VOL. LXI
>bC 7 1906
INDIANAPOLIS, DECEMBER 8, 1906.
NO. 49
Wir
Bees in
Editors Indlsna Farmer:
How to keep "the bee" with its associates thru the trying winter of our clime
bas long been the subject of study and experiment among bee keepers.
1 could describe the chaff hive— a
double walled hive with chaff packing—
said to be a fine, safe winter home for
bees, as well as suitable for summer, but
it is bulky and epensive, and if one has
not had a certain- amount of success with
bees, there is not the slightest interest
in   them. The   same    reason    carries
weight in regard to much that has been
tried along the line of outside cellars and
trenches.
The safest guide one can give here is
the potato cellar. If the cellar is kept
cool enough to keep potatoes crisp and
free from sprouts, the bees will murmur
gently and contentedly all winter. If the
cellar is warmer than about 40 degrees
Fahrenheit the tubers will wilt and then
sprout, and the bees will be uneasy and
make a loud humming. If a stray bit of
light gets in for very long- the potatoes
will turn green and bitter, and the bees
will leave the hive and fly about the cellar. If the cellar is damp the tubers become soggy ami will decay, while the
•jives and combs will mold and this will destroy the bees.
If the cellar is under the dwelling, it is
all right for the bees, providing they are
not placed against a wooden support of
the rooms above. The hives should be
placed on a support which rests ou the
cellar bottom. They may also rest against
a stone wall without being jarred by the
work and noises in the rooms above. I
havc had 40 hives, ranked up one on top of
another, four deep, and all did well. We
went to the cellar for vegetables every
day, as often as we needed to, taking a
lamp, without disturbing them in the
least.
The old bees die in the course of the
long winter months, and usually flutter
out away from the hive to die, so that
dead bees become pretty thick upon the
cellar bottom iu front of the hives. They
should be swept up often, so as not to
become offensive. Toward spring they
die faster, and care should be taken that
the entrance to the hive does not become
clogged with dead bees.
No decaying vegetables should be allowed to vitiate the air, for bees in the
cellar would be killed by impure air, just
as certainly as the inhabitants in the story
above.
Bees are ofteir kept in such a cellar for
five months, from November 1 until April
1. Of late years our falls have been so
pleasant that, if they are given the bee
cushions as described in a former paper,
they may be left out until near Christmas. TTiey are all the better if they have
several good flights in December. To
leave them out so late requires more honey
yet it is well invested iu the condition of
the bees.
If the hives are very light when carried
into the cellar, it is well to place two or
three pounds of comb honey in them.
This can be done if the cushions are removed, a corner of the sheet turned baek
and the honey placed right on top of the
frames" over  the cluster.
If you find that some of your bees have
already died, be sure to take care of the
combs, which are valuable property to
the bee-keeper. The statistical members
of our cult say that every pound of honey
oomb the bees make requires fifteen
pounds of honey.        That is,    you have
nfeiC~>~,-~x'~ "MT>onw*»" less honey for every pound of
comb made. It is therefore wise
and economical to take care of the combs
nlready made; not only the good, even
combs in frames, but those in box hives
and barrels are good property, as will be
evolved in the course of these papers.
A colony of bees in a salt barrel always had a great fascination for me.
Early in my bee-keeping experience I
bought such an one and set up three colonies of bees house-keeping with the
combs out of that barrel—one of the best
investments I ever made.
NATURE   STUDY   IN THE   SCHOOLS.
Keeping the Boys on the Farm.
Upon his return from a recent trip to
the West, Secretary Wilson found quite a
task before him disposing of matters relating to the pure food and meat inspection
laws which required his attention. Numerous inquiries are being received soliciting inerpretatons of certain provisions of
the pure food law, which will become effec-
ties, while Ihey are more numerous, owing
to a lack of facilities for illustrating the
v. ork, are far from being insurmountable.
"A wonderful change has come over the
aspect of country life," continues Professor Crosby, "and over the attitude of educators toward rural education. The
State Superintendents of schools consider
tive January 1.     It is understood that the   it their highest duty    to minister    to the
Secretary will recommend to Congress an
appropriation of $250,000 to cover the enforcement of the law. No funds are
available for the purpose at present.
The Secretary is enthusiastic over what
he considers a solution of how to keep the
farm boys on the old place, instead of
their taking to the city as soon as they arrive in the neighborhood of man's estate.
