rHE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



821 



statements in regard to the color aud 

 quality of IFnited States linden honey 

 were incorrect ; and also to sbow our 

 Canadian neighbors that the term 

 " linden " is the one used over much 

 the larger portion of the United 

 States ; the term " basswood " being 

 used only along the Canadian border ; 

 and I leave it to those interested to 

 say how well I have succeeded in 

 doing it, and I shall be most happy to 

 furnish, if desired, more evidence of 

 the truthfulness of my statements in 

 regard to the color and quality of 

 United States linden honey. Thanks 

 to the Canadians for getting me to 

 using the " more respectable " term 

 " linden." 

 Auburndale.'o O. 



Wor tlie American Bee JoomaL 



Season of 1887, Honey-Boarfls, etc. 



J. K. HAND. 



Bees have done very poorly in this 

 vicinity the past season. There was 

 but little white clover bloom, and 

 only on low land along the streams. 

 On account of the extreme drouth, it 

 yielded no honey, consequently at the 

 beginning of basswood bloom the 

 bees were almost destitute, in fact I 

 should have had to feed my bees or 

 let them starve in July. But bass- 

 wood came to the rescue just in time 

 to save our bees, and they began to 

 work with a vengeance, and soon had 

 their brood apartments filled with 

 nice wnite honey. Only the very 

 strongest colonies went into the sec- 

 tions; those that were not strong 

 enough to work in the sections proSt- 

 ably, I divided. I had only three 

 natural swarms. I commenced with 

 SO colonies, increased them to 41, and 

 took about 500 pounds of comb honey. 



My apiary is three miles from the 

 nearest basswood trees. I am satis- 

 fied that my bees went five miles to 

 work on basswood. I think that 

 another year I shall have mv bees 

 nearer the timber, as I think that my 

 yield would have been twice as larse 

 had I been close by the timber. We 

 had the best flow of basswood honey 

 that I ever knew. 



JJuckwheat yielded no honey, and 

 fall flowers but little, consequently 

 about one-fourth of my colonies had 

 to be fed for winter. My bees never 

 went into winter quarters so light in 

 stores as they have this winter ; but I 

 intend to see that none of them starve. 

 It is my opinion that a great many of 

 the " guess so " bee-keepers will lose 

 most of their bees this winter. 



I wish to say a word in favor of the 

 Heddon honey-board. I have used it 

 in my apiary for the past two sea- 

 sons, and I think it will pay for itself 

 in a very short time. It has only to 

 be used to be appreciated. It* does 

 entirely away witli all brace-combs, 

 and does not hinder the bees from 

 going into the sections. 



The prospect of next season's honey 

 crop is not very flattering, to say the 

 least, iis white clover is all killed on 

 high ground, and the rains came so 

 late that the seed did not germinate 



in time to get sufficient root to stand 

 the winter. All we can do is to have 

 our bees in the best possible condition 

 to make the most of whatever we get, 

 and be thankful for the blessings 

 already bestowed. 

 Owasa,© Iowa, Dec. 16, 1887. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Wintering Bees in Kentucky. 



J. M. TYLBR. 



I have 25 colonies thoroughly Ital- 

 ianized with pure queens obtained 

 from States north and south, to break 

 up sectionalism, insure harmony and 

 no seceding. They are in 10-frame 

 (each in upper and lower story) Lang- 

 stroth hives. 



All the information in the bee- 

 papers on the subject of wintering 

 bees is from apiarists of higher lati- 

 tudes, where the cellar or chaff hives 

 are necessary. Successful wintering 

 on the summer stands here is what 

 this section and latitude wants. Last 

 winter I wintered 14 colonies on the 

 summer stands in two-story Lang- 

 stroth hives, in good condition, while 

 I heard of the usual loss from my 

 neighbors. About the last of Novem- 

 ber I distributed 2 frames of honey 

 from the stronir to the weaker.placing 

 the weaker colonies in the centre of 

 the hive, with 5 or 6 frames of honey, 

 all empty frames being removed. I 

 close them in with division-boards 

 reachirig to the bottom ; then fill the 

 vacant spaces between the division- 

 boards and wall of the brood chamber 

 with chaff. This makes thick walls, 

 insures warmth, and enables weak 

 colonies to maintain a proper tem- 

 perature. The honey boards are re- 

 moved from all the colonies, and 

 Hill's device, easily made out of clean 

 barrel staves, nut on the body of the 

 upper story. Then I lay on a cover of 

 burlap, coffee-sack, or pieces of car- 

 pet, always clean, and cut large so as 

 to tuck all aroimd. I place on top of 

 this a chaff pillow about 6 inches 

 thick, made to flt tightly, so as to 

 tuck down close in the corners. I 

 then put a roof on and fasten it down 

 with wire. 



