THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



563 



WihiiX iXniX Boxu. 



ANSWERS BY 



James Eeddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Putting Bees in the Cellar. 



At about what time should bees be 

 put into tlie cellar V 

 Monroe, Wis. N. Stainingek. 



^\.NSWER.— At that time when you 

 think the season is going to give them 

 no more chance to fly. We usually 

 wait until snow comes apparently to 

 stay, and we do not fear to carry any 

 amount of snow into our cellar. 



siki^4S^^imM 



if"S#' 



No Surplus from Fall Flowers. 



Bees have done very well in this 

 section of country, "except in fall 

 honey ; the bees have not stored any 

 surplus this fall. 



JosiAH Eastbuen. 



Fallsington, Pa., Oct. 28, 1883. 



How was it Done 1 



In the Bee Journal for Oct. 31, J. 

 H. Kennedy, Little York, N. Y., 

 states that liis crop is 75,000 lbs. from 

 60 colonies, spring count, but he does 

 not state the increase. I commenced 

 the season with that number (60) ; in- 

 creased by aid of empty combs to 141, 

 and took 14, .5.59 lbs., which might, by 

 close extracting, have been made 

 20,000, possibly. Now, an average of 

 1,2.'50 lbs. is something that I am not 

 quite prepared for, without knowing 

 how it is done ! Will Mr. Kennedy 

 instruct a novice through the Bee 

 Journal ? J. C. Tnoai. 



Streetsville, Ont., Xov. 1, 1883. 



My Best and Poorest Colonies. 



The following is my report for 1883 

 of my best and poorest colony : Best 

 colony, No. 9, cyprian, gave of comb 

 honey, in one-pound sections, 282 lbs ; 

 extracted honey, 48 lbs. ; in hives, 157; 

 total, 487 lbs. Increased to 5 colonies. 

 Poorest colony, No. 11, Italian, gave 

 of comb honey, in one-pound sections, 

 80 lbs. ; extracted honey, 25 lbs. ; 

 in hives, 105 lbs. ; total, 2i0 lbs. In- 

 creased to 3 colonies. 



Fkitt's Cottage Hiv:e Apiary. 



Niles, Mich., Oct. 29, 1883. 



My Season's Work. 



My report for this season is, spring 

 coiuit, 8 colonies ; 2 were qneenless, 

 and had to rear their own queens, by 

 giving them eggs. I increased by 

 artifleial swarming to 27 good colonies. 

 I reared many of my own queens ; but 

 had some sent me from Ilenry Alley, 

 James Ileddon and A. I. Root. I ob- 

 tained 717 lbs. of honey (693 lbs. of ex- 



tracted and 24 lbs. of comb honey). I 

 have on hand 35 frames of good sealed 

 clover honey for spring reeding, if 

 they need it, and each colony has from 

 S5 to 30 lbs. of good honey to go into 

 winter quarters with. I sold 2 colo- 

 nies (hybrids) for $}0. I am going to 

 winter my bees in three different 

 ways. I am leaving some on their 

 summer stands, in double-walled 

 hives, packed with paper and saw- 

 dust ; some in a repository, and some 

 in clamps. I am using the standard 

 Langstroth frame. I used the Ameri- 

 can frame before, but I like the 

 Langstroth the best for handling and 

 for winter use. Wm. Seitz. 



Hustisford, AVis., Oct. 27, 1883. 



How I Started to Keep Bees. 



I have long contemplated writing a 

 short note for the Bee Journ.\l, ex- 

 pressing in a feeble way my indebted- 

 ness to the Editor and his able corres- 

 pondents, for much instruction, benefit 

 and pleasure. It was by the merest 

 accident I became an apiarist, and by 

 chance a reader, yea, a student of the 

 Bee Journal. A swarm of bees 

 settled near my place. I took them 

 in very handsomely. In a few days 

 an agent for a moth-patented hive 

 came along, explained its excellence, 

 as an agent knows so well how to do, 

 especially to one who had not been 

 enlightened upon the hive, by reading 

 the Bee Journal. I then thought it 

 the hive; took the bait. SIO worth, for 

 a farm right. And, again, by chance, 

 I, this spring, became the possessor of 

 an apiary of 30 colonies — a bold step, I 

 hear you say ; true, it was. However, 

 by studying ; by simply devouring the 

 Bee Journal and the Manual, I have 

 been equal to the emergency. When 

 I met rocks, shoals and quicksands, I 

 immediately turned to my file of Bee 

 Journals, and there found the 

 needed light. I got my bees all moved 

 by the last of January. On the first 

 day of February they were on the 

 wing, bringing in pollen— there, I will 

 leave for the present. 



