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Ueesii in Winter.— The American 

 Agriculturist for December contains the 

 following directions for the care of bees in 

 winter, from the pen of Mr. W. Z. Hutchin- 

 son. It contains many valuable hints about 

 bees in winter quarters. He says : 



There are various methods of preparing 

 bees for winter so that no subsequent care 

 is needed. One is to place the hives above 

 the snow line, packing them in chaff, 

 leaves, sawdust, or fine hay, with a rim two 

 Inches wide under each hive. When pre- 

 pared in this manner the entrance cannot 

 be clogged by snow or dead bees. Should a 

 warm day occur, the bees can eujoy a flight. 



Another method is to bury bees in a pit or 

 " clamp," where, of course, no attention can 

 be given. Bees stored in a properly ar- 

 ranged cellar or repository require no atten- 

 tion except to see that they are undisturbed 

 by rats or mice, and that the temperature 

 and ventilation are correct. An effective 

 way of getting rid of mice or rats in a cellar 

 is to poison them with equal parts of 

 arsenic, flour and sugar. The temperature 

 should be kept at about 45° during the early 

 part of the winter. 



After the bees have commenced brood- 

 rearing, say in February, a higher tempera- 

 ture is beneficial, and it may be gradually 

 raised to about 55°. Authorities differ in 

 regard to ventilation ; but pure air in the 

 cellar can do no harm, and there is no better 

 method of supplying it than through tiles 

 laid below the frost line. 



An abundance of stores should be left in 

 the hive, as it would probably be better to 

 allow a few colonies to starve than to dis- 

 turb all the hives by examining them to 

 learn it any needed feeding. Should it be 

 discovered, however, that a colony is short 

 of stores, and there are no combs of honey 

 to give it, candy made of granulated sugar 

 may be fed. 



Hives, as usually prepared for winter, 

 are often partially buried in snow. This 

 does no harm, but may be beneficial, until a 

 warm day comes and the bees wish to fly, 

 when the snow must be shoveled away from 

 the entrance, or the cover removed, and the 

 bees be allowed to take their " purifying 

 flight " from the top of the hive. 



Hives standing in the open air should be 

 protected against the intrusion of mice. 

 Have the entrance only ^£ of an inch high, 

 and protected with tin. 



Skunks sometimes scratch at the entrance 

 of a hive ; the bees come out to learn the 

 cause of the disturbance, and are caught. 

 A box-trap set for the skunk is the best 

 preventive. The animal never discharges 

 its weapon while in a box-trap. 



When bees are buried in a pit, a sandy 

 hill-side should be selected as the site, and 

 a tile diain put underneath. When these 

 precautions have been neglected, care 

 should be taken that no water stands upon 

 the surface around the pit. 



A California. Pnn-— " Say, Gran'pa, 

 wh'd'ye spose was the cause of the yell 

 Charley gave when he passed the bee-hives 

 just now ?" 



" Give it up, Johnny." 



" Why, bee-cause, of course."— San Fran- 

 cisco Examiner. 



Yonr Full Address, plainly written, 

 Is very essential In order to avoid mistakes. 



Five-Cent Facltafjes of Com!* 



Honey.— Mr. W. Harmer, of Manistee, 

 Mich., who got up the two-ounce packages 

 of honey in the comb, reports that he has 

 made another improvement in the plan of 

 getting them for the market. He says : 



The improvement is in the production of 

 the two ounce sections without inserting 

 comb foundation in them, when finished 

 there is no center piece or midrib, but one 

 continuous cell capped on botli ends. 



Foundation is used, but it is removed be- 

 fore the honey is quite finished, and the 

 same sheets of foundation can be used over 

 and over again. I consider this a great im- 

 provement, as it produces a more delicate 

 article with less trouble. This is true 

 economy, and you will agree with me, is in 

 the right direction to work. 



I do not think this would be an improve- 

 ment for the larger sections, for the mid-rib 

 gives support for shipping, and we get more 

 honey for the amount of wax than we would 

 in a small section that was only % of an 

 inch thick. 



Of course there is no patent on this, but I 

 think it will be a great lielp to those who 

 produce honey in the two-ounce sections, as 

 the trouble of putting in the foundation has 

 been mentioned as an objection to them. 



Cliristnias "WeatUer Proverbs 



are not new, but may be interesting reading 

 to some, who may fancy speculating upon 

 the coming year and its prospects. They 

 are as follows : 



A warm Christmas, a cold Easter. 



