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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



Zed said of course they would. 



" And do they always cluster right in the 

 ■middle of the hive as far from the walls as they 

 ■can git?" 



Zed allowed they didn't. 



" No," says 1, " when you hive a swarm in an 

 empty hive, the first thing it does is to cluster 

 up as tight as it can git, right up again the 

 ■walls." 



"Yes," says Zed, "of course they do; but 

 ^that's because it's hot weather, and they want 

 >to git where it's as cool as they can." 



Then you ought to heard Jim laugh. " Zed's 

 .got the start of you," says he. 



"Do you mind," says I, "that little swarm 

 we hived under the pear tree, and it turned 

 .nearly freezin that night? How was it when 

 we turned up the hive to look at it the next 

 morniu? " 



Zed's pirty fair on an argument; I'll say that, 

 if he is my boy; and he owned up rightstraight 

 that the swarm was shrunk up to almost noth- 

 in in one corner of the hive. 



Just then a knock came at the door, and a 

 wild-eyed female individual entered with a 

 handbill in her hand which she held aloft, and, 

 ;says she, in exsighted axseuts, "Is Rambler 

 here? I'm his slighted Eugenia!" Ci 



Then she shook the handbill, and, say s she , 

 "That's what comes of havin' foreign women 

 so plenty. He deserted his dear Eugenia be- 

 cause he wanted a woman of royal blood! 

 Nothing but a queen would do him! And to 

 think that it's come to that, that one of them 

 would offer herself for three dollars!" 



Jim whispered to me, and, says he, " She's off 

 in her upper story." 



"Maybe she is," says I; "but Rambler has 

 much to answer for." Jake Smith. 



WHERE SHALL WE WINTER BEES? 



Question— 1 have several colonies of bees for 

 the Urst time in my life, and wi^h to know 

 where and how it will be be><t to winter them. 

 vShall I put them in a cellar, wrap them up, or 

 let them be as they are for winter? 



Answer.— Them is probably no better place 

 to winter bees than in a good dry cellar; and if 

 the questioner has such a cellar I would advise 

 him to set his bees in it for w intering. While 

 this is not absolutely necessary for safe winter- 

 ing, and not as necessary in our southern as in 

 our more northern localities, yet ther« will be 

 a great saving of honey to the apiarist, as well 

 as better chancL-s of successful wintering, even 

 as far south as all but the most southern tier of 

 States. If the cellar of the questioner has a 



variable temperature it will not be as good for 

 the bees as would one in which the temperature 

 could be kept as nearly at 4.5° as possible; yet 

 if the temperature Ooes not go above .50°, nor go 

 lower than 35, it will winter bees much better 

 than to leave them on the summer stand un- 

 protected. If the cellar is of more variable 

 temperature than this, the bees would be doubt- 

 less better oft' out of doors. To properly fix the 

 hives for wintering in the cellar they should be 

 carefully carried in on some morning when it 

 is a little cooler outside than the temperature 

 which is required for the bees to fly, and never 

 when the hives are frozen down to the bottom- 

 boards or to the ground, if this can possibly be 

 helped. When the hives are thus frozen down, 

 the jar and confusion which comes from pry- 

 ing them loose results in great irritation to the 

 bees, and causes them to consume so much 

 honey that it often leads to unsuccessful win- 

 tering afterward. After getting them to the 

 cellar the hives should be set on a bench a foot 

 or more oft' the cellar bottom, and the hives 

 raised by some means at least two inches off 

 the bottom- board or bench. Failing lo do this 

 the hives will not be properly ventilated, and 

 the result will be that the bees may become 

 uneasy from lack of proper ventilation, which 

 will cause them to consume more stores than is 

 necessary to their existence, thereby needlessly 

 using up the honey, and often leading to dis- 

 ease and death. If it is not convenient to thus 

 place them, the hives may be turned bottom 

 side up if the Irames are fast or box hives are 

 used, and a light thin fabric of some cotton 

 goods thrown over the hive; still, the first is 

 much to be preferred. I also believe that the 

 cellar should be dark, or that part of it in 

 which the bees are wintered. Some claim that 

 bees will winter as well in a light cellar as in a 

 dark one, which may possibly be so if all of the 

 conditions for successful wintering are present; 

 but as such conditions are usually not all pres- 

 ent in many (if any) cellars, it is always best 

 to be on the safe side; hence the advice to have 

 the cellar dark. 



If the cellar is lacking in many of the quali- 

 ties which go to make a good cellar for winter- 

 ing bees, then it may be best not to try it at all, 

 in which case we must try the next best plan, 

 and one which is quite well suited to all lati- 

 tudes south of 44° — that is, wintering on the 

 summer stand packed with chaft', fine hay, or 

 straw. While a chaft" hive is the preferable 

 thing, yet it is not supposable that all may 

 have such hives, so we must fix the bees the 

 best we can according to our environments. If 

 you do not have chaft' hives, go to the store and 

 procure dry-goods boxes of a suitable size, or 

 otherwise make them, in which the hives can 

 be set, and leave room all around for the pack- 

 ing. A space of about four inches is the right 

 amount to leave, for experience has proven 



