182 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1. 



commonly producfd from thfi best quality of 

 oak-bark. M. M. BALmtiDOE. 



St. Charles. 111. 



FINDING BEE-TKEES IN WINTER. 



It may interest the readers of Gleanings to 

 learn how to hunt bees before the snow is off 

 the ground in the spring— especially those who 

 live near large timber. It is well known by all 

 persons conversant, with their habits, that, 

 aft(!r a long confinement, the bees will improve 

 the first good opportunity to have a general fly. 

 Such an opportunity almost always comes 

 toward spring. There comes one or more very 

 warm days the last of February or first of 

 March, and the bees are out in force, so to speak. 

 Now is the time to look for the bees that either 

 get chilled, snowblind, or, perhaps, from age 

 and debility, fall to the snow and are unable to 

 rise. You may find some, twenty or thirty rods 

 from their tree. But as you gel nearer you will 

 find them more plentiful, and immediately 

 under the tree you will find the snow stained, 

 so that it is not a hard matter to locate them. 



Bees falling on the soft snow will soon sink 

 by their natural heat, so that it is essential to 

 look, at least before there is any more snow 

 falls; and the sooner after their fly. the better. 

 I found three trees last winter, or spring— the 

 first two by finding the dead bees as above 

 stated, and the third by seeing them flying on a 

 warm day. although the snow was a foot or 

 more deep in the woods. The first one found 

 was a basswood, the second a butternut, and 

 the third a large hard maple. I am satisfied 

 that bees have but little choice as to what 

 kind of tree they go into. I have found them 

 in nearly all kinds of wood. I now call to mind 

 that I have cut 8 pine bee-trees, five hemlock, 

 three basswood, three maple, one elm, and one 

 butternut. If they go into one kind of timber 

 more than another it is because there is more 

 of that kind within their reach. 



Sullivan, Pa., Jan 17. A. Dewey. 



[It would look as if winter, or the latter part 

 of it, were just the time to find bee- trees. 

 When found they can be marked, and, later, 

 can be taken. — Ed.] 



FEEDING BACK— A PROFIT OF .50 PER CENT. 



In Gleanings for Feb. 1.5th, friend Taylor 

 gives about the same i-esults that I have reach- 

 ed in feeding back. I have fed to finish up un- 

 finished sections for the last three years, and I 

 agree with him that there is a profit in it of 

 about .50 per cent. Now about the work in 

 feeding back: Come and see me and I will show 

 you how to feed 300 lbs. a day, and not take 

 over an hour's time to prepare the feed and 

 place it where the bees can get it— no daubing, 

 no robbers, and you can tell at a glance every 

 day what colonies are in need of a new supply 

 of extracted honey. Just let me whisper to 

 you, that,during the one year that I kept track of 

 every thing, I made .?5.00 per colony during the 



month of August for each colony fed. That 

 year I fed extracted honey to 9 colonies to fin- 

 ish sections, and I spent onlv about 15 minutes 

 per day feeding. Results, M.5.00 for the month 

 of August. This is nearly ?2.00 per day. 

 Doesn't that pay? 



My new bee-house is nearly ready for bees; 

 and just as soon as possible I will get two or 

 three photographs taken, showing the outside 

 and the inside of the building. 



Syracuse, N. Y., Feb. 18. F. A. Salisbury. 



[I am not only glad that Mr. Taylor proved 

 himself right in our last issue, but that he has 

 such a good man as Bro. Salisbury to come for- 

 ward and substantiate his statements, over an 

 independent route. As soon as the photographs 

 are received the engravings will be made, and 

 will appear in due time. — Ed. J 



STOPPING LEAKY GUTTERS, ETC.; ALSO SOME- 

 THING ABOUT "SANDPAPERING"' GAR- 

 DENERS AND FLORISTS. 



For leaky gutters in greenhouses or cracks in 

 wagon-hubs, mix any good paint and apply 

 with a brush, and have some hot dry sand and 

 pour in, and work it into the crack with the 

 brush. That will dry and not shrink. If the 

 crack is very large it may need two applica- 

 tions. 



Sometimes my hands chap or crack. I find a 

 piece of sandpaper will cut oflf the rough piece 

 of skin, and cut down to where the skin is hard; 

 and then a little glycerine will heal them up 

 quick. I find the sandpaper excellent in reduc- 

 ing corns and bunions on the feet. I think it 

 far superior to cutting them with a knife. 



To kindle a fire easily we have a 3-lb. peach- 

 can, with one end out. We put in an inch or so 

 of coal oil, and put in six or eight corncobs 

 point down. We take one of these and lay it in 

 the stove where it can be lighted from the draft, 

 then put in some kindling and wood: light the 

 cob, and you have a fire in short order. 



Geo. M. Kellogg. 



Pleasant Hill, Mo., Dec. 1(5. 



Well done, friend Kellogg. Any man who has 

 set glass on the modern plan, with thick putty 

 and dry sand, ought to have known what a 

 grand cement it will be for fil'ing up cracks in 

 any thing exposed to the weather; but I confess 

 it never occurred to me before that gardeners 

 and florists needed sandpit per ing more than 

 people in general. Why, since you mention it I 

 really believe the thing I have been suffering 

 for for years is a good thorough '•sandpaper- 

 ing;" and I rather think it ought to be done 

 every little while. What a beautiful world this 

 would be if all the rough spots and corners of so 

 many queer and curious people were to get a 

 good sandpapering regularly! Yes, we all need 

 it more or less. And, by the way, old friend, 

 making such a trip as I did, and meeting such 

 people as yourself on the way, has (or at least I 

 hope it has) knocked oft' or smoothed down a 

 good many of the rough points in a naturally 

 vehement disposition. Your corncob idea is a 

 good one; and, by the way, if any of the friends 

 should run short of corncobs, the State of Mis- 

 souri alone can supply the world, and I shouldn't 

 wonder if they would put in an extra shovelful to 

 make good measure, if yon will only mention it. 

 -A. I. R.] 



