140 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



could fly only on the outside. I kept no fire, there- 

 fore they were sheltered only from the cold winds 

 and the sun's rays. 1 commenced feeding- boncy, 

 and in about 15 days was enabled to take away two 

 frames two-thirds filled with brood, leaving- two 

 others partly filled, and now they arc "booming" 

 as if it were the month of April. 



Thos. Balcomh. 



Luling-, Caldwell Co., Texas, Feb. 11, 1882. 



LOSSES THE PAST WINTER. 



Pa has had quite a loss with his bees this winter. I 

 would like to tell you all about it, but I haven't any 

 room. S. E. Gregohy. 



Crooked Lake, Wy. Co., Pa., Fob. 18, 1883. 



Why, I supposed every one's bees were 

 alive this spring, for I thinlc this is the first 

 bad report we have had, unless, indeed, it is 

 Neighbor H., who has lost about halt' a doz- 

 en that gathered enough without any feed- 

 ing. All the sugar-fed bees are all right. 

 He fed one, however, on maple sugar, con- 

 trary to iriy advice, and that one died. It 

 will do very well to feed maple sugar after 

 the bees can fly freely. .V very ince grade of 

 maple sugar would do to feed them, I pre- 

 sume, even in winter. 



My bees in the yard had a Hy Feb. 14 and 15. They 

 came out very strong-. The snow, the fences, and 

 the clothes that hung in the >-ard were spotted with 

 yellow spots. I looked at them, and the frames 

 looked all clean, except in one hive, and that was be- 

 smeared a little on one frame. Do you call this 

 dysentery? and is it usual for this time of year? Do 

 you think I shall be troubled very much with this? 

 Do you think I shall winter them through in this 

 condition? B.E.Andrews. 



Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 17, ies3. 



It is dysentery ; but you M'ill probably have 

 no trouble with those having clean frames. 

 If the one that daubed the frames does not 

 get better, I would give them some lumps of 

 pure granulated-sugar candy. 



TELEPHONES FOR BEES SWARMING. 



Our telephone is sort of three cornered; has three 

 ends,— one at the house, one at the shop, and one at 

 the barn. At either point I can hear the bees when 

 they strike the wire; can hear a call to dinner while 

 sitting at my desk in the office, and, in fact, have 

 heard the hens cackle in the barn from the shop; so 

 j^ou see we know when to go after the egg-s. It is a 

 triangle, with a single wire running from each point, 

 making 35 ft. from house to shop; CO ft. from house 

 to barn, and 80 feet from shop to barn. The house 

 is brick, and I could not well cut a hole through, so 

 I just raised the window about live inches and put a 

 board in the opening ; where the wire passes through 

 the board is a one-inch hole, covered with soft sheep 

 leather; the wire through the leather is in the cen- 

 ter of the hole, so the cold air and the bees are kept 

 out. I think friend Gallup is needlessly alarmed 

 about the bees killing themselves on the wire. I 

 have watched them, and all I have seen strike have 

 been rising from the hives, and it merely turns them 

 from their course a little. I have not seen one fall 

 to the ground. 



SQUARE MEN. 



As to that list of " square men," if you will drop 

 the word "square" and put j^wmpt in its place, and 

 also leave out "we do not kaowof a single customer 



who is not satisfied," 1 think it would just fit me. 

 Although I do not know of one of my customers 

 who is not satisfied, I dn know that money will not 

 satisfy some when there has been a delay, or goods 

 not just as expected; and then if that clause were 

 out, friend Hoot might have his name in the list. 



BEES ON THE MAPLES IN FEBRUARY. 



An hour ago I visited some soft-maple trees in this 

 neighborhood, and the bees were working on the 

 open hlossrms, making a noise as if on a basswood- 

 tree in time of the honey-How. How is that for win- 

 ter? Bees flying from every hive that had bees in 

 last fall when they were fixed for winter. 



James A. Nelson. 



Wyandott, Kansas, Feb. 13, 1883. 



& 



aj 



u^me^f^. 



BOx-nivE neighbors in the rear. 

 Sfiij"i HAVE 18 swarms of bees in the cellar in good 

 I'll condition at this date— 12 of them 'n your l'/2- 

 — ' story hives, and the rest will be next May if wo 

 live until that time, I took 350 lbs. surplus honey 

 last year; my neighbors ket p bees in box hives, and 

 did not get any. Amasa Holcomb. 



Soulhwick, Hampden Co., Mass., Feb. 8, 1883. 



Bees carried in pollen to-daj-. What does it mean? 

 Will not bees and bluebirds get fooled yet this sea- 

 son? S. H. Moss. 



Colchester, McDonough Co., Ill , Feb. 15, 1883. 



ONE-PIECE SFCTION. 



I made and used one-pi- le sections more than 

 seven years ago, similar to those now in use, except 

 the ends were glued and tacked together. 



J. L. WoLCOTT. 



Bloomington, 111., Feb. 17, 1883. 



MULTUM IN PARVO. 



I got 10,309 lbs. of honey from 73 stands and their 

 increase, 25 stands; 07 in all; 2341 lbs. of it comb 

 honey. P. LouCKS. 



Kingsbury, Fresno Co., Cat, Jan. 24, 1882. 



[Well done, friend L., even for California.] 



CHAFF niVES. 



I have at present 18 colonies of bees, all in good 

 shape; 13 in your chaff hives, and the rest in cellar. 

 I prefer the chaff hive to any thing I have seen. I 

 have been keeping bees for over three years. I 

 have the first swarm to lose yet. Joseph Ball. 



Chillicothe, Wapello Co., la., Feb , 18S3. 



HORSEMINT. 



Our last season's success encourages us to push 

 forward next season, and the ide;i is, to be in time, 

 ft is as warm as spring here; grass is green, and I 

 notice our great honcj'-plant, horsemint, is already 

 coming in abundance, 3 or 3 inches high. Wc arc 

 going to do our part, by the help of God. 



Hallettsville, Tex., Dec. 13, 1881. Dk. J. E. Lay. 



Send Gleanings as usual to Olmsted, as my wife 

 lives there and tends to the bees. I go home every 

 Saturday and Sunday. I sold my extracted honey, 

 450 lbs., at 17!/2 cts. M. R. Kuehne. 



Cairo, III., Feb. 3, 1883. 



[Friend K., give my respects to your wife, and tell 

 her we should be glad to hear from her in the La- 

 dies' Department.] 



