296 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 9, 



agreed that spring feeding, conducted in this way, had a bet- 

 ter effect on the bees than by the old methods. In response 

 to a question, Mr. Aikin said that he fed whenever he felt 

 like it, without a regular system, averaging perhaps onco in 

 two weeks. Nothing was said about brood being destroyed in 

 consequence of the cessation of feeding. 



In this connection it should be remembered, as was re- 

 marked at that convention, that before feeding for stimulation 

 is utterly condemned the local conditions should be taken into 

 consideration. Here the flow is so late that the old bees are 

 gone long before, and plenty of young bees must be reared be- 

 times to take their place. 



Dequeening of Colonies. — I look forward to Mr. Chap- 

 man's article with much interest. Messrs. Aikin and Alford, 

 both large honey-producers of this State, have for several 

 years practiced dequeening on a large scale, and are now more 

 than ever in favor of it. They made it appear quite enticing 

 at the last convention here. Their method is, briefly, as fol- 

 lows : When increase is not wanted, two-thirds of the 

 queens are killed, and one-third made into nuclei just before 

 swarming-time, with a frame of brood and bees, a frame of 

 empty comb, and another frame full of shaken bees apiece; 

 at the same time all queen-cells are torn down ; when another 

 set are built, all are torn down but one, which is allowed to 

 hatch. When cells do not hatch, or queens get lost, the 

 nuclei are at hand to supply deficiencies. When increase is 

 wanted, all queens are saved and put at the head of nuclei, 

 and the old colonies treated as above. It makes plenty of 

 work, but they get good crops. 



The Bee-Killing Idea. — I am with Mr. Bevins on bee- 

 killing (page 68). Still, logic is logic, and while there is a 

 distinction between killing a calf and killing a bee, it does not 

 amount to much. In both cases, the killing is supposed to be 

 for man's advantage. I cast my vote for not killing anything 

 except when increase would produce unendurable results. In 

 my case, at least, there would be an appreciable qualm at ap- 

 plying sulphur to a colony, and I would have to make a down- 

 ward step in order to overcome it. In the State of Illinois, I 

 am told by a neighbor, the law is, or was, that the testimony 

 of butchers should not not be received in criminal cases. Com- 

 ment is unnecessary. 



Wintering to Have Strong Colonies. — That seems a 

 bright idea of Mr. Thurlow's, ou page 67, though the e.xtra 

 furniture required is objectionable. But he does not say 

 whether he would put the hives back in their old position in 

 the early spring, or just before putting the supers on. For 

 the experiment's sake, I would prefer the latter, as it would 

 make two experiments in one — wintering and springing — if 

 not a third, viz.: that a considerable portion of one end of the 

 frames would have brood clear to the top-bars, which, accord- 

 ing to some authorities, is just the thing for prompt work in 

 the sections. Here is another suggestion, which he may take 

 for what it is worth : How would it do to set an ordinary 

 Langstroth hive nearly vertical, say at an angle of 80- ? Then 

 the frames wouldn't wiggle, if that was what was the trouble ? 



Arvada, Colo. 



Further Consideration of Hive-Construction. 



BV EDWIN BEVINS. 



I see by some things that I have lately read, that I have 

 got to get in some more words on the subject of hive-construc- 

 tion. Until the sectional brood-chamber hive comes to be 

 adopted by all bee-keepers, this is a subject which will not 

 "down." The day is far distant when the above-named hive 

 will be the only hive in use. 



I feel a little timid about crossing swords with Mr. Ab- 

 bott, as I am only a rush-light in apiculture compared with 

 him, but I must be excused for saying that I cannot say 

 " amen " to all the objections he brings (page li6) against 

 the flat hive-cover. Since I discarded the grooved cleat I 

 have had no trouble with these covers on account of warping, 

 and yet they have stood exposed to the sun day after day 

 when the mercury in the thermometer ranged from 90 to 

 lOO- in the shade for many days together. These covers are 

 made of one sound soft pine board, % inch thick, and have 

 hardwood cleats two inches square nailed under each end. 

 They are painted on top with the best of white paint, and I 

 have never had a bit of comb break down in the hive on ac- 

 count of heat, though the hives were fully exposed to the sun, 

 and ?tot very well exposed to the winds. The flat cover will 

 stay with me. 



