933 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1.^. 



chaff hives. He has a wet cellar, and also a 

 garret. Where would it be best to put the bees? 

 Ans.—A garret is a poor place at best. We 

 have known of scarcely any good results in 

 wintering bees in such a place. We would risk 

 the damp cellar. Bat, friend F., for the health 

 of your family, if not for the health of your 

 bpes, drain that cellar out as soon as possible. 

 If the bees do not have dysentery, your children 

 may have typhoid fever, diphtheria, and all 

 the other bad ailments resulting from a wet 

 cellar. 



JV. E. J., of Ohio, says his bees are flying out 

 upon the snow, and dying by the hundreds, on 

 warm, bright days. He desires to know the 

 cause, and how the trouble can be stopped. 

 ^Tis.— Bright sunshine will, many times, call 

 out the old and diseased bees. It may also 

 draw out a few others. But generally we con- 

 sider that these old bees might just as well be 

 out of the colony as not; and if they are to die 

 soon they had better die with their carcasses 

 outside. But even if some young bees do fly 

 out with the rest, the loss is generally so small 

 as hardly to be worth considering. A bee here 

 and there means a very small number from in- 

 dividual colonics in a large apiary. 



the fall we (Cleveland Bros.) had a number of 

 nucleus hives with bees in them that were good 

 for nothing but to swarm out once or twice 

 every pretty day. These hives had a strip of 

 your zinc over the entrances: and when the 

 bees swarmed out of them the queens could be 

 seen running their heads through the perfora- 

 tions; but in every case they had to remain 

 lonely prisoners until the bees returned. Please 

 don't make the perforations smaller, but make 

 the queen larger. While looking at the queens 

 trying to get through the strips of zinc on the 

 nucleus hives, I observed that they could do no 

 more than just get their heads through the 

 perforations ; so it will be seen that it is a 

 queen's shoulders that prevent her from going 

 through, and not the abdomen, as many think. 

 James Cleveland. 

 Decatur, Miss., Nov. 18. 



[Thanks for your testimony ; let's have more.] 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT F I E U D S . 



BIG KESUI-TS IN HONEY, 1?Y THE ''SMALL FRY." 



I see by Gleanings you like to hear from the 

 small fry, so I thought I would tell you what I 

 have done the past season. I commenced with 

 47 colonies in single-story hives, 8 frames, and 

 got 4k; barrels of extracted honey, and increas- 

 ed to 151. Fifty-seven are in double-story, the 

 rest in single-story. I took live colonies in 10- 

 frame hives, and raised my queens at home. 

 When I divided or built a nucleus I always had 

 a queen ready, and from the 5 colonies I in- 

 creased to 33 all in first-class condition, with 

 plenty of honey. I worked two out-apiaries— 

 one of 100 colonies. I took 1.5 barrels; the other, 

 (57, spring count, 13 barrels of extracted honey; 

 increased to 93. We have a fine honey county 

 here— never a failure, so the oldest bee-keepers 

 say. All our honey-producing flowers are from 

 forest-trees, wild grape and other large vines, 

 excepting fall honey, which is from goldenrod, 

 heartsease, and wild aster. I have goneinto win- 

 ter quarters with 187 colonies, all in first-class 

 condition, with plenty of honey tf) pull tlirough. 

 They have only from 3 to 4 months' reSt here. 



If I am spared I am going to take 10 good 

 colonies and put th(>m in a good locality, and 

 increase to 100. I think I shall have no trouble 

 by raising my queens at home, and always 

 have one ready. I shall try it, and report 

 through Gleanings another fall. 

 Wrights, Miss., Nov. 19. J. H. Seples. 



QUEENS GOING THKOUGH ZINC. 



Replying to your request in a recent number 

 of Gleanings for reports of queen-excluding 

 zinc, I have to say that, of 65 hives on which 

 the zinc is u.'ed, two queens found their way 

 through. About the same proportion last year. 

 I would not have the openings any smaller. I 

 think them about right. I would rather a 

 queen would now and then go through than 

 have the workers troubled in passing. The 

 zinc used came from your shop. I have used 

 the Chicago zinc, and it excludes altogether too 

 much. C. H. Longstreet. 



Mount Dora, Fla., Nov. 2:3. 



[Your experience with the Chicago zinc with 

 perforation -^^ is exactly ours. Probably the 

 jVjtn size is as near right as any thing can be, 

 under the circumstances.] 



A HORIZONTAL CONE BEE -ESCAPE. 



I send you by mail to-day my new bee-escape 

 which I devised. They work very nicely with 



root's PERFORATED ZINC ALL RIGHT AS IT IS; 



PERFORATIONS SHOULD NOT BE 



NARROWER. 



As you call for reports from those who have 

 tried your latest zinc, I will tell you what I 

 know about it. I have used it between the up- 

 per and lower hives; have had hundreds of 

 queen-cells built above it; have had them 

 hatch and get <o laying above it, all with the 

 old queens below, and have never had one go 

 through it. I have also used it one other way; 

 and if' it were possible for queens to go through 

 it under any circumstances they would have 

 gone through under this. In the early part of 



me. The block is to represent a honey -board. 

 Alfred Ferguson. 

 Guilderland Center, N. Y., Nov. 3. 



[We see no reason why this escape should not 

 work nicely. We will explain to our readers, 

 that the end of the cone, as shown in the part 

 of the block broken away, is tapered down so as 

 to just barely let through a bee. The wire 

 cloth at this point, as will be noticed, is frayed 

 out, leaving sharp points to intercept bees go- 

 ing the wrong way. We should like friend Fer- 

 guson to tell how the principle works in prac- 

 tice.] 



HOFFMAN frames WITH STRAIGHT TOP-BARS 

 AND V EDGES PREFERRED. 



I see on page 845, Nov. 15, Dr. C. C. Miller 

 speaks of self-spacing frames and dummies. I 

 have not had experience with bees and hives as 

 long as Doctor M. has, but may be I can give 

 him some suggestions regarding the Hoffman 

 frame and hive. The hive I use is a little differ- 

 ent from others. It is 13J^' x 19>§ inside. I do 

 not rabbet the ends of the hive, as I nail on a 

 separate -^h board the full width of hive, and 

 reaching to the bottom-board. On this I nail 

 the tin rabbet. I use the straight top-bars 



