THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



59 



Eound. "Oh," he says, "just step 

 ack here and I will show you Chicago 

 prices." In a pamphlet called the 

 Chicago Grocer, he finds one-pound 

 sections quoted at H and 12}^ cents. 

 " We can't pay any more than Chicago 



E rices," he says. Then I take my 

 oney and try some other grocer, 

 when I get the same kind of refer- 

 ence, and so on until I have no honey 

 sold at 15 cents. What shall I do ? 

 Wait in the town until the price of 

 honey raises, or sell it at 11 to 12)^ 

 cents per pound V Or would it be 

 better to go home and wait until the 

 honey all freezes and cracks, then 

 sell it in the spring with a loss of 

 leakage, and at a lower price y I 

 would like to join an organization 

 that would raise the price of honey, 

 and I would give a little money and 

 all my influence to help make it a 

 success. But with a big crop of fruit 

 of our own, and California fruits 

 lasting all winter, I do not think that 

 the organization would be a success. 



Clean, White Sections, etc.— W. H. 

 Kerr, Waynetown,*o Ind., writes : 



Is there any surplus honey case 

 made, that will only allow the bees to 

 touch the inside of the sections V The 

 time has come when we must place 

 our honey on the market in clean, 

 white sections— sections that bees 

 have not crawled over, and that have 

 not been covered with propolis. I 

 commenced last May with 2-5 colonies, 

 increased them to 43, and took 2,100 



Eounds of honey — 1,500 pounds of it 

 eing in one-pound sections, and the 

 balance extracted. I have 8 colonies 

 in the cellar, 12 in a bee-house, and 

 the balance packed on the summer 

 stands. 



[No ; the edges of all sections are 

 more or less exposed to the travel of 

 the bees. You can clean them by 

 scraping.— Ed.] 



Successful Wintering Expected.— 

 S. Shoup, Coloma, P Mich., on Jan. 

 16, 1887, writes : 



The prospects are very fair so far. 

 Bees seem to be in good condition, 

 both in the cellar and on the summer 

 stands, and bee-men generally, here, 

 are feeling pretty confident that the 

 bees will winter well, unless this cold 

 spell remains too long. The past 

 8eaaf>n was a very good one here. I 

 have disposed of the most of my 

 honey at a very fair price. I am 

 holding it at 15 cents per pound. I 

 have taken considerable pains in put- 

 ting it up, and ship only that which 

 is hrst-class. 



Two Colonies in One Hive.— AV. 

 Mason, Fillmore,*o Ind.. on Jan. 15, 

 1887, writes : 



In Query, Xo. 359, it is asked 

 whether it is an advantage to winter 

 2 or more colonies in one hive. I 

 have 3 colonies in a bee-house now, 

 and I will wait for the results and re- 

 port. Last spring I put 2 colonies 

 into a Mitchell long hive, putting a 



division-board between them, and 

 placing a cloth over them. On the 

 third day I took off the cloth, put on 

 the honey-boxes, and put both colo- 

 nies together for surplus storing. To 

 my surprise everything worked well ; 

 they worked rapidly, filling the upper 

 story twice with two tiers of sections. 

 I prepared 2 others in the same way, 

 and with about the same results ; but 

 the queens must be retained in the 

 brood-chamber, and in this way we 

 may work as many colonies as we 

 please in one hive, with as many 

 mistresses, so long as they stay at 

 home. I probably will give this mat- 

 ter a more extensive test next season. 

 Up to Jan. 12, we have had very cold 

 weather, the temperature being as 

 low as 32° below zero. The tempera- 

 ture in the bee-house is i2P above. 



Bees Under the f Snow-- Stephen 

 Gillson, Eureka,© Mich., on Jan. 14, 

 1887, says : 



I am wintering 4 colonies of bees. 

 The hives are packed on top with 

 cushions, and protected by a wind- 

 break all around, except the east side. 

 The hives are full of honey. Last 

 night we had a blizzard that covered 

 them entirely with snow. I am keep- 

 ing them merely to study their na- 

 ture, and as a pleasant pastime. 



