AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



51 



get outside of the hive to die. After 

 years of experience, I believe the above 

 to be a correct solution of the matter. 



When being fully settled for Winter 

 and this loss of old bees has passed away, 

 a colony will lose but few bees for (> 

 weeks or 2 months, and will remain 

 quiet. If at this time a warm day occurs 

 so they can fly freely, they again cluster 

 back quietly, and remain so, about the 

 same length of time, when they again 

 desire to fly, and if such a chance occurs, 

 all will go out, and the bees Winter well. 



Thus we have a colony in a normal 

 condition, and all the cold ever obtained 

 in any portion of the world where bees 

 can be kept with profit (occurring during 

 this period between their flights), will 

 not materially injure them if they have 

 plenty of stores within easy access. In 

 years gone by, I have purposely prepared 

 very small colonies or nuclei to test this 

 matter, and I find that colonies which do 

 not occupy more than one-fifth the room 

 occupied by an ordinary cluster or colony, 

 will safely pass through a spell of cold 

 weather, during which the mercury sinks 

 •as low as 20° below zero. 



To test the matter more thoroughly, I 

 once raised a hive, having a small colony 

 of bees in it, off the bottom-board a foot 

 or more, and took off all the covering 

 from the top, leaving them thus during 

 a night in which the mercury went down 

 to 15^ below zero, yet in the morning 

 they were all right as far as I could see, 

 and came through that Winter in excel- 

 lent condition. — Rural Home. 



Tlie Closeii-End Frames, 



W. p. FAYLOE. 



Much is now being said about " closed- 

 end frames." I have experimented some 

 with frames so made that the end-bars 

 were each an inch-and-a-half wide and 

 half-an-inch thick, with top and bottom 

 bars just alike, so as to admit of either 

 side of the brood-chamber being turned 

 up. The end-bars extending so as to 

 allow a bee-space above and below the 

 top and bottom bars. These frames rest 

 directly upon the bottom-board ; and 

 two boards, as long and as wide as the 

 frames, form the side-enclosure of six, 

 eight, or any number of frames. 



I find no trouble about separating the 

 frames, or in the crushing of bees ; but 

 the main difficulty lies in getting some- 

 thing suitable for drawing the frames 

 tightly together. 



Driving a nail in the end of each 

 board, midway, and stretching a wire 



doubly across, from board to board, after 

 the Bingham fashion, will work, but not 

 to my satisfaction. It seems to me that 

 some kind of a coil spring might be in- 

 vented to hold such frames in position. 



Could we get something to hold any 

 number of such frames together, then 

 we could have just what we want. We 

 could then take an eight-frame hive and 

 use four frames above and four below, 

 forming a double decker, and a large 

 number of such hives can be packed in 

 little space. 



I do not think it practical to use 

 closed-end frames inside of box-enclos- 

 ures, the way we use the hanging 

 frame. We want the closed-end frames 

 so that we can separate any two frames 

 by running a knife between the end-bars. 

 This cannot be done so readily where the 

 frames are inside of a box held by thumb 

 screws or wedges. 



The advantages of such a hive need 

 no comment. I should like to hear from 

 others who have experimented in this 

 line. Let us go a little slow before we 

 make kindling wood of our " Simplicity " 

 frames. 



State Line, Ind. 



Hannts of Bees— Bee-Trees, 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



There is a blacksmith in this city who 

 is an enthusiast in bee-culture. He will 

 get up by daylight on Sunday mornings, 

 take a piece of bread and butter, and 

 walk seven or eight miles to an apiary, 

 watching for bees upon the bloom. In a 

 recent visit I asked him if he had been 

 to the buckwheat fields this Fall. He 

 said that he had ; but when he was 

 there, the bees were not working upon 

 buckwheat, as it was completely covered 

 with wild cucumber vines, which were 

 blooming profusely, and the bees were 

 working upon them. 



I knew that there was a flow of honey 

 following buckwheat, but I was ignorant 

 of the source, until this lover of Nature 

 in her happiest moods, informed me. 



BEE-TREES. 



This enthusiast has made friends with 

 some wood-choppers, who have spent 

 their whole lives in the woods, and are 

 always on the alert to discover bee-trees. 

 He accompanied them lately on a bee- 

 tree cutting expedition. He said that 

 while chopping the tree, the bees cov- 

 ered him and stung him viciously, but 

 as soon as the tree fell they left him, for 

 they had no home to defend. The men 



