184 



TTHU mBflMMlGMm BM® JO'OREfMI^. 



or sometimes as hay for railk-cows,and 

 is out as soon as the bloom appears — 

 fom' to six times during the season. 

 There it would consequently be of no 

 value to the bees. Here the alfalfa is 

 used as hay for horses, and is cut gen- 

 erally only twice, sometimes three 

 times, and the first two cuttings never 

 until it has formed seed, or is nearly 

 out of bloom. 



As it is alwa3-s irrigated, and the 

 roots strike deep down into the ground, 

 it is independent of local rainfall. 

 With plenty of snow on the mountains, 

 furnishing the water for irrigation, we 

 feel safe in predicting a good season. 



The past year the first crop of alfalfa 

 yielded well, but for some reason, 

 probably connected with the causes of 

 the general failure everywhere, the 

 second crop yielded but sparingly. 

 Still I got over 5,000 pounds of very 

 fine comb honey in sections, which 

 sold at a fair price ; and I might have 

 sold carloads (having had calls for 

 such quantities) if I had had it. 



P. S.— Alfalfa hay sells here for $7 

 to $8 per ton, unbaled, delivered to 

 the buj-er. 



Independence, Calif. 



REVERSIBLE HIVES. 



Experience ivitli tlie Sectional 

 Hive — Severe Weather. 



Written for the American Bee JoutiuU 

 BY JOSHUA BULL. 



The report of my success with one 

 colony which I put into a Heddon sec- 

 tional hive, is as follows : 



Colony No. 7 swarmed on June 30, 

 1887, and was hived in a Heddon hive 

 on a new stand, with full sheets of 

 foundation in the brood-frames. After 

 tlie above date, as poor as the honey 

 season was last summer, this colony 

 filled two sectional parts of the hive 

 with brood and honey, and two more 

 sectional parts solid with honey well 

 capped over ; also 56 sections 4Jx4|, 

 and 7 to the foot, filled with honey and 

 nicely capped over, besides another 

 case of 28 sections which were about 

 lialf filled when the honey harvest 

 ended. , 



When I removed the supers from 

 this colony at the close of the season, I 

 was oljliged to allow them three sec- 

 tional parts of the brood-chamber for 

 winter quarters, for the bees could not 

 all get into two parts. 



jl do not give the foregoing as an 

 average case ; I had no other colony 

 that did as well as this one — neither do 

 I attempt to say how much or how lit- 

 tle llio hive had to do with the result. 

 I simply state tlie facts in the case, 

 and leave it for each one to draw his 

 own conclusions. 



In order to make the history of this 

 colonj' a little more complete, 1 might 

 say that the parent colon}' was win- 

 tered on the summer stand, upon deep 

 frames of the Jones pattern ; and that 

 prior to the issuing of this swarm, they 

 had filled and capped 54 sections 

 4}x4Jx2 inches, making 110 sections 

 in all ; and 4 sectional parts of a hive, 

 besides some unfinished sections. 



Cold Weatlier Since Jievr IT ears. 



Since New Year began, the winter 

 has been very severe in this locality, 

 frequent heavj' storms alternating with 

 extremely cold weather. On Jan. 21 

 my thermometer indicated 46° below 

 zero, and on Feb. 9, 45° below ; since 

 the latter date it has not been quite so 

 severe, although it is often below zero. 

 Notwithstanding the intense cold, bees 

 on the summer stands appear to be in 

 fine condition, so far as can be ascer- 

 tained without lifting the frames. Bees 

 in my cellar are apparentlj' as well 

 and happy as they were last Septem- 

 ber. Although the mercury has been 

 down to zero and below, every morn- 

 ing for the past five days, yet I heard 

 a crow to-daj-, which is a precurser of 

 spring. 



Seymour, Wis., March 7, 1888. 



KENTUCKY. 



Bee-Hives and Frames as Used 

 in Kentucky. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY G. W. DEMAREE. 



