fiO 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



•Tax. 15. 



as the colony of boes rnmains alive inside. Hut 

 should any colony die, then the combs and 

 honey lak(! on moisture very similar to the door 

 and (lagging; and if the colony should die soon 

 after being set in, the combs would become 

 quite moldy by the time the bees should be set 

 out; but as I have not lost two per cent in this 

 cellar of late years, not many combs thus be- 

 come wet and moldy. 



Perhaps some of the readers of Gleanings 

 would like to know how the bees appear. They 

 are so quiet that 1 stood with a lighted candle 

 in front of one colony, holding the candle with- 

 in fifteen inches of the bees for three minutes, 

 and I could not see that a single bee moved at 

 all: but a little breath from my mouth upon 

 them, at the end of this time, made them all 

 raise their abdomens and thrust out their stings, 

 and in a minute more they were crawling 

 about, some nearly ready to fiy at the light, 

 when I withdrew from them and looked else- 

 where. Some of the strongest colonies have 

 nearly as many bees hanging below the bottom 

 of the combs as one- half of your hat-crown 

 turned bottom up would be, while others show 

 just a row of the points of the abdomens stand- 

 ing out all along between the bottoms of the 

 combs, while still others are up so far between 

 the combs that no bees are to be seen from the 

 bottom of the hive. To any lover of bees, the 

 first and second described are so enchanting to 

 look upon that it becomes almost bewitching, 

 and it is with reluctance that I leave the cellar 

 every time I go in. To look on a cluster of from 

 two to three quarts of bees hanging below the 

 combs, like a swarm in July, all perfectly 

 motionless, and each bee lapping over its neigh- 

 bor like rows of shingles on the roof, right in 

 the middle of the winter, with the mercury out- 

 side at from 10 above to 15 below zero, is a sight 

 which will dispel the blues, and a sight which 

 is apt to give almost any one the " bee-fever." 

 At least, I find that I have a touch of that dis- 

 ease myself at this time, although I have kept 

 bees now for 2.5 years. 



Borodino, N. Y., Jan. 3. 



I)0 DKONES CONCENTRATE ON ANY PARTICULAR 

 HIVE? 



Do drones ever concentrate on any particular 

 hive, and eat it out of house and home, as it 

 were, during the working season or any other 

 time? Jehe. LaRue. 



Perris, Cal., Dec. 19. 



[We never knew the drones to concentrate 

 upon any particular hive, although it is possi- 

 ble, that they may do so. If you were a begin- 

 ner we might suggest that possibly the killing- 

 off of the drones at the proper season when hon- 



ey stops coming in would bring about the effect 

 you describe, rhe bees push them out of the 

 hive, and they concentrate, as a matter of 

 course, around the entrances. They certainly 

 look hungry enough to eat the colony out of 

 house and home.— Ed.] 



STRONG FOH THE TEN-FRAME HIVES. 



I have been much interested in the discussion 

 of the eight vs. ten frame hives. I give you a 

 little of my experience in this section in using 

 the two side by side for three seasons. 



I got more honey and better swarms each 

 year from the ten-frame hive, from one-fourth 

 to one-third difference, with that much more 

 winter loss in the eight-frame, for which I set 

 .50 out of the eight-frame to the ten-frame hive. 

 Most bee-keepers are discarding their eight- 

 frame hives for the ten, in this section. 



For extracting I tier up two and three stories 

 high, using eight frames above in a ten-frame 

 body to save so much uncapping. For comb 

 honey I tier up with supers as room is needed. 

 Swarming is harder to control in eight-frame 

 hives — more inclined to swarm, and not so 

 large as from the ten-frame hive. 



We have had three very poor seasons here for 

 bees. I have only 125 stands at present. 



Washington, Ind., Dec. 3. S. D. Cox. 



A POOR year for W. K. BALI,; the ADVAN- 

 TAGE OF EXTRACTING IN POOR YEARS. 



We had a very poor season here; still, I think 

 my bees did well. I took 13,000 lbs. of extract- 

 ed and 1500 lbs. of comb honey from 100 hives. 

 I think that is good for a poor year — don't you? 

 1 find there is a big advantage in extracting, 

 over raising comb honey, in a poor year. I sold 

 my old stock of bees last winter, and went to 

 California (near the town of Hanford), and got 

 100 colonies of Cyprians, with a mixture of 

 Italians. They are good workers, but tearful 

 stingers. My comb honey is not as white and 

 nice as common. 1 lay it partly to the poor 

 season and partly to the strain of bees. I am 

 going to try the Carniolans next year. I un- 

 derstand they make very nice white comb 

 honey. I don't like that greasy-looking comb. 

 Is it the Italian or the Cyprian that makes the 

 dark-looking comb? I received 20 Carniolan 

 (iueens from Mr. Lockhart, and expect 4 more. 

 They are very nice. 



Reno, Nev., Nov. 13. W. K. Ball. 



CARP CULTURE, ETC. 



Mr. Root: — Do you remember the pond under 

 my greenhouses? Well, you put a good deal of 

 enthusiasm in me when I read your " Carp Cul- 

 ture;" so, two years ago, I put in 35 carp, 4 to <i 

 inches long, and now there are thousands of 

 them. The old ones are 10 to 14 inches long, 

 and we can drop in a hook at any time and 

 catch one. I had not tried to catch one till this 

 week. I don't care what others say, as for me 

 and^my house, we rate carp a No. 1 fish. When 

 I was in Medina I thought A. I. 's carp-pond 



