THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



713 



not prepared to say, but I have seen 

 them sufficiently developed to injure 

 the appearance of sections. 



I have read and re-read the state- 

 ment of Mr. Heddon with consider- 

 able surprise. I do not want to say it 

 loud enough for him to hear me, but I 

 have a slight suspicion that in this 

 matter James is just a little out. 

 Locality may make a difference— time 

 of year. I know, does make a differ- 

 ence—but I suspect that in my local- 

 ity, if my colonies were all re-queened 

 with the best queens in the world, 

 and a lot of sections taken off late in 

 the season, especially if some of them 

 had pollen or combs a little dark, and 

 those sections kept in a place favor- 

 able for the development of worms, 

 the worms would be forthcoming. 

 Still, I have been many times mis- 

 taken, and this may only be another 

 instance. 



Marengo, 5 Ills. 



[After keeping the " copy " for each 

 number, tied up and labeled, for 5 or 

 6 months, it accumulates so fast that 

 we throw it into the waste-basket. As 

 the answer Dr. Miller refers to was 

 printed a year ago, the copy is de- 

 stroyed, and we cannot refer to it 

 now.— Ed.] 



Eastern Farmer. 



Winter Preparation Of Bees. 



J. E. POND. 



Statistics as shown by the various 

 reports given in from year to year, 

 indicate that more losses arise from 

 lack of winter protection than from 

 all others, except perhaps in some 

 districts where foul brood has gained 

 a foothold. 



One of the chief causes of winter 

 loss, in our judgment, consists in not 

 beginning early enough in the fall to 

 get the brood- chambers ready for win- 

 ter's severity. The desire to get as 

 large a surplus crop as possible in- 

 duces many to leave all winter prep- 

 aration till fall honey season is over. 

 This we deem to be wholly wrong ; it 

 breaks up the brood-nest just after 

 the bees have made their own prep- 

 arations, and in many cases pats the 

 bees into winter quarters with both 

 unripened and unsealed stores. The 

 rule should be, we believe, to cause 

 no disturbance whatever to the brood- 

 chamber after the middle of August ; 

 about that time we make our tinal 

 examination, see that all is right, and 

 then allow the bees to fit up to suit 

 themselves. 



In early fall, however, and just be- 

 fore the advent of cold weather, we 

 contract our bees' quarters to as many 

 combs only as they can well cover, 

 spacing them a little wider apart than 

 is allowed during the breeding and 

 honey gathering season, and see also 

 that they have a sufficient amount of 

 stores to last them through. 



Five full frames of comb the Lang- 

 stroth size we deem amply sufficient, 

 and theifact that we have been in- 

 variably tsuccessful in wintering is 



proof that we are nearly correct in 

 our views ; our losses from all win- 

 ter causes during the last 20 years 

 not being 5 per cent. During that 

 time we nave used chaft hives, double 

 walled hives.hives variously protected 

 with packing, etc., and single-walled 

 hives, and in wintering on summer 

 stands (which is our custom), we have 

 not found any great difference, and 

 are led to the conclusion that more 

 depends upon other things than upon 

 the quality or thickness of our hives. 



What is required, we think, is 

 plenty of bees, in good hives propor- 

 tioned to the size of the colonies, 

 plenty of stores, well ripened and 

 sealed up, and wliere the bees can get 

 at them at any time, with just suffi- 

 cient ventilation to prevent excessive 

 moisture. By this means the bees 

 are kept quiet, and thus retain their 

 vitality, and do not kill themselves 

 in the attempt to preserve life, by ex- 

 tra exertions to overcome severe cold, 

 or to break their clusters in the en- 

 deavor to find scattered stores. 



We do not propose to theorize on 

 this matter, but simply to state our 

 belief drawn from our own experience, 

 leaving it for others to theorize or not, 

 as they choose. It is enough for us 

 to know that we do not lose our bees, 

 and that we adopt the measures above 

 indicated in getting them ready for 

 the winter campaign. If others meet 

 with success, with different treat- 

 ment, all right ; but if they have not 

 been successful heretofore, we advise 

 them to try our method, and see how 

 it works. 



North Attleboro,o. Mass. 



For tlie American Bee JoormiJ. 



