1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



539 



I had 13 of these little pits in use, and had them 

 all occupied on two different occasions. When af- 

 fairs were at their hottest I used to bury tempora- 

 rily all sorts of swarms until I could get something 

 extemporized to hive them in. The ability to do this 

 was a very great relief to me. And now I mean to 

 see how my pits will answer for wintering bees. 



Just once in the whole summer's use a bad result 

 ensued. It was a little bit of a swarm, and so many 

 more important ones were out that 1 kept them 

 waiting a long time by drenching them repeatedly 

 with water. When removed from the pit, more than 

 half of them were dead. Evidently the cluster was 

 so small that they had not animal heat enough to 

 dry out the waier and get themselves comfortable. 

 Moral: Don't wet little swarms if you mean to bury 

 them. 



On the other hand, one good-sizo swarm was left 

 by oversight three days in the pit. What do j'ou 

 think they did? Starved to death? They made in 

 their dungeon 20 square inches of comb; and when 

 they were taken out, 177 cells contained honey! The 

 authorities, you know, tell us to confine bees for 

 two days if we want them to consume all the infect- 

 ed honey in their sacs. It Is evident, that it would 

 have taken twice as long to make these fellows con- 

 sume all their honey. I imagine they would have 

 held out about a week without perishing. 



Perhaps for the benefit of beginners I should state 

 that the burial tactics here given, and the other 

 course I mentioned, are not the only alternatives in 

 case excessive swarming has to be dealt with. Some 

 hive temporarily in a box, and return next day. 

 Some return each colony to a different stock than 

 the one from which it issued. Hitherto I believe 

 the best practice has been to return each after- 

 swarm ovice. If they stay, well and good; if not, a 

 separate hive is given. Then the next lot of " come- 

 outers " are united with these first, and so on until 

 enough to make a strong stock are put in. I object 

 to this course in both directions. The old hive is 

 stopped from storing surplus surely; and I think it 

 often happens that the mixed lot do not work with 

 the spirit that bees should— besides the liability of 

 having the later colonies that are put in, come out 

 and make further trouble. Rather than to unite 

 swarms, I think I should prefer to give each after- 

 swarm its own quarters— a simple rabbeted box of 

 unplaned lumber, any thing that w^ould hold a 

 frame; let them gather what fall honey they will, 

 and then destroy them and extract the honey. Histl 

 Was that the editorial bootjack that whizzed by my 

 head? Let us play that it wasn't I who said such a 

 naughty thing, but some old Kip Van Winkle just 

 up from a long sleep in the apiarian cave. 



Richards, O., Oct. 17, 1883. E. E. Hasty. 



Friend II., your invention is certainly nov- 

 el, and no doubt valuable, but I confess that 

 I can hardly get reconciled to the idea of 

 losing the honey that a new swarm might 

 gather in those two first days. I know it is 

 better than to lose the swarm entirely, but 

 is either necessary? I must think your ex- 

 perience this season a little singular. Now 

 and then we have a case where a whole api- 

 ary gets the swarming mania, as yours did, 

 but it does not happen very often, if I am 

 correct. I know we often have refractory 

 swarms, and I think your burying plan will 

 be an excellent one ; but 1 hardly think that 

 many of us will need as many pits as you 



suggest. I am very glad to know that you 

 succeeded with the five-cent basket for a 

 swarming-box. What size basket do you 

 prefer — the i, i, or i bushel? You know 

 they are all sold for the same price. I do 

 think you need a bootjack held over your 

 head, friend II., if nothing more, for soberly 

 advising to kill bees under any circumstanc- 

 es. AVe find no trouble at all in uniting, and 

 we shall unite perhaps a hundred nuclei this 

 week. Well, now, if you believe in getting 

 along by making every after-swarm a colo- 

 ny of itself, why not give them a good queen 

 and build them up? It seems to me I can 

 take the latest and smallest after-swarm you 

 have, and by feeding and proper care make 

 it a nice little colony for winter. In fact, I 

 have always wintered such, so far as I can 

 remember^ and they will certainly sell for all 

 they cost.— Now a word about this swarming 

 mania. Why not control it by making the 

 swarm queenless, and giving them a frame 

 of brood? After they get well to work, give 

 them their queen back again. Surely this 

 would be better than to lose two days. How 

 about wintering in these pits? Of course, 

 you must make sure they don't fill with wa- 

 ter ; and to do this, each pit must have a 

 good under -drain. Well, let this under- 

 drain take in air, on the sub-earth principle. 



^1 I ^ 



MY REPORT FOR 1882. 



O. M. DOOLITTLE. 



fN the fall of 1881 1 had 80 colonies of bees to be- 

 gin the winter with, and for once at least I had 

 — ' the good fortune to be enabled to count 80 

 swarms all alive on the 15th day of April, 1882, all of 

 which were in fine condition. After the many hints 

 that were thrown out, that " Doolittle did not know 

 how to winter bees," I confess to being a little proud 

 of having it to say, nut one lost, and all in splendid 

 condition. But the last of April was unusually cold, 

 averaging co'der than the winter months, and by 

 April 30 some of my stocks were reduced to mere 

 nuclei. April 30 was quite a fine day, and I saw a 

 few loads of pollen come in for the first. An exam- 

 ination showed that my very best stocks at this time 

 had brood in only 3 frames, while the pooi-est had 

 none at all; but I thought warm weather would soon 

 bring all through right. May 2, as I arose early in 

 the morning, I found the ground covered with snow 

 to the depth of two or three inches, while on the 

 hills the sleighing was fair. Snow and frost was the 

 order of the day from this till the 12th, which killed 

 all the pollen blossoms that were ready to open. At 

 this time we had a few warm days, and soon pollen 

 .became quite plentiful, and the bees set about build- 

 ing up. Owing to the continual sickness of my fa- 

 ther, and other business pressing me, I reduced my 

 bees by sale to 45 stocks. Of these, 35 were tolerably 

 fair, and 10 weak. I decided to work 30 of the best 

 for honey, and use the remaining 15 for queen-rear- 

 ing. Apple-blossoms opened June 5, but it was so 

 cold, cloudy, and windy, that, with the exception of 

 a little honey obtained on the 8th, the bees got noth- 

 ing from this source. As but little brood had been 

 reared up to this time, there was more old honey 

 than usual in the hives, so I did not feel the loss of 

 the honey from apple-bloom as much as I should 

 had the case been different. White clover blossomed 



