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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oil the summer stands, and the bees were 

 in fine condition in April. The Winters 

 beginning in 1886 and 1887, were very 

 severe, and a colony of bees wintered in 

 the north wall of a frame grist-mill, the 

 wall being weather-boarding on the out- 

 side, and ceiling on the inside. They 

 wintered quite well, although the 

 weather was very cold in both seasons. 

 W. Charles. 

 Yorl', Nebr., Feb. 2, 1891. 



Foolish Notions About Bees. 



My husband has the only bees in 

 Braceville, or its vicinity. He is called 

 "the bee-man." One neighbor said, 

 "What a job you must have to feed 

 those 45 colonies of bees every day, this 

 cold weather." Another asked me, 

 " Where is John, to-day ?" I told him 

 he was at home. He said: "He is 

 tending to the hatching of bees, I sup- 

 pose." We are to move about one-fourth 

 of a mile, in March, and the man that is 

 to move in here, said he supposed 

 he would be bothered with the bees com- 

 ing to visit, all Summer. 



Braceville, Ills. Mrs. Burr. 



Hints to Beginners. 



This is a good time to get hives ready 

 for your swarms for the coming season. 

 "But,"says one, "What hive shall I 

 adopt?" Well, the old orthodox advice 

 is to adopt one kind of hive, and stick 

 to it, but very few bee-keepers follow 

 this advice ! How many of even the big 

 bee-keepers follow it ? It appears to be 

 human nature for the bee-keeper to do 

 just about so much inventing in the line 

 of bee-hives before settling down to some 

 hive that was invented by a practical 

 bee-keeper, who looked after the first 

 cost of his hives. At the present price 

 of honey, it hardly pays to make or buy 

 costly hives, unless you use chaff-hives ; 

 then, of course, they will cost nearly 

 double what you pay for single-walled 

 hives, and while the chaff-hives have 

 some advantages in the Winter, I 

 prefer the single-walled hive every time. 

 I have had great success in wintering 

 bees on the summer stands, with chaff 

 and straw protection, in common single- 

 walled hives. I am very much pleased 

 with the American Bee Journal. I like 

 it because it gives both sides of bee- 

 keeping. The Winter so far has been 

 very mild, and favorable for wintering 

 bees on the summer stands. 



M. Miller. 



LieClaire, Iowa, Jan. 25. 1891. 



Stand on His Own Reputation. 



In my opinion, a trade-mark is not 

 necessary for bee-keepers, and should it 

 by any scheming once be attached to any 

 of the adulterated honey on the market, 

 it would be a very severe blow to bee- 

 keeping. Let each bee-keeper create a 

 reputation for himself, by selling a fine 

 article of honey, properly graded, and 

 marked accordingly, in this way building 

 up a business, and creating a demand 

 for his goods, his name and address be- 

 ing a sufficient trade-mark, guaranteeing 

 both quality and weight. I should like 

 to see all the bee-keepers' associations 

 affiliated with the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, and then let all 

 join together for good prices. We might 

 elect three men in each State to fix a 

 price for each grade of honey, and then 

 let every bee-keeper hold the honey for 

 that price^I do not mean a big price, 

 but a good, fair one. What do you think 

 of the idea ? A. W. Lindsey. 



Buffalo, N. Y., Feb. 9, 1891. 



[It seems to us that the suggestion 

 concerning the election of an authoritative 

 "triangle" for each State, to fix the 

 price of honey, is utterly impracticable 

 and any attempt to enforce such au- 

 thority would, we fear, result only in a 

 failure. — Ed.] 



Wonderful, Indeed I 



I have taken the American Bee Jour- 

 nal ever since I became interested in 

 bees, and even bought the back numbers 

 for three years. It has repaid me many 

 times the price of the subscription. I 

 wonder how you can publish that excel- 

 lent magazine (the Illustrated Home 

 Journal) for the money ! Your large 

 circulation must be your salvation. 



. R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



Romnev, Out. 



Closed-End Quinby Hive. 



Permit me to say to Rev. W. P. Fay- 

 lor, that the closed-end frame he men- 

 tions, on page 51, as having experi- 

 mented with, was invented and success- 

 fully used by Moses Quinby, in 1868, at 

 Mohawk, N. Y., and my experience in 

 bee-keeping ten years ago was mainly 

 with the Quinby hive, but that would not 

 warrant me in saying that success could 

 now be attained with it, just as Mr. 

 Quinby had it arranged. I believe, how- 

 ever, that success can be assured with 

 the Quinby hive, and, consequently, I 