Good Results.— Chas. Solveson, (50- 

 90), Nashotah,o> Wis., on Jan. 16, 

 1887, writes : 



White clover began to bloom on 

 June 1 — about 15 days earlier than 

 usual— and my 50 colonies were hardly 

 prepared for so early a harvest ; yet 

 from 48 colonies worked for honey, I 

 obtained 2,500 pounds of comb honey, 

 and 3,000 pounds of extracted honey, 

 nearly all being from white clover, as 

 we had but a one-fourth crop of linden 

 honey. We hardly ever have any fall 

 honey, but the past season, however, 

 the bees gathered a lot of dark, bitter 

 stuff, which I presume is what is 

 called " honey-dew ;" although I re- 

 moved large quantities of this "stuff," 

 much still remained amongst their 

 stores for winter. I hope, however, 

 that it was mostly consumed before 

 they were placed in their winter 

 quarters. On Nov. 24, 1 carried into 

 the cellar 78 colonies, while 12 re- 

 mained on the summer stands packed 

 with chaff. All appear to be doing 

 well so far, although it has been 40° 

 below zero. 



Gasoline Stove for Heating Bee- 

 Cellars.- Dr. A. 13. Mason, Auburn- 

 dale, 'o O., writes : 



Dr. Tinker, on page 82.5 of the Bee 

 Journal for 1886, says " There is 

 nothing impracticable about raising 

 the temperature of a bee-cellar by 

 means of an anthracite coal stove." 

 Where would the Doctor put the 

 stove-pipe, if there was no chimney 

 for the cellar V My "better half" 

 helped me out of such a dilemma two 

 years ago. Our cellar was getting 

 too cold to suit me, and I could think 



of no way to warm it. We burned 

 coal, so I had no live coals to use, but 

 we have a gasoline stove, and she 

 suggested that we try that, and it 

 worked to perfection ; for in a very 

 few minutes the temperature was all 

 right. Now I hope no one will ask 

 me what I would do if I had no gaso- 

 line stove or chimney, for I should at 

 once say, get a gasoline stove, es- 

 pecially if you have a wife, mother, or 

 sister that has to swelter over a hot 

 stove in preparing you something to 

 eat, or when ironing your " Sunday- 

 go-to-meeting shirt." I have been 

 using that same stove again this win- 

 ter, and with lots of comfort too, to 

 keep the cellar at the right tempera- 

 ture. 



The Priority Question.- Dr. C. C. 



Miller, Marengo, 6 Ills., says : 



And now it is Mr. L. N. Tongue, on 

 page 24, who sets up the priority 

 question in order to knock it down. 

 Has Mr. Tongue not yet found out 

 that nobody ever asked for, or hinted 

 at wanting legislation on the priority 

 question V 



Results of the Season.— John P. 

 Wylie, Prairie Centre, 5 Ills., on Jan. 

 14, 1887, says : 



I started last spring with 15 colo- 

 nies of bees in healthy condition. The 

 first swarm issued on May 22, and the 

 total increase was 36 swarms. I sold 

 3 first and 2 second swarms when they 

 issued ; I now have 46 colonies. I 

 secured 2,600 pounds of comb honey. 

 Some of the second swarms did not 

 yield more than 20 pounds. The 

 drouth cut the crop considerably 

 shorter than it would have been, as 

 the white clover plants dried up and 

 did not yield much honey. 



Partly-Filled Cases on Hives.— J- 



P. Benner, New Lisbon, oO., on Jan. 

 12, 1887, writes : 



I commenced last spring with 16 

 colonies, part Italians and part 

 hybrids. Ten were good colonies, 4 

 medium, and 2 weak. The spring 

 was late, but with care they built up 

 rapidly, and commenced to swarm 

 about May 15, earlier than I had 

 known bees to swarm for 40 years. I 

 increased them to 35 ; I could have 

 increased them to many more, but not 

 wanting them, I put back and doubled 

 up quite a number. I took about 

 1,500 pounds of fine comb honey in 

 one-pound sections, and 100 pounds 

 of extracted. I could have taken 

 perhaps 200 pounds more in partly- 

 filled cases, but as honey was low in 

 price, and of dull sale, I concluded to 

 let the bees have it. I know many of 

 our best apiarian writers condemn 

 the practice. My bees are all in chaff 

 hives, packed away about Nov. 1, in 

 excellent condition. 



Dr. Miller's Book, "A Year Among- 

 the Bees," and the Bee Jouknal for one 

 year, we will club for 11.50. 



