1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



33 



colony until all the brood hatches ; then 

 treat this as the others, and we have really 

 lost nothing but the old comlis. The hives 

 and frames must be thoroughly boiled in a 

 large kettle, before being used again. In- 

 tense freezing does not kill the germs of 

 foul brood; but thorowjh boiling always docs. 



BEES IN COLORADO "135 LBS. TO THE COLONY AND 

 ONE-HALF INCREASE. 



Some people in Colorado are asking if it will pay 

 to keep bees in Colorado; and as a partial answer I 

 will give uiy experience lor this year. I had, in the 

 spring of 1881, 20 colonies in chaff hives; increased 

 to 39, or onohalf, and took 3510 lbs. of honey, being 

 an average per colony, spring count, of 135 lbs., 

 nearly all e.vtracted; 25U lbs. 1-lb. section. I cur- 

 tailed increase all that was possible during the year. 

 Wife and the children took care of the bees during 

 the houey season. I provided hives, frames, sec- 

 tions, and all bee furnitture to hand -showing also 

 a large field of usefulness and prolit as well for our 

 wives and daughters, especially those with lung 

 trouble, as with Mrs. Rhodes, who has received great 

 benefit inhaling the fumes or scent of the hives dur- 

 ing the honey season. I use and recommend the 

 chaff hives for this country. Mine are now so strong 

 that it was only last week we could get them below 

 to cover with chaff for the winter. Bees are tlying 

 to-day, and carrying in water. We have had snow 

 and cold weather, but it lasted only a few days. 

 Our altitude is between 5O0O and tiOOO feet, 10 miles 

 from the foot of the "Old Rockies," and 5 miles 

 from Denver, the "Queen City of the Plains." In a 

 part of that country marked on the old maps as the 

 "Great American Desert," we lind that bees flourish 

 as in the land of Palestine, which has been described 

 as a land of milk and honey. By the way, I almost 

 forgot to saj% that wife wants a Holy-Land queen 

 some time early next season. Now I will close, by 

 saying that we enjoy much your monthly sermon in 

 Gleanings, and pray that they may be greatly 

 blessed of God to all who read them. 



R. H. Kbodes. 



Arvada, Jeff. Co., Col., Dec. 3, 1881. 



POLLEN and wintering, AGAIN. 



As Mr. Heddon says, the wintering problem is 

 getting to be interesting; but how will the innocent 

 bees fare in the hands of the ABC class when our 

 wise ones differ so widely in their advice? One says, 

 upward ventilation; another, crowd the bees on the 

 smallest possible number of combs, and give them 

 ample time to close up all openings; others advise 

 us to give plenty of room, without any protection 

 whatever. What are we, the ABC class, to do with 

 all of this confusion? I think that Mr. Heddon is 

 on the right track. I am confident that pollen is at 

 the bottom of all our troubles in wintering (don't 

 understaud me to say, that if we remove all pollen 

 that the bees will winter without further attention), 

 and I think that it is useless for us to leave our bees 

 exposed to the winter blasts for experiment sake; 

 because, if it is an open winter, so that bees can fly 

 once a monih, they will winter with or without an 

 abundance of pollen. As we can not tell when we 

 are going to have a hard winter, had we not better 

 prepare for a cold winter every time? I will tell the 

 friends how we can test the pollen theory. At the 

 close of brood-rearing, remove all the combs that 

 contain pollen, and give them combs of honey, if 

 you have them; if not, give them empty combs, and 



one of neighbor H.'s milk-pans of extracted honey, 

 and they will soon have it in place of the pollen that 

 you removed. By the way, friend Rice will winter 

 his bees this winter as usual. That blackheart field 

 has done for his bees the work that the rest of us 

 should attend to — removed the pollen out of the 

 brood-nest, and filled the place with late brood and 

 blackheart honey — the best feed for bees (my opin- 

 ion) in the world. S. H. Lane. 

 Whitestown, Boone Co., Ind., Dec. 13, 1881. 



LARGE YIELDS OF HONEY. 



After reading the report of H. Newhaus, I don't 

 wonder that man in Germany wondered if it rained 

 honey in America. If I had such a wonderful yield 

 as Mr. N., I shouldn't tell of it, for fear you might 

 think I was telling a " whopper." Juno. 



La Porte, Iowa, Dec. 7, 1881. 



Gently, friend Juno. If yon will look 

 carefully over the present number, you will 

 note a lot more of astounding yields ; and if 

 you read carefully, I think you will find the 

 stamp of truthfulness on all of the state- 

 ments. We have blasted hopes, tolerable 

 success, very good, and, once in a while, the 

 astonishing. Y on will also find, by our back 

 volumes, that many who give these large re- 

 ports now, have, in former seasons, given 

 some of the most discouraging. I think any 

 candid reader will say that the reports we 

 have given have the general stamp of fair- 

 ness and truthfulness. God does send us 

 the honey at times almost in showers, and 

 very often quite unexpectedly too, and here 

 is the value of these astounding reports, that 

 they may incite us to be in readiness when 

 our turn comes. 



AN ASTONISHING REPORT FROM AN A B C SCHOLAR 

 OF THREE SUMMERS. 



This being the last of the year, I will hand in my 

 report for the summer just past. I am an A B C 

 scholar of three summers. My account stands as 

 follows: Dr. Cr. 



To one extractor $4 00 



" Postage 41 



" Lumber and nails 80 



" one queeo 1 00 



" Sugar 3 00 



" Gleanings 1 00 



Total $9 21 



By extracted honey, 90 lbs., at 15c $13 50 



" comb honey, 25 lbs., at 20c 5 00 



" 8 youns stands, at $7.00 .56 00 



" 3 old stands at $~.m 14 00 



Total $88 50 



Deduct 9 21 



Net profit $T9 39 



I am well pleased with my success. My bees are 

 all in chaff, except 3 in two-story hives with cush- 

 ions on. George Cole. 

 Freeport, Shelby Co., Ind., Dec. 13, 1881. 

 "Why, friend C, do you mean to say you 

 made the bees that gathered all that honey, 

 out of nothing but an extractor, postage- 

 stamps, lumber and nails, one queen, sugar, 

 and GleaxingsV Why I so infer, is, you 

 do not debit the apiary with bees at all, but 

 yon do credit it with two old stands and 

 eight young ones. Did you not omit to 

 charge" the two old stands you started with ? 

 In any case, you have done tiptop, and we 

 hope more of our beginners will be able to 

 send in an equally good report. 



