716 



Tmm MIHEMieMlf MMM J©13'RIfMI*. 



as a rule, members of one of the great 

 political parties. Bee-keepers do not 

 all think alike, nor vote alike, and I 

 do not know but I should be a little 

 ashamed of them if the}' did ; but I 

 was happy to hear those who hold dif- 

 ferent political views from the senti- 

 ments of the campaign songs join 

 heartil}- in the enjo3-ment of it. 



Our talents, abilities, and accom- 

 plishments are in different lines. 

 Friend Newman is, perhaps, not so 

 much of a bee-keeper as some of the 

 rest of us ; but he has a wonderful gift 

 in the ease and clearness with which 

 he makes himself understood to ever}'- 

 body. President Mason had to be 

 continuall}' telling us to speak louder, 

 while friend Newman could, without 

 doubt, make himself heard and under- 

 stood to a thousand people. He is 

 perfectly at home and at ease in ad- 

 dressing an audience, while a great 

 many, like myself, feel neither at 

 home, nor exactly at ease, in such a 

 place. ' 



On the Centennial grounds is a great 

 building erected exactly on the plan 

 of a half-sphere — an immense dome, 

 so high and broad that one speaker 

 can easily make himself heard by 

 12,000 people. Not a stick of timber, 

 nor a pillar, nor even an iron-rod, 

 breaks the space enclosed ; and we 

 soon discovered that the acoustic prop- 

 erties of the building are wonderful. 

 A piano and an organ stood there in- 

 vitingl}' open ; and bj' a little persua- 

 sion Dr. Miller was induced to sit 

 down and sing my favorite hymn, 

 " The Rock that is Higher than I." To 

 my surprise, and perhajis a little to his 

 surprise also, he discovered that his 

 voice would fill tlie room easily ; and 

 before he got through, several came 

 forward and joined in the hymn. 

 Then we had the pieces which we give 

 in this issue, and on page 75(> of the 

 last number, and several more joined 

 in tlie chorus. One friend attracted 

 our attention by his beautiful voice, 

 and Dr. Miller asked him if he was a 

 bce-mnn. He said he was not a bee- 

 man, Init we found out he was one of 

 the 150 who surprised and delighted 

 us at the campaign meeting the night 

 before ; and as we cliatted with him 

 we felt that we had found a new 

 brother — yes, a brother in truth, al- 

 though those that sang together repre- 

 sented the politics of at least three of 



our great political parties 



There are grand enjoyments pro- 

 vided for us, even in tliis world, in the 

 way of using our eyes and ears and 

 other senses intelligently ; and the only 

 way to use tliem intelligently is to get 

 acquainted — to know bj' face and to 

 know by reputation ; and if we stay at 

 liome there is no way in the world bj' 

 which we can know about and enjoy 



in the right way these things God has, 

 in his wonderful wisdom and love, 

 provided for us. 



*Prof. Cook seems too have forgot- 

 ten that the sessions of 1873 were held 

 at Louisville ; 1874 at Pittsburgh, and 

 1876 at Philadelphia. In 1885 the In- 

 ternational Congress, a similar meet- 

 ing, was held in New Orleans — taking 

 four out of the six places named, and 

 leaving but St. Louis and Richmond. 



The next meeting at Brantford, we 

 feel sure will be the greatest success 

 of tlie present decade. Mr. Holter- 

 mann intends to leave no stone un- 

 turned which may be used to advance 

 its interests. Prof. Cook is quite right 

 about having some one interested, on 

 the spot, to manage the matter. 



Any meeting not havjng a full pro- 

 gramme of carefully prepared essaj's, 

 will be more or less of a failure, as 

 Prof. Cook says. The foundation is 

 now laid for making the Society a 

 grand success, and all our energies 

 must be devoted to that object from 

 now until the next meeting at Brant- 

 ford. 



SAFE WINTERING-. 



melliods of Preparing Bees for 

 Safe Winlerina;. 



Readat the Wabash Co., lnd„ Convention 

 BY AAKON SINGBK. 



This suljject is a puzzler. After we 

 read the current literature on tlie sub- 

 ject of wintering bees, and find all 

 kinds of ways and devices set forth for 

 the successful wintering of our colo- 

 nies, 3'et we are at a loss to come to a 

 correct conclusion in this matter, as to 

 which is the best and cheapest way to 

 winter bees succe.ssfulh'. If each bee- 

 keeper were asked separately, as to 

 his ideas of wintering, I doubt very 

 nincli if any two would agree on all 

 points. So the' best that I can do, is 

 to give my ideas on this subject with- 

 out trying to follow any of our great 

 leaders. 



To winter well, colonies should go 

 into quarters strong in bees, as there 

 will be more heat generated when it is 

 necessary by a strong colony than by 

 a weak one. All will agree that a cer- 

 tain amount of animal heat is essential 

 to the vitality of the colony. The 

 question then arises, how can we best 

 pack or prepare our bees so as to re- 

 tain the greatest possible amount of 

 heat ? 



Many, perhaps, have observed that 

 colonies having plenty of good stores, 

 winter well in the old-fashioned box- 

 hive. The bees generally glue shut all 

 cracks and crevices near the top with 

 propolis, this being no doubt done to 

 keep the heat from passing off so 

 rapidl}-. The combs are generally 

 built so as to form a double wall on 

 the outside of the (duster, and in this 

 way tlie bees form a natural double- 

 walled hive for their own protection 

 against cold. Tliis will lead us to the 

 conclusion that the colon}' in a mov- 

 able-frame hive should have more pro- 

 tection around the hive than a single 

 wall aSbrds. 



AVlnter Protection for Hives. 



I use something like this, as an ad- 

 ditional protection around the outside : 

 Make four sides of a box separately, 

 out of rough lumber, about 10 inches 

 larger each way than the hive, and 

 about 10 inches higher. These sep- 

 arate pieces can then be placed around 

 the hive and nailed at each corner 

 with two nails. The hive is then en- 

 closed in a box with 5 inches of space 

 around the outside. 



An entrance must then be left to the 

 hive through this space, which can be 

 made by nailing together two boards 

 about a foot in length, and 8 or 10 

 inches wide. Put two strips about 

 one-half an inch thick, between the 

 boards near the edges before nailing 

 together, and then you will have a 

 passage-way through tlie boards one- 

 half an inch in height by nearly the 

 width of the boards. Arrange this so 

 that one end of the opening is .against 

 the entrance to the hive, and the other 

 end protruding from the box. This 

 gives the bees a place of ingress and 

 egress. 



Then all the space between the hive 

 and box can be filled with sawdust to 

 the top of the box. After this is done, 

 cover the box to keep out rain, and 

 let the bees alone. 



These boxes can be taken apart and 

 piled up when not in use, and they 

 will last a long time. 



A very good outside j)rotection is to 

 shovel snow all around against the 

 hive ; but there is an oljjeetion, that 

 tliis has a tendency to jar the bees and 

 cause uneasiness. 



Accumulation of moisture In Hives. 



Tlie accumulation of moisture is one 

 of the drawbacks in wintering. It is 

 advisalile tliat some arrangement be 

 made for it to escape from the cluster, 

 without allowing much of the heat to 

 escape with it. A sack made of some 

 light material, the size of the hive on 

 top, and filled with clover chaff, or 

 some like material, makes an excel- 

 lent covering for the bees in winter. 



d 



