THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



75 



them stored some surplus. I began 

 last spring with 35 colonies, and in- 

 creased them to '>t, by natinal swarm- 

 ing. I sold about l.OCO pounds of 

 honey in one-pound sections at )2J^ 

 cents per pound. I put my bees into 

 the cellar on Nov. 15, 18S(i ; the tem- 

 perature in it has been from SS"-' to 50°, 

 so far. All of my hives have loose 

 bottom-boards, and on these boards 1 

 nail strips 1 inch by 2, just the size of 

 the hive. When I put them into the 

 cellar I invert the bottom-board and 

 place the hive on the strips, which 

 leaves the frames 2 inches from the 

 bottom-board, so all dead bees fall 

 down clear from the frames. When 

 put out I reverse the board, when the 

 hive is clear of dead bees and dirt. 

 In winter 1 leave a case on the hive 

 filled with woolen cloths or clean rags. 

 I leave the entrances open full width. 

 If a colony is very strong in bees, I 

 give it a little ventilation at the top 

 of the hive. If my bees have good 

 honey they will come through all 

 right prepared in this way. 



Good Shipping-Crate.— C. W. Day- 

 ton, Bradford, (^ Iowa, writes: 



Having purchased considerable 

 honey in crates that hold 12 one-pound 

 sections each, I have becnaje con- 

 vinced that that size of crate is a 

 decided improvement over all other 

 sizes. With honey in that size of 

 package I have been enabled to make 

 sales of whole crates instead of 1 or 2 

 sections, as heretofore. I do not con- 

 fine this to a single instance or several 

 instances, but that has been my ex- 

 perience right and left, far and near, 

 during the whole of the past season. 

 I can sell one-half more honey in a 

 given time, and obtain a better price 

 for it, than with any larger size of 

 crate. 



Favorable Winter for White 

 Clover.— W. S. Taggart, Barton, oO., 

 on Jan. 20, 1887, says : 



I began two years with 4 colonies of 

 bees in boxes, transferred them to 

 Victor hives, and increased them to 6 

 colonies with which to commence the 

 season of issfi. I bought 4 colonies in 

 box-hives, transferred them, and in- 

 creased them to 21 colonies. by natural 

 swarming. My apiary averaged 82 

 pounds of comb honey per colony, 

 nearly all in one-pound sections. Bees 

 are wintering well here. They are 

 all wintered on the summer stands. 

 The winter has been favorable for 

 white clover, and of course this looks 

 well for another season. 



Swarming— That "Chip."— Dr. C. 

 C. Aliller, Marengo, 5 Ills., writes : 



On page 42. Mr. Hutchinson asks if 

 I have read Mr. Si mm ins' book on the 

 prevention of swarming. Xow, look 

 here, W. Z., do you call that a square 

 blow struck at that chip V I don't. 

 Let me ask you, have you tried Mr. 

 Simmins' plan and succeeded V To 

 answer your question, however, I have 

 read the book and found it interest- 

 ing, but I have not tried his plan. 



Neither have I tried the non-swarm- 

 ing hive invented by Jasper Hazen 

 before you were out of dresses, or 

 perhaps before you were born as a 

 bee-keeper ; nor any of the non- 

 swarming hives invented since. lam 

 so much of an old fogy that I must be 

 fairly convinced that a thing will be 

 successful before I try it. Of course 

 I believe, and so do you, that a colony 

 may be prevented from swarming, or 

 even from having a desire to swarm ; 

 as for example, taking away its brood 

 constantly, so as to keep it a mere 

 nucleus ; but what we want is to keep 

 a strong colony booming right through 

 the entire season, working in sections 

 without ever showing any inclination 

 to swarm. That's the chip you're to 

 aim at. Nothing would delight me 

 more, than to come off second best in 

 the flght ; and I think it among the 

 possibilities that we may yet master 

 the problem ; but for the present I 

 want you to understand, Mr. H., that 

 " that chip " lies in peaceful security 

 on my shoulder ! 



Full of Information.— O. B. Bar- 

 rows, Marshalltown,+o Iowa, on Jan. 

