1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



287 



Knoll's Combined Press and Fastener. 



A Perfect Machine ; Cheapest made ; Weight 

 only '2>4 pounds. Great Time Saver. Write 

 for Free Circular, giving: Directions. Piices, 

 etc. J. C. KNOI..L., Uleiiwood, Nebr. 



^^ I own the Nebr. State right for Alley 

 Droue-Trap. 18A4 



WHE^4 ANSWEHING THIS ADVERTISEMENT, MENTION THIS JOURNAL. 



FOR SALE. 



9(Ml rftlftllicV <•' IIAMAIV & HYBRID 

 iiVV tUlUllH ^ BEES in 8-frame Langstn.th 

 Hives. Italians. $5.00; Hybrids, Si4. 50— deliv- 

 ered at ihe depot in Jefferson free of charge. 

 Also a lot or Bi e-Snpplles. 



Mrs. C. Grimm, Jefferson, Wis. 



18A2 Mention the American Bee JoumaL 



SUPPLIES 



BEES 



QUEENS 



LARGE STOCK. LOW PRICES, 

 Catalogue Free. 



I. J. STRlNOHAm, 



105 Park Place. NEW YORK, N. Y. 



Meiitlon the American Bee Jmimal. 



I have several hundred 

 pounds of choice wax 

 which I will sell made up into Medium Brood 

 and Thin Surplus Foundation at 40c. and 50c. 

 per pound respectively until all is ordered. 

 Order at once if wanted. J. J. ANGUS. 

 18A4 PLYMOUTH, WIS. 



Mention the American Bee Journal 



KANSAS BEE-KEEPERS ! 



IVHIIOHJ -Xalce .Notice- 



Before placing your order I'oi- Supplies 



write for my Vkrv Low Piuces on 



D. T HIVES, SECTIONS. SMOKERS 

 SHIPPING-CASES and 



„ , COMB FOUNDATION. 



Catalogue Free. 



llEtf A. W. SWAN, Ceutralla, Kan. 



Mention the Aincriain Dec Journal 



McCALLUM STEEL WHEEL ffA6QNS 



Comb Fonndiitioii. 



Hichest Award.s 

 at World's Fair. 



Broadornarrow 

 tires, high or 

 low wheels to 



fit any skein. 



Are cliniiite- 

 proof, wt-iu'h 



less, run Imhter 

 sell faster. 

 Warranted 



for ten years | 



Whepla 

 or axles 

 mvjTi i' ^1 made 

 Get cataloeueof wfl | jy for- 



Potato Di-ieers \>l mM/ wagon 

 ctLCAco Uiii.i9 * Picker?;, also. X^&<^ makers. 

 Liberal Discounts to Aeents or first to purchnse. 

 McCallum Steet Wheel Wagon Co., Aurora, X11.,U. S. A. 



14Ai;Jt t'loiise meuliou the Bee Journal. 



300 Colonies of A No. 1 Italian 



Bees in »-f r. Dovetailed Hives, lor sale CHE.iP. 

 Also a Full Line of Apiarian Goods, all neiv, 

 at liviiig prices, tiend tor Catalogue, to— 



E. T. Flanagan, Hox 783, Belleville, Ills. 

 1 1 A 1 (Ueyitton the American Bee Journal. 



did not lay an egg until last spring, that I 

 know of, but when spring came they both 

 out-stripped anything in the yard, and they 

 also stored more surplus honey than the 

 rest. 



I should like to know if Dr. Miller is on 

 the fence yet regarding 8 or 10 frame hives. 

 I am using S-frame hives, but am more and 

 more inclined to think they are too small 

 for any average good queen, as they will 

 very seldom lay in more than six, even if 

 they could fill ten frames. I have taken an 

 empty hive filled with empty combs, and 

 placed on top of such colonies, and they 

 would at once go up and fill from four to 

 six frames there, and keep the six frames 

 below full just the same, so I think an 8- 

 frame hive is better for extracted honey 

 than for comb honey, as one can then give 

 the queen plenty of laying room above, but 

 this cannot be done when one is after the 

 nice filled sections. 



Bees had several good cleansing flights 

 the last of February. I have lost only one 

 colony out of 25 so far. G. E. Nelson. 



Bishop HUl, 111., March 4. 



Bee-Keeping in New Il^exico. 



On page 12~, I see Matthias Wechsler, of 

 Sterling, III., wishes to know how the bees 

 have fared in this part of the country. I 

 have been making some experiments which 

 might be of some value to the fraternity, 

 although they may seem quite novel to 

 many. 



I put 45 colonies in a shed, single boards 

 covering the sides, top and end, leaving the 

 east end open. The average weight of the 

 hives was 90 pounds when put in. and on 

 Feb. 38, when put out, 70 pounds. Thirty- 

 three colonies set over a hole in the ground 

 — a kind of an air-chamber, averaged S.5 

 pounds when put in, raised to their summer 

 stands yesterday, they averaged 60 pounds. 

 Twenty-six colonies left on the summer 

 stands averaged, last fall, 87 pounds ; two 

 dead, and the others averaged 65 pounds 

 yesterday. The shed-covered bees seem to 

 have fared best, and those in the ground 

 the most unsatisfactory. 



The winter here has been much cooler, 

 and more rain and snow than any former 

 since I have lived here (7 years). I have 

 the three to five banded Italians — good 

 enough honey-gatherers for any one. No 

 other kind of bees within 50 miles of me 

 that I know of. 



