Di: VOTED TO I5e:e:h aisi> iioi?fE5r, AT«ifr> hojue: ii^tii: rests. 



Vol. VI. 



JANUARY 1, 1878. 



No. 1. 



A. I. ROOT, ^ Published Montbly. rTKKMS: %1.00 Per Annum in Ad- 



Publisher and Proprietor., > ■< vance; 3 Copies /or S2.50; 5/or*3.75; 



medina, O. J Estatolishecl in 1873. ClO or more, 60c. eacft. Single Number tOc. 



WIY EXPEMfSRNCK. NO. 1. 



PREPARATION FOR BEE-KEEPING. 



KEPT bees last season, and, if Mr. Editor will al- 

 low me, I am g'oing- to tell you something about 

 it. For several years, I had been contemplating- 

 bee-keepins:, and had prepared myself for it in the 

 following- manner: 



I sub-scribed for a periodical devoted to bee culture ; 

 obtained the back numbers of the same ; boug-ht and 

 siti'lh'l books on bee culture ; made a scrap book, in- 

 to which I pasted bee-keeping- articles cut from iig-ri- 

 cultural papers ; and carried a note-book in my pock- 

 et, into which I copied articles that could not be cut 

 out. I visited aTiiarists, saw how they manasred their 

 bees, discoursed theories, plans, &c. ; and whatever I 

 learned of them, that I considered valuable, I wrote 

 In my note-book. In fact, I learned all that I could 

 about bees, from every available source. 



After I had been about two years collecting "bee 

 matter," I made an inde.x, by sewing together twelve 

 sheets of legal cao, each page being devoted to a sub- 

 ject. Thus, the first page was "Wintering," the sec- 

 ond "Artificial Swaraiing," the third "Queen Rear- 

 ing," &c. I then read and looked over every book 

 and paper that I had, the title of each article or item 

 v\'as written upon the apnropriate page of the index, 

 and the page and name of the book or paper in which 

 it was found, was written after it. I found it vei-y 

 convenient. 



I also kept a record of the time when most of the 

 honey producing plants and trees were in bloom, and 

 the length of time they were in blossom, so that T 

 could manage my bees accordingly, when I should 

 commence keeping them. 



After I once commenced bee-keeping, it sometimes 

 almost made me tremble, to think of the mistakes I 

 should have made, if I had known little, or nothing, 

 about bees. You open a hive and find the st-itc nf af- 

 fairs different from what you expected. "What shall 

 I do '?" is the question : and it is a question that must 

 be answered immediately. You have not time to go 

 and "read up" on the subject, therefore you must 

 be "posted" at all times. Lack of bee-keeping knowl- ' 

 edge is, I think, one of the greatest causes of "blasted 

 hopes." 



BUYING BEES. 



Dec. 23d, 18V6, 1 bought six swarms of a man, who 

 gave me my choice out of eighteen. He told me that 

 he had lost nine swarms the previous season, by their 

 going to the woods. I chose those which were heav- 

 iest, and in hives that had an old appearance ; he hav- 

 ing told me that each one of his old swarms had 

 swarmed the previous season. After I had selected 

 them, he said^with a chuckle— that every swarm but 

 one, was an old swarm. I told him that I had just as 

 soon have them as young swarms, which seemed to 

 surprise hi;n some. I saw he did not know these old 

 swarms would have vigorous young queens. I told 

 him that, in the spring I should transfer them to 

 movable comb hives. He thought I was foolish ; said 

 one of his neiurhhovs had a swarm transferred and 

 divided, and it dwindled away and died. I told hin 

 they were not properly managed ; and if his bees had 

 been in such hives, and managed in the right manner, 

 he would not have lost his nine swarms. Aftei- all 

 my "talk," however, he still thought that keeping 

 bees in the old-fashioned way, was best. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Kogersville, Mich. 



I earnestly recommend the above course 

 to all our ABC class. With the flood of 

 bee, matter that is now before you, you have 

 it in your power, to make yourselves mast- 

 ers of almost all that is known on the sub- 

 ject. If you use your own common sense, 

 you can very soon learn to sift the wheat 

 from the chaff. 



A pije:a for the: toads. 



^T is to be regretted that bee-keepers can find no 

 J?|| way to deal with the few bee-eaters, but to des- 

 T^ troy them. Man is a disturber of the balances of 

 nature, and is alwavs, himself, sooner or later the 

 greatest sufferer by the disturbance. Of all our en- 

 emies, none can compare, in the amount of injury 

 they inflict, with insects. Only two of the class di- 

 rectlv minister to our wealth and our wants (the bee 

 and the silk-worm), whilst thousands prey upon our 

 industries. It behooves us to seek every ally that can 

 aid in ke'>phig them in cheek. It is admitted on all 

 hands that if we could have left the bird=: und reptiles 

 undisturbed, as we found them on this continent, we 

 would not now ha^"3 to flcrht the ijugs and worms. Of 

 all these natural allies of man, the most harmless, 

 and one of the most efficient, is the toad. 



Instead, therefore, of "going round with a hoe 

 every morning and burying every one— and not 

 alive," take you a corn-popper or some convenient 

 trap, and carry every one you can catch, into your 

 garden. One toad domesticated under a squash vine, 

 will insure you a crop. The toad is the only thing 

 that readily eats the squash bug, and potato beetle. 

 1 ou say yes,— because he will eat anything that mnves 

 —and bees too. Exactly so ; but it is so easv to pro- 

 tect the bees, and still hav » hundreds of toads for the 

 garden. My plan (a(lii)t''d also by my neighbors) is 

 very simple. It <v)nsi^ts of four little pieces of plank, 

 8 or 10 inches wide and or 8 feet long, with which I 

 make a little fence, over which Mr. "Bufo" is not able 

 to hop. In fact. I make the fence or frame first, by 

 settinpr the plank on the spot selected for my next 

 hive -fastening them up with little stubs at the corn- 

 ers. I then fill this little box about half full, or at 

 least 2 or 3 inches dcc-p with clean sand, so as to give 

 sufficient elevatic )n and drainage. The sand (saw-dust 

 is oneof the un-ittainables in this vicinity) leveled 

 perfectly, I set the hive in, a little to one 'end, so as 

 to give them a wide play ground in front. 



This little fence is a relipf and may be made as 

 ornamental as you please. For a lawn hive it might 

 be made hexagonal or octagonal, and of wire cloth, 

 or other metal work, at small cost. One small apiary 

 is protected by 4 fencing plank 16 feet long, which 

 inclose the whole. Thus the bees are cherished and 

 the toads saved for their legitimate work. 



Lawrence Johnson, Holly Springs, Miss., 



I fear the little fence would hardly keep 

 oUi toads away from the hives, but I may be 

 mistaken. For an ajjiary of 100 hives the 

 fences would also prove wather ex])ensive I 

 fear. I am very slad you spoke of the corn- 

 popper, for it will be just the thinj? to carry 

 them oft' in, if tliey only don't travel back 

 again. 