A light Christmas, a heavy sheaf. 



A green Christmas, a white Easter. 



A green Christmas, a fat cemetery. 



A wind on Christmas day, trees will bring 

 much fruit. 



If Christmas finds abridge, he'll break it ; 

 if he finds none, he'll make one. 



If ice will bear a man before Christmas, it 

 will not bear a man afterward. 



The shepherd would rather see his wife 

 enter the stable on Christmas day than the 

 sun. 



If the sun shines through the apple-tree 

 on Christmas day, there will be an abun- 

 dant crop the following year. 



Bee and Pigeon Race.— On page 

 692wegavean absurd item from the London 

 Sporting News on the above race, said to be 

 had in Germany. The Bee-Keepers' Re- 

 cord has been tracing it out, and gives the 

 following explanation of it : 



Referring to the absurd paragraph which 

 went the round of the British press, de- 

 scribing what was called a " Bee Race," we 

 are enabled, through the courtesy of a gen- 

 tleman conversant with the German lan- 

 guage, to give a correct version of the 

 affan' as described in the German papers .It 

 appears the race actually took place, and 

 was for one mile, not "one hour." The 

 bees were dusted well with flour before 

 being started, consequently they were 

 tvhite, hence the mistake as to the " white 

 drones" referred to as returning first to the 

 hive. Finally the eight working bees pre- 

 ceded the ten pigeons by one second, not 

 " a length," as stated. 



XUe Xime for Reading' has come, 

 with the long winter evenings. We have a 

 large stock of bee-books, and would like to 

 fill orders for them. To read and post up is 

 the way to succeed in any pursuit— in none 

 is it more important than in bee-keeping. 



Xiie January I\nniber of Frank 

 Leslie's Sunday Magazine, coming before 

 the holidays, very properly and pleasantly 

 devotes some of its pages to Christmas 

 scenes, stories and poems. Beginning with 

 a beautiful poem by G. A. Davis, entitled, 

 " Under the Mistletoe, a. d. 1187," we have 

 discussions of the "Significance of Christ- 

 mas," "Christmas Customs and Festivi- 

 ties," "Christmas Street Music," and 

 " Christmas at Mount Vernom," a poem by 

 Etta W. Pierce. There are also an article, 

 " From Bethlehem to Calvary," with fou 

 full-page pictures of actual scenes in the'^ 

 Holy Land from recent photographs, a very 

 interesting article on "The Legend of the 

 Holy Grail," and a caustic one on " The 

 Firm of Push & Pull," by Dr. Talmage. 

 This number is the first of a new volume, 

 and affords a favorable time to subscribe 

 to the magazine. 



Xo Onr Subscribers.- Send to F. 



P. Shumway, Jr., Boston, Mass., for a free 

 sample copy of the Cottage Hearth, a beau- 

 tiful illustrated magazine, and so realize 

 what an extraordinauy offer we are 

 making when we propose to send both the 

 Cottage Hearth and the American Bee 

 Journal for a full year for only $1.50, 

 when the price of the Cottage Hearth alone 

 is $1.50 a year, thus giving you two standard 

 publications at the price of one. 



Wbile we are now getting ready for the 

 rigors of winter, the Australian bee-keepers 

 are preparing for their honey season. From 

 the ]ast Australasian Bee Journal (Oct. 1) 

 we learn that the season has opened up un- 

 usually early. Swarming has already com- 

 menced, and the prospects are bright. Who 

 knows but this is simply a forerunner of 

 what we may expect when our spring 

 comes ? Certainly such a state of affairs 

 will be very acceptable. Our world is so 

 large, that we sometimes think that the 

 whole of it is going into winter quarters. It 

 is refreshing to hear the notes of spring, 

 even though from a far country.— G!ea7i- 

 ings. 



Xo l>elinqiients.— After January 1, 

 18S9, we shall discontinue sending the 

 American Bee Journal to those who 

 have not responded to the bills we sent out 

 a few weeks ago. 



This does not mean that we shall try to 

 deprive any one of the pleasure of reading 

 the Bee Journal who really desires its 

 continuance, but finds it difficult to pay now. 

 Such can get a short extension of time by 

 asking for it. We should be sorry to lose 

 any subscriber who wishes to have its 

 weekly visits continued, but do not want 

 any to continue to take it who do not think 

 they are getting the full worth of their 

 money. 



We hope each one will endeavor to send 

 usoneor more new subscribers when they 

 renew. We want at least ten thousand sub- 

 scribers for 1889. 



