'THiE m^i&mmi€RM ®e» j©um]mmi.. 



185 



■-*-*■ *i>*ifc* 



bees to the brood department of the 

 hive by means of a quilt, and in the 

 empty super over the brood depart- 

 ment he put about 4 to 6 inches of dry 

 forest leaves, cut-straw or chaff. He 

 never lost any bees if they had plenty 

 of stores, when protected in this way. 



I have wintered my bees in the same 

 way as did Dr. Allen, for many years, 

 except tluit I use from two to four ex- 

 tra (juilts over the frames instead of 

 the forest leaves, etc. I do this be- 

 cause fjuilts do not litter my bee-yard 

 like leaves and chaff do, and give 

 luuch less labor. 



I never lose any bees if thej' have 

 plenty of stores. All chaff" hives and 

 all side ]iacking is not only of no 

 service to our bees, but is a positive 

 injury to their prosperity in the latter 

 part of the winter and earlj" spring, 

 because such an arrangement deprives 

 the bees of the reviving influence of 

 the sun's rays at that season of the 

 year. 



It is a little strange, at least it will 

 appear so to many practical bee- 

 keepers in Kentucky, that metal queen- 

 excluders, when used as horizontal 

 division-boards, have been found to be 

 a failure bj- Mr. Tyler. They are a 

 perfect success when used by all the 

 best-informed bee-keepers in this 

 State, so far as I have heard from 

 them. I use them extensively, and 

 the perforations are never tilled with 

 propolis, if properly adjusted on the 

 hive. Sometimes a few perforations 

 are closed by the studs of wax built up 

 from the tops of the frames, but this 

 does no harm, as there is plenty of 

 room for the bees to pass without 

 these. 



Many of the best things we have in 

 practical bee-culture, are a failure un- 

 der bad management. If Mr. Tyler 

 will manage the metal queen-excluders 

 in a proper way, I will warrant that 

 he will throw aside the clums}- wood 

 honey-boards, and never use them 

 again. Let him put on the metal 

 queen-excluders at the beginning of 

 the honey harvest, and remove them 

 as soon as the main breeding season is 

 over (say about the middle of August), 

 and he will have no cause to complain 

 of propolis. But if he leaves them on 

 until the bees begin to prepare for 

 winter quarters, they will sometimes 

 , undertake to fill the perforations just 

 as the}- will sometimes try to till tlie 

 spaces between the top-bars of the 

 frames. 



How the zinc-excluders adjusted be- 

 tween the brood and surplus depart- 

 ment of the hive, whei'e the direct heat 

 of the sun never falls, could be the 

 cause of the combs melting down in 

 Mr. Tyler's hives, is another incom- 

 prehensive mystery. I presume that 

 Mr. T. simply neglected to protect his 



hives with good sliade-boards during 

 the unprecedented hot weather of last 

 season. That was the trouble, not the 

 metal excluders. 



Mr. Tyler is cordially invited to 

 join our State Bee-Keepers' Society, 

 attend its annual meetings, and post 

 up a little, or our good friend, Mr. 

 Muth, will smilij at him for hinting 

 that he (Mr. Muth) is " behind the 

 times" in bee-culture. 



Christiansburg, Kv. 



CAPPINaS, ETC. 



Old Fogy Bee-Keepers, S-wariii. 

 ing and Hybrid Bce§. 



Writtett, for the American Bee Journal 

 BY H. J. ROGERS. 



There are many bee-keepers- in this 

 neighborhood, and they are all of the 

 "old-fogy" sort. I met one the other 

 day, who, hearing of my success the 

 past year, asked :- "Can 3-ou raise a 

 queen when j'ou have no queen-egg ?" 

 This is a sample of other questions, all 

 equallj' sillj-. Of course he would not 

 invest $1 in a bee-paper. He has kept 

 bees for 50 years. 



