1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



235 



twirl the stick gently with the other, and it will come off easy. 



It will not do to wait until the swarm issues to graft cells 

 — it must be done while the larva is not over a day old, then 

 the feed will suit the day old larva used in grafting. Cells 

 could be torn open and shaved down after being sealed — take 

 the larva, jelly and all, and place new jelly in the cup, and your 

 larva would work. But I think it too slow. 



I do not know that I have seen any reports of black bees 

 having paralysis. But I supposed all kinds of bees are likely 

 to have paralysis at times. I do not think the disease is con- 

 fined to Italians alone. I have not seen a case of bee-paraly- 

 sis in south Texas yet, that I know of. 



Moisture, Not Cold, Kills Bees. 



Mrs. Atchley : — I find njy letter to you, on page 30 of 

 the Bee Journal, all right, but it brought to my mind one fact 

 that I will briefly state to you. 



Some 10 years or so ago, while testing the matter of win- 

 ter protection, I found myself with a small colony of bees and 

 a nice queen that I desired to save. The thought came to me 

 that this would be a good chance to test the matter of winter- 

 ing, to see how a small colony would go through. For a hive 

 I had a 5-frame ordinary Langstroth hive, made of Ji-inch 

 thick pine lumber. The bees fairly covered three Langstroth 

 frames, so I put a frame of comb on the sides of the hive, and 

 the three combs with bees and queen in the center, covering 

 them with a half-story top for cover, filled with leaves, giving 

 full entrance the whole with of the hive. The only other pro- 

 tection was a thick hedge on the north side of the hive. 



The winter proved more than ordinarily severe, but this 

 colony came through in good condition, and when opened in 

 March the cells were nearly all filled with brood. I will say 

 that I placed a substitute for Hill's device over the tops of the 

 frames, so that the bees could travel from one frame to 

 another over the whole top of the hive. 



This doesn't prove a proposition, but is a piece of evidence. 

 I have many such pieces, and putting them all together, 

 makes proof that satisfies my mind that cold of itself doesn't 

 kill our bees; but that excess of moisture does, by freezing, to 

 be sure ; but in such case the cold is secondarily the cause ; 

 and I believe if we so ventilate as to get rid of moisture, our 

 bees will stand very severe cold weather. 



I am not pig-headed in my ideas. I am constantly look- 

 ing for more light. I give my impressions drawn from actual 

 experiments, and know no better guide. J. E. Pond. 



North Attleboro, Mass. 



Friend Pond, your letter brings to mind the very points 

 that I have many times tried to convince myself of, that it 

 was not the cold itself that killed the bees, but the poison, I 

 might put it, or moisture arising or accumulating, and no way 

 to get out above. I for one am glad to get the evidence you 

 bring out, and I think that when we have a fair sized colony 

 of bees, with the proper ventilation, they will stand zero 

 weather a long time. 



I am glad to hear you say that you are not so set in your 

 ideas that nothing will turn you. That is what we all ought 

 to do — write our experience more and theories less, and be 

 willing to " give in " when wrong. 



ABC of Bee-Culture.— This is the fine cyclopedia 

 of bee-keeping by A. I. Root, containing 400 pages and 

 nearly 200 engravings. The regular price is !B1.25, postpaid, 

 but until April 20 we make the following very liberal club- 

 bing offers on this book : The American Bee Journal one 

 year and the "ABC" bound in cloth — both for only .$1.80 ; 

 or the parchment cover (very heavy paper) "ABC" and the 

 American Bee Journal one year — both together only $1.50. 

 Remember, April 20 is the limit on these offers. Better order 

 at once if you want a copy of this excellent bee-book. 



Only One Cent a Copy for copies of the American 

 Bee Journal before Jan. 1, 1895. We have them running 

 back for about 10 years. But you must let us select them, as 

 we cannot furnish them in regular order, and probably not 

 any particular copies. Just send us as many one-cent stamps 

 as you may want old copies, and we will mail them to you. 



Back Numbers for 1895 we can furnish to new 

 subscribers until further notice, if they will let us know when 

 subscribing. We will begin the subscription Jan. 1, 1895, if 

 you say so when sending $1.00 for a year's subscription. 



