AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



11 



The Funny Side of Bee-Keeping-. 



In our rambles among bee-keepers we 

 find them a great deal like other mortals ; 

 made up of various emotions, and when- 

 ever we meet a number of them they are 

 an agreeable and jolly crowd. Shall we 

 so conduct our journal as to touch the 

 various emotions, or touch only one, and 

 that the bee-keeping taste ? In other 

 words, shall we make our bee paper 

 especially for the bee-keeper of the 

 family, or shall we make it distinctively 

 a bee paper, but edit it in such a way as 

 to interest the whole family ? When a 

 bee-keeper loses all of his bees and takes 

 up some other occupation, but still 

 subscribes for the bee paper, you may be 

 sure that it interests the whole family. 

 In the apiary are many humorous 

 happenings. Shall we say anything 

 about them in the bee paper, or shall we 

 tell them to an unappreciative audience 

 in Puck or Judge f — Rambler in the 

 Revidv. 



Watering-place for Bees. 



I use a 10-gallon keg : bore a hole 

 near the bottom, put in a faucet, then 

 take a soft pine board about 2 ft. long, 

 and with a hatchet I hack it all over on 

 one side to make it as rough as possible. 

 Set the keg on a block (a box will do) 

 about 18 inches high. Now place one 

 end of the board just beneath the faucet, 

 and the other end in a very small trough. 

 Fill up the keg ; cover it well, so that no 

 bees may fall in ; turn the faucet so that 

 it will drip just to suit. With this 

 arrangement near, they do not trouble 

 me much in the watering-trough, except 

 on a very hot day, when a little coal-oil 

 rubbed in the trough just above the 

 water will keep them away. They will 

 not go into a trough that is painted with 

 coal tar inside. — Ed. E. Smith in 

 Gleani7igs. 



Two Boys and a Large Fire. 



We have succeeded in arresting the 

 boys who set fire to our shops last Spring. 

 There were 2 of them. One is now at 

 the State Industrial School at Waukesha. 

 He made a full confession ; and as soon 

 as the other boy was arrested he also 

 confessed, telling the same story as the 

 boy at Waukesha. They say they simply 

 wanted to see a great fire. One is 11 

 years of age, and the other is 13. I am 

 very glad to know how the fire started, 

 and to know it was not done through 

 any enmity. — G. B. Lewis & Co., in 



Life Members. 



New life-members are being continu- 

 ally added to the roll of the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Association, and 

 so far we feel very much encouraged ; 

 and if this membership is to continue at 

 the present rate, we shall keep on 

 harping until the list is swelled to a 

 respectable size. 



Up to the date of the meeting at 

 Keokuk, these two were the only life- 

 members : D. A. Jones, Beeton, Out.; 

 Thomas G. Newman, Chicago, 111. 



The following is the list of names that 

 have been handed in since, in the order 

 of their receipt: A. I. Root, Medina, O.; 

 E. R. Root, Medina, O.; J. T. Calvert, 

 Medina, O.; Charles Dadant, Hamilton, 

 111.; Eugene Secor, Forest City, Iowa; 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111.; O. R. Coe, 

 Windham, N. Y. 



We trust that every bee-keeper who is 

 interested in the highest welfare of his 

 pursuit will at once send his name to the 

 Secretary, Mr. C. P. Dadant, Hamilton, 

 111, If you are unable to pay the amount 

 now he will charge the same to you, and 

 you will then be enrolled in the list as 

 above. The above makes 10 names, 

 and all that has been paid in is invested, 

 and drawing 6 per cent interest. — 

 Gleanings. 



Preparing Bees for Winter. 



The two most important points for 

 successful wintering are, first, a rousing 

 strong colony. Here is where the be- 

 ginner is so liable to make a mistake by 

 dividing until he has a number of weak 

 colonies. Colonies that are not strong 

 should be united rather than attempt to 

 winter them separately. Before uniting 

 them the poorest queens should be dis- 

 posed of, and then allow the colony to 

 remain quietly four or five days, after 

 which the bees can be brushed off from 

 the combs, in front of another colony, 

 and by the aid of a little smoke they will 

 become peaceable, hard-working citizens. 



The second important point is to see 

 that each colony has an abundance of 

 stores. Each comb should be at least 

 one-third filled with capped stores. Bees 

 often starve to death in the midst of 

 plenty ; they consume the stores within 

 their cluster, and as they cannot move 

 to the adjoining combs during zero 

 weather, they starve. Probably more 

 bees perish from this cause, during the 

 Winter season, than from all other 

 causes combined. 



Happily, by a little painstaking, we 

 can apply the remedy. Confine the bees 



