1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



233 



month of this apiary; and I want to suggest to all 

 bee-keepers, whether they are making specialties or 

 not of bee-keeping, to keep things picked up about 

 the apiary; and just imagine at all times that Nov- 

 ice, or some of the "big guns" in the business are 

 to step in to see our little apiary, and wo must 

 '•spruce up " a little. 



DRONES — THEIR ORIGIN. 



I want to say something more; catch hold of some- 

 thing to keep from falling, now. I have made up 

 my mind that the queens don't lay the larger per- 

 centage of drone eggs. I am of the opinion that ye 

 fertile (so called) workers do the "drudgery of lay- 

 ing drones" (patent applied for). I don't say the 

 queen can not, but I think that mostly all the drores, 

 during the busy portion of the season, are laid by 

 the workers. I could give you reasons, but this is 

 ominously long now; so thai-.' 



What do you think of ray theory. Bro. Doolittle? 



11. C.Taylor. 



Wilmington, N. C, April 7, 1882. 



Why, friend T.. you and others of late 

 seem determined not to give me a shadow of 

 a chance to hold on to my idea, that bees 

 don't tly over three miles. And why didn't 

 toti pay your friend for that quart of beesV 

 I watched all through your story to hear you 

 say you did, but diiln't see it. Now about 

 drones : It is almost what I expected, after 

 Doolitte said there weren't any two-banded 

 bees anywhere. You kn6w another friend, 

 in this same number, almost proves that 

 worker eggs produce good drones. I will go 

 so far witii you as to say some drones are 

 produced from worker eggs. 



G.4l,IiL'P ON VENTlIiATION. 



ALSO A TOUCH ON POLLEN. 



M'OW, Mr. Editor, I am going togive you fits. You 

 say that Gallup thinks Mr. Quinby was right. 

 ■ "" Now, I don't even think, I know positively. 

 In wintering bees in Canada on their summer stands, 

 we had the old straw hive, the Weeks, or Vermont 

 hive, and the common box hive. In wintering in 

 the box hive, the hive was raised on inch blocks 

 placed under the corners. In the Weeks hive the 

 bottom- board was suspended an inch below the 

 hive in winter. Now, if any one undertook to winter 

 without raisinsr the hive, or giving the air-space, he 

 would almost invariably lose all his bees with dys- 

 entery, except the hives that were made of hemlock 

 boards, and had a crack from top to bottom, open 

 enough so you could see right in on the bees, and in 

 many cases wide enough to almost put your hand in. 

 They would invariably winter well, and come out 

 strong in spring, providing they had stores enough. 

 Your careless bee-keeper who made very rough 

 hives, with open joints, and the bottom sawed off so 

 much oiit of square that it could not be got down to 

 the bottom-l)oard, could keep bees, while your nice 

 workman, and one who was going to keep his bees 

 warm and nice, had no success whatever. All would 

 die with dysentery long before spring. Now, bees 

 In the suspended hive, with the open bottom; your 

 box hive raised on blocks: j'our straw hive with the 

 summer entrance open, and a two-inch hole open in 

 the center at the top (I wintered in such a hive for 

 1.5 years with perfect success), and your hive with 

 the crack from top to bottom, would winter well ; 



and when the thermometer was 40° below zero, blow 

 in the hive, or jar it, the bees would lly out as quick- 

 ly and readily as your bees do in the heat of sum- 

 mer; and you know. Mr. Editor, that when a- bee 

 tlies out and is blinded with snow he alights on his 

 back, kicks up his heels, and just before he dies he 

 discharges the contents of his abdomen. I have 

 seen 'em do it in thousands of instances, and it was 

 dry and powdery like — so much so that it would not 

 smear or adhere to any thing; as much so as sheep 

 manure where sheep are fed on dry hay and straw 

 in winter. The fact is, that any bee-keeper in Maine, 

 New Hampshire, Vermont, Northern New York, or 

 Canada, who has not seen bees discharge dry pow- 

 dery excrement under the above conditions, is not 

 and can nut be a very close observer; and I do not 

 doubt in the least, that if Mr. Quinby were alive to- 

 day ho could tell that he had seen the same repeat- 

 edly in his locality. Why, Mr. Editor, you might as 

 well deny that there is such a place as Santa Ana, 

 simply because you have not seen it. Your old col- 

 ony, with "lots and slathers " of pollen, would win- 

 ter the best; ycur new colony, with now comb and 

 but very little pollen, are the poorest to winter every 

 time. 



Now, I am not disputing with any one on your 

 wintering problem; I am simply stating facts. I 

 lost every colony down to my old straw hive (and 

 that was the old nest-egg) for several winters, 

 simply by being too nice, and trying to keep my bees 

 in nice warm well-made hives, while a neighbor who 

 made his after the bees swarmed, and set them 

 on top of stumps, without any bottom-boards, had 

 good succes^. 1 took extra pains to make my hives 

 nice, and have them set in a nice tasty shed to shel- 

 ter them from the cold winds and storms. You see, 

 in those days it was all luck; the neighbor was 

 luckj', while I was unlucky. E. Gallup. 



Santa Ana, Los Angeles Co., Cal., March 27, 1883. 



Then, friend G., why didn't you stick to 

 the Weeks hive witli its suspended bottom- 

 board? or why don't bee-men now make 

 their hives without any l)ottom-board, and 

 thus save — lumber? I am really afraid, 

 since reading your article, that some one 

 will patent the idea of using hives without 

 any bottom, and we shall all be compelled to 

 put bottoms on them, even if we don't want 

 them. Joking aside, I am well convinced 

 that many of us have erred sadly in making 

 the hives too tight below. We now leave 

 the entrances to our chaff hives open all 

 winter full length ; and if the Simplicity 

 were pushed well forward, so as to have a 

 very large entrance all winter, I think it 

 would many times have saved the bees. 



IS Bii:i<:>KEi<:piNK profitabliE? 



BB^Y crop of honey raised during the season of 

 nSjl 1881 was most of it sent to commission mer- 

 ' chants, as I was not able to And a sale for it 

 at prices which I thought it ought to sell for, hence 

 the present time finds me hearing from the last lot 

 which closes out my entire stock. The most of my 

 crop was shipped in lots of about 300 lbs. each to dif- 

 ferent commission men in New York, Boston, Phila- 

 delphia, etc., and was sold quickl3' at from 21) to 22 

 cents per lb., while the lot just closed out, which was 

 shipped to a large dealer, togethci- with a large con- 

 signment of my neighbors', on the co-operative plan 