The article of J. M. Tyler, on page 

 821 of the Bee Journal" for 1887, will 

 doubtless be a surprise to many Ken- 

 tucky bee-keepers. From his remarks 

 about the Langstroth hi\'e, one not 

 acquainted with the facts, would be 

 led to believe that the Langstroth hive 

 is a rare thing in Kentucky. I have 

 attended nearly all the bee-conven- 

 tions that have been held in Kentucky 

 for the past ten years, and I have an 

 extensive ^icquaintance with bee-men 

 of the State, and it is news to me, to 

 learn that the Langstroth hive has 

 gone out of use in this State. 



In 1884 the Kentucky State Bee- 

 Keepers' Society, through mvself as its 

 President, and 'Ur. N. P. Allen, of Mr. 

 Tyler's own county, as its Secretary, 

 sent out circulars to nearly all the 

 bee-keepers in the State, and obtained 

 about 100 replies. These replies 

 among other things mentioned the 

 kind of hives used by those making 

 the replies. 



Tliese reports are now on, file in my 

 secretary, and they show that the 

 Langstroth frame is well nigh exclu- 

 sively used in Kentucky. More than 

 four-fifths of all the movable-frame 



hives in Kentucky are of the Lang- 

 stroth stj'le, as to size and make of 

 frame ; and four-fifths of the hives 

 used are of the <c?!-frame size. I know 

 but one bee-keeper in the State who 

 uses 8-frame Langstroth hives exten- 

 sively, and he lives in the northern 

 part of the State. 



I have often mentioned the fact to 

 bee-keepers of Kentuckj-, that if all 

 the States in the Union had adopted 

 the Langstroth frame as have Ken- 

 tuck}' bee-keepers, we would have a 

 "standard frame" in the United 

 States without any concert of action. 



It is true that many of the advanced 

 bee-men of the State have discarded 

 the old portico and telescope features 

 for a more convenient and handy outer 

 case for the frames. But the frame 

 itself has not been changed as to 

 length and depth, and it is uniformity 

 of brood-frames that makes the desir- 

 able interchangeable system of bee-hive 

 manipulation possible. 



In the olden time the bee-hive was 

 regarded as simpl}- a domicil — a home 

 — for the bees, and to this day that 

 idea clings with tenacious grip to manj" 

 modern bee-men. 



The big, clumsy chaflf hives, leg« and 

 porticos, rabbeted or beveled tops to 

 the sectional parts of the hive, roof- 

 shaped hive-covers, etc., are all plain 

 out-croppings of the old-fogj- notion 

 that the bee-hive is simply a home for 

 the bees. 



Were I going to build " homes " for 

 my bees, I would build them of pressed 

 brick, and put sky-lights in the slate 

 roofs to warm up the " genteel " in- 

 mates of these palatial homes, in 

 dreary winter, to enable them to take 

 their meals more comfortably. But as 

 my bees are my working stock, and I 

 am the proprietor and chief manager 

 of the enterprise, I resort to the most 

 profitable methods of utilizing their 

 working force, and in order to accom- 

 plish this, I put my bees on movable 

 frames as implements in the produc- 

 tion of honey, and these implements — 

 movable frames — are adjusted in a 

 handy, manageable outer-case which 

 serves as a tenement, and- store-house 

 and work-shop for my little servants. 



If anything more is necessary for the 

 safety of my bees in the winter months, 

 that must be a winter arrangement en- 

 tirely disconnected from my hives. 

 The honey harvest is the all-impor- 

 tant season, and there must be no 

 hindrance at that time. 



There has been but little written on 

 the subject of wintering bees in Ken- 

 tucky, for the simple reason that 

 plenty of stores is the main factor in 

 bee-wintering in this State. Dr. N. P. 

 Allen, in Mr. Tyler's own count}', kept 

 a large apiary for many years, and his 

 plan for wintering was to confine the 



