122 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Fel. 21, 



Now, what I would like to have some one explain is, for 

 what reason is the straw put in ? Is it put in to keep the bees 

 warm, to absorb the moisture, or what ? What element of 

 safety does it furnish in this case, anyway? I know that 

 many, perhaps the majority of bee-keepers, have long had an 

 idea that bees could be kept warm by placing around and 

 above them a few inches of straw, but can they? I, for one, 

 do not think they can, and I will venture just here to make an 

 assertion the truthfulness of which anyone can test. No colony 

 of bees covered with an inch board sealed tight and left out-of- 

 doors, with the entrance wide open, will ever die from cold in 

 this United States, if said colony of bees has plenty of good 

 sealed honey above the cluster, in the combs on which the cluster 

 forms, provided said colony was strong and healthy when it 

 went into winter quarters. 



I have repeated, time after time, during the last ten years, 

 "Bees do not freeze, they starve!" All of my experience 

 during that time has only gone to strengthen my coovictions 

 of the truthfulness of the statement. For the first five years 

 I was in Missouri I kept from 150 to 200 colonies of bees, 

 and I was buying and sellngbees all the time. The result was 

 that I had all sorts of hives in my apiary. I began with the 

 notion that I could put a few inches of chaff or leaves around 

 bees and keep them warm. One of the hives in which I found 

 colonies of bees that I bought, had room enough to pack a foot 

 of straw or chaff all around the brood-chamber, and I put it 

 in. Some had room on top, and I put it in there, and some 

 had no room anywhere, and, what seemed worse, were in hives 

 made of ?8-inch lumber. What was the result? In almost 

 every case the colonies in the thin hives cast the first swarms. 

 Their frames were 12 inches deep, and they had plenty of 

 honey in the riuht place. 



I see Mr. Pond mentions in a late number of the American 

 Bee Journal the fact that his bees winter on their summer 

 stands, and seem to defy the cold in the same way. You say 

 this may be true in the South, but it will not do up North. 

 Well, Mr. Pond is not in the South, and I want to say again 

 that I am confident my theory is correct. North or South. 



I was very much interested in a reportfrom Sweden which 

 appeared in the Canadian Bee Journal for January. The 

 writer says, " Bee-keeping is general here up to 62 degrees. 

 Occasionally bee-keepers are to be found up to the polar 

 circle." Prof. Nordenskold, he says, reports wild bees at the 

 North Cape. "In spite of the cold temperature the bees here 

 winter on their summer stands." When we remember that 

 the winter is six months long in that country, and the mercury 

 ranges from SO to 40 degrees below zero, we will conclude 

 that there bees would surely need a fire to keep them warm, if 

 bees do anywhere. They do not, all the same, any more than 

 the polar bear needs a fire to keep him warm. Bees will keep 

 themselves warm, if they have access to plenty of food and 

 there are plenty of bees to start with. 



I end as I began — What is the straw for? 



Conducted by "BEE-MASTER." 



An Eclio From Canada— Somctliiiig; Hiitorical. 



BY REV. W. F. CLARKE. 



Bee-Master, Sir;— As my apiary is located within the 

 bounds of "Canadian Beedom," it is fitting I should express 

 the pleasure I feel that the editor of the American Bee Journal 

 has had enterprise enough to start a department with this 

 title. I think there must be a number of Canadian bee- 

 keepers who have, like myself, a warm side toward "The Old 

 Reliable." 



When I began to keep bees, there was no bee-journal pub- 

 lished on this contiuciit so far as I knew. The American Bee 

 Journal was started by Mr. Samuel Wagner in 1861, but 

 owing to financial difliculties growing out of the War, it was 

 suspended at the close of the first year. I began bee-keeping 

 in the spring of 1864. In January of that year, I under- 

 took to edit the Canada Farmer. Looking forward to this 

 undertaking, and feeling that bee-keeping was the only 

 branch of agriculture of which I was utterly ignorant. I 

 bought the works of Langstroth and Quinby, the perusal of 

 which introduced me into a new world. I felt that I must get 

 a colony of bees to see if these things were so or not. 



