122 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



nies will starve this Winter if not fed, 

 that is, colonies kept in box hives and 

 black bees who are not looked after. 



My bees are Italians, and I have never 

 yet found them short of stores in the 

 Fall. They did well last 5^ear, consider- 

 ing the poor season, and gathered 2,500 

 pounds surplus, many of the hives being 

 too full of honey to handle well, some 

 weighing 80 pounds with the cap off, 

 when 50 pounds is the usual weight for 

 Winter. 



The honey this season is dark, being 

 gathered from mammoth and alsike 

 clover. A neighbor told me that my 

 Italians were just swarming on his mam- 

 moth clover. I would like to know if 

 anyone has had any experience in this 

 clover as a honey plant. 



I would like to say something about 

 the cause of bees dying in Winter, but 

 you will probably think this article so 

 long and dry, that the waste basket will 

 be the place for it. I used to think so, 

 when they were taking up so much space 

 with the pollen theory. Now I believe 

 that pollen will produce bee-diarrhea, 

 but do not think it is the cause of so 

 many bees dying. I find that extracted- 

 honey, if it be so thick that it will not 

 run, if placed in a damp cellar over 

 night, will become so thin before morn- 

 ing, that it will run like water. Then, 

 if placed where it is a little bit warmer, 

 it will soon sour and kill bees every time, 

 if they are confined. The reason why ^ 

 bees winter better on sugar syrup, is 

 that it does not dilute and sour like 

 honey. Just try it and see. 



If a colony of bees are left out till the 

 outside comi3s are frozen so as to crack 

 the capping, the honey will sour, and 

 good-bye bees ; or if there be much 

 dampness in the hive, so that the combs 

 are covered with drops of water, it will 

 have the same effect. 



Some people say that honey dew will 

 kill bees : my bees never wintered better 

 than last Winter and some hives were 

 full of it. It is not the kind of honey, 

 it is not the pollen, but it is simply the 

 condition of the honey. 



We are eating honey 2 years old, which 

 is thick and waxy, and, although some 

 cells are not capped, it is not granulated 

 a bit, and I have had it 3 years old just 

 as good. 



My honey Is kept near a stove-pipe, 

 where there is fire once a week in Winter ; 

 this keeps it all right. Our pantry is 

 damp, I placed a crate of this honey 

 there for a few days, and all that was 

 not capped became very thin, and is not 

 fit to eat. 



Berlin, Wis. 



TlieBest"All-Piiri)ose"Qneeiis, 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



The topic that has been assigned me 

 by the secretary is : "The best all-pur- 

 pose queens, and the best manner of 

 rearing them." I have wondered quite 

 a little why he used the words "all- 

 purpose." I supposed queens were all 

 for one purpose, that of laying eggs. I 

 do not suppose I would rear them any 

 differently, if I were to have their off- 

 spring engage in storing extracted-honey, 

 than I would if their progeny was to be 

 engaged in the production of comb- 

 honey. If I were to engage in rearing 

 bees or queens for sale, I suppose that I 

 would not attempt to rear queens differ- 

 ently in order to endow them with 

 different qualities. 



In the premium list of fairs, I have 

 seen premiums offered for an " all-pur- 

 pose" bee-hive, that is, all things 

 considered, a hive that is best adapted 

 for raising either comb or extracted- 

 honey, or for either cellar or out-door 

 wintering. I can see how the words — 

 "all-purpose" — might be applied to a 

 hive, but when applied to a queen bee, 

 they lose their meaning. 



I might say, in passing, that I am 

 opposed to an " all-purpose " a?iyt/migr, 

 whether it is a queen bee, a bee-hive, or 

 a new milch cow. These combined " all- 

 purpose " articles, must succumb to the 

 special purpose machine. 



While I have criticised the use of the 

 words "all-purpose" as applied to 

 queens, I am willing to admit that much 

 of our success centers in the queens. I 

 cannot go so far as some, however, and 

 say that all centers in the queen. Of the 

 factors under our control, that go to 

 make up our success, I think location, 

 hives, combs and management, are fully 

 as important as the queens. 



We need queens that are sufficiently 

 prolific to fill the combs of an ordinary 

 brood-nest in the early part of the season. 

 Many plead for extraordinary prolificness 

 as a very desirable quality in a queen. 

 If queens were expensive, costing even 

 $100 each, there might be some excuse 

 for desiring prolificness in a queen, but, 

 as they are ordinarily reared by the bees, 

 when left to do this worlv themselves, 

 they practically cost nothing, and there 

 is no excuse for not having enough of 

 them, so that there will be no need of 

 " horse-whipping " them, as Mr. Heddon 

 puts it. 



As to the rearing of queens, I know of 

 no better way, for the honey producer, 

 than that of simply allowing the bees to 



