1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



395 



keeping bees in a warm room the year 

 round; how they can be success- 

 fully WINTERED IN A ROOM OF 70°. 



For the past six years I have successfully 

 wintered bees in a warm room which usually 

 ranged from 50° to 70°, and for four years have 

 had one or two hives in a window of the 

 Normal Building of this place. They are in 

 observatory hives, with glass sides fully expos- 

 ed the year round. During the winter they 

 seem quite at home, and very often single bees 

 can be seen crawling about with no signs of 

 uneasiness, and the cluster is in its usual semi- 

 dormant normal state, with no signs of disease. 

 They show no inclination to fly, except in pro- 

 pitious weather — especially if the entrance is 

 shaded if in the sun. Of course, they begin 

 brood-rearing very early, which is an objection 

 unless the bee-keeper wishes to relieve them of 

 some of their hatching brood to build up weak- 

 er colonies. 



Prior to building his house-apiary, our friend 

 F. A. Salisbury paid me a visit during the win- 

 ter, and was so well pleased with results above 

 given, that immediately he made preparations 

 to build his house-apiary, which has been de- 

 scribed in Gleanings, with arrangements for 

 artificial heating if necessary, but he tells me 

 that, with 100 colonies, a proper temperature is 

 maintained. 



I was surprised myself to know that, for 

 weeks at a time, they could thus be confined in 

 so high a temperature, and maintain a normal 

 condition; but, as before stated, when they 

 have the freedom to fly at all times they do not 

 care to do so any more than if they were 

 wintering outside in the open air. 



I give you this statement because it may be 

 useful to some of your readers, and because I 

 have never seen in bee-literature a similar 

 report. F. H. Cyrenius. 



"for purposes of income." 

 Editor Gleanings:— Referring to Dr. Miller's 

 Straw of April 15th I stand corrected. I use 19 

 combs to the hive, and figured the thing out on 

 that basis in the rough draft of my article. In 

 re-writing it, I thought that perhaps 15 combs 

 would be more nearly an average, and changed 

 the money part accordingly, but forgot to 

 change the number of combs from 19 to 15. You 

 people evidently do not read my article careful- 

 ly. I state that I consider the combs worth 75 

 cents /or purposes of income. I can buy hives, 

 bees, combs, and all, for one-third of the $14.00. 

 I can also buy a cow for 830.00; but if she paid 

 only 10 per cent on her cost she would find her 

 way to the "shambles" pretty quick. I have 



heard at least one of our most successful bee- 

 keepers (J. F. Mclntyre) estimate his combs, for 

 income purposes, at $1.00 each. I think that is 

 a little high. The question is. Is the use of a 

 comb during a season worth to you the interest 

 you could obtain on 75 cts.? If so, my estimate 

 is correct. 



I have bought bees in two-story hives — Gal- 

 lup frame — as low as si. 50 per hive, and have 

 never paid over $3.75 for any I have ever bought. 

 A few years ago I bought a cow for $40.00. I 

 sold $158 worth of milk and butter from her in 

 13 months. She also gave me a calf, and we 

 had what milk and butter we used in the fami- 

 ly. I set the calf and what we used ourselves 

 against her keep. Now, what was the income 

 value of that cow? Was it her first cost ? The 

 income value of property is fixed by what it 

 will produce. The cost of the property will 

 vary with circumstances. C. H. Clayton. 



Lang, Cal., April 34. 



[But can you really figure combs at 75 cents, 

 even " for purposes of income," so long as you 

 can buy them for one-third that or less? For 

 instance, a bee-journal costing only $1.00 may 

 save you $100 in one year. A common fifty-cent 

 pocket-knife may be worth to me several times 

 its cost. Indeed, I have seen the time when I 

 would have given dollars for a single crooked 

 pin. But intrinsically neither the knife nor 

 the pin. in items of cost, should be figured at 

 more than the market values. Insurance ad- 

 justers don't care a fig how much a machine is 

 worth "for purposes of income," but only for 

 what it can be replaced.— Ed.] 



In this issue it will be noticed that we have 

 started a department, " From Our Neighbors' 

 Fields." In times past I have made selections 

 from the various bee-publications; but these 

 were confined mainly to the editorial depart- 

 ment, and took much space, and oftentimes re- 

 quired a little introductory matter. Hereafter 

 most of such items will be put into a depart- 

 ment by itself, properly credited. It will be 

 made up of choice selections from our apicultu- 

 ral exchanges. 



The following appears in the Pacific Bee 

 Journal in their issue for April: 



Gleanings Is just a grand bee paper; but, say, 

 isn't she making- a bard flght to take California 

 away from the V. B. J. ? There are no less tlian five 

 articles from California bee-keepers in the last is- 

 sue, April 1, '9(5. Bee-keepers, don't help Gleanings 

 to knock down your home bee-paper. You have a 

 hard'nufl time as it is, with the low price of honey. 

 Keep up your paper, and thus keep up your own 

 business and yourselves. 



Why, bless your heart, the copy of the Pacific 

 Bee Journal from which the above was taken 