Much has been said lately about the dovetailed corner 



(which is not dovetailed at all), and the halved corner. The 

 diflerence between them is the difference between tweedle- 

 dum and tweedle-dee. The fact is, that the plain corner is 

 just as good as either, if firmly nailed. By using a square, 

 the sides and ends of the hive can be kept at right angles to 

 each other without much trouble while nailing. 



I agree with Mr. Abbott entirely in what he says about 

 the bottom-board of the dovetailed hive, always using the Van 

 Deusen clamp, and could not be induced to think for a mo- 

 ment of having the bottom-board fastened permanently to the 

 hive-body. I am also beginning to see that Dr. Miller was 

 right when he prophesied that I would sometime come to un- 

 derstand the advantage of having those %-inch strips at- 

 tached to the bottom-board. 



In the early part of the winter I made some S-frame hives 

 the same length as the Dovetailed, and 12 inches deep. These 

 hives take a frame having an end-bar ll^i inches long. I 

 shall keep on making this kind of hive until I get all my bees 

 that I intend to work for comb honey on frames of that 

 depth. When this is accomplished I shall bid good-bye to the 

 " standard " so far as the brood-chambers are concerned. To 

 be tolerably certain that there is plenty of honey above the 

 bees when a long cold spell of weather comes in winter, is 

 worth more to me than the " standard." 



Why is it that bees winter better in the old log gum than 

 they do in the dovetailed and Simplicity hives ? It is because 

 the combs are deep, and there is plenty of honey above the 

 bees right in line with the heat they generate, and is, there- 

 fore, available in the coldest weather. These brood-chambers 

 take the bottom-boards, the covers, the supers — in fact, all 

 the furniture of the standard hive except the brood-frames. 

 If one does not care for the Hoffman frames, or if he cannot 

 get them cut of the right dimensions without extra expense, 

 he can saw, or get his frames sawed, out of inch thick lumber 

 and attach to them the Stephens' frame-spacers. These are 

 cheap, and I believe will give satisfaction in practice. 



Mr. Gathright wonders how many bee-keepers there are 

 who extract from the brood-chamber. Well, I don't know. 

 The Dadants say they seldom or never do so, and they use 10- 

 frames in a hive just as deep and a little longer than the ones 

 I have just described. Surely, with only 8 frames there 

 would not be many occasions for extracting from the brood- 

 chamber. Hive-bodies of standard size can, of course, be 

 placed on these deeper brood-chambers for extracted honey. 



Mr. Abbott says (page 149) that he never could tolerate 

 a square joint. Here we will agree to disagree. I never could 

 tolerate a bevel or a rabbet. Leon, Iowa. 



Cellar-Wintering — Preventing Increase. 



BY HENRY S. EVANS. 



The writer is one of the smaller bee-keepers who has been 

 a regular subscriber to the American Bee Journal since 1871, 

 and has read with much interest the various opinions and ex- 

 periences of those who have been able to give light on the 

 different branches of apiculture. All bee-keepers have their 

 Individual experiences, but all do not report to the bee-papers. 

 I am not depending on the production of honey alone for a 

 living, but during the past 2i years I have kept several colo- 

 nies of bees ; and in their management I have been fairly 

 successful. 



The question asked by "Tidiness," on page 134, at- 

 tracted my attention, and perhaps part of my experience in 

 cellar-wintering during the past eight years may be interest- 

 ing to some. 



Our cellar is under the dwelling-house ; the walls and 

 ceiling are lathed and plastered, and the floor is of waterlime. 

 There is a 4-inch ventilator through the wall to the outside on 

 the west, and a door between the bee-cellar and that part of 

 the cellar used for general purposes. The first winter I put 

 18 hives of bees in this cellar, with chaff over the frames, 

 hive-entrances open, the ventilator left open, and the door 

 above-mentioned closed. Nearly all writers at that time 

 claimed that darkness was one of the necessary conditions for 

 successful in-door wintering, so the cellar was arranged to 

 exclude all light. With moderate weather the room became 

 too warm, the bees uneasy, and the air impure, as the venti- 

 lator proved to be insufficient. Now I know that I might have 

 safely opened the door, but at that time I thought it should be 

 kept shut. Many bees Ipft the hives during these warm spells, 

 and died on the floor; but I swept them aside rather than to 

 walk over them, and found no particular annoyance from that 

 source. However, the success of that first winter was not en- 

 tirely satisfactory, and the following seasons I endeavored to 

 do better. 



I must not occupy space to mention all the different ar- 



