THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



595 



By placing a funnel in the hollow 

 tube when filling the feeder, there is 

 no need of spilling a drop. It can be 

 made a ventilator or corked up, when 

 no ventilation is needed, by having 

 the tube run close to tlie bottom of the 

 feeder ; the bees will not pass through 

 it. There seems to be no need of any 

 float, and the bees will not till the 

 trough with comb. 



I think I was the originator of what 

 is now known as the pepper- box feed- 

 er, and had some gentleman (I do not 

 remember liis name), take one to the 

 Vermont Bee- Keepers' Association, 

 about 15 years ago. I used it with a 

 rim that fit over wire gauze that had 

 been stamped to tit upon the rim, so 

 when used over a hole In tlie honey 

 board, the feeder could be removed 

 without letting out the bees, similar 

 to the Van Dusen feeder. 



Allen Pringle's article on Wintering 

 Bees (page 547) gives many good ideas, 

 and I often wonder why so many rec- 

 ommend doubling-up in the fall, unless 

 they have too many bees or more 

 wealth tlian they know what to do 

 with, for I never tliink of destroying 

 a nice Italian queen, if I can find at 

 least four good, full frames of bees to 

 winter lier in. 



I live in so much of a honey district, 

 that I hardly ever feed. I have in- 

 creased from IS to 40 this season, and 

 took about 2,000 lbs of honey. I shall 

 winter on the summer stands, as 

 usual. 



Columbus, Neb., Xov. 9, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



The Best Bees, Winter Packing, etc. 



E. P. CHURCHILL. 



This has been one of the best honey 

 seasons here for years, though rather 

 wet and cold in the spring, yet with 

 proper care in early stimulative feed- 

 ing, I got my bees strong for apple 

 bloom, wliich they improved ; and, as 

 I am in an orchard section, they took 

 in a good quantity of nice honey. 



One very important question (which 

 is often asked), is how to control 

 swarming ? I know of but two ways, 

 and that to only a certain extent ; 

 first, get away from Italians, and work 

 for extracted honey ; for when we ap- 

 ply the sections to the Italians, out 

 they go, even often witliout cells, and 

 when they once get on a swarming 

 rage, who can stop them V And when 

 we come to extract from Italians, they 

 cling to the combs so closely that it is 

 no small job to go through a number 

 of them. Does it not look as though 

 we had gone a little too much for 

 color? I think it has been over-done, 

 many times, though I would not com- 

 demn the yellow bees, for they have 

 some desirable points. They are so 

 gentle to handle, beautiful to look at, 

 and stay on the combs remarkably ; 

 'et, when we come to shake them over 

 he hive, what then V Instead of 

 dropping off (as some complain that 

 the blacks and hybrids do), they scat- 

 ter all around tlie hive, and will not 

 gather in half as fast as otliers. 



It is claimed by some that they breed 

 later in the season tlian others, but I 



^1 



fail to see any difference in that re- 

 spect. Again, the honey capped by 

 them is not as nice as by others (even 

 it they.stay to cap it). So, why can any 

 one say they are so far ahead of others? 



I have reared queens for my own 

 use from mv best liybrids, and until 

 I am more dissatisfied with them, I 

 shall uphold them for their good quali- 

 ties. The bees are easy to handle, and 

 when I give them a case of sections, I 

 am quite sure to know where to find 

 them. 



I believe we are working to disad- 

 vantage by using such wide boxes, 

 and also too light foundation. If any 

 one doubts this, let him try a few 

 sheets of thin foundation in brood 

 frames, and see if they will not leave 

 it until tliey are obliged to use it or go 

 without, i have experimented con- 

 siderably in this matter, and shall use 

 thicker foundation for boxes, in the 

 future. 



I shall also try a few cases with 

 sections only a little more than one 

 inch. I do not believe we know what 

 can be done, any more than Mr. Sco- 

 ville did, before he tried feeding bees 

 all winter, and reported that they 

 came through wonderfully well, for it 

 has been the old story that bees must 

 not be disturbed in winter. Who 

 knows but that the Italians have more 

 good reasoning powers than to think 

 of accepting tliose thin sheets of foun- 

 dation. This mav be the reason that 

 the other bees do the best in boxes. 



