1890 



•GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



65 



inge for tilling them, as the honey must be kept 

 away from the edge of the shell. In order to make 

 a proper job of sealing, it is necessary to counter- 

 act by cold the heat of the wax when sealing, as the 

 heat has a tendency to expand the contents, there- 

 by forcing the honey out through the hot wax, and 

 spoiling the job. I hope to have some of these 

 packages at the World's Fair in 189:i, as well as oth- 

 ers which are under way. 



THE DOVETAILED HIVE ; MOVING BEES. 



I am very much interested in the Dovetailed hive 

 for moving in the flat to and from out-apiaries; but 

 I suppose they have to be nailed about as well as 

 any other hive. I moved my bees last summer into 

 a basswood locality 1.5 miles from here, and I think 

 I was well repaid for the extra trouble and expense. 



THE PICTURE-GALLERY. 



I want to thank you a little extra for the illus- 

 trated supplement to Gleanings. I am sure there 

 are a lot of unspoken thanks among your subscrib- 

 ers. This letter gives me an opportunity to vent 

 mine. W. Harmer. 



Manistee, Mich , Dec. 30. 



RAISING QUEENS IN NUCLEUS HIVES. 



I should like to have you tell me how to start a 

 nucleus to raising queens. I have .53 colonies of 

 bees, and it is my second year in the business. 1 

 don't know every thing, and all the old bee-men 

 around here tell me it can't be done. If it can, I 

 want to do it this coming spring. 



Hammond, Wis., Dec. 23, 1889. A. E. Bradford. 



Most assuredly, nucleus colonies will raise 

 queens, if you make them queenless during 

 the warm months, or when bees can fly. It 

 is better to have the cells reared in full colo- 

 nies, then give the hatched queens to nuclei, 

 to be fertilized. Full particulars are given 

 in the ABC. You will be interested in 

 reading, also, G. M. Doolittle's book on 

 queen-rearing, price $1.00, postpaid. It can 

 be had of us. 



WARM WEATHER FOR BEES IN THE CELLAR. 



We put 156 colonies of bees in the cellar. The 

 last one was put in on Thanksgiviug day, and it has 

 been so warm ever since (4 weeks now) that it has 

 been very difficult to keep them quiet enough; but 

 by keeping the two windows open all the time, and 

 the door opposite windows open that come up- 

 stairs into the hall, and the outside hall-door open, 

 the cellar is kept dark and well ventilated; yet they 

 get so lively some days we are obliged to close the 

 windows, and throw water over the floor. I never 

 knew it to be warm so long in winter before. 



Roseville, 111., Dec. 26, 1889. Mrs. L. C. Axtell. 



We have been having remarkably warm 

 weather ; in fact, pansies in our flower 

 garden would stick up their pretty heads 

 during almost the whole of last December. 

 Yet our 40 colonies in the cellar have been 

 quiet, and the cellar has maintained a uni- 

 form temperature of from 44 to 4B degrees. 

 Our cellar is under the front room of the 

 house, and the windows are shaded, or rath- 

 er covered, by the floor of the front porch. 

 This darkens, as well as helps to keep down 

 the temperature. The walls, being 14 in. 

 thick of masonry, the temperature does not . 

 vary milch. 



NEW pollen; WARM WEATHER. 



We are having a very warm winter. So far it is 

 more like spring than winter, and has been so al- 



most all this and last month. The thermometer 

 is ranging from 70 to 80°. Our dooryard is sod- 

 ded with Bermuda grass, and it is now like a green 

 carpet. The maples are budded out, and the bees 

 have been bringing in a little pollen for three or 

 four days. Vegetable seeds that were scattered in 

 the open ground are coming up thick, such as to- 

 matoes, okra, and mustard; and corn is up two or 

 three inches high. I was raised in this county, and 

 have never seen any thing like it. I feel as if we 

 ought to be planting our crops. We have not had 

 cold weather, even to kill our pork. We have had 

 but few frosts yet, and then ice formed in water- 

 buckets standing out, only once or twice, and that 

 last month. 



My report for 1889. 



I commenced in spring, 1889, with 29 colonies, and 

 increased to 51. I took off, extracted honey, 2716 

 lbs.; beeswax, only 24 lbs. In lib. sections, not full 

 pounds, 1700. I left, I thought, plenty in hives, but 

 I may have to feed back some. Honey nearly all 

 sold. R. J. Mathews. 



Riverton, Miss., Dec. 26. 



A WARM CHRISTMAS. 



This goes to you to-day, to record the fact that 

 on Christmas day, 1889, all doors and windows are 

 open, birds singing, bees flying, flowers blooming, 

 at a temperature of 74° In the shade 1 Bees are 

 swarming on flowering quince, which is in full 

 bloom. We've had in) winter, except a few days in 

 November. A second crop of potatoes was plowed 

 up, and the ground sown to a late crop of buck- 

 wheat in the fall. The ones not gathered that re- 

 mained in the ground have produced a </iird crop 

 of nice rosy potatoes that we are eating now. 

 Strawberries are in bloom. C. P. Coffin. 



Pontotoc, Miss., Dec. 25, 1889. 



Warm weather during this Christmas does 

 not seem to be confined to the South. Even 

 here in the North we have been having pan- 

 sies growing in our flower-garden almost 

 every day in December. 



UNUSUAL weather; brood -rearing in -.J OF 



the COLONIES. 



This is Christmas day. Bees, so far as I can learn, 

 are wintering nicely in Central Ohio. We are hav- 

 ing a succession of beautiful sunshiny days; and 

 in looking over my apiary to-day I find that brood- 

 rearing is in progress to a limited extent, with 

 nearly two-thirds of my colonies. I do not think it 

 best, though, to encourage it at this season of the 

 year. Bees, so far, have consumed very little of 

 their winter stores. H. C. Moorehouse, 



Marengo, Ohio, Dec. 25. 



NO cold weather. 



1 have 71 colonies of bees in fair to extra good 

 condition, at present writing. We have not had any 

 very cold weather, but a great amount of rain. It 

 has been raining since five o'clock this morning, 

 and now, at 2 p. m., there are indications of snow. 

 I would say, with reference to Japanese buck- 

 wheat, to those who wish to grow buckwheat, there 

 is nothing to equal it, either for grain or bee-pas- 

 ture. H. P. Hackett. 



River, O., Jan. 1. 



UNUSUAL DECEMBER WEATHER FOR OHIO. 



How is this? The bees are carrying in pollen this 

 2l8t day of December, from dandelions. They are 

 out in abundance here in Eastern Ohio, and the 