His proposal, for grappling with the problem is to give them better training in agriculture, which would bring with it a greater love of country life. He proposes the
agricultural high school as a preliminary
to the agricultural college. Economic
forces are already working in the direction of encouraging life on the farm. Its
products sell at good figures and the isolation of farm life is giving way under the
rural free delivery, the rural telephone
and better roads, while surprisingly large
areas of farm country have been brought
into touch with the world by the trolley.
The increasing interest of the so-called
"city people" in the country, absorbing as
they have the abandoned farms of a decade or two ago, is having a wholesome
effect .upon all-the-year-round residents of
the rural districts.
"The value of agriculture as a subject
of study in the rural schools," stated professor Crosby, of the Olfice of Experiment
Stations, "will be determnied largely by
the attitude of teachers toward it. In
the high school and the consolidated rural
school employing three or more teachers,
the problem of teaching agriculture successfully is not a difficult one, and even
in  the one-roem rural school the difficul-
welfare and progress of the rural schools;
State legislatures are providing special
normal schools for country teachers; the
older normal schools are offering courses
in country-life subjects; the State agricul-
rural schools; teachers' associations and
schools by giving short courses for teachers, and their experts are preparing text-
Looks, bulletins, and other reading matter on nature study and agriculture for the
rural schools teachers' associations and
fanners' organizations are giving much
discission to these matters, aud the school
journals and agricultural papers are almost unanimous in their support of the
movement for better rural schools and
more Instruction related to the environment of the pupils in these schools.
"With such encouragement and such
assistance no teacher imbued with the
spirit of progress, who is willing to do a
little more than the contract calls for, and
who is brave enough to say to the pupils,
'I don't know, but I'll work with you to
find out,' need have any hesitation about
undertaking some features of the work
which are apparently complex, but really
easy of solution. Such teachers may feel
assured that their efforts will not be passed over without recognition. There may
be no immediate call to 'come up higher,'
though intelligent and unselfish devotion to
study," concluded Professor Crosby, "is
seldom without its pecuniary reward; but
there will be a never-failing reward in
feeling ami knowing that better work has
been done in preparing the children of the
farm to meet the duties of life."
If you have an outside cellar door it
will be an easy matter for two persons
to carry the barrel into the cellar, same
as other hives. If you cannot get it
down, then I would recommend the plan
used by a friend. Set it near some outbuilding on the sheltered side and pack
straw or some litter about it, leaving the
entrance unobstructed, of course. One
thing in their favor is, the swarm is likely
to be an immense one, and will hold much
warmth in itself.
This same friend says he has wintered
bees safely in our Wisconsin climate l>y
setting them quite near the ground and
but a few inches apart, then pack with
dead leaves or dry litter, all that you can
pack in solidly, under the hives and in the
spaces between; then cover all with hay,
being careful to leave every entrance so
the bees can get out on fine days. But
he says care must be taken after every
flurry of snow to watch the entrances thai
the holes do not get blocked up anc
frozen to exclude the air. Not har<i
work, you see—just a little thought at the
right time.
If any others have found some safe am'
simple way of keeping a few colonies
of bees thru the winter, we would be glad
to have them give us their experiences
We dwell upon tbis subject of wintering
bees because it is considered one of the
most important of all questions before
leekeepers. W. Stenson.
Wisconsin.
Limited Union.
At the recent meeting of the American
Federation of Labor, held at Minneapolis,
it was agreed to form a limited union with
the iimericau Society of Equity, in ordei
that the farmer might have the beneii
of purchasing food supplies at producers
prices and do away with the profits of
numerous middlemen in handling them
On the part of the farmer members ol
the latter society the agreement was thai
they were to purchase only union-made
goods. It is always very desirable foi
the producers of the country and farm
to get near to the great consuming classes
in trade, as when their products pass
through the hands of jobbers and dealers
profits are taken out of them, aud this a!
always militates against first prices t«i
producers. The bane of trade is the
numerous and unnecessary number of
middlemen aud their profits, which cut
down prices to producers and adds cost to
Consumers, Of course there is a certain
expense in handling all products whether
Agricultural or manufactured, such as
storage, rentals, handling, insurance.
etc.. but the tendency is to multiply them,
and this was the reason for forming iv
limited union of the societies named.
The heavy windstorm of the 21st inst.,
which passed over the northern aud central portions of our State, caused a great
deal of damage to buildings and telegraph
«nd telephone lines, and in several instances persons were seriously injured ns
a result.
David E. Sherrick former auditor of
State, who was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the penitentiary last
spriirg, has been released under decision
of the Supreme Court, and will have a
new hearing.
Farmers living near Wabash are back
of a scheme to dam Mississinewa river
for the purpose of generating electricity to
be used as motive power and for lighting purposes in that neighborhoo 1.