340 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



of being stung looking for queens. It is 

 a beautiful sight to see the bees clinging 

 in clusters to the comb, and trying to 

 hide their queen. 



A great lightening of labor for me is 

 having the queen's wings clipped so that 

 I can get her when they swarm, without 

 running after them. I think I should 

 never have attempted bee-keeping if I 

 could not cage the queen so that the 

 swarm will return to her. 



Among the brighter lights, is taking 

 off a super filled with honey, preparing 

 it for market, and then getting from 18 

 to 20 cents per pound, or using it on the 

 table ; it seems to make life sweeter. 

 But the greatest light of all the lights 

 for 1890, is the lightness of the honey 

 crop. — Read at the Northern Illinois Con- 

 vention. 



Rockford, Ills. 



Fall Work in tlie kwi 



E. L. PRATT. 



Fall is close upon us, and it is time to 

 commence arrangements for Winter. 



Winter cases will be used more this 

 season than ever before, as it is a set- 

 tled thing that bees will Winter in 

 properly-arranged outside cases safer 

 and cheaper than by any other method. 



It matters not how cold your climate 

 is — cold weather does not kill bees, it is 

 frost in and about the cluster. 



If the steam arising from a cluster of 

 bees, or breath, as it is sometimes called, 

 is properly taken care of, there will be 

 no loss of bees during Winter or Spring, 

 providing they are strong to start with, 

 and have plenty of stores of either honey 

 or sugar. 



Chaff packed into the sides of a Win- 

 ter case is little better than a single 

 walled hive. 



A thick cushion of straw or hay, 

 tucked over the frames, and not coming 

 in contact with the cover or roof, will 

 take all moisture away from the cluster, 

 and pass it gradually off through the 

 ventilators at either end of the case. 



The best clustering space is made by 

 tacking wire cloth onto a % inch rim or 

 frame. This arrangement affords better 

 ventilation, and at the same time makes 

 an excellent Winter passage. It is better 

 than the Hill device, as sugar feeding 

 in Spring can be done to much better 

 advantage, and the bees can be ex- 

 amined at any time without their flying 

 out into the cold to perish. 



Six Langstroth combs full of honey 

 will Winter a large colony of bees. If I 



have any feeding to do I have the food 

 all put into five or six combs, in compact 

 space, rather than distributed through 

 eight or ten combs. 



When cold weather comes on I move 

 the full combs toward the middle of the 

 hive ; then slip in a frame one-half or 

 two-thirds full for the bees to cluster on. 

 Space all combs 3^ inch full. 



A colony that forms its cluster at one 

 corner or one end of the brood-nest, will 

 not generally live until Spring. A small 

 colony will often Winter perfectly if 

 clustered at the center of the brood-nest, 

 but they are very apt to work to one 

 side. 



It is better to Winter few colonies in 

 good condition, than many in poor con- 

 dition ; therefore, I say, unite all weak 

 colonies now, and make sure of good 

 queens throughout. 



Beverly, Mass. 



Essential Featnres of a Bee-HiTo, 



G. P. MORTON. 



The average apiarist, in speaking of 

 modern progress in bee-keeping, is 

 almost sure to place stress on the 

 "hive" as the highest point to be 

 attained in the art of bee-keeping. 



That a certain amount of time and 

 talent should be used in this direction, 

 will be agreed to without argument. 

 But to bend every energy in this 

 direction, I think is a mistake. When 

 we investigate the subject, we find that 

 practical bee-keepers are succeeding 

 equally well with the many different 

 makes of hives. This fact alone indi- 

 cates that good management and adapt- 

 ability to the business overbalance 

 everything else. 



A hive, to facilitate labor, should be 

 simple, easy to manipulate, and of 

 reasonable price. If these points are 

 combined, they will be almost sure to 

 produce a popular hive. I use the sim- 

 plicity hive, improved, nine frames, or 

 eight frames and a division-board ; fill 

 the brood-chamber, use one depth sec- 

 tion crates with break-joint honey- 

 board and section support combined, 

 and follow the tiering up plan for comb- 

 honey. For extracted-honey, use same 

 size brood-chambers, with perforated 

 zinc queen-excluder, and tier up two or 

 three stories high with empty combs, 

 nine combs to the story above the brood- 

 chamber. 



In taking up the second proposition of 

 my subject, I will be governed by what 



