THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



219 



ing the situation, and finding the 

 temperature still at 62°, I resorted to 

 putting in ice until the bees became 

 quiet, but too late to save my bees 

 from loss, which may be at the cost 

 of several colonies. So the test is not 

 a fair one. But I learned that bees 

 will not remain quiet in as high a 

 temperature for me as some have 

 claimed. They are the most quiet for 

 me at from 3.5° to 40", and fairly 

 quiet up to 50"; but above that they 

 get restless. Our winter since Jan. 

 20 has been mild ; there has been quite 

 a loss among colonies that were hived 

 late last fall, but the strong colonies 

 have come through all right. 



Samson's First Colony of Bees.— N. 

 W. AflJerbaugh, Cameron,© Nebr., 

 sends this "old, old story" of 3,000 

 years ago : 



Samson went down to Timnath and 

 saw a woman in Timnath of the 

 daughters of the Philistines, and 

 when he came back he told his father 

 and mother, and said : I have seen a 

 woman in Timnath that 1 love ; and 

 Samson said unto his father and 

 mother, get her for me, for she 

 pleaseth me well ; then went Samson 

 down, and his father and mother to 

 Timnath, and came to the vineyards 

 of Timnath, and behold a young lion 

 roared against him, and Samson killed 

 him, and he went and talked with the 

 woman, and she pleased Samson well. 

 After a time he returned to take her 

 for his wife ; on his way he stopped 

 to behold tlie carcass of the lion, and 

 in it he found a colony of bees and 

 honey ; and he took thereof in his 

 hand, and began to eat, and coming to 

 his father and mother, gave some to 

 them to eat. Samson had a marriage 

 feast, with honey for supper 1141 

 years before the Christian era — over 

 three thousand years ago. 



No Loss for Four Winters.— Abner 

 Brown, Lansing,? Mich., on March 

 25, 1887, says : 



Last fall I prepared 5 colonies of 

 bees for winter, and have now taken 

 them out, and find all in excellent 

 condition— no signs of disease, and 

 with plenty of stores. This is the 

 fourth winter that I have saved all 

 the bees that I put up the previous fall. 



Sweet-Clover Fiber for Cordage.— 



C. H. Dibbern, Milan, xj Ills., writes : 



I am pleased to notice, Mr. Editor, 

 that yourself and the cordage com- 

 pany seem to be interested in the 

 matter of utilizing the sweet clover 

 fibers mentioned on page 203. My 

 attention was first attracted by pass- 

 ing my piece of about two acres of 

 the dry stalks of sweet clover, and 

 seeing the fiber wave in the wind. I 

 broke off a few stalks and secured the 

 sample I sent you. I should judge 

 that the stalks contain about as much 

 of the fiber as the ordinary hemp, and 

 and very much like it. I would gladly 

 send on a bale of several hundred 

 pounds, as requested, but to secure 

 that amount by hand is a job I do not 



covet. It is quite likely that the fiber 

 is now somewhat injured by exposure 

 through the winter. The object I 

 had in view was to call attention to 

 the possible value of sweet clover as 

 a fiber-producing plant, and hope that 

 those having a knowledge of the 

 proper treatment of hemp, and ma- 

 chinery for handling it,will take it up. 



Building a Bee-Cellar.— J. H. Stan- 

 ford, Cherokee,^ Iowa, asks the fol- 

 lowing questions: 



I want to build a bee-cellar the com- 

 ing summer. 1. How large should 

 the room be to hold 75 colonies ? 2. 

 Would you ventilate it with tile ? If 

 so, how deep would you lay it V How 

 long 'i and what size V 3, How high 

 should the walls of the cellar be V 4. 

 How many windows V 5. Is a cement 

 floor the best ? 6. Is it best to run 

 water through the cellar V 7. Would 

 you build an outside stairway V 8. Is 

 it best to lath and plaster the joists 

 overhead or ceil it with pine flooring 'i 

 Bees have wintered well so far. I put 

 out 3 colonies, but it was too cold for 

 them to fly. 



[1. Two hundred square feet or more, 

 somewhat depending upon the size of 

 the hives. 