Jno. a. Esiison. 



Mission Valley, Texas, Oct. 12, 1883. 



Pollen or No Pollen. 



In Bruce, Ontario, the past season 

 was, upon the whole, favorable for 

 bees. The early part of the spring 

 was very backward ; cold and wet con- 

 tinued very long, so the white clover 

 began to appear only about June 20, 

 but it then became very abundant and 

 healthy, and was followed by the 

 basswood blossoms which were very 

 plentiful. 



I see that lively discussion regard- 

 ing pollen or no pollen in wintering 

 bees is still going on. The non-pol- 

 len theory seems to me to be contrary 

 to nature. Bees, in spite of our theo- 

 ries gather it wherever and whenever 

 they can, and with very great care and 

 skill, store it up for future use. This 

 is taught by a law which man cannot 

 ignore. We know also that they need 

 pollen earlier in the season than they 

 can gather it in the fields. Bees shut 

 up for five months will be of little 

 value the following season if for want 

 of pollen they are prevented from 



breeding till they are placed on their 

 summer stands. 



The success of the bee-keeper in 

 northern climes depends very much 

 in having liis hives full of young bees 

 when placed on their summer stands ; 

 but tills cannot easily be got if pollen 

 is excluded from their winter stores. 

 I say, then, let the bees have their 

 pollen which they have so indus- 

 triously gathered and stored under 

 their honey. But let tliem have plenty 

 of ripe honey with their pollen, or 

 good syrup, which will do just as well; 

 then they will not injure themselves 

 by eating pollen, but will use it only 

 when they need it. The want of 

 liquid food drives them to the pollen, 

 and too much of it will sicken and 

 destroy them. J. Anderson. 



Tiverton, Out,, Oct. 27, 1883. 



Kansas Bee and Honey Show. 



Mr. Newman : As I have not seen 

 anything from anyone about it, I will 

 say that they had a very nice Bee and 

 Honey Show at Hiawatha. Brown Co., 

 Kansas, Fair. The officers were well 

 pleased with the display and said they 

 would encourage that department 

 more another year. I. W. Margrave 

 had a nice display of comb and ex- 

 tracted lioney, bees, queens, hives, &c. 

 John Witschy had some nice honey 

 and queens ; the writer had 2 colonies 

 of bees and honey, wtiich was most 

 all spoiled by the express agent; also, 

 an extra fine queen was shown by D. 

 A. Pike, Smithburg, Maryland. The 

 premiums were on comb and extract 

 honey, best hive and tools for apiary, 

 J. W. Margrave, Hiawatha, Kansas ; 

 best queen, D. A. Pike, Smithburg, 

 Md. ; best colony of bees, D. O. Park- 

 er, St. Joseph, Mo. D. G. Parker. 



St. Joseph, Mo., Oct. 30, 1883. 



Questions for Mr. Doolittle. 



I wish to ask Mr. Doolittle what 

 style of frame, how placed, what size, 

 1 or 2 stories, would he adopt if start- 

 ing anew into bee-keeping, for ex- 

 tracted and comb honey V 



C. M. Molksworth. 



Building Comb Upwards. 



I am an amateur bee-keeper. Two 

 years ago I started with one colony of 

 Italian bees and an observation hive. 

 I have been very much interested in 

 the working of the bees, and have 

 watched them closely this spring. I 

 took off my observation hive, which 

 was full from last year, and gave 

 them room to work. I noticed that, 

 contrary to what I expected, they did 

 not commence to build from the top 

 downward, but built the comb up- 

 wards from the bottom. They seemed 

 to pay no attention to the frames and 

 built it diagonally across the hive. 

 What I want to know is, if filling a 

 hive in that manner is of frequent 

 occurrence V Although they built 

 comb upwards they did well. I have 

 now 10 colonies and have all I can 

 attend to. Edgar L. Gross. 



Springfield, 111., Oct. 28, 1882. 



[Bees do sometimes build their combs 

 in this manner, but not often. — Ed.] 



