Vol. XI. 



A. X. ROOT, 



Publisher and Proprietor, \ 

 Medina, O. 



JAN. 1, 1883. 

 Pul)lislied Monthly. 



EstaUished in 1873 



No. 1. 



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NOTES FROM THE BAMVER APIARY. 



NO. 38. 



HOW 3 COLONIES WERE INCHEASED TO 30. 



M CO-RESPONDENT wishes me to tell Imw 1 

 J^^ increased 3 colonies to 30. The p'an pursued 

 ' was simply this: As soon as the three colo- 

 nies were strong in numbers, and the combs full of 

 brood, enough combs with the adhering bees were 

 obtained by taking 3 or 4 from each of the three col- 

 onies, to fill a hive. Although taken from different 

 colonies, the bees never quarreled; and after the 

 newly formed colony had remained queenlcss a day 

 or two. it was given a queen. As soon as the colo- 

 nies were strong enough, another colony was made 

 in the same manner, and this course was followed 

 the season through, or, rather, until lack of hives 

 put an end to the experiment. As often as a suffi- 

 cient number of frames of brood could be spared 

 from any of the hives, then a new colony was formed 

 and given a queen. The vacancies caused in the old 

 colonies, by taking frames to form new ones, were 

 always filled with frames of empty comb or fdn. 

 My greatest ob.iection to the above method of in- 

 crease is, that considerable time must be spent in 

 finding queens before removing frames of brood, 

 when making up new colonics. 



A CLAMP FOR WINTERING BEES. 



Nov. 18.^1 buried 32 colonies in one clamp. The 

 arrangement was ns follows: Upon a dry sandy 

 knoll was dug a pit 7 feet wide, 15 long, and about 4 

 feet deep. The walls were given a slant of about 

 45°. In order that no water should ever stand in the 



pit, a two-inch tile drain was laid from Its lowest 

 part. Fence -posts were placed, one foot apart, 

 crosswise of the pit, their ends being imbedded in 

 the sides of the pit until their upper sides were 

 about 18 inches below the surface level. The space 

 underneath the fence-posts was filled with straw, 

 then the hives were placed in a double row, upon 

 the posts. Each row of hives contained 8 hives, 

 making 16 hives in the first two rows, then upon the 

 top of these two rows were placed two more rows of 

 hives. Each of these two upper rows contained T 

 hives of a smaller pattern than those in the lower 

 rows. Two of the hives contained two colonies each. 

 Straw was thrown over the hives until a pyramidal' 

 shaped pile was formed, then fence-posts were 

 placed in an upright position, about 8 inches apart, 

 all around the mound of straw inclosing the hives. 

 The lower ends of the posts rested upon the earth; 

 their upper ends leaning against the upper rows of 

 hives. Over tljp fence-posts was placed another 

 coating of straw about one foot thick, and over thij 

 was thrown a covering of earth about 18 inches 

 thick. There were no openings for ventilation. 



MEETING PROF. A. .1. COOK. 



Nov. 25, or thereabouts, I received a card that 

 read something as follows: "Shall be in Flint Dec. 

 4th and 5th, attending the State Horticultural meet- 

 ing, and should be glad to meet you there. Ever 

 yours, A. J. Cook." Of course, I was on hand; but 

 friend C. did not arrive until the evening of the 4th, 

 and I had no opportunity of speaking to him until 

 after I had listened to that interesting lecture of his 

 upon the subject of Evolution. As soon as possible 

 after he had ceased speaking, I pressed forward and 



