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such colonies will allow the brood thus 

 cliilled to remain until it becomes black 

 and dries up in the cell. 



This, however, would not appear to 

 be the cause of the disorder in the 

 "young colonies," which the lady re- 

 ports '■ diseased," though the fact that 

 it was necessary to cut out queen-cells 

 from the young colonies, would go to 

 prove one of two things, viz : they are 

 " swartuers," or else the United States 

 honey crop of 1888 is "bunched," and 

 fortune smiles on Mrs.Dorsey's locality. 



Another cause is, "scalded" brood. 

 Last season (1887) the covers of several 

 hives were laid directly over the brood- 

 frames, without a cap, cushion, or 

 other protection from the direct rays of 

 the sun, and the intense heat, when no 

 honey was flowing, would cause the 

 bees to cluster outside the hive ; and 

 the result was thousandsof dead larvae, 

 which remained in the cells for weeks. 

 I ara an advocate of lire for foul brood. 



Titusville, Pa. 



VENTILATION. 



'Wbile Such is IVcoe[§§ar)', it must 

 Not be Much. 



Writtoi fur the Fann, Stock and Home 

 BY W3I. UlUE. 



A great deal has been said about bees 

 wintering without upward veutilation, 

 and quite a number of beekeepers 

 claim that they winter better without 

 any upward ventilation, saying : Bees 

 in their natural state— in the trees of 

 the forest — have no ventilation and 

 winter well, and seem to do much better 

 than those having the best of veutila- 

 tion. We have found many wild swarms 

 in the last thirty years in many kinds 

 of trees, and in nearly every instance 

 we found, either above or on the sides 

 of the swarm, rotten wood which the 

 perspiration from the bees coiUd pass 

 into, acting the same as upward ventil- 

 ation. Some parties claim that they 

 winter bees safely without upward ven- 

 tilation, and that it is the proper way. 

 If they will invert their hives aud pour 

 water into them it will run out, there- 

 fore they are not air-tight, for where 

 water will run through, air will escape. 



It is true, if bees are kept in a per- 

 fectly dry place and at a temperature of 

 from 4.5° to .50^, they require much less 

 ventilation than they would if kept in a 

 damp, cold place. If bees are kept 

 where it is continually freezing and 

 there is no place in the hive for the es- 

 cape of the perspiration that passes 

 from the bees, it will coujinence to 

 freeze on the outside of th^ hive, and if 

 it continues cold you will find your bees 

 dead, and ice formed all around the 

 cluster of bees. Had there been a 

 small opening at the top, or near the top 

 of the hive, for the air to escape, noth- 

 ing of the kind would have happened. 



It only needs a very little upward ven- 

 tilation for bees; a good many bee- 

 keepers give altogether too much. They 

 need all the heat in the winter and 

 spring months that can be obtained. 

 Give only what will be necessary to let 

 the perspiration out so that the hive 



will not become damp on the inside. 

 It is a good plan to leave the bottom- 

 board off, or raise it up on blocks one 

 inch, when wintering, especially in cel- 

 lars; as the foul air always settles, and 

 if the hive is raised it gives a chance for 

 it to escape ; and if there is any damp- 

 ness in the winter depository it will 

 prevent the combs from moulding. 



The heat and circulation of the clus- 

 ter of bees render the combs dry for 

 some distance around the cluster, but 

 there is not enough of this circulation 

 of air, nor force, to drive it to all parts 

 of the brood chamber, and a part (often- 

 a very large part) of the comb that is 

 damp with moisture extends up at the 

 sides of the cluster to the top bees. 

 This moisture gets into the honey and 

 causes it to sour ; and as the foul air is 

 impure, gas rises on top of the brood- 

 chamber, making the bees uneasy and 

 they begin to move about, use the sour 

 honey (which causes the diarrhea), and 

 the destruction of the colony ensues. 

 We are safe in saying that a colony of 

 bees never was known to have the 

 diarrhea when the honey and combs 

 were kept perfectly dry. 



Those that winter their bees without 

 proper ventilation are often heard to 

 complain that their bees got restless 

 and uneasy from being too warm. My 

 experience has proven that it is not the 

 warmth, but the fumes of the sour 

 honey arising below and accumulating 

 in the upper portions of the brood- 

 chamber that makes them uneasy, aud 

 the removal of the tight cover on top of 

 the hive at such a time will convince 

 any person that proper ventilation is 

 necessary to the health of the colouy. 



