478 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



alone." The time to remove bees from 

 the cellar, in any locality, is after the 

 time when no more freezing weather 

 may be expected. 



One year many weak colonies of bees 

 were destroyed by a frost on April 5, 

 which also killed outright a pear tree 

 that was in full bloom in our apiary. 



One season, following a disastrous 

 Winter which had destroyed many colo- 

 nies all over the continent, I visited an 

 apiary located at the foot of the Green 

 Mountains, in Vermont, and was sur- 

 prised to find the hives so very populous. 

 The owner said there were some very 

 fine days in March, and his neighbors 

 put their bees out-of-doors, and when he 

 took his out, his neighbors' bees were all 

 dead, and when he put them upon the 

 summer stands they were carrying in 

 pollen in less than an hour's time. Dr. 

 Miller says that he has never regretted 

 putting bees out late in Spring, but has 

 too early. During warm, sunny days in 

 early Spring, I have often said: "I 

 wish my bees in the cellar could enjoy 

 it," and before another day I was say- 

 ing : " How glad I am that my bees are 

 in the cellar, away from the chilling 

 blasts." 



BEES UNEASY IN THE CELLAR. 



If bees are uneasy and roaring, they 

 are asking for something. Either the 

 air is impure or cold, hot or dry, and 

 their owner should interpret what is the 

 matter. Sweep up the dead bees and 

 open up the windows at night, changing 

 the air. If that does not suffice, wet 

 cloths and put them at the entrance, so 

 they can take a drink. 



SUB-EAETH VENTILATION. 



The following is from the Ameri€a7i 

 Bce-Keeper : 



Some years ago the great West produced a 

 Messiah— " sub-earth." I ridicule the sub- 

 earth craze, which equaled the excitement of 

 the Indians over their Messiah, and fooling 

 with sub-earth "fixings" were equally as 

 ridiculous in point of fact as the ghost dances. 



The writer of the above lives in the 

 State of New York, where the soil, air 

 and walls of cellars differ materially 

 from those in Central Illinois. The craze 

 did not originate in the great West, but 

 D. A. Jones, of Beeton, Ont,, was the 

 father of it, as far as bees are concerned. 

 If he does not need this "ghost dance," 

 he is not compelled to have it, and I am 

 not at all disturbed by his ridicule. 



I have had a sub-earth ventilator in 

 my own cellar for seven years, and the 

 bees and I appreciate it more and more 

 every year. The cellar is in a high. 



sandy soil, and has never had the least 

 appearance of water in it ; if anything, 

 it is too dry. But before sub-earth ven- 

 tilation was introduced, mold it would, 

 and a sort of fungoid growth would 

 spread over the walls. I swept, white- 

 washed, fumed and fretted, all to no 

 purpose, and if a window was opened on 

 the west and east, wash-tubs would leak 

 like a riddle in a few days. Now, there 

 are no moldy-cellar smells, and the air is 

 as wholesome as any room in the house. 

 — Indiana Faimer. 



Tlie Antomatic Swarm Hlver. 



H. ALLEY. 



"A swarm of bees in May 

 Is worth a load of hay. 

 A swarm of bees in June 

 Is worth a silver spoon." 



It is a well-known fact that bees will 

 construct queen-cells and swarm from 

 their hive with the desire to form 

 another colony, when they become 

 crowded for room. This condition of 

 affairs comes on the latter part of May 

 and June, generally during haying time 

 — the busiest season of the year. 



For years there has been no advance- 

 ment over the old methods of hiving a 

 swarm of bees, although several at- 

 tempts have been made to improve them. 



A swarm of bees will not leave the 

 premises without their queen, and the 

 queen being much larger than the 

 worker bees, the inventor of the auto- 

 matic swarmer has taken advantage of 

 this provision in nature, and devised a 

 wonderful invention that will success- 

 fully hive all swarms that issue, without 

 the assistance of any person. In fact, 

 the self-hiver is perfectly automatic, and 

 needs no attention during the entire 

 swarming season, only so far as to see 

 that it is properly adjusted to the hives. 



When a swarm issues in the old way, 

 it will cluster in one mass on the limb of 

 some tree or bush near by, and, unless 

 given a hive soon, the bees will very 

 likely go to the woods and be lost, or, as 

 they very often do, skip to parts un- 

 known without even saying bonjour. 

 Thus, it is very important that we have 

 an implement to insure the safe hiving 

 of all our bees. The time and bees saved 

 by using the self-hiver will doubly repay 

 its cost the first season. 



By referring to the accompanying cut, 

 one will get a good idea of the self-hiving 

 arrangement. 



Boxes A and C are provided with metal 

 having perforations so small that a queen 



