1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



375 



MISTAKES. 



I made two of them this spring that I know of. 

 The first was removing- winter protection too soon, 

 and the second was in not beginning to feed soon 

 enough and in large enough (ju i-itities. If I had 

 expended twenty dollars more for feed, I am satis- 

 fied that it would have been one hundred dollars in 

 my pocket. It pays to feed bees when they can not 

 gather food. The much-condemned grape sugar 

 helped me greatly, so far as I used it. 



WATKR FOK BEES IN WARM WEATHER. 



During the hot period last summer I was very 

 much surprised at the amount of WHtor consumed 

 by bees in warm weather. I made a shallow box 10 

 feet long, 1 foot wide, and V.i inches deep, with two 

 strips as high as the sides of the box, running length- 

 wise of the box; this I set close to the pumi), under 

 the shade of a box-elder. I filled it whenever it was 

 empty. It held something over three gallons when 

 full. The bees would alight on the edges of the 

 box and strips, and fill themselves. It was a pretty 

 sight to see the nice large Ita'ian bees ranged along 

 in rows as close as they could stand. When the 

 water needed replenishing, I would dash in a pail 

 full right on top of them. They would swim out to 

 the edges, climb out, and shake their wings as 

 though they enjoyed the bath. 



On the 25th of July last, I put In the box 43 gallons 

 of water. Of course, a large quantity of this evap- 

 oratfd — probably not more than one-third, as the 

 box sat in a very close shade. I had then about 25 

 colonies. The box with the water in it served a 

 double purpose. It furnished pure water, which 

 they always prefer, and kept them from my neigh- 

 bors' pumps and watering-troughs, which is often 

 an annoyance to the people. I do not think that 

 bees will ever starve if they have plenty of water 

 and pollen accessible. Wm. Little. 



Mariss;:!, HI , July II, 1882. 



I thank you for the spirit of your letter, 

 friend L., for it is what I need, and what we 

 all need, to have a bright, vivid seiise of 

 God's care and love, and a loving faith and 

 trust in him when we have done all we CJin, 

 and feel ourselves dependent upon him. — I 

 agree with you in regard to feeding, and I 

 am sure that our little friends suffer for both 

 food and water, a great many times, when 

 we could very easily give it, in a way that 

 would give them comfort and ourselves prof- 

 it. I can not quite agree, that water and 

 pollen would keep them, with nothing more; 

 but it may be so, after all. I believe in pure 

 water ; and if we had a feeder that would 

 give the bees pure sugar and pure water, and 

 let them mix it only so fast as they use it, I 

 believe I should like it better than any we 

 now have. Syrup should contain a good 

 deal of water, to do the most good ; and 

 with this large quantity of water, it soon 

 sours in warm weather. The thin basswood 

 honey, that they seem to thrive so wonder- 

 fully on just at this writing, is, if I am cor- 

 rect, mixed during the night, and gathered 

 and carried into their hives with the first 

 daylight in the morning. Can we not lix 

 their sugar and water in something the same 

 way, or let them mix it themselves at their 

 own pleasure? Sour or brackish syrup may 

 not do them any harm, but I do not believe 

 it answers as well as the fresh nectar from 

 the basswood-blossoms. 



HOIiY-L.A\D BEES. 



SOME OF THE WAYS IN WHICH WE MAKE USE OF 

 THEIR DISTINCTIVE PECULIARITIES. 



^T may seem strange to some, that I, occupying 

 M. so favorable surroundings, should hold aloof 

 from the general contribution in common with 

 our many bee friends; but deeming it better to " go 

 slow," and give our older and wiser heads the field, 

 I have thus far stood back, thereby corrcctiug a few 

 of my hasty conclusions and immature opinions. 



Lately my attention has been so greatly drawn 

 toward the Holy-Land bees that 1 can not refrain 

 from saying a few things in their favor, although 

 they are surrounded by some prejudices. That they 

 are very prolific, all who have handled them will ad- 

 mit; from whence it would naturally follow that 

 their generative qualities would tend especially 

 toward raising cells; this, in our experience, has 

 been decidedly the case. I will mention one or two 

 instances, not because they are remarkable In them- 

 selves, but to show that this is one of the character- 

 istics of the race. On the 5th of July we were some- 

 what short of cells; and in taking my usual rounds 

 through the apiary, I came to a Holy-Land colony 

 from which the queen had been sold. The slate in- 

 dicated that the bees had killed a dollar queen caged 

 there, and had served two just hatched in the 

 same manner. In consequence of this determina- 

 tion to build cells, the colony had been queenless 

 about ten or twelve days. On picking up one of the 

 frames I found a young hatched queen ; and on anoth- 

 er, I counted upward of 25 cells. As we were at this 

 date short, and the queen a very fine tested Holy- 

 Land, I determined to avail myself of this fine lot of 

 cells. After cutting out perhaps half a dozen, and 

 laying them on the side of the hive, I was about to 

 proceed further, when, looking down, I discovered 

 that three of the six had hatched. I immediately set 

 back the frame, and disposed of my young queens 

 wherever most needed. I again commenced at the 

 cells, and after having cut out three or four, found 

 two more queens hatched, and another fast gnaw- 

 ing out. I placed my car near the comb containing 

 the cell?, and could distinctly hear the nibbling of 

 the queens within. This indicated verj' plainly that 

 they would soon all be out. I therefore hastened to 

 put the remaining cells along with the two hatched 

 queens, into the nursery; soon after, another lot 

 was in turn brought there, as I feared they, too, 

 would hatch on my hands, as did the others. Nor 

 was I mistaken in this. After resuming my work, 

 John told me that the queens were running loose 

 in the lamp nursery in every direction. I hastily 

 cut out the cells yet remaining in the hive, and once 

 more started for the nursery. Sure enough, on ar- 

 riving there my eyes were greeted with a sight that 

 really made me feel happy for once, as they wen^ 

 just in time to supply the demand of the colonies. 

 These queens, with a single exception, all hatched 

 within thirty minutes; and were so remarkably 

 strong and healthy that some attempted to fiy, and 

 one di'd succeed partially. No time was lost ia giv- 

 ing them to queenless colonies; but, unfortunately, 

 we were not as successful in rearing them all. This 

 date (5th of July) in our locality was about the inter- 

 mission of the How of honey between clover and 

 basswood; in corrsequence of which, the bees, not 

 having much else to do but mischief, killed a part of 

 them. Out of the number that were accepted, a few, 



