86 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Feb. 



SCOTLAND, AND THE OCTAGONAL FRAME. 



I regret to say bee-keeping was a failure in nearly 

 every part of Scotland last season. However, bees 

 bred well, and the heather gave them as much as 

 keep the stocks. We all lost queens at mating time; 

 the weather would be bright and clear for 30 min- 

 utes, and then a " plump" of rain four or five times 

 a day. The octagon frame I sent you a drawing of 

 [see p. 151, March No., 18S1], has proved to be the 

 best swarm in Fife and Perthshire this year. I 

 will test it further this next season, if all is well. 



Linli's Schoolhousc, Andrew Pratt. 



Kirkcaldy, Scotland, Dec. HO, 1S81. 



apis dorsata. 



It would seem from the following, that 

 our friend Frank Benton has not flnislied 

 his task yet. It is given by a special corres- 

 pondent of the weekly (California) Chronicle. 

 lie writes from the Isle of Ceylon, under 

 date of Oct. 14,1881:— 



extraordinary honey production. 



Honey is here very plentiful, there being several 

 varieties of the honey-bee in Ceylon, one of which, 

 the Bambera, resembles the hornet, being larger 

 and even more ferocious than that pugnacious in- 

 sect, the natives affirming that three simultaneous 

 stmgs from them are fatal to human life. They arc 

 marvelous producers, however, and I have seen one 

 of their nests composed of huge combs as large as 

 (and about the shape of) the top of a single-horse 

 buggy, hanging from the limbs of a gigantic tree, 

 and containing several hundred pounds of honey. 



As the writer is a newspaper man, he 

 doubtless was honest in what he wrote; 

 but he may have been a little excited when 

 he looked. 



the langstuoth frame for avintering. 



I must differ in my opinion with Brother White, 

 as to the L. frame being too shallow to winter on. 1 

 have always used the L. frame almost exclusively, 

 and never lost a colony by wintering until last 

 winter (see page 481, Gleanings). But I will try to 

 give a more minute report of a single hive. I was 

 caught by the cold weather with seven frames in 

 top story, and bottom part full from side to side, of 

 sealed honey, in a Root chaff hive, and a very strong 

 colony. Thinking I would soon have a pleasant day, 

 I covered them snugly with 5 or 6 layers of carpet, 

 over bottom frames, extending up and over all of 

 the upper ones; but the warm day did not come for 

 a long time, and when it did come I found the bees 

 all dead — about half of them in the top, where they 

 had consumed all the stores, and the remainder in 

 top part of bottom frames, with plenty of honey di- 

 rectly under them, and all dead in a cluster. Now, if 

 the upper frames had all been taken off, and the 

 covering put down on the lower frames, their chances 

 for wintering would have been better than any hive 

 in my apiary. Bees can not leave their warm bed 

 and go away down in the cold in their bare feet, and 

 without any clothes on, to get their meals. 



Oxford, O., Jan., 1883. D. A. McCord. 



ANOTHER "cracked-hive" REPORT. 



I have handled bees for 10 years. The first 5 years 

 la box hives, and since then in frame hives. I have 

 never lost any since the first year. Then I had only 

 3 swarms, and 1 did not know any thing about bees, 

 how to pack them, so I just let them sit out without 

 packing of any kind, and I lost all of them but one. 

 That one had cracks on the back side of it that you 

 could run your hand up and down in, so that you 



could see the bees, and they could come out there. 

 By that I learned that bees want air to lot that 

 dampness escape, for this one was all dry and warm. 

 The other two were all wet, and full of ice, and since 

 then I have paclied them all around and on top. and 

 I never lost any since, till last winter. Then I had 

 47 swarms, and I lost all of them but two. The rea- 

 son I lost them was because I had thom run too 

 weak, and extracted too much honey from them. 

 But I have 31 swarms on hand at present, and they 

 arc all in good condition for winter. 

 Elmore, Ohio, Jan. 5, 1883. Julius Frosch. 



SOME FACTS FROM ONE OF OUR VETERANS. 



Fifty-three years ago I found a swarm of bees on 

 the wing, and gave chase; brought them back, and 

 in four years I had 33 good colonies. I have the 

 same stock yet, and have had the constant care of 

 them all that time with varied success. I once built 

 a palace large enough to hold half a ton of honey, 

 and introduced a heavy stock. So far as honey was 

 concerned it was all that could be desired. I let 

 them remain there 33 years; then believing them 

 quite feeble, I killed them, and they had about a 

 barrel of honej'. Perhaps they had lost their queen. 

 I hsive exhibited honoy at the Ohio State Fair 8 times, 

 and taken eight first premiums, including 5 lbs. ex- 

 tracted honey last year. The exhibitor from Colum- 

 bus squirmed wonderfully al)Out it, and spoke of 

 entering a protest. " Thomas Bushnell. 



Hayesvilte, xlshland Co., Ohio, Dec. 31, 1881. 



COLORADO AS AN IDEAL SPOT FOR A IJEE- KEEPER. 



Place your finger on the map of the State where 

 the western line of Pueblo County crosses the Ar- 

 kansas River, and you have my location to a dot. 

 Tli(! elevation above the sea as marked on my place, 

 is 4047.30 feet. The valley is from half to three- 

 fourths of a mile wide, and fenced in by perpendicu- 

 lar bluffs a hundred feet high. The weather in this 

 valley is always mild, culm, and beautiful, with the 

 sun shining with unobscured raj'S nearly every day 

 in the year. Thus you see that it is one of those 

 ideal spots that hundreds of Ijce-keepers have 

 dreamed of, but few have seen. Where the lands 

 get sufficient irrigation, cleome springs up anl grows 

 with great luxuriance. Other flowers and shrubs are 

 plentiful. Cleome commences to bloom the last of 

 May, and continues until the frost comes, and is at 

 all times rich in nectar, making the best quality of 

 honey. I got eight colonies of bees the last of June, 

 and brought them CO miles by railroad. They were 

 caged three nights and two days. Out of the eight 

 colonies 1 lost as many bees as would have made a 

 good-sized swarm. The day I let them loose they 

 rallied to their work with a will, that convinced me 

 that they meant business, and they did too. Long- 

 before I was ready they wercready for their surplus- 

 honey room; and as fast as I gave it to them they 

 immediately occupied it and went to work. The re- 

 sult was from 75 to 125 lbs. of comb honey. About 

 the middle of Juno I got a couple of handfuls of 

 bees, and for each handful three combs 5x6 in. 

 square. The first queen that was hatched was lost 

 on her first flight; the second was wingless; both 

 were failures. But I finally succeeded, and raised 

 two good colonies from them by giving them each 

 only one comb of brood from my other colonies. 

 The two colonies, after filling their hive, made me 

 70 lbs. of comb honey. All have plenty to winter 

 on. From the ten colonies I got 720 lbs. of salable 