CONDUCTED BY 



Sev. Emerson T. Abhntt, St. iTosepb, AIo. 



Oq SlO'W. — "Failures in bee-keeping are very often 

 due to the fact that too many are in such haste to go into the 

 business, instead of growing into it."— Editorial in Nebraska 

 Bee-Keeper. 



I have noticed the same thing myself. The desire to get 

 bees seems to come on some people like a mania, and though 

 they know nothing about them, they are not content with one 

 or two colonies, but must have a large apiary the first year. I 

 think of one man now, who, being induced to try his hand at 

 bee-keeping by hearing a speech which I made at a farmer's 

 institute last fall, rushed out and bought 20 or more colonies 

 in a few days. He had not had any experience with bees, and, 

 notwithstanding I had advised him to begin with one or two 

 colonies and increase as he learned, he was not content until 

 he had 20 or more. Now, of course, I do not know how he 

 will come out, but in nine cases out of ten, such people are 

 bound to fail. They have but little knowledge of the economy 

 of a bee-hive, and no practical experience, and they themselves 

 would not think of trying any other industry with so little 

 fitness for it. Bees can be left to keep themselves with but 

 little knowledge, but if their owner intends to keep Vie bees 

 that they may help keep him, he must know something about 

 them. Many things about bees can only be learned by expe- 

 rience, therefore it is better, as Friend Stilson says, to "grow 

 into bee-keeping." 



Candy and Dysentery.— " The fact that cakes of 

 candy were given to all known to be in need buoys up the hope 

 that all will be well ; but six weeks' continuous confinement, 

 with no sign of a break in the weather at time of writing, 

 engenders fears of dysentery in the weaker colonies." — W. 

 Woodley, in British Bee Journal. 



It seems that our friends over the water have caught onto 

 the idea of sugar-cakes, but they call it candy, and, as per a 

 quotation in a former note, think it should be soft. I asked 

 why soft then, and now I want to ask, why fear dysentery 

 from six weeks' confinement? I am inclined to think that it 

 is not the confinement that causes disease, but bad food. I 

 feel like saying again, how about the bees in Norway and 

 Sweden that are confined twice six weeks, or more? One 

 would think they would all die of dysentery, but do they? I 

 hope Mr. Woodley will report later how these bees come 

 through the winter. 



■Why? Pray Xell : — "There will seldom be any use 

 for a queen-excluder on a ten-frame hive in running for ex- 

 tracted honey, while it almost becomes necessary to have a 

 queen-excluder in an eight-frame hive when running for ex- 

 tracted honey." — J. W. Rouse, in Progressive Bee-Keeper. 



I am very much at a loss to know why a queen-excluder 

 would not be needed in one case as much as the other. It has 

 been my experience that the queen very soon finds her way to 

 the top of the hive when the hive is two story and filled with 

 brood-combs; and I am thoroughly convinced that she will go 

 there, if not prevented, just as quickly in a ten-frame hive as 

 she will in an eight. I should not say " it almost becomes 

 necessary "to have a queen-excluder, but it is absolutely neces- 

 sary for either an eight or ten frame hive, if one wants to get 

 rid of the nuisance of having brood in the combs from which 

 he is extracting. I prefer honey to larva pnp. There is no 

 doubt, however, in my mind, but what a ten-frame is better 

 than an eight for extracted honey, and I should not object to 

 a twelve-frame, if I were running an apiary exclusively for 

 the production of extracted honey. 



Raising: Honey. — " How to Raise Extracted Honey." 

 —Title of a chapter in "Advanced Bee-Keeping." 



Friend H. must have been in the dairy business. I have 

 read of raising calves, of raising sheep, of raising horses, and 

 it is said that some people have been known to raise the D — 1, 

 but I think it would be better to produce honey. But since I 

 come to think of it, there is a "critter" known as a "Raising 

 Bee," and perhaps he is the fellow that "raises" honey. 

 They had 'em when I was a boy, but I did not know much 

 about bees then, and cannot tell how much " honey " they 

 "raised." 