My motto is, plenty of honey in the 

 brood-chamber, and keep everything dry as 

 possible. Then the loss is only by accident. 

 My covers are not so close-fitting as to 

 leave no air-passage. The covering on top 

 of the frames is calico dipped in hot wax. 



There has never lieen a case of foul brood 

 in this county, neither paralysis, that I 

 have heard of. Sliould any one want to 

 know about anything in this district I will 

 be pleased to answer if they enclose stamps. 

 W. S. Mitchell. 



Farmington, New Mex., March 1. 



A Humiliating Confession. 



*' Will swarms of bees accept old hives T' 

 I tried to solve this problem myself, and. 

 too, at a great expense and loss of bees. For 

 the last several j-ears I made all sorts of 

 experiments to retain new swarms in old 

 bee-hives, but without success, strictly 

 speaking. I suppose I lost more than .50 

 swarms in fooling with this experiment. 

 Last year I conceived the bright idea (on a 

 plausible theory ) to clean thoroughly the 

 bives with salt-water for their reception. I 

 placed three swarms in old saline hives thus 

 prepared. They appeared to accept them. 

 I was so elated with my success that I 

 rushed at once into print to announce my 

 discovery. I thought to utilize old hives 

 would be the saving of many thousand of 

 dollars to the bee-fraternity. Somehow I 

 take pleasure in seeing others prosper, and 

 to effect anything of the kind adds wonder- 

 fully to my own private egotism— that is, 

 to be proud of myself. For it is not every- 

 body that has the means to work much 



good for the multitude; but to mislead the 

 multitude is simply awful. 



About the time my great discovery ( ?) 

 was announced in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, about a year ago, I made an examina- 

 tion of the three hives in question; but. to 

 my horror and chagrin, found not a bee in 

 them ! I did not care a straw about the 

 loss of the bees, but unwittingly to give the 

 world a report that may mislead others 

 humiliated me to the lowest depth of hu- 

 miliation, and, I will add, shame. 



Therefore, I write this in order, if possi- 

 ble, not to mislead any one with my pre- 

 mature report on how to have swarms of 

 bees accept old hives. However, these fatal 

 experiments gave me some wonderful ideas 

 of the physiological function of the olfac- 

 tories of the bees ; but somehow my last re- 

 port took all the starch out of my bee lore, 

 so that I cannot venture again until I get 

 over my flabbiness. 



Austin, Tex. G. P. Hachenberg, M. U. 



Dividing to Prevent Swarming. 



There is a good deal said in the bee-papers 

 about dividing colonies to prevent swarm- 

 ing, so that each colony will do well. The 

 best way I have tried is to rear my own 

 queens, then when colonies get strong, say 

 about the last of May, I take an empty hive 

 and place it on a new location ; then go to 

 a colony, open its hive and take out a frame 

 of brood, bees and all, being careful that 

 the queen is not on the frame, which I put 

 in the new hive, and give an empty comb 

 to the old colony, and close up its hive. 



Now go to another colony, open its hive 

 and take out a fi-ame the same as before, 

 always leaving the queen in the old hive; 

 and so on till you have eight frames in the 

 new hive, then close up the new hive and 

 give them a queen, and your work is done. 



In this way the new colony is just as 

 strong as any in the yard, and will work 

 right on like the rest. When they get 

 stronger than necessary, I would make 

 some more colonies in the same way. This 

 will prevent swarming, and keeps them 

 strong, so that they will store more honey. 



CoUingwood, Ind. M. J. Kistler. 



Bro. Ben at the Camp-Fire. 



Being aware of the fact that a beejour- 

 nal is not the proper place to discuss a his- 

 torical question. I will reply only briefly to 

 Mr. Kelly's article. (See page 152, Vol. 

 XXXIV, No. 5.) Genesis II, 9 to 16, refers 

 to Adam and Eve before they were driven 

 from the Garden of Eden. My article re- 

 ferred to their after life, and so Mr. K."s 

 quotation will not apply. 



In the ■■ Pictorial History of the World." 

 by James D. McCabe. this sentence is found 

 on page 35; '■ Noah, his wife, and his three 

 sons, Shem. Ham. and Japheth. then re- 

 sumed the cultivation of the earth.'' 



The Southern farmers during the last two 

 years of the War, consisted of women, chil- 

 dren, old, broken darkeys, and very aged 

 men. Rather a sorry crew to capture one 

 of Uncle Sam's trains. I imagine. High 

 prices have nothing to do with the source 

 of supply. You must not forget that there 

 was a vast city population, as well as the 

 Southern army to supply, and also that 

 every avenue of commerce was blockaded 

 by Uncle Sam's gun-boats, torpedoes, and 

 forts. If you will read Grant's order to 

 Phil Sheridan, on page 275 of " Swinton's 

 Condensed History;"' also Sherman's rea- 

 son for destroying Georgia, on page 277 of 

 the same work, you will find the source of 

 Lee's supply. And it would be folly to say 

 that the farmers could supply Lee's army, 

 and yet be unable to supply their own 

 wants. 



By living largely on fruits, and being my 

 own doctor, the pills and bills do not ma- 

 terialize. Being only one of the would-be 

 bee-keepers. I cannot say how well fixed 

 they are. I have enough, however, to be 

 quite comfortable. I have no more use for 

 the pipe than for your "spirits fermenti." 

 but good tobacco, used as a poultice, will 

 relieve bee-stings or snake-bites in a short 