I do not unpack them in the spring 

 until cold spplls are over, and until 

 the brood calls for more room. I feed 

 in the spring by mixing honey and 

 granulated sugar with a little fine 

 meal to a paste ; 1 spread it on thin 

 boards, which I shove in at the en- 

 trance at night, and remove early in 

 the morning. 



I had no swarms the past season, 

 but divided colonies as directed by 

 Mr. Muth. Sixer? of mv old colo- 

 nies stored an average of 20 pounds of 

 surplus honey. Zincgupen-exclnding 

 honey-boards and Ileddon's break- 

 joint slatted honey-boards were used. 

 The zinc honev-board will not do for 

 this localitv. The honey melted down 

 out of the frames in the super with 

 them, where they were exposed to 

 the sun ; and furthermore, the bees 

 stopped most of the holes up with 

 propolis, and I think that some bees 

 are too large to get through readily, 



or not all. I discovered this when 

 using a drone-catcher which had the 

 perforated zinc. The slatted break- 

 joint honey-board is a gem ; where it 

 was used no honey melted, and no 

 necks of comb were built to the super 

 frames. 



Compared with all the writers for 

 the bee-papers, I discover that Mr. 

 Muth and myself are behind in hold- 

 ing to the 10-frame Langstroth hive. 

 I am perplexed to know the best and 

 cheapest hive to use for my locality 

 to winter bees on the summer stands. 

 Several styles are recommended ; but 

 it is not easy to change after a large 

 apiary is built up. We must use pine 

 lumber, as poplar is so given to 

 warping. What is the best hive for 

 us here V 



Bowling Green, 9 Ky. 



[We know of no better hive than 

 the Langstroth for all purposes and 

 all latitudes.— Ed.] 



New England Bomestead. 



Late Fall fork in tlie Apiary. 



SAMUEL COSHMAN. 



Every pleasant day my bees worked 

 with a will on wild asters or frost 

 weed. The golden-rod bloom was 

 about over. My Cook apiary is where 

 many farms are grown up to weeds 

 and brush, and golden-rod aud asters 

 are very abundant. 



Being on a hill, frosts hold off late, 

 and I generally get a good fall crop, 

 always enough for winter stores. 

 Here the bees gathered enough dur- 

 ing the season to keep up brood-rear- 

 ing, and during the yield from chest- 

 nut, most colonies drew out the foun- 

 dation and nearly filled with honey 

 from 40 toSOone-pound sections. This 

 I allowed to remain, as the honey is 

 dark, and does not sell so well. 

 During the long scarcity that follow- 

 ed, these boxes were emptied, and 

 the honey used to rear brood. At the 

 opening of the fall flow all the colo- 

 nies were verv powerful, but had less 

 than a fortnight's supply of stores. 



FALL HONEY IN SECTIONS. 



As I had not taken enough surplus 

 to meet the local demands. I wished 

 to make the most of this flow and to 

 get all the honey possible in the sec- 

 tions. To do this, I crowded all the 

 colonies on very few broid combs 

 to force them into the sections, and 

 as bees are reluctant to build comb 

 late in the season, I gave only sections 

 containing drawn-out combs. A thick 

 chaff cushion was placed above to re- 

 tain the heat. 



I generally leave sufficient natural 

 stores for the winter supply, but I 

 have made an exception this season. 

 As soon as there is a billing frost, all 

 the honey in tlie hives in the home 

 apiary was extracted, ajso that in the 

 others when it could be conveniently 

 done. 



FEEDING BEES FOR WINTER. 



1 then spread the combs as they 

 were to remain for the winter, and 

 immediately fed sufficient thick sugar 