I have been told by a large breeder 

 and dealer in bees, etc., that he paid 

 $8.00 for a queen, and, after testing 

 her, sold her and a good strong colony 

 for $9.00, and said they were the lazi- 

 est bees he ever saw, and the yellow- 



I started with 11 colonies last spring; 

 took 200 lbs. of extracted honey, and 

 as much or more of comb honey, reared 

 .S4 queens, and now have .33 good colo- 

 nies. I have packed most of my bees 

 in a new manner, and will tell you how 

 it is. I slant a good shingle or board, 

 not more than 10 inches wide, in front 

 of the hive, so as to reach up about to 

 the upper story ; then I shake bedding 

 or meadow hay all up about the hive, 

 most in front ;" then I stand a few ever- 

 greens, not much taller than the hive, 

 about this ; then I tie the buts of two 

 long, slim sticks together, then take 

 these around the whole, and have the 

 tied cords come at one corner of the 

 hive, and then tie the tops together. 

 Now, I have a stay for the whole. I 

 tuck under more broughs, and hay 

 enough to make it perfectly dark, then 

 roll in a few clusters of hay about the 

 upper part, below the cover, and I feel 

 that I have one of the best packings 

 extent. No cold can get into the en- 

 trances ill windy weather, nor snow to 

 clog the entrance, nor is it so close as 

 to smother them. I open the entrance 

 about 3 inches. 



I am using mostly leaves for packing 

 over the bees, and instead of a crooked 

 stick over the frames. I make a rack 

 of two pieces across the frames, one 

 inch from the ends of the hive, then I 

 nail strips on these, so as to hold up 

 the packing. The end strips are about 

 an inch high. These will not throw 

 the division boards out of place. I al- 



low the one in at each end for room 

 to crowd down packing, as it is always 

 coldest at tlie ends, in a movable two- 

 story hive, but I use mostly two-story 

 chaff hives of my own make, and like 

 them best of all. 



In this way of packing we can take 

 off the covers, feed the bees, etc., if we 

 wish, and it does away with the great 

 loss of bees by flying, for they are so 

 ct)ol that they do not know what the 

 weather is outside. I think it next to 

 a snow drift, only better, and the pack- 

 ing will hold some of that when it 

 comes. I do not say I know this to be 

 an improvement, but I certainly think 

 so. 



North Auburn. Me., Nov. 5, 1883. 



imixat and Boxu, 



ANSWERS BY 



James Heddon, Bowagiac, Mich. 



W In reply to Mr. A. J. Fisher, on 

 page .564, 1 will say that after consid- 

 erable experimenting the past season, 

 we prefer our sections 1J| inches wide 

 to be used without separators, es- 

 pecially with the smaller-sized sec- 

 tions. No doubt half size starters or 

 pieces of foundation will guide them 

 in sections as straightly as pieces of 

 full-size, but no more so, if the full- 

 size pieces are properly adjusted. A 

 great reason for using full-size pieces 

 in sections, is to prevent the building 

 of drone comb there, in which the 

 queen is very apt to lay, if we have 

 none, or very little comb in the brood 

 chamber, which is the case now with 

 more progressive bee-keepers, who 

 are using full sheets of worker foun- 

 dation in all the brood frames. I do 

 not think there is much, it any more 

 danger of the queen breeding in thin 

 than in thicker sections, as she de- 

 posits her eggs at or previous to that 

 point in the growth of the comb, when 

 it is % thick. What prevents her 

 from occupying it, is the tendency on 

 the part or the bees to fill it with 

 honey as fast as built. 



Yes; we find the thinner combs 

 built straighter. 



Cellar Ventilation. 



I intend to winter my bees in a 

 room partitioned off in the cellar, and 

 intend to have a 2}^ inch pipe to go 

 through the floor and connect with 

 the stove-pipe. Will Mr. ■ Heddon 

 please answer througli the " What and 

 IIow " department of the Bee Jour- 

 nal if it would be better to have a 

 branch from the main pipe in the 

 room, and have the main pipe go 

 within a foot of the floor, and the 

 other near the ceiling of the bee room, 



