498 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



July 



is, and how the bees hum over it. The 1 lb. of 

 rape you sent, I sowed last spring, and received no 

 benefit therefrom. The bugs took it until the 

 weeds came up. Then we gathered a few seeds, 

 which I threw broadcast over my oats this spring, 

 and I believe that every seed has come up, and is 

 all yellow all over. Whether the oats is a bug-pro- 

 tector, I Ijnow not. Bees have not done well so far 

 — at least mine. It has been too rainy for them. 



Peter J. Petrt. 

 Port Washington, O., June IH. 



HEAVY LOSSES IN BEES. 



Eighty per cent of the bees died in this vicinity 

 last winter. 1 lost about 97 per cent. The losers all 

 wintered in cellars. C. M. Lincoln. 



Rupert, Vt., May 20. 



DISCOURAGING FOR IOWA. 



Up to June 3d the weather was very dry ; the clo- 

 ver was burning up with the hot winds. We have 

 had but little rain for the Itiet two years, and this 

 spring has been excessively dry, and now the 

 weather is cloudy; for days, damp, misty, and chill. 

 Bees have been nearly starving, and to day they are 

 putting out drones. There is considerable white 

 clover in bloom. We need lots of rain and then 

 sunshine. The spring was cold, hence our bees did 

 not breed as rapidly as desirable. I fear our har- 

 vest will be very limited. I think Gleanings is 

 getting better and better, when I compare our 

 Gleanings of years ago with Gleanings of to-day. 



Lucas, la., June 10^ E. B. Morgan. 



heavy losses in winter ; DUG-OUTS VERSUS 

 CELLARS. 



Bees in this part of Minnesota have come out 

 rather poorly. One man near here put 30 colonies 

 into the cellar last fall, and now has only one left. 

 Others have lost half of their bees, :ind but few 

 have come out without heavy loss. Bees are doing 

 nicely now, although it is quite wet for them. I 

 have 40 colonies now. I have had good success 

 with the bees for the last few years. Three years 

 ago I went from 43 to 6. I was then trying to win- 

 ter bees in dug-outs in the bank, but found that 

 that was a failure. I then made a cellar for them. 

 I bricked it up inside, and put in a cemented floor, 

 and a frame inside of the brick wall, and lathed and 

 plastered on the frame. Since then my bees winter 

 in good shape. , I. C. Smith. 



Lone Tree Lake, Minn., June 13. 



PROSPECTS DISCOURAGING. 



It has been one of the worst seasons for bees, for 

 a number of years. Last fall, bees went into win- 

 ter quarters in apparently good shape. The losses 

 last winter were very heavy. While your humble 

 servant did not lose a swarm, many have lost heavi- 

 ly. Some have lost about a quarter, some a third, 

 some a half, some three-fourths, and a few lost all, 

 or nearly all. Of these, one lost six out of eight; 

 one lost all; one lost 39 out of 40. Bee-keepers in 

 this section are becoming much discouraged. All 

 through the month of May we had only four bright 

 days— no chance for any thing from fruit-blossoms. 

 Dandelions are gone, and hardly enough honey is 

 gathered for brood-rearing. Raspberries were kill- 

 ed last winter or spring, so there is nothing to be 



had from that source. Up to this date there is no 

 clover in bloom. Most of it winter-killed, so that at 

 the present date the bees can hardly hold their own 

 —not a spoonful of surplus yet. The season may 

 yet open up very favorably. Time will tell the 

 story. D. Noble. 



Clintonville, Wis., June 16. 



0a^ 0WN ^Pi^i^Y, 



CONDITCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 



CONDITION OF THE BEES. 



Our spring has been very backward, and 

 it began to look as if the summer would 

 bring us no nectar. White clover has been 

 in bloom now for nearly two weeks. The 

 farmers round about report seeing more of 

 it than they have seen before in a great 

 many years, yet, until the 22d inst., no hon- 

 ey had begun to come in. Prior to that 

 time the bees had been living from hand to 

 mouth ; in fact, we had been feeding all of 

 the colonies more or less, to keep them from 

 curtailing brood-rearing, if not from actual 

 starvation. Again, the bees are at work 

 storing honey pretty rapidly just now, the 

 28d. 



THIClv TOP-BARS. 



The great rush in other departments of 

 our establishment, together with the sick- 

 ness of clerks, has prevented my experi- 

 menting in the apiary as much as I ought to 

 have done. I finally sent out some thick 

 top- bar frames. They were wired on Kee- 

 uey's plan, filled with foundation. It is 

 hardly time yet to tell how we shall like 

 them, although we feel pretty sure that 

 they will never sag. 



OUT-APIARIES. 



By reason of the great rush in other de- 

 partments, as above spoken of, and the 

 backward spring, we have not located an 

 out-apiary this season. On account of 

 orders for bees and queens, we shall need 

 all the bees we can scrape up at home. 



CARNIOLANS. 



We have now a colony of the above bees 

 in our apiary, that are as gentle and nice to 

 handle as any Italians we have in the apia- 

 ry, and this colony bred pretty hej^vily in 

 spite of the backward season. Mr. Spafford 

 says, however, as to their disposition, they 

 are at times a little more nervous than the 

 Italians, he thinks. They seem to be a 

 trifle larger in size. That was the impres- 

 sion I had formed of those we had a year or 

 so ago. These Carniolans were obtained of 

 Dr, S. W. Morrison, who is now about to 

 sell off all his Carniolan apiary, being oblig- 

 ed to go to Colorado Springs on account of 

 the ill health of his wife. 



Since writing the above I have tested a 

 little more the temper of the Carniolans. 

 We always open the hive now without 

 smoke. "We made quick motions over the 

 frames, pointed our fingers at them— in fact, 

 did every thing we could to irritate them, 

 except to jar the hive, and they are certain- 

 ly gentle. They prove to be good comb- 

 builders, good breeders, and have as much 



