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it is polloii tliat causes bee-diarrhea or 

 ilampuess ; or whetlier sugar is better 

 than lioney to winter bees on. I shall 

 not let them Hy until they have been in 

 the cellar 15() days or more. They 

 ,, were fed on Oct. 25, and put in the 

 cellar on Nov. 5. There is a bee- 

 keeper in Winona, Minn., who wants 

 to know whether ba.sswood yields 

 honey well as far north as this place. 

 Yes, it does ; and I have never known 

 it to fail. Sometimes it only lasts for 

 ten days. I got a fine lot of golden- 

 rod honey this fall. The liest yield per 

 day from basswood was 21 pounds per 

 colony, gathered in 12 hours ; and just 

 ' at night they gained 3 pounds in one 

 hour. 



The Qiiccn.ExcIiiding Honey- 

 Boards, etc. — E. Ji. Trumper, Hills- 



l dale, 9 Mich., on Jan. 7, 1888, says : 



I have 74 colonies nicely packed in 

 the cellar, where the temperature 

 ranges from 41-^ to 45°, and most of 

 tlie time the bees are very quiet. I 

 started last spring with 28 colonies, 

 increased them to 51, and took 2,000 

 pounds of honey, all in 1-pound sec- 

 tions except 150 pounds of extracted. 

 That is the most honey that I have 

 heard of any one getting here. I have 

 sold about half of mj- honey. I bought 

 23 colonies of bees the past fall, and 

 have fed about 2 barrels of sugar. I 

 think that mj' bees are in good condi- 

 tion for winter. 1 use the Langstroth 



' frame and hive, all new colonies being 

 hived on 5 frames with startei's. I use 

 a queen-excluding honey-board, and 

 thus I do not get any drone comb, and 

 more of the honey is put into the 

 sections. 



Children Playing in the Apiary. 



— Bradford Barlow, Toledo, -o Ohio, on 

 Jan. 9, 1888, writes as follows when 

 sending his dues for the Bee-Keepers' 

 Union : 



I keep bees on a city lot with a fam- 

 ily on each adjoining lot. One of my 

 neighbors ha.s a large family of chil- 

 dren, who play hide-and-seek in the 

 apiary, when I am handling the bees. 

 They stand by in perfect safety. The 

 -:ame neighbor has grapes, but he does 

 not think the bees are destructive to 

 them. 



My Expcricnec -ivith Hives. — 



John Boerstler, of Vashon,»o Wash. 

 Ter., writes as follows : ■ 



I began bee-keeping about 20 jears 

 ago, with a colony of black Ijces in a 

 box-hive. I made boxes instead of 

 liivcs for a longtime. I next obtained 

 a moth-proof patent hive, and thus 

 s])enl aliout $20 for kindling-wood. ;\s 



that was all it was good for. I after- 

 ward paid $5 for the right to make, 

 and $25 for 5 hives of another patent 

 moth-proof style, which I called the 

 " humbug hive." It was not much 

 better than the first, but I made a good 

 hive out of it by making some altera- 

 tions. After experimenting with sev- 

 eral more stjdes of liives, and spending 

 about 1100 more, 1 heard of and pro- 

 cured a two-story Langstroth hive, and 

 that is, without doubt, the best hive for 

 anj' bee-keeper. I want no better hive 

 than that. 



Before leaving the East, I had 85 

 colonies of bees, mostly Italians, and 

 nearly all in Langstroth hives. I now 

 am here in Washington Territory 

 starting anew, by getting black bees in 

 box-hives, and then transferring them 

 into Langstroth hives. 



If ever any bee-man gets up a gold 

 medal for Father Langstroth, I will be 

 only too glad to pay my share of its 

 cost. It is what he ought to have had 

 long ago, and I hope some one will 

 soon begin to get it up. 



]See§ in Oood Condition. — Mr. 



