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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Bee. 26, 



very easily done with dummies, and we find ourselves in the 

 same condition as the 8-frame bee-l\eeper, with the difference 

 that he cannot enlarge his hive gradually as occasion requires, 

 unless he doubles its capacity by tiering up two hives, which is 

 making too much of an enlargement at one time. 



But, in our own practice, although we contract our hives, 

 when the colony is feeble, to keep it warm, we never try to 

 harvest any honey unless the lower story is filled to the full ca- 

 pacity. Here, evidently, our S-frame bee-keeper thinks he 

 has the advantage over us ; but we do not think so, and we will 

 tell you why in another article. Hamilton. 111. 



The New Constitution for the Union. 



BV THOS. G. NEWMAN. 



In reply to Dr. Miller's strictures, on page 790, kindly let 

 me say that I wish he had had the work to do, and then I 

 think he would feel differently. I labored diligently to get 

 the matter before the Committee, at as early a date possible. 

 Then the Report of the Committee, as first drafted, was sent to 

 each member, and all were invited to criticise it. They did 

 so, and then the amendments suggested by each one were 

 formulated and again sent to the other members of the Com- 

 mittee for consideration. Some approved, while others did 

 not. Finally, after several of such revisions, all agreed on the 

 Report of the Committee, as now published. 



Then, the Constitution of the National Bee-Keepeers" Un- 

 ion had to be revised by members of the Union, so as to be sub- 

 mitted (for voting) on January 1, 1896, when the General 

 Manager's Report will be sent to the members. This proved 

 to be more tedious than the Committee's Report. After scores 

 of changes were suggested by the different members, it was 

 put into type and sent for further consideration and revision. 

 Then more suggestions came, making other revisions neces- 

 sary, and all were printed and again sent out for consideration. 

 When this work was all done, the Constitution was sent to the 

 bee-periodicals to be published, so as to have the whole thing 

 discussed, and further suggestions made. 



Now that is being done, and in order to accommodate all, 

 I will not have the Report printed until after January 1st. 

 Every person interested can therefore have full opportunity to 

 criticise and offer amendments. 



All the suggestions that are deemed practical, will be in- 

 corporated into the Constitution when presented for a final 

 vote. The suggestions of Dr. Miller are good, and will receive 

 full attention. The "secret ballot " matter is, however, quite 

 unnecessary. When it is written, it certainly is definite, and 

 unchangeable. I see no objection to having a committee count 

 the ballots and declare the election, if it is preferred. But 

 "secrecy " is totally unessential iu this case, I think. The 

 Executive Board could appoint a "Committee on Ballots," who 

 may have full charge of them, and count and declare the elec- 

 tion. Anything in reason, I am in favor of. I have " no ax 

 to grind ;" I never wanted the ofBce of General Manager, and 

 am quite ready to give place to my successor when elected. 



The suggestions about Canada, given on page 793, are 

 quite in order; and while the omision was unintentional, I 

 may say that the matter as recommended will be incorporated 

 into the copy to be voted upon. It was rather strange, how- 

 ever, that such were not suggested by some of the three Cana- 

 dians on the Committee. It was evidently an oversight — but 

 one that is already remedied. 



Let us have a full, free, careful and friendly criticism. 

 The "best" — the nearest to perfection, is just what was de- 

 sired by the members of the Committee and others who helped 

 to formulate the New Constitution ; and if a(( interested will 

 now help to make it even better than when it was first pub- 

 lished, no one will be better pleased than the writer. 



Chicago, 111., Dec. 12. 



An Experience in Wintering — Report for 1895. 



Br GEO. W. WIRT. 



In the fall of 1894 I put 75 colonies into my cellar, Nov. 

 5, tiering them five hives high with the exception of 10 colo- 

 nies I wished to experiment with. The 65 hives were ar- 

 ranged with the entrance in front entirely open the width of 

 the hive, being a 10-frarae Langstroth-Simplicity hive. I 

 also had an open space at the back of the hive, half an inch 

 high, and the width of the hive. The bottom-boards are 

 nailed to the hive. This gave the bees, as I thought, plenty 

 of air from the bottom. The 05 had sealed honey-boards on 

 top, and no upward ventilation, or no ventilation from the 



top. On five I took off the top, also the honey-board, and 

 covered the frames with two thicknesses of unbleached cot- 

 ton-cloth, and on the cloth a piece of fell paper the width of 

 the hive and lii inches wide. The paper in almost all of the 

 hives covered the majority of the bees, leaving a space of Just 

 the cotton-cloth. I closed the bee-entrance, giving them no 

 ventilation from below. 



