1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



279 



ing in this constant buzzing ? Why are they thus constantly 

 vibrating their wings ? I have subjected them to upward ven- 

 tilation when the mercury stood at 10^ below zero. I could 

 distinctly hear the noise they made at a distance of 30 feet. 

 They had over their heads a woolen cloth and a chaff cushion 

 four inches thicU-. I am confident there was no sleeping done 

 in that hive for a week. I have lifted a comb from the mid- 

 dle of the cluster into the air at 15'^. A few would fly and 

 perish in half a minute. The others gathered into dense 

 struggling masses, the outer ones vibrating their wings rap- 

 idly without extending them, and forcing their way as rapidly 

 as they could to the interior of the mass. 



Now this is just what takes place in your ventilated hive. 

 Bees need, and should have, repose in winter. But do you 

 think that if you were a bee, you could sleep a wink with 

 somebody all the time scrambling over, orrooting and scratch- 

 ing under you, and pulling the cover off ? The evil is greater 

 or less, if the ventilation is more or less restrained. The air 

 of the hive — at least a portion of it, bearing with it the 

 warmth — escapes through your sacking and packing. A 

 strong colony may not seem to miss it, but a weak one has no 

 heat to spare. It is expensive to the former, disastrous to 

 the latter. In a close hive, there are at all times agencies 

 sufficiently potent. The descent of the carbonic acid gas, 

 generated in the act of respiration, compels the' ascent of an 

 equal bulk or volume of atmospheric air right into their midst. 

 They can pump up more if they need it. This gas bears with 

 it most, if not all, of the redundant moisture of the hive. 

 What use have they, then, for your absorbents? They abhor 

 them as much as they do a flue, as is proven by the way they 

 varnish everything about them. Avr is the propa- absorbent 

 of the moisture of tlie hive. Bees use it extensively in summer 

 to ripen their honey, and for other purposes. Why should it 

 be thought that they cannot, if need be, use it in winter ? Bees 

 can and do regulate the temperature and ventilation perfectly 

 in a close hive in both summer and winter, granting them free 

 access to the external air. But they lose this control in any 

 other. 



" Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter." Let 

 your hives be so constructed, or protected, that there shall be 

 no danger of frost penetrating, or of condensation of moisture 

 from cold, in their interior. Let their sides and tops be im- 

 pervious to air, their bottoms admit the air freely — abund- 

 antly. In other words, let your hive be a warm, frost-proof, 

 inverted cut-de-snc — a dead air space, in which it shall be im- 

 possible for currents of air to exist, save such as the bees 

 themselves create — they haviug full liberty, and ability, by 

 reason of unrestricted access to the external air, to ventilate 

 the hive as they see fit. Trust them. They will do it wisely. 

 Give plenty of air to your bees, but do not by upward ventila- 

 tion give your bees to the air. Roanoke, Va. 



Scarlet Clover — Trifolium lucarnatum. 



BT J. COLBY SMITH. 



Seeing several items in the Bee Journal, some of which 

 are misleading, I will endeavor to put them straight, as re- 

 gards the cultivation of scarlet clover. 



While traveling in the Southern States I saw fields of the 

 cotton-plant in bloom — to my mind it was the most handsome 

 plant I had ever seen in cultivation. I had not seen scarlet 

 clover, with the field covered with its crimson carpet, and the 

 S-banders robbing it of its nectar. It certainly is " a thing of 

 beauty." As the old saying goes, " Handsome is that hand- 

 some does ;" if not disputed, scarlet clover will fill the bill. 



It is an annual, can be sown in corn at the last working, 

 in the tomato field, in the peach, pear, plum or apple orchard, 

 by itself, but best of all places is with buckwheat. I have 

 never known it to miss with it. Sown year after year with 

 buckwheat, the soil gains in fertility. Once plowing does for 

 both crops. It is the first clover to bloom, and is a number one 

 honey-plant. You can cut it for hay, but it being very sappy, 

 it takes it a long time to cure. Fed green, it cannot be sur- 

 passed by any plant with which I am acquainted. A great 

 plant for soiling, it also makes good ensilage. If cut early, it 

 blooms again, or, rather, if cut before it blooms, it grows up 

 and blooms later. 



Scarlet clover produces as much per acre as red clover, 

 and when cut for seed, from three to ten bushels per acre. 

 The cutting for seed must be done (to bring the best results) 

 in damp weather or in the night. I cut with a self-rake 

 reaper. This machine is used by all the seed-growers here. 