Resnlts Of tlie Season Of 1881, 



H. J. ROGERS. 



I commenced the season of 1887 

 with 48 colonies, nearly all of which 

 were strong enough on May 1 to easilv 

 repel all robber bees. On May 10 

 apple blossoms began to appear, and I 

 never saw so many blossoms on trees 

 before, so it seemed to me. But for 

 some reason, probably the cold wind, 

 the bees did nothing except to build 

 up, which they did to some purpose. 



In about ten days after apple blos- 

 soms disappeared, raspberry opened, 

 and about all the colonies commenced 

 storing honey in sections. This con 

 tinued for just ten days, and white 

 clover came, but it yielded no honey 

 at all. 



Up to this time I had counted on a 

 big yield of honey, but I found that I 

 was too premature. A drouth set in. 

 Bees commenced to swarm, and al- 

 though I did not allow but one swarm 

 to issue, yet I could not get another 

 pound of honey from those which had 

 sent out swarms, except by cutting 

 out queen-cells and hiving a "big" 

 swarm into the hive when one had 

 issued. This plan worked well, and I 

 am indebted to one of the Ajierican 

 Bee Journal's correspondents for it. 



The dry weatlier continued, and my 

 bees soon tired of sending out swarms, 

 and commenced to slaughter the 



drones. But about July 10, basswood 

 bloomed, and this gave them a new 

 impetus. For just seven days they 

 fairly " went crazy " over honey gath- 

 ering, and the drones lived on, except 

 those that had already paid the debt 

 of nature. 



When buckwheat came, two weeks 

 later, I took 700 pounds of comb 

 honey, besides filling up the brood- 

 chambers with from 2 to 3 frames for 

 winter. (I had from 5 to 8 frames be- 

 fore, from raspberry and basswood.) 

 Now I have a showing of about one 

 ton of comb honey, and plenty for the 

 bees for winter stores. I have my 

 bees packed on the summer stands, 

 and if my " luck " does not desert me, 

 I will have nearly all of the 70 colonies 

 I now have, when " the spring-time 

 comes again." 



Stannard's Cor., N. Y.,Oct. 31, 1887. 



Prairie Farmer. 



Sweet and Alsil^e Cloyer. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



Bee-keepers have for many years 

 been experimenting with, and seek- 

 ing after plants which will pay to 

 raise for honey alone, but have never 

 found one that was satisfactory. The 

 clovers are the most popular honey- 

 plants, and, excepting the sweet 

 clover {Melilotus alba), are favorites 

 with the farmers. 



The presence of sweet clover is 

 sufficient proof that there are bee- 

 keepers near by. It is classed among 

 pernicious weeds in Illinois, but this 

 is a mistake, as it dies root and 

 branch the second year, and does not 

 spread. This is proven by the fact, 

 that where roads and lanes are so full 

 of it, and its growth is so rank that it 

 is difficult for a team to drive through, 

 yet not one stalk will be seen growing 

 in the adjoining fields. During muddy 

 weather the seeds are carried on 

 wagon wheels for long distances, and 

 seem to germinate more readily in 

 this way. I have an idea that the 

 seed heats 'easily, for several times I 

 have gathered it as it ripened and put 

 it into a paper sack, and sowed it in 

 waste places, and not a plant ap- 

 peared. But when I cutoff the stalks 

 and scattered them, it grew and held 

 its own ever afterwards. 



When speaking of this plant, I 

 always think of the old minister who 

 had a surly wife, and would not allow 

 any of the fraternity to visit him. 

 When one of his brethren was con- 

 doling him he said, " Don't pity me 

 too much, brother; my wife has some 

 good streaks." This plant also has 

 its good points, growing and thriving 

 in poor gravelly soils, and enriching 

 them by its deep, long roots and 

 branches, and preventing gullies by 

 holding the soil ; and lastly by produc- 

 ing the choicest nectar during drouths 

 and periods of scarcity. It has value 

 as a forage plant in early spring, as it 

 grows before other clovers, and is 

 relished at this season by stock, and 

 especially by fowls. It is sometimes 

 cut and stored with hay on account of 

 its fragrance, as it will perfume the 

 whole mow. Gather the stalks now, 