Four of the others I prepared the same as the five above, 

 with the exception of the felt paper, giving them only the 

 cloth on top. One I removed the top and honey-board, leaving 

 nothing on top ; closed the entrance below, giving no ventila- 

 tion from the bottom, and about twice a month I gave them a 

 good shaking up. I believe it is generally understood that 

 bees must not be disturbed while in winter quarters, and I am 

 of that opinion myself, but for all that the colony came 

 through all right. They used some more honey than the other 

 colonies, but aside from that I could see no difference. 



The colonies with sealed covers came through the poorest 

 of any. Those with the cotton-cloth and felt paper were in 

 fine condition in the spring, with combs clean and bright, and 

 less dead bees on the bottoms of the hives; and that is the 

 way I have prepared my 1-40 colonies for this winter. 



I see Mr. B. Taylor has very much the same arrangement, 

 with the exception of ventilation — he ventilates the hive from 

 the bottom. I would not dare to do it, as it would form a 

 current of air through the colony which, to my mind, would 

 be injurious, but I take much stock in Mr. Taylor, and am 

 free to admit his superiority with the bees, for three years 

 ago he wintered his bees with a loss of only about 40 per 

 cent., while I lost 253 colonies, being every colony I had. 

 Most of the bees in this vicinity died that winter, the trouble 

 being bee-diarrhea. 



By the way, Mr. Taylor says he expected to put his bees 

 into a dark, ventilated cellar. What is he doing with the bee- 

 houses he was recommending for wintering bees in, a few 

 years ago ? 



I took 4,000 pounds of comb honey in one-pourd sections 

 from my 140 colonies this year, two-thirds of it being dark 

 honey. We had but very little honey from linden, as the early 

 frost killed the buds, and the drouth of 1894 killed all the 

 white clover; but, as Mr. Taylor says, I think 1896 will be 

 the great honey year, as everywhere white clover is in abun- 

 dance, and Mother Earth is once more well watered. 



I would like to say something about the large and smalt 

 hives, the spacing of brood-frames, and so on, but the matter 

 has been so thoroughly gone over with, that it seems almost 

 useless for a man of my small capacity to gibe in, but for all 

 that, I have some ideas of my own on the subject. I will just 

 say here that I use closed-end frames in the brood-chamber, 

 and I venture to say that the time is not far in the future 

 when nine-tenths of all the bee-men will use the same, for the 

 reason that they cannot afford to use any other. I will tell 

 you why, some of these fine days. Oronoco, Minn. 



[Mr. Wirt, I hope you will feel free to send on those ideas 

 you have now locked up in your head. All will be interested 

 in reading them. — Editor.] 



What Dr. Miller Thinks. 



The California Honev-Exchange. — Those Californians 

 have my heartiest wishes for success, and I'll watch with much 

 interest the outcome. Such things haven't heretofore panned 

 out well, but I'm more hopeful about this. 



Chas. Dadant and Big Hives. — For years and years the 

 Dadant's have kept on using large hives, notwithstanding they 

 partly went out of fashion, and through all the hot discussion 

 as to big and little hives they have maintained a sort of exas- 

 perating silence. When I was down at the Springfield conven- 

 tion I tried to anger C. P. (the son) into standing up and giv- 

 ing in print whatever facts they might have to justify them in 

 holding so stubbornly on their way, but all I could get out of 

 him was a good-natured laugh, along with the assertion that 

 their position was well known. But now the father has opened 

 up on page 789, and I'm wondering before he gets through 

 how big a hive he'll want us to have. 



As I read the vigorous article on that page, I can't help 

 wondering at two things. One is, that the elder Dadant can 

 use the English language as he can in writing. He makes out 

 very poorly at talking it — you're pretty sharp if you can un- 

 derstand his broken English at all—but who would think he 

 had any trouble with the language from seeing his work on the 

 printed page? The other thing that surprises me is the won- 



