IHE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



13 



you are at liberty to make any extracts from 

 this you please and if you wish to ask me auy 

 more questions I shall be glad to answ-er 

 them if I can. 



I have about a dozen colonies of Italians 

 at the Summit yard but they were not " iu 

 it" with the blacks this year. 



La Valle, Wis. Nov. 15, 1898. 



[I believe some one once took me " to do " 

 quite severely for asserting that when the 

 flow was abundant and near at hand, no 

 bees surpassed the pure blacks as honey 

 gatherers. This experieuce of Bro. Head's 

 is only one of several that confirms me in 

 that belief. When the flow is scanty and 

 must be searched for far and wide, the " shoe 

 is on the other foot." — Ed.] 



Advantages of the House - Apiary for Win- 

 tering and "Springing" Bees, and for 

 Stimulative Feeding. 



B. TAYLOK. 



yRIEND Hutchin- 

 JT " son: — I am great- 

 ly pleased with Mr. 

 C. Spaeth's artic'e 

 in the December Re- 

 view explaining edi- 

 tor G. Weygandt's 

 method of caring 

 for bees in Ger- 

 many. The reason 

 1 am pleased is be- 

 cause his experience 

 and ideas exactly 

 coincide with my own experience. You know 

 it gives any person pleasure to know that 

 others searching in quest of the same facts 

 as themselves have reached the same con- 

 clusions. You know I have been saying for 

 some time that the " house-apiary had come 

 to stay " and that the time was not far dis- 

 tant when most of the bees in professional 

 hands would be licpt in that way, as it gives 

 a better chance of caring for bees properly 

 and Cheaply through the entire year than 

 auy method yet in practice. So I concluded 

 to prove the faith that is in me by explain- 

 ing to your readers just what I have done to 

 carry out the new method. In the course of 

 his remarks in the article referred to Mr. 

 Spaeth says : 



" The wintering trouble and cause of bee 

 diarrhcea is solved by Rev. C. Weygandt, 



of Flacht, Germany, editor of the Bee, a 

 monthly bee paper. He has made the most 

 thorough experiments for years, and has 

 solved a good many riddles, mysteries and 

 problems that still puzzle a good many bee- 

 keepers and papers. 1 do wish you could 

 read two books which he published three or 

 four years ago on those subjects. The name 

 of those works are : ' A Small Contribution 

 to Promote Bee-Keepiug.' 



He kept a good number of bee's in his 

 study room, where there was a coal stove 

 burning all winter. The entrances of the 

 hives were left open, the openings being two 

 to three inches wide by one-quarter inch 

 high. He had holes made through the win- 

 dow case or a channel under it. The bees 

 wintered splendidly aud came out strong and 

 very healthy. 



For years he closely observed bees in win- 

 ter aud tried all kinds of experiments with 

 them. He found out what was the life ele- 

 ment that must be taken into account if we 

 want safe wintering. This life element is 

 pure, dry, warm air, and good food, which, 

 of course, also includes bee bread. 



He found out that dampness and cold com- 

 bined kill the most bees ; causing indiges- 

 tion, catarrh aud inflammation of the bow- 

 els or diarrhcjea. He cured the worst kind of 

 diarrh(jea in a warm, dry, pure air, aud with 

 clover honey. Some will say, it is not a dis- 

 ease. They know not what they say. Smell 

 it onc3, he says ! Does it smell like healthy 

 fifc.-s ? It nearly knocks one over, it will 

 take your breath away. 



Some bees will show much more uneasi- 

 ness after a few mouth's confinement than 

 others under the very same conditions, from 

 such bees he would never breed. 



After all these experiments he built a bee 

 house which is a model, and not after very 

 many years, all our Northern bee-keepers 

 will have one like it, or similar to it." 



He found the life element in safe winter- 

 ing is pior, dry, warm air, and good food. 

 You will remember, Mr. Editor, that iu an 

 article on dysentery, which I wrote some 

 months ago for the Review, I laid down ex- 

 actly this same doctrine, pure, warm air and 

 good food, as the true remedy. That the 

 house-apiary is the best place to secure these 

 conditions I have no doubt and I will try to 

 tell the readers of the Review what I have 

 done to carry this theory into effect in the 

 Forestville Apiary for the winter of 1893-4, 

 both in the house-apiary and wintering cel- 

 lar. 



In our house we can \^x^t the colouies in 

 winter quarters in one- half day's work with- 

 out lifting a hive or di-sturbing a bee. In this 

 method of wintering the bees are not con- 

 fined to the hives at all : the entrances are 

 left open as in summer, and the bees can fly 

 out at any time when the weather is warm 

 enough, and we firmly believe they will come 

 through the winter in better health than 