When the American Bee Journal resumed publication, in 

 July, 1866, I subscribed for it and have taken it ever since. 

 Finding there was a volume that had been published in 1861, 



I got it, and my file is complete so far as the first seven vol- 

 umes are concerned. 



In Feb., 1872, the lamented Samuel Wagner died, and 

 there seemed no one available to take his place. All eyes were 

 turned to Rev. L. L. Langstroth to step into the vacant chair, 

 but his health did not admit of his assuming the responsibility. 

 I was president of the North American Bee-keepers' associa- 

 tion at the time, and had recently resigned my pastoral 

 charge. I was laboring under the auspices of the Ontario 

 Government for the establishment of an Agricultural College, 

 and had some spare time on my hands. It was known that I 

 had gained some experience as an editor, by conducting the 

 Canada Farmer for five years, and being, by this time, an 

 enthusiastic bee-keeper, as I have been ever since, I was 

 requested by leading members of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Association to take hold of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. A requisition to this effect was presented to me signed 

 by 28 of the leading bee-keepers who were at the annual 

 meeting of the North American Bee-keepers' Association, or 

 communicated with immediately afterwards. Among them 

 were Rev. L. L. Langstroth, M. Quinby, A. I. Root, Capt. 

 J. E. Hetherington, E. Gallup, Prof. Cook. M. M. Baldridge, 

 and Aaron Benedict. This document will be found in full in 

 the American Bee Journal for January, 1873, and is dated 

 Indianapolis, Dec. 5, 1872. 



I acceded to this request, went to Washington, and nego- 

 tiated with Mr. G. S. Wagner for the purchase of the American 

 Bee Journal, bought it, and removed it to Chicago, edited it 

 for two years, and then transferred it to Mr. Thos. G. Newman, 

 under whose able management it was carried on until it passed 

 into the hands of its present proprietor, Mr. Geo. W. York, 

 June 1, 1892. 



I have briefly run over these historical circumstances 

 which are doubtless new to many American and Canadian 

 bee-keepers, to explain the interest 1 have always taken, and 

 still continue to take, in the American Bee Journal. 



I was sorry when Mr. Newman connected a supply busi- 

 ness with the American Bee Journal. During my proprietor- 

 ship of it, I steadfastly refused to do anything of the kind, 

 thinking, as I still do, that it would lessen the independence 

 of the Journal. I was glad when a divorce was effected, and 

 hope Mr. York will be so liberally supported by the bee- 

 keepers of the North American continent that he will be able 

 to maintain the American Bee Journal in its present position 

 of impartial friendliness toward all supply men, without 

 having any personal interest in the goods or manufacturers 

 of any. 



I regretted much when Mr. D. A. Jones commenced to 

 cut rates on bee-literature, by starting the Canadian Bee 

 Journal as "the only §1 weekly in the world." The 

 American Bee Journal was then paying fairly well, but I think 

 it has had a hard struggle since, and a shoal of "Cheap John" 

 literature has sprung into existence which has not been for 

 the best interests of the pursuit. Even now, fewer bee-peri- 

 odicals and of a higher quality would be productive of the 

 greatest good to the greatest number. 



I have written this to justify my warm interest in the 

 American Bee Journal, and to give, as I think I -have done, 

 good and sufficient reasons for lending my warm co-operation 

 not only to the " Canadian Beedom" department, but to the 

 American Bee Journal as a whole. Personally, I would like 

 to see it restored to its old price of S2.00 a year, at which 

 rate it would be able to employ the best apicultural talent in 

 the world, and tower aloft as immeasurably superior to any 

 other bee-periodical on the habitable globe. 



Guelph, Ont., Feb. 9, 1895. 



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