2. I would ventilate the cellar with 

 tile, and I am trying hard to find out 

 just how. At present I should say 6 

 to 10 inch tile, not less than 5 feet to 

 the bottom of the drain, and not less 

 than 150 feet long. Probably this 

 would ventilate a larger cellar. 



3. Seven feet is a good height. 



4. One is probably enough. 



5. I have used a cement floor in one 

 cellar, and I doubt if it is of any ad- 

 vantage. 



6. I have had no experience. If you 

 can easily try it, do so, and report the 

 result both with and without. 



7. By all means, if possible. 



8. Lath and plaster, I think.— C. C. 

 Miller.] 



Fearing Chilled Brood.— W. H. 



Martin, Falls City, o» Nebr., on March 

 29, 1887, says : 



It has been cold here for more than 

 a week, and I fear that chilled brood 

 will be the result. A swarm of bees 

 was found on March 1 clustered on a 

 hedge-fence near this place. One 

 young man said he could tell the rea- 

 son why ; they were in a rented hive, 

 and had to move out ! 



The Prospects in Kentucky.— J. J. 

 Waller, Pleasure Ridge Park,3 Ky., 

 on March 25, 1SS7, writes : 



I reported last summer that my 

 bees were gathering " honey-dew " 

 from the black walnut leaves, and 

 promised to report further concerning 

 the outcome. That " honey-flow " did 

 not last long, as we had a very hard 

 wind and rain storm which destroyed 



the most of the little insects, which 

 Prof. Cook said (and I do not doubt 

 its truth) produced the sweet sub- 

 stance. My bees, however, gathered 

 it so freely while it lasted, that about 

 one-half of their winter stores con- 

 sisted of it; and I had fears as to it» 

 bealthfulness for winter use, but I am 

 glad to say that so far as I can see, it 

 had no injurious effect whatever. I 

 have lost but 2 colonies of bees out of 

 65, and I think that they were over- 

 come by cold, on account of the way 

 they clustered on their combs. We 

 certainly had an easy winter on bees 

 in Kentucky. I think the mercury 

 only on two occasions was below zero, 

 and then only a few degrees ; yet I do 

 not remember to have ever seen as 

 thick pure ice. My opinion is that 

 bees have generally wintered well in 

 this part of the country, and now if 

 we knew how to successfully control 

 swarming, I think we could look for- 

 ward with bright hopes to a large 

 honey crop. 



Cheap Production of Honey.— E. 



Sandford, Nokomis,© Ills., on March 

 24, 1887, writes : 



I do not see why there is so much 

 complaining about the price of comb 

 honey when compared to other things. 

 I think that if some bee-keepers 

 would supply their families from the 

 market instead of from their own 

 apiaries, they would find that the 

 same money would go much further 

 in buying something that would an- 

 swer about the same purpose. I 

 think their undivided attention should 

 be turned to cheap production. 



Results of the Winter, etc.— J. A. 



Reeds, Hinesboro,o Ills., on March 

 30, 1887, writes : 



My bees have wintered apparently 

 all right. I did not lose a single col- 

 ony out of 180 in the cellar ; but they 

 are dwindling away during this cold 

 weather ; some colonies are getting 

 very weak. I helped a neighbor put 

 his bees out of the cellar; he had 70 

 colonies, and all were aliye. I hear 

 of many bees dying that were left out 

 unprotected during the winter. I had 

 lUO colonies last year, which I worked 

 for honey, and they stored 6,300 pounds 

 of comb and extracted honey. The 

 clover seems to be frozen out pretty 

 badly here. I do not expect as good a 

 flow of honey this year as we had last. 



Plant Alsike Clover. 



I^eaflet No. 2, entitled " Alsike Clover 

 for Pasturage and Hay," is now ready for 

 delivery. It should be scattered atonce into 

 every neiKhborhood, Jn order to induce 

 farmers to plant Alsike, that the bees may 

 have the advantage of it for pasturage. We 

 send them by mail 50 copies for HO cents ; 

 100 for 50 cents ; 500 for $2.25— all post- 

 paid. It will pay bee-keepers to scatter 

 these Leaflets, even if 9 out of 10 avail 

 nothing. If ten farmers out of a hundred 

 plant Alsike in any neighborhood, the bees 

 will reap a very substantial reward. 