 22, 1887, writes : 



I commenced keeping bees about 15 

 years ago, but I had a very discourag- 

 ing time of it for several years. In 

 the fall of 1884 I attended our State 

 and County Fairs, and found I was 

 away behind in apiculture. In Jan- 

 uary, 1885, 1 sent for a sample copy of 

 the American Bee Journal, and I 

 got more information on modern bee- 

 culture from that one copy than I had 

 gotten in ten years before. I sub- 

 scribed for it, and in the two years 

 that I have been taking it I have 

 never seen anything that I wanted to 

 conceal from any one ; and whether 

 the market reports are published or 

 not, I presume I shall continue to 

 think it the best Bee Journal in the 

 world ! It reaches me each Wednes- 

 day before noon, and is read with 

 great interest. 



Bee-Keeping in Nebraska.— D. M. 

 Imlay, Seward, ex Nebr., on Dec. 22, 

 1886, writes : 



There was only about half a crop of 

 honey in this locality last season, 

 while 25 miles west of here there was 

 a large crop. I began the season with 

 78 colonies (nearly all in poor condi- 

 tion), increased them to 128, and ob- 

 tained about 4.000 pounds of extracted 

 honey, 800 pounds of comb honey, and 

 35 pounds of beeswax. The extracted 

 honey will average about 9 cents per 

 pound, and the comb honey about 15 

 cents per pound, while beeswax brings 

 25 cents per pound. I have kept bees 

 since 1881, beginning in a small way. 

 I have advanced a little in the busi- 

 ness ; but if I could, with my present 

 experience, return and correct my 

 mistakes. I could make $2 where I 

 have made $1. The past was a pecu- 

 liar season. Local showers during 

 the summer made a very material 

 difference in the honey crop. This is 

 a very poor place to rear queens, as 

 the honey-flow comes in the fall ; but 

 we are not bothered with swarming 



during the honey-flow, as it is so late 

 that the bees begin to prepare for 

 winter, and will not swarm unless 

 they are very strong and have no 

 room to store honey. There is plenty 

 of goldenrod, but our bees seldom 

 notice it; our crop is from heart 's- 

 ease, buckwheat, and the late red 

 clover bloom. My bees are in the 

 cellar, and the only trouble seems to 

 be to keep the temperature low 

 enough ; it goes up to 50' with only 

 the outside door shut. They make a 

 low hum ; should they be perfectly 

 quiet ? 



[Regulate the temperature of the 

 cellar so as to prevent restlessness. — 

 A "low hum" shows happiness. — Ed.] 



Bees Removing Brood, etc.— L. M. 

 Foster, Friend, o, Nebr., on Jan. 17, 

 1887, writes ; 



Concerning my query (No. 344), I 

 also think that the trouble (bees car- 

 rying out brood) was caused by the 

 bees being determined to load the 

 brood-chamber with honey. The col- 

 onies mentioned were in 10-frame 

 Langstroth and Simplicity hives, 

 each of the hives having 9 framea 

 almost entirely filled with brood. 

 There was no lack of food, as some 

 of my c(Monies had already stored 

 several pounds of honey in the sur- 

 plus boxes. I had 5 colonies, spring^ 

 count, increased them to 11, and one 

 absconded. I obtained 400 pounds of 

 nice comb honey, notwithstanding 

 the drouth. The most of our honey 

 is obtained from heart's-ease, or as 

 some call it, black-heart. My bees 

 are wintering well out-of-doors, with 

 chalf cushions on the top stories, and 

 a passage over the frames under the 

 cushion. 



My Management of Bees.— J. R- 

 Galley, Avery, $ Iowa, on Jan. 21, 

 1887, writes : 



My knowledge of bees is drawn 

 mostly from observation and experi- 

 ment. I used comb frames before 

 the war, and one-pound sections in 

 1867. I have had the best success 

 with the Langstroth brood-chamber 

 containing from 10 to 16 combs, with 

 division boards and the bottom -boards 

 clamped on the lid with a 2 or 3 inch 

 rim. (Both can be dispensed with in 

 tiering up the hives in the cellar for 

 winter.) I have supers (with rabbet 

 in the side-board of the hive dis- 

 pensed with), slatted honey-board, 

 and the hive with an additional story 

 high enough to hold 434-inch sections, 

 with a flange of light hoop-iron nailed 

 on the lower outer edge to shut on the 

 hive like a band-box. These hives 

 can be tiered up to any desired 

 height. I put on a super, spread a 

 cloth over it, and as soon as it is 

 pretty well filled with honey take it 

 off, place an empty one in its place, 

 and put it back to be finished. Seven 

 and a half inches is too shallow for 

 caps, as only one case of sections can 

 be placed under it at a time. I con- 

 sider it important to give room in the 

 honey season, without waiting for all 

 the sections in one case to be finished. 