I predict a fearful mortality among 

 bees in this section ; not from lack of 

 stores, but gross negligence in other 

 details equalh- important. I can buj- 

 almost any number of colonies for 

 •12.50 to 13.00, but I prefer to wait un- 

 til the wintering problem is entirely 

 solved. 



I notice on page 824 of the Bee 

 Journal for 1887, that Mr. E. L. Hol- 

 den speaks of having swarms issue in 

 from 2 to 6 dajs after cutting out 

 queen-cells, and putting back a 

 swarm. I think that if he would wait 

 two or three days before trying to find 

 the cells, he would be more sure of 

 getting them all ; and he should re- 

 move two of the middle frames of 

 brood and put frames of foundation in 

 their place. This will be at once oc- 

 cupied by the queen, and brood-rear- 

 ing will go on, while the desire to 

 swarm is almost entirely overcome. 

 Mr. H. should see that there is plenty 

 of room in the supers at this time. 



I shipped my honey last fall to a 

 commission house in New York, and 

 received VJh cents per pound. 



Is it a fact, that the honey stored by 

 black or hybrid bees presents a much 

 better appearance in the sections, than 

 that stored by the Italians ? My bees 

 are hybrids, .and when I can get 100 

 pounds to the colony in a good season, 

 I do not believe it will pay to change. 

 However, this may only be because I 

 am a little old-fashioned myself. 



In regard to bees roaring in wintei-, 

 I would say that I never have heard 



bees roar in cold weather unless some- 

 thing was wrong internally. 



Value of a Bee-Paper. 



No bee-keeper, in my opinion, can 

 afford to be without the American 

 Bee Journal. It has certainly been 

 worth §25 to me the last j-ear ! Some 

 will smile at this, but I can furni.sh the 

 figures to pr<jve what I say. In the 

 market reports alone, it more than 

 pays back the " dollar," even though 

 they may be somewhat unreliable — 

 which I doubt. 



Wintering and Transferring Bees. 



Bees in this locality seem to be win- 

 tering well, although they are getting 

 uneasy since the last " cold snap " 

 stays so long (25 days). Yesterday it 

 was cloud}-, and the mercury was 30° 

 in the shade, yet I noticed a few bees 

 on the wing ; of course none found 

 their waj' back to the hives. 1 have 

 bought 12 colonies in box-hives, which I 

 shall transfer to Simplicity frames by 

 the Heddon method. I want full 

 sheets of foundation for the brood- 

 frames ; in no otiier way can I get per- 

 fect combs. I look for a good yield of 

 honev this season. 



Stannard's Cor., N. Y., Mar.10,1888. 



[It is a fact that hybrid bees cap the 

 honey in such a manner that a slight 

 air-space is under the capping, and 

 makes it appear a trifle whiter than 

 other bees. — Ed.] 



BEE-CELLARS, ETC. 



Cementing Cellars — Honey-Dew 

 Called ^nanna. 



WHtlen fur the American Bee Journal 

 BY JOHN B. LINDLE. 



Oh page 41 I notice that Mr. C. H. 

 Dibbern recommends cementing a bee- 

 cellar. Has Mr. Dibbern tried such a 

 cellar for bees ? I have, and it is a 

 failure with me. The bricks were 

 laid in cement, the wall was 8 inches 

 thick and grouted, with cement out>- 

 side, arched, with 4-inch brick wall 

 cemented outside, and. the floor of 

 brick, laid on cement. The inside 

 walls were plastered with cement, but 

 not back plastered. It is always wet 

 and damp. I kept my bees in it, and 

 lost over half of them. I now use it 

 for storing pumpkins. It is an outside 

 cellar. 



Ten years ago I built a new cellar, 

 with a "house on top. The cellar is 

 32x10 feet, outside measure, has an 8- 

 inch wall, with 4-inch studding from 

 the ceiling some 4 feet down, is cham- 

 fered down at the lower end level with 

 the wall, lathed and plastered all 

 around with common caustic lime. 