As to sowing in the spring, it is not a success here — the 

 weeds outgrow it at the start and choke it out. On clean land 

 it would be all right, and would bloom in September. It will 



not grow with wet feet — it requires dry land, and will grow in 

 any soil that is well drained. It is a great success in New 

 York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and 

 pleases the growers and the bee-keepers. We have had zero 

 weather the past winter, also in 189.3. I have 30 acres that 

 is looking fine. Sow 10 pounds of seed to the acre, and cover 

 it. As it is generally sown in dry weather, or rather when the 

 ground is dry, a depth of one or two inches won't hurt it. 



Now for the honey-farm : Sow scarlet clover with buck- 

 wheat, Alsike next, or on wheat, or with oats. The bees 

 get the scarlet first, Alsike second, buckwheat third, etc. Now 

 if you have any land left, sow sweet clover. 



If any subscribers have any questions to ask concerning 

 this matter, I shall take pleasure in giving the desired infor- 

 mation. In that way I may in a measure repay for the useful 

 advice I have received from them through the columns of the 

 valuable American Bee Journal. Willow Grove, Del. 



Proposed Tieriug of Brood-Frames for Winter. 



BY .J. A. GOLDEN. 



That's a good article on page 166, by Charles Dadant. 

 His theory is so explicit that it will be hard to confute. 



On page 179, Mrs. Durbin asks for information in regard 

 to her proposed plan, by placing four frames above each other, 

 and fill the vacant space with cushions. My answer is that it 

 would not be advisable, for several reasons, of which I men- 

 tion one or two, that you may study them. 1st, in putting the 

 bees up for winter, you break the brood-clusters, and that is a 

 serious mistake just at that time of year. 2nd, causing about 

 two inches of wood and air-space between the upper and lower 

 combs — a very objectionable feature. So I wouldn't advise 

 you to try the experiment, but will tell you what you can test, 

 and will result satisfactorily so far as wintering, breeding up 

 quicker, and surplus is concerned, but not so easily handled 

 as the dovetailed hive or frames. 



Have a hive made thus : Inside measure, hive body, 

 length, 15J-3 inches, width 13j^, depth 13. Take nine dove- 

 tail or Langstroth frames and cut the top-bar 16 U' inches, 

 bottom-bar 14 inches, end-bars 12?t<. Nail up snugly, put a 

 3-inch starter in each frame, place the frames in the hive, put 

 the hive where you want it to stand, and call this your experi- 

 ment hive ; ask your husband to give you the first swarm that 

 issues (and I think he will smilingly grant the request), and 

 hive them in yonr experiment hive. Then when those frames 

 are filled with combs, honey and brood, lift one out, and you 

 can see at a glance what Mr. Dadant has been trying to make 

 plain in his discussion on the winter problem ; also you will 

 see in this frame all of the advantages of a deep frame over 

 the shallow, after you have tested one winter; and don't for- 

 get to note the difference in the spring, between it and other 

 colonies, in building up rapidly. 



This hive requires a super holding 24 4j^x4}< sections. 

 The top is made hood-fashion, with a small cleat nailed on 

 the inside, which rests on the hive-body when the hood cover 

 is put on, thus letting the hood project down all around, so 

 that no water can get into the hive. This hive gives you 

 nearly the same capacity of brood-comb as the 10-frame 

 Langstroth size. It is my opinion that the day is not far dis- 

 tant when there will be a revolution in regard to size and 

 shape of hives. Reinersville, Ohio. 



Mortality Among the 

 What Shall We 



Bees — Empty Combs, 

 Do With Them? 



BY WM. S. BARCLAY'. 



From personal observation in my locality, as well as from 

 general reading gathered from widely extended sections of 

 our country, I very much fear that the winter of 1894-95 

 will be looked back upou as one which caused great disaster 

 to the interests of our bee-keeping public, if not the entire ex- 

 tinction of many heretofore prosperous apiaries. 



In my location (western Pennsylvania) I feel safe in as- 

 serting that at least 80 per cent, of all the bees have died — in 

 some instances whole apiaries have been wiped out, and 

 empty hives and empty combs attest the loss, and are sorrow- 

 fully piled up as a monument to our deceased industrious little 

 workers. Empty combs, did I say? With us, it has been our 

 good, or bad, fortune to have many combs at least one-third 

 filled with honey, and now, fellow bee-keepers similarly sit- 

 uated, I will try to tell how to use these combs to the best 

 advantage. 



It would appear proper, however, at first, that a cause 



