isg.*)* 



GLEANINGS IN UEE CULTURE. 



449 



MRS. HARRISON'S RETURN. 



Last autumn my attention was directed to 

 ttie lateness of the season in which bees were 

 working — carrying water, and pollen gathered 

 from asters in the river bottom, into November. 

 I was requested to make a note of this as bear- 

 ing upon the winter problem. The colonies 

 were left upon their summer stands, protected 

 in the upper story with chaff cushions. On my 

 return from Florida, April 15, all of the colonies 

 responded to my " How do you do?" with the 

 exception of four. Since then, in cleaning out 

 these hives, I judged from appearances that 

 they were queenless in the fall. The past four 

 seasons had been poor for honey, and, having 

 other duties more important, the bees were left 

 to their own sweet will. I shall hereafter con- 

 sider the rearing of young bees in the fall as 

 one of the adjuncts to successful wintering. 



SPRING FLOWERS. 



My way from Florida north was through per 

 peiual bloom, extending to Southern Illinois, 

 Alabama taking the prize. Her woods were in 

 fitting garb for the Easter lide. Some of the 

 trees that I was told by ri sidents were dog- 

 woods, were entirely covered with white blos- 

 soms, without leaves; others had green leaves 

 among the white bloom. Pink honeysuckles, 

 so light and fairy, were a thing of beauty, and, 

 when once viewed, will never be forgotton. 

 North of Mongomery the yellow jessamine was 

 very abundant, climbing to the tops of the 

 small pines, and bending their heads with the 

 weight of bloom. Passengers came into the 

 train carrying bouquets and baskets of flowers, 

 and boys offered them for sale at the stations. 



The orchards of Tennessee were in full bloom, 

 and a passenger from Nashville informed the 

 writer that they had had no fruit there for 

 three years, but had great promise for this. I 

 v/as surprised, on reaching Southern Illinois, to 

 find the peach-trees in pink, and still more so 

 on reaching home to find the buds showing 

 pink in our garden. Fruit-bloom has been 

 very abundant in this locality. 



Peoria, 111. 



paint. The groove in the cleat was given the 

 same, and put on and nailed into the end of the 

 cover-board while the paint was still wet. 

 They were then painted two coats all over, and 

 the crevices filled with paint, so that the cleats 

 were as secure as if they had grown there. The 

 bottom-boards were painted on all sides; but 

 the covers, being covered with tin, were painted 

 only on the parts not covered by the tin, except 

 at the ends. My hives are exposed to the sun and 

 weather the year round. They are of pine, 

 and were made by you. 



Albert Wittenmyer. 

 Emison, Ind., Feb. 25. 



[We never had any trouble with the flat covers 

 ourselves; but a few reported that they did. 

 The painting of the ends of all boards for cleat- 

 ed covers, of the old-style flat, or the new 

 Rigginsville. will add greatly to the durability 

 of the covers. — Ed.] 



HOW TO PREVENT THE FLAT fOVER FROM 

 WARPING. 



I see there is some trouble from cleated flat 

 covers warping, and, in consequence, you have 

 devised a ne-., cover to take its place. Now, I 

 have nearly 100 of the old covers, which have 

 been in use from one to four years, and they 

 never warp or check, and are as true as if made 

 of sandstone. The bottom-boards are the same. 

 Tliis is the way they were put up: Before put- 

 ting the cleats on the ends, the ends of the 

 cover were given a heavy coat of white-lead 



HIGGINSVILLE COA'ER WARPING. 



Editor Oleaiiings :— On page 13 of Glean- 

 ings for Jan. 1 you say, in footnote to my let- 

 ter, " The Higginsville model, besides the cleats 

 and gable strip, is made up of two boards; and 

 theory as well as practice shows that the warp- 

 ing tendency of the one will correct that of the 

 other." I am not much on theoiie'^, but I have 

 had five of these covers in use four weeks; and 

 although it is not yet summer they are warped 

 and twisted worse than any flat cover I have. 

 My covers must act diflferently from those be- 

 longing to others; for. instead of the "warping 

 tendency" of one "correcting" that in the 

 other, it seems to aggravate it. Two of the 

 covers fit fairly well, except that the groove is 

 too wide at the ends; and the thin edges of the 

 covers curl up. Two stand on three legs, and 

 the thin edges bow up. One does not fit down 

 square, and the cleats are warped so as to al- 

 most let the thin edges out of the grooves. 

 The gable strips of all are warped. I have not 

 a single flat cover in the yard but that is in 

 better condition. They are lighter, and blow 

 oft' easier, though no cover is safe here unless 

 fastened on or weighted. 



uncapped FRAMES OF HONEY GIVEN TO BEES 

 IN THE SPRING. 



I find f)'om careful tests, that, from each 

 pound of capped honey, the cappings if saved 

 will make on an average about H oz. of bees- 

 wax. This is quite an item when beeswax is 

 30 cents, and extracted honey 4 or 5 cents. I 

 have saved as much as 50 lbs. of wax from 30 

 colonies, run for exti acted honey (spring count); 

 just from cappings with scrapings of hives and 

 frames. Clark A. Montague. 



Sang Run, Md., April 15. 



[This doesn't tally with the experience of 

 others along the line of covers. You say the 

 cleats are warped so as to almost let thin edges 

 out of the grooves. There is actually more 

 wood in a crns-^ section of the Higginsville cleat 

 than of the ordinary flat cover. Under the 

 same conditions it should warp actually less. 

 You say further that the grooves are too wide 



