620 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



sections, and one filled 3 cases of 56 1-lb. sections, 

 and worked considerably in the third. Honey taken 

 np to Sept 25ih, 7><6 lbs.; box, 546; extracted, 2t0. 

 The honey PCiison was good all summer down to the 

 middle of Sept , except from fruit-bloom to white 

 clover. Plenty of red clover and buckwheat, but 

 there seems to be no honey iu it. 



Do my best, I could not get buckwheat honey. I 

 have watched bees on it. and am satisfied that they 

 get but little, and that thin. I have a wood pas- 

 ture full of the so-called " lady-slipper. It grows 

 from 3 to 5 feet high, and very thick. My bees 

 worked on it from the first of July till late in Sept. 

 It grows only on rich, low, shadpd soil hfre. We 

 have horsemint and red clover in abundance, but 

 bees do not work on either. I have also taken 49 

 frames from upper stories; at 6 lbs. p r frame this 

 gives 294 lbs., and 10 more on hives yet to take off, 

 60 lbs. more. Total, 1140 lbs. for 3 in spring, and 

 those the little blacks at that. I wonder what those 

 boa>ted Cyprians, Holy-Land, Italians, and albinos 

 would have done here this season. I had empty 

 frames for two-thirds of my swarms, and two-inch 

 starters for remainder. 



I have got more honey this season from those 

 three in spring than when I had 40 and 50 colonies 

 heretofore. Tell your boys and girls, when they 

 talk about strikes, to "go west and grow up with 

 the C' uutry." Crops failed two years on my farm. 

 1 shall gel grain enough to fatten one hog this sea- 

 spn; nothing but hay, and that on a capital of fSOOO. 



J. E. Jakbett. 



West Point, Lee Co., Ta , Oct. 16 1883. 



Now, friend J., you have not, in all this 

 story, once snid how many stocks you go 

 into winter with. Yon see I have put it at 

 17, because you said that, after you hived 13, 

 the swarms swarmed four times more ; but 

 perhaps they have even more than that. It 

 IS wonderful, any way.— I do wish the boys 

 and gills who want to "sliike" would "go 

 west " and try farming a while, and see if 

 they wouldn't decide that sure poy. every 

 Saturday night, even if it isn't very large, is 

 about as good as other kinds of business 

 that have their ups and downs. I don't be- 

 lieve uny of the girls ever had any thing to 

 do with striking. If they did, I didn't know 

 it. 



BUKYIINO BEES IN THE OROUND. 



■ THE WAT FRIEND BOOMHOWER DOES IT. 



B? HAVE had considerable experifnce in wiuter- 

 , iiig bees under ground; and if properly done, 

 they are sure to come through in first-class 

 condition in the spring. I have rnad filtnd Huich- 

 insou's plan in Oct. No., and I think I can give a 

 better as well as a cheaper way of doing it. I have 

 buried bees in the ground for myself and for others 

 for the last 5 years; and besides, I have seen sev- 

 eral other bef-keepers who have practiced this 

 method for a number of years. 



The winter of 1881 and '83 will long he remembered 

 by bne-Ueepers in this pnrt of the State, as well as 

 miny others; but no bees wero lost that were bur- 

 ied on the plan that I am about to give. One ra^n 

 of my ac'iuaintnnce h^d 300 colonies buried, and 299 

 came out alive and in splendid condition. I had 24 

 colonies buried last winter in my out apiary; and 

 so well did they come out that they could not be 



seen to give off a particle of excrement, and I ac- 

 tually think they did not consume 5 lbs. of honey on 

 an average, per colony. Other lots came out equal- 

 ly well. So well do they winter on this plan, that I 

 would recommend all who have small lots and no 

 good cellars or chaff hives (and, by the way, 1 have 

 as yet seen but one chaff hive that is a success), to 

 bury in the ground. Below is a drawing of the plan, 

 which will be readily understood by any one. 



First, select a spot of ground that is somewhat 

 descending — so much so that surface water will 

 easily drain off. With a shovel or spade throw out 

 the earth as wide, or a little widfr, than your hives 

 are, and about 6 inches deep, and no deeper; cover 

 the bottom of the t ench nicely with some dry chaff, 

 buckwheat is best, but almost any kind that is dry 

 and fine will do, then cover the chaff with bo irds 

 just as wide as the trench; then take scantling 3x3, 

 or 3x3, just as one happens to have; lay it down 

 lengthwise of the trench, riirht down on the boards. 

 Carry and set the bees, without any bottom to the 

 hive, right on these scantling close together; then 

 take short boards, and stand them over the hives, as 

 in drawing; this fortns a roof; then take rye or 

 wheat straw, stand it up lengthwise, and cover the 

 hoards evenly with the straw about 3 Inches thick, 

 then cover with earth about 6 or 8 inches, and the 

 job is done. The earth is taken from each side of 

 the trench so when the whole is covered the bot- 

 tom of the trench from whence the dirt is thrown to 

 cover the bees is cnnsiderably lower than the b ittom 

 of the trench. This makes it impossible for any wa- 

 ter to collect or stand under the bees. The drawing 

 below will explain all. 



BEES IN A CLAMP. 



A is the hive in position. BR are the scantling on 

 which the hives are set. CC are the boards that 

 form the roof. D is the straw covered over the roof- 

 hoards. E is the dirt thrown from the trenches, 

 XX. FP are air-space. G is the chaff under the 

 board in bottom of trench. 



In burying bees I find only one objection ; that is, 

 where too many are put in one trench, the whole 

 get aroused before they are all put out when the 

 trench is oponed in spring. 1 would not advise put- 

 ting more than 13 or 15 in one trench. The bees win- 

 ter so well that, when the trench is opened, they are 

 so strong and lively that they are very quick and 

 active. 



If desired, f will tell In a future article how to pro- 

 ceed to take them out of the trenches in spring. 



F. BOOMHOWEB. 

 Gallupville, N. Y., Nov. 6, 18R2. 



Very good, friend T>. Burying bees is an 

 old idea, but your plan hns two features that 

 may be an improvement. First, making 

 sure they aie dry ; second, and most im- 

 portant, giving abundance of air. and get- 

 ting rid of all dead bees at one and the same 

 lime by omitting the bottom-boards. With 

 the covering you give, I presume no venti- 

 lators are ever needed. 