Henry Walsh, Sheboygan Falls, o+ Wis., 

 on Dec. 26, 188T, writes : 



I have 42 colonies of bees in the 

 cellar, that are in good condition, and 

 which I think will winter all right. I 

 commenced keeping bees four years 

 ago next May, when I bought 4 colo- 

 nies, which I increased to 9 colonies, 

 and took enough honey for our own 

 use. I did not lose any the following 

 winter. The next year I increased 

 them to 23 colonics, lost 2, and sold 

 $60 worth of honey. I began last 

 spring with 21 colonies,inereased them 

 to 42, and took about 600 pounds of 

 comb honey. My best colony stored 

 72 pounds of finished honey, and 29 

 pounds of partly finished sections ; all 

 white clover and linden. 



Bees Dying in the Cellar. — E. 



T. Jordan, Harmony,K5 Ind., on Jan. 

 ,5, 1888. writes : 



I placed my bees in the cellar on 

 Nov. 24, 1887, and "they seem to be 

 wasting away verj' fast. I cannot ac- 

 count for it. The temperature of the 

 cellar has not been below 42^^, but the 

 most of the time it was at 48°. The 

 ventilation i.s good. A pipe is con- 

 nected with the stove-pipe above. The 

 bees leave the hives and die on the 

 cellar floor. I have taken nearly half 

 a bu.shel of dead bees from 72 colonies. 

 Can any one give some idea of what 

 the trouble is ; and suggest a probable 

 remedy ? The bees that leave the 

 hives seem to be healthy, with no signs 

 of diarrhea. 



IVot much liOS§ in Bees. — Abe 



Hoke, Union CitjM> Ind., on Jan. 5, 

 1888, writes : 



Bees seem to be very quiet, with not 

 much loss so far. I have one colony 

 that has lost, up to this time, not less 

 than a quart of bees, and it lost heav- 

 ily last winter ; but it came through in 

 pretty fair condition. The winter has 

 not been very cold, 4° below zero be- 

 ing the coldest so far. I am getting 

 ready for next season, and am making 

 some changes. The Bee Jodrnal is 

 a welcome visitor in everything that 

 relates to bees. 



Bee-Keepers' Union — Packing 



Bees — L. C. Seabright, Blaine, o+ O., 

 on Jan. 7, 1888, writes : 



The Bee Jouenal comes to hand 

 this week looking fresh and bright in 

 its " new dress." I commenced the 

 season of 1887 with 63 colonies, and 

 got 60 pounds of surplus honey. Bees 

 appear to be wintering well in this 

 locality. They have had good flights 

 the last two days. There has been but 

 very little cold weather, and as yet we 

 have had only about three cold days. 

 On the coldest day the mercury was 6° 

 above zero. 



Mr. Samuel Ran, on page 11, speak.s 

 my sentiments exactly, in regard to 

 packing bees for winter quarters. 



I do not see why it is that the Bee- 

 Keepers' Union has not the support of 

 every bee-keeper in the land. 



[The apathy of bee-keepers relative 

 to their defensive society — the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Union — is astounding. 

 They sleep apparently, on a volcano, 

 which may " belch out" in fury at any 

 moment, judging from the " rumb- 

 lings " heard but recently. Already 

 the cry of " distress " is heard, but 

 where are the responsive voices of 

 " cheer " and " substantial help " which 

 should greet them ? Reader, will you 

 reply ?— Ed.] 



Building Drone-Comb, etc 



John G. Pursel, Round Plains,K5 N. Y., 

 on Dec. 12, 1887, writes : 



I commenced the season with 10 

 colonies, and increased them to 30 col- 

 onies by natural swarming and divid- 

 ing, lliavc i-ead the Bee Journal 

 this year with pleasure. I think that 

 it is a very valuable paper, and the 

 price is nothing compared with the 

 information which it contains. I hived 

 my second swarms on foundation, 

 using starters in the shape of a V, 

 which partly filled the frame. The 

 bees, after drawing them out. began to 



