of experience, and as they meet with 

 partial failures, they are able to recall 

 all those lessons, and arrange them in 

 regular order, and then spell out along 

 the line a supply for each demand; 

 and yet these conservatives are ready 

 to condemn (without fair trial) each 

 newly discovered truth. 



When it became desirable to save 

 honey combs for repeated use, then 

 the progressive mind gave tlie ex- 

 tractor, the value of which it is hard 

 to over-estimate. Yet, ever ready at 

 his post, the conservative bee-keeper, 

 and also the conservative honey con- 

 sumer raised all sorts of baseless 

 objections to its use. It is only be- 

 cause of the potency of truth and 

 usefulness that the extractor is to-d.iy 

 in general use. Again, when fonib 

 foundation was introduced many who 

 thouglit that they knew about all that 

 there was of bee-keeping, expressed 



an opinion that it would never come 

 into general use. Many very know- 

 ing ones dubbed it fish-bone in the 

 honey. Yet because of its worth and 

 usefulness it has come into general 

 favor, even with the conservative 

 bee-keeper. 



Now comes a condition upon the 

 beekeepers the world over that is 

 creating considerable alarm. They 

 have learned to save all their bees- 

 wax, work it over into comb founda- 

 tion and give it back to the bees, 

 thereby saving them the time and 

 labor of producing their own wax. 

 Thus a perpetual consumption and 

 non-production of beeswax has cul- 

 minated in a wax famine. Now the 

 question is, what shall we do for wax, 

 and this is the most important item 

 in all progressive bee-keeping. How 

 can we successfully winter bees and 

 prevent spring dwindling are ques- 

 tions that threaten to baffle the wis- 

 dom of the closest observers ; but if 

 these two diflSculties should be over- 

 come, the spare combs and surplus 

 wax will be diminished in proportion, 

 to our success in preserving the bees. 

 However, the wax must be had, and 

 will be forthcoming in due time, but 



Conservatism in vain may try. 

 Exhausted tlelds for fresb supply; 



New-born thouKhts must lead the van. 

 To fields as yet untried by man. 



Banish all fear, fraternal friend. 



Bee-culture has not found its end: 

 Although from Kiddy heights you peer. 



Trembling lest the end be near. 



Let us try what covert fields 

 Of art and enterprise can yield. 



The astute brain and cunninK hand. 

 Meet, then embrace, each demand. 



Orion, Wis. 



Rural New Forker. 



Bee Hives Made of Paper. 



CLARK D. KNAPP. 



Those who have been the most in- 

 terested in the keeping of bees, have 

 for years been trying to invent a hive 

 that would be equally well adapted to 

 the cold of our winters and to the 

 heat of midsummers. I saw in the 

 Bural a short time ago an article upon 

 the subject of bee-hives, which was 

 illustrated, but the writer did not 

 touch upon the question of a summer 

 and winter home for the bees. Many a 

 winter hive has been invented, but, as 

 a general thing, apiarists have given 

 no thought to the comfort of the bees 

 in the long, hot summer days, except 

 by boring a few holes in the hive for 

 ventilation. 



I have always thought that the hot 

 rays of tlie sun in June, July and 

 August were unhealtliful for the bees 

 in the hive, the heat blistering clear 

 through the wood and making the 

 inner part of the hive so hot that the 

 industrious little fellows cannot work 

 with any degree of comfort. Then, 

 in addiiion to tlie sun's heat, there is 

 the animal heat of the bees I What a 

 liot place must the interior of the 

 hive be for so much industry ! 



Now I am opposed to placing the 

 hives in the shade. The bees need 

 the sunshine upon the outside, but 

 not upon the inside of the hive. They 

 are early risers. They are up, dressed, 



