1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



849 



cushion la the upper story. From my experience, 

 I would not unite in the fall any colony that had half 

 a gallon of bees. I have one colony now that is 

 hatching bees, and has wintered as wellas any strong 

 stock could. I don't decide from this, however, but 

 from past experience with colder winters. 



KEEPING BEES IN THE CELLAR TILL POLLEN COMES. 



I had 10 colonies in the cellar. When I found the 

 soft-maple was offering so much pollen and honey, I 

 carried them out, and they were soon as busy as any. 

 I have not, nor do I intend to, put them back. I 

 shall not winter any more bees indoors. With me 

 they winter no better, and are much more trouble, 

 and some of them won't defend their uives from the 

 other bees. I have one colony that can't be induced 

 to make the least effort to defend their hive. It has 

 plenty of bees, queen, and honey. 



G. W. Williamson. 



Willow Island, W. Va,, Feb. 24, 1882. 



mating between THE QUEEN AND DRONE. 



Much has been said ami written on the subject of 

 fertilization of the qucon-bce, and I see, in your val- 

 uable paper, you ask the friends of the cause to con- 

 tribute their mites from actual observation, and here 

 is mine: Many years ago I was walking in the woods 

 in June, and heard a roaring of bees in the vicinity 

 of a tree-top, and at once recognized the coarse hum 

 of the drones. Suspecting the object of the ren- 

 dezvousing, and stimulated by curiosity, I climbed 

 the tree, and soon saw a small swarm of drones 

 closely huddled together, flying and whirling around 

 the tree-top. They appeared much excited, and final- 

 ly alighted on a rosette of leaves. The ball of drones 

 was as large as an apple, and a savage fight ensued, 

 each one striving for the mastery, and vieing with 

 each other. In a very short time I saw a queen-bee 

 creep out of the cluster, tear herself loose from 

 their seductive embrace, and fly away in the direc- 

 tion of my apiary, and all the drones immediately 

 followed her. The above meeting took place not on 

 the wing, but on a cluster of green leaves. 



Thomas Bus^nell. 



Hnyesville, Ohio, Feb. 27, 1883. 



Thanks, friend B., for this addition to our 

 store of facts in the matter. It would seem, 

 from the above, that the queen is usually 

 pursued by a great number of drones, as we 

 have had frequent evidence before. But you 

 go a little further, and show that they, some- 

 times at least, alight all together, while a 

 st}uggle among them ensues. If this is 

 commonly the case, it would seem that a lo- 

 cality with much expanse of water near 

 would be rather bad for queen-rearing. 



BEES AND HCNEY. 



The season is still cool and backward. With abund- 

 ant tulip and white-clover bloom, and red clover 

 nearly ready to cut, we have little honey yet, the 

 best day thus far indicating -4 lbs. gain to the htve 

 on scales. Fortunately we did not force the season 

 by rapid breeding up, and have saveil ourselves the 

 necessityof feeding the idle bees. We are cutting 

 and curing the best hay crop made for years. We 

 are hoping warmer weather will develop honey, and 

 are ready for it. 



BEE veils; a word of caution. 



Black lace of the finest kind should alone be used 

 by those who use any, and value their eyes. Serious 

 injury has been done by contiiuied use of ])oor ma- 

 terial. Having suffered myself becaiise I thought 



my sight very strong, and could stand any thing, 

 even white veils, I have had to pay the penalty. 



J. W. POHTKR. 



Charlottesville, Va., June 5, 1882. 



BEES IN COLORADO. 



It would seem from the following items, 

 which we clip from the Colorado Farmer of 

 Dec. 12, that they have a great field for hon- 

 ey in Colorado, besides some very live and 

 enterprising bee-men. Friend Peabody is 

 well known to many of us, and any state- 

 ment he makes is sound: — 



$200 PROFIT FROM TWO SWARMS OF BEES. 



J. L. Peabody, who lives at 306 Wasoola street, re- 

 ports that, from two swarms of bees the past sea- 

 son, he got 15 new swarms, and over 400 pounds of 

 honey. This makes, at $10 a swarm. $150, and the 

 honey, at 20c per pound, $80; total, $230. He makes 

 his own hives, and says that $30 will cover the cost 

 of them. So it seems two hundred dollars clear 

 profit, not counting the labor, which was mere noth- 

 ing, more than amusement. Who says Colorado is 

 no bee country, or bee-keeping does not pay? 



The next seems to be a part of a conven- 

 tion report:— 



J. L. Peabody spoke on the subject of " artificial 

 swarming," and did not advocate its usage in ex- 

 tensive apiaries where the sole business was honey. 

 He referred to city bee-keeping, and recommended 

 a tight fence, eight feet high, about the hives, as 

 the bees at that height, on leaving, would soar away 

 above the neighbors, and so avoid any ground of 

 complaint being made against them. Two swarms 

 of bees during the last season, by increase and prod- 

 uct, have netted this gentleman $100 each, a success 

 which he ascribes to the fact of his care in prevent- 

 ing waste. Before closing, he dropped many valua- 

 ble hints which were listened to with attention by 

 his audience. 



now FAR DO BEES FLY? 



Dr. King, of Boulder, was the next speaker, and 

 began by giving his experience from one swarm as 

 a foundation to a collection of about J25 stands. 

 The doctor advocated wintering bees in the cellar, 

 giving them no exercise, and allowing them no 

 ventilation from the top of the hive. He had no- 

 ticed his Italian bees going fourteen miles for pas- 

 turage in following up the blossoming raspberries, 

 which mature more slowly toward the range. Since 

 July 7, one hive had produced 400 pounds, which, 

 with the rest, was wholesaled to Boulder merchants 

 at 25 cents per pound. 



We thought friend March, p. 182, was get- 

 ting it pretty large when he suggested that 

 bees might fly 7 or S miles ; but fourteen al- 

 most takes our breath away. I should be 

 much inclined to suggest there were Italians 

 in the woods, that he did not know of — pos- 

 sibly the yellow bees friend Wiltse has been 

 telling us about. 



PROGRESS OF BEE CULTURE IN ENGLAND. 



You Will be pleaded to hear that beekeeping is 

 making great progress here. We have already 18 

 county associations atBliate<l to the central society. 

 You will be pleased, also, to know that for some 

 time I have used your metal corners. I have tried 

 to get others to use them. There is a description of 

 them in my book. A large number of frames have 

 been made with them since I wrote it. We are Just 

 adopting a standard-sized frame, which I hope will 

 further stimulate bee-keeping. By post I send you 

 one of my books for perusal. It has had a great sale, 

 the first edition being exhausted in little more than 

 two months. I also send you photo of part of my 

 apiary. Last summer I averaged 100 lbs. of section 

 honey per hive. It was a good season. I also ex- 

 tracted a large quantity. Thos. Wm. Cowan. 



Compton's Lea, Horfham, Eng., Jan. 24, 1883. 



