1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



483 



purpose. We doubt whether a young queen 

 allowed to hatch above would get through the 

 hive safely with the swarm.] 



PUNK AS A SMOKER FUEI^. 



I have tried nearly every thing in shape of 

 a smoker fuel, but I have found nothing to 

 equal what we call punk — a corky, fungus sub- 

 stance that grows around old stumps. When 

 this is thoroughly dried, by using a little oil or 

 shavings to start it you have a fuel that is 

 lasting, and always smoking. It seems to mak« 

 no difference whether your smoker has a draft 

 or not; standing upside down or in any position 

 it smokes just the same. I have fretiuently, 

 when through work, emptied the contents of 

 my smoker on the ground, and dumped a pail 

 of water over it; and when happening to pass 

 by it an hour later I have found it smoking as 

 much as ever. The smoke is not as offensive 

 as that from shavings or oily waste. 



Soraerville, N. Y. L. B. Thatcher. 



[We formerly used punk, and liked it very 

 much ; but shavings are just as good, more 

 available, and cheaper. They are offensive to 

 bees, and that is just what we want of them-J 



GOVERNMENT DISTILT>ERIES, ETC. 



Our house was burned with contents; all bee- 

 literature is gone, with library. Cause, my 

 husband reported an illicit distillery to the 

 government officers. Tobacco and whisky go 

 together here. Four-year-old children chew 

 the one and drink the other. M. E. Haavkins. 



Horse Cove, N. C. 



[My good friend, your report is a sad one; yet 

 there are some encouraging glimpses about it 

 after all. Even if our government does have 

 some sort of share in legal distilleries, it is very 

 severe on illegal ones; and if it is really true 

 that you and your family have suffered for 

 righteousness' sake, and that others are suffer- 

 ing in a similar way.it seems to me the gov- 

 ernment should take some means to recompense 

 those who are bold enough to risk the conse- 

 quences of exposing crime. I am sure th(^ sym- 

 pathies of our readers are with you in your 

 attempts to bring the guilty to justice. May 

 God help us if there are many localities like 

 what the statement in your last sentence indi- 

 cates. It indicates the tremendous need there 

 is for more Sunday-schools, more Endeavor 

 Societies, etc.] 



SHALLOW VS. DEEP FRAMES FOR AVINTERING. 



I have to plead guilty to a loss of 1(5 out of .57, 

 and possibly two or three to hear from later. I 

 think, though, my own losses could have been 

 entirely avoided had I known in advance the 

 kind of winter we were to experience, and made 

 sufficient preparation for it, as my losses were 

 all in one division of the apiary. Perhaps, 

 though, it will be a lesson wpII learned (though 

 slightly expensive), and the experience derived 

 prove of more practical value than the worth 

 of the colonies lost. I am using the Adair 

 frame at present, and find that, in comparison 

 with the shallower Langstroth ihe past winter, 

 it is much better, but still not as good as the 

 much deeper (13-inch) box hive. Now, don't 

 think that I am going to advocate the box hive. 

 I am merely drawing comparisons on the win- 

 tering problem. The shallow Langstroth 

 frame .seems to give too small a space below the 

 sealed honey for a successful outdoor wintering 

 frame, as the bees in a protracted cold spell 

 begin to crawl upward on the sealed honey; 

 and a colony that comes to the top of the 

 frames during a six-weeks' cold spell may as 



well be charged to the profit-and-lo.ss account 

 then and there. 



The theory of handling colonies as colonies, 

 and that, if we use double-walled and chaff 

 hives, the bees will do the rest, has got to go, 

 and scientific bee-keeping has got to be practic- 

 ed on scientific principles. Anyone can winter 

 well in the right kind of winter; but we need 

 more light on the "bad-winter " subject; and, 

 what is more, we need it badly. My losses 

 have b<'en heavier th(! past winter than in the 

 five preceding winters put together. 



Baptisttown, N. J.. Apr. 10. Wm. W. Case. 



WHAT WE ARE AND ARE NOT SURE OF IN BEE 

 CULTURE. 



The bees nearly all froze last winter here. 

 Some men lost all they had. The chaff hives 

 and a good warm cover saved mine. The bees 

 seem to do better by taking the gum cover off 

 and spreading a coffee- sack on the frames. 

 The moisture then comes up through, and the 

 box does not get damp. I believe the honey 

 business in our country is like the white mail 

 and the Indian with the turkey and the buz- 

 zard. If you have a large strong hive, they 

 swarm; and if you have a small hive, you get 

 no honey, every time. It is what we expect that 

 makes life worth living. We expect honey this 

 year. If we don't get it we will try it next 

 year, and so on. The only thing 1 have been 

 sure of is a bunged eye once in a while; but 

 still I like the little sharp-footed fellows. I 

 think I am like the Democrats with Cleveland 

 — they like him for the enemies he has made. I 

 am a young bee-keeper, and have told a little of 

 my trials with bees, and now wait to hear from 

 some of the cubs in the business, as we have 

 been reading from the master hands so long. 



Irwin, Pa., April 13. O. L. McGrew. 



[That's so. If a colony is strong enough to 

 work well in the sections it will swarm; if it is 

 weak enough not to swarm, it won't get much 

 honey. We therefore look forward with relief 

 toward the non-swarraing methods that have 

 been proposed of late. See Trade Notes in the 

 last two issues before this. Say, if you really 

 don't want a " bunged eye," wear a good bee- 

 veil; that is just what nearly all the "old 

 cubs " do.] 



NOT IN FAVOR OF THE OLD CHAFF HIVES. 



My experience this very severe winter has 

 rather cooled my faith in the virtues of chaff 

 hives over single-walled hives. Last season 

 Mrs. Brown hived a swarm above the frames in 

 a chaff' hive, and left them to go down on 

 frames. This they concluded not to do, but 

 began business in the upper story. The hive- 

 cover was a gable-ended one, with two-inch 

 side-walls between the roof and the hive. It 

 did not fit down on the hive, aud left space 

 for bees to pass in and out, and was very airy 

 all around. 



When discovered, the bees had built comb on 

 the roof, and so much of it^and had so much 

 brood, that I concluded to let them have their 

 own way. They certainly were about as much 

 exposedas they could well be and not be entire- 

 ly out of doors, and yet they came through 

 winter in very fine condition. About the 10th 

 of April I concluded I would transfer them to 

 the frames. I found them very strong, with 

 lots of sealed and unsealed brood. 



The colony that sent out a swarm to-day was 

 wintered in a single-walled hive. When I dis- 

 covered the swarm it had settled on an elder- 

 busli, and was a tine large one; but before I got 

 ready to hive it, it left the bush and went back 

 into the hive. After they got settled I concluded 



