116 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



so in the case you mention V If so, does it 

 not seem to indicate that the pollen or flour 

 passes from them in a raw, or undigested 

 state y Here is a fact furnished this minute 

 by another friend : — 



poltjEn from sawdust. 



My bees are all right yet so far, packed on sum- 

 mer stands. They were carrying' pollen on the 6th 

 Inst., from sawdust, which I had been hauling in my 

 bee-yard. They had got so thick on the pile of saw- 

 dust, from noon until about 4 o'clock, that I could 

 not unload any more until toward evening. 



E. J. C. Troxell. 



Fort Seneca, Seneca Co., O., Feb. 9, 188i. 



There is nothing especially new in the 

 above, for we have had the same thing re- 

 ported before; but does this sawdust they 

 gathered so freely harm them V I think it 

 does not, for some of the best seasons I re- 

 member were those when the bees worked 

 ravenously on the sawdust. Eriend II. may 

 say, this craving for sawdust sliowed them 

 to be destitute of pollen, and perhaps it does. 



FRIIilND MARTIN'S liETTEK. 



NOISY BEES. 



WJpAVING occasion to visit a friend, who keeps 

 }'\[f^^ bees, I found him in a downright stew about 

 the musical propensities of a few swarms of 

 his Italians. This friend had about one hundred 

 swarms of bees in his cellar, the most of them 

 blacks. That race of bees were all quiet, while his 

 Italian.^ would every now and then act as though 

 they were holding a grand politicni meeting, with 

 bands of music and procession. Many get out up- 

 on the cellar bottom, and in the spring they were in 

 excellent condition — to dwindle, and did dwindle. 

 I have had just such bees, and we can trace them 

 to a certain strain we obtained from a noted breeder. 

 My friend condemned all Italians, as being hard to 

 winter; but I think it is only certain strains, and 

 especially of the light-colored beauties. 



RICH IN STORES. 



Another point in wintering is to have your swarms 

 rich la stores. We have a neighbor who uses box 

 hives, and each swarm has probably 40 lbs. of honey. 

 These swarms are wintered in a warm cellar, and 

 hang out in clusters upon the outside of the hives; 

 but being black bees, they do not leave the hive; 

 and, in fact, are as contented as we would suppose a 

 man would who has a good bank account. Those 

 bees know they have something to " fall back on;" 

 still, they would probably winter just as well upon 

 25 lbs., for bees in a cellar consume but little honey. 

 During the first month of the present winter, our 

 bees, or those we weighed, consumed but 1 lb. each. 



DAMPNESS. 



Many complain about damp cellars and moldy 

 combs. We would say to such, if your combs mold, 

 put in more ventilators. With thorough ventila- 

 tion, the dampness will be a blessing instead of a 

 curse. Many bee-keepers having dry cellars pro- 

 vide water for their bees in proper receptacles. 



COLOR. 



While many are advocating leather-colored Ital- 

 ians, the general purchaser will take nothing but 

 your lighest-colored and handsomest Italians when- 

 ever we sell swarms. We have to sell for color, or 



the customer is dissalisflcd. It is the same with 

 queens: they must be very yellow, and beauties. 



ONE-POUND SECTIONS. 



The recent action of the N. E. N. Y. Association 

 in relation to the proper size for section boxes, is 

 much like the "pope's bull against the comet." If 

 the market demands pound sections, and they sell 

 better, why not leave the bee-keeper free to use 

 what size he desires? I thirk the pound section has 

 been upon the market too long to be now withdrawn- 

 It is safe to say, that over half of the crop of comb 

 honey for the coming year will be stored in one- 

 pound sections; furthermore, as far as I have read 

 the proceedings, I should call it a comb-honey asso- 

 ciation. The production and sale of extracted hon- 

 ey has not received the attention it should. 



Hartford, N. Y., Feb. 10, 1883. J. H. Martin. 



€EL>IiAR ^VUNTERINO, ETC 



^Jj^Y 5 years' experience in wintering bees has 

 P/?[| brought me to the conclusion, that, where 



' there is a dark, dry collar, free of frost, and 



which can be controlled as to ventilating,' I would 

 prefer cellar wintering every time. It saves in 

 honey; it saves the hives, and especially the covers; 

 it prevents bees starving on one side of the hives 

 while there is plenty of honey on the other; it pre- 

 vents the outside bees of the cluster becoming 

 chilled and dropping down, to die in a short time 

 during cold weather. If the hives are amply venti- 

 lated, it prevents having moldy combs; it prevents 

 the frost from settling on the combs; it makes the 

 bee-keeper feel happy to see them comfortable 

 when an icy north wind blows outside; it enables 

 him to look at his pets any time he feels like it; it 

 saves money, because he can do without chaff hives, 

 which are very expensive and cumbersome, because 

 every house has, or ought to have, a cellar anyhow; 

 and if it is not well ventilated it can be made so at lit- 

 tle expense; it enables the bee-keeper to have his 

 bees surrounded by almost the same temperature, 

 sudden changes being so injurious to animal life; It 

 prevents a colony of bees from getting destroyed by 

 the cover leaking unexpectedly; it keeps the 

 thieves from carrying the hives off when you think 

 they belong to you, as you worked hard for the pos- 

 session of them. As it would make my letter too 

 long to give my experiments during the 5 years, I 

 will simply give you a description of 



THE CEI-bAR, 



in which I have not lost a hive of bees yet, except 

 two by starvation. It is virtually on the north-east 

 corner of two cross streets, underneath the store. 

 The noise above does not seem to bother the bees; 

 there is a Are kept constantly in the store, except at 

 night. The cellar is 50x21 ft. inside: it is imbedded 

 entirely in sand; is 8 feet deep under the joists; it 

 is walled out with a 20-inch limestone wall, white- 

 washed all around and above, and paved with 

 pressed brick; for 



VENTILATION, 



it has 2 openings in the pavement, 2x3 feet, pro- 

 tected with wrought-iron grates, one on the south 

 side, or fro: t, and 3 on the west side; these open- 

 ings can be shut up on the inside by windows swung 

 on hinges; with these I can control the temperature 

 by keeping a thermometer in the cellar; on the east 

 Bide of the cellar are holes along the top of the wall, 