Minneapolis, Minn. 



THE SEASON. 



E.vperience witii a Laying 

 Worltcr, etc. 



Written for the American Dee Journal 

 BY EEV. S. KOESE. 



On Nov. 14, 1SS7, I put into winter 

 quarters 47 colonies of. bees, but not in 

 good condition, and the most of the 

 hives with upper stories on all winter. 

 On April 12 I put them out, and found 

 7 colonies dead ; the rest very weak, 

 and two were queenless. I lost 5 colo- 

 nies by spring dwindling, making V2, 

 lost in all, which was not very bad con- 

 sidering the cold and backward season. 



In June one colony became q ueenless. 

 I tried to have it rear a queen from un- 

 sealed brood given them, but a laying 

 worker seemed to destroy the cells 

 when nearly ready to hatch out. This 

 laying worker annoyed me more than 

 anything in the bee-line this season. 

 Twical gave them anew set of combs 

 with brood, and twice I united them 

 with a new swarm, and each lime they 

 became queenless. and went to naught. 

 I finally removed the hive, placing in 

 its stead a newly-hived swarm, most 

 of the working bees going back to the 

 old stand, and leaving the laying work- 

 ers with a few bees alone, which I 

 afterward shook on the ground, and 

 made better use of the combs. 



White clover yielded little honey in 

 this part of the country. I left it all 

 for the bees to breed on. 



On .June 1, I purchased 5 more colo- 

 nies in Langstroth hives, for $12.00. 

 Then I had just 40 colonies to begin 

 the season with, which I have now in- 

 creased to 82 colonies, 3 swarms hav- 

 ing absconded. 



The basswood honey flow was short, 

 being only for a few days. Kaspberry 

 and corn have furnished the only sur- 

 plus honey that we have had thus far ; 

 and for the last two weeks, the weather 

 being so cold and wet, bees have not 

 been doing anything, and they are so 

 cross that no one dares come near the 

 hives. 



I extracted just 600 pounds of honey 

 in all, up to date, and there are about 

 (ior 8 Simplicity section-cases nearly 

 filled. This is not half the quantity of 

 honey from 82 colonies that I had a 

 year ago from only 47 colonies. 



I fear that our honey season is over, 

 at least for surplus, and bee-keepers 

 had better prepare their colonies for 

 winter early. If we are disappointed 

 by an unexpected honey-flow this fall, 

 it will be a happy disappointment. 

 Crops here are almost a total failure. 

 Winter wheat is not half a crop, and 

 spring wheat is not worth cutting. 

 Barley amounts to almost nothing, 

 oats are partly filled^ and if an early 

 frost comes, corn will also be a total 

 failure ; thus people will have a reason 

 to feel low spirited. But we will trust 

 in Providence, having the promise that 

 seed-time and harvest shall continue 

 to the end of time. 



Maiden Rock, Wis., Aug. 9, 1888. 



CONVENTIONS. 



The Benefits Derived from Bee- 

 Keepers' Meelinjss. 



Read at the Indiana Convention 



BY C. H. HALL. 



The old and familiar adage that, 

 "AVhatever is worth doing at all is 

 worth doing well," is no truer in any 

 other undertaking than that of the 

 culture of bees. It was thought for a 

 long time that the bee was guided 

 wholly by instinct in the performance 

 of its domestic duties, and that it did 

 the best possible when alone. But 

 since bee-culture has become a science, 

 it has been found that the bee is capa- 

 ble of reasoning and being taught. 



What llie Bee bas Taogbt Us. 



The bee is much older than Adam, 

 but it was left to the sons of Adam to 

 make it possible for a single colony, 

 which formerly yielded from .50 to 75 

 pounds of honey, to yield from 500 to 

 700. and even 1,000 pounds per annum. 

 While man has enabled the bee to im- 

 prove upon its old methods of work, 

 and increase its products ten-fold, it 

 has in return taught him not a few im- 

 portant facts. Through observations 

 of this little animal in the field, he has 

 learned the best method of cross-ferti- 

 lization of all kinds of vegetation. The 

 bee has taught him that a good fruit 



