H96 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



(lays (luring the wiiitci' for a fly; but of lato 

 years most of our best apiarists bcliovc this is 

 of no sp(-cial b(^n(^Ht. 1 used to carry mine out. 

 up to about t\\ olve years ago. At tliat time I 

 commenced to experiment by so airanging in 

 the fall that I could carry a ])ai't out without 

 disturbing the rest: and when there came a 

 warm day these were carried out. and the rest 

 l(^ft undisturbed. "J'he result i)roved that, on 

 the whole, those not touched wintered a little 

 bett(>r, if any thing, than did those taken out: 

 consequently I have not carried a colony out of 

 ;''ie cellar for a cleansing flight during the last 



n yeai's; only as two oi' thiee have been 

 L.irried out and fed. as I feared they would 

 starve befoi'e spi'ing. Some say, " Leave them 

 as long as they ar(> quiet;*' but my experience 

 has been that there is nothing gained by cariy- 

 ing out the uneasy ones, should thei'e be any 

 such; for if they are going to die. carrying out 

 for a flight d(jes not se(^m to help tlu^in much if 

 any. 



4. '• V\'ould there be any injury to bees if 

 })lacf^d in a cellar under a kitchen "where there 

 is lots of noise all winter?" 



If the bees are so arranged that no jar comes 

 to them, so fai' as my experience goes, noise 

 does no harm. It is the jar tluit arouses bees 

 in the winter, not noise \\itliout jari'lng. To 

 illustrate: In sighting my rifl(> one pleasant 

 winter day Ifin^d it within' eight feet of two or 

 thiee hivesof bees. Just before tiring I listened 

 at the entrance of these hives and heard the 

 low hum of the bees which we always hear: 

 but befoi'e I had tired ten shots these same bees 

 were all in an uproai-. many coming to the en- 

 trance. At the time I laid it to the noise: but 

 thinking differently a few days afterward. I 

 again lired the same number of shots 50 feet in 

 front of the hives (the first having been tired in 

 the rear), .so that the noise might j'each them 

 at the entrance, and they were not disturbed In 

 the least. I now finnl at the same distance as 

 at first, when they became agitated the same as 

 before. (;. ,M. Dooi.ittlk. 



Koiodino, N. Y., 8ept. 1(5. 



Friend D., we are exc(^(:'dingly ol)lig( d to you 

 for your answers on th(> above subjects. I be- 

 lieve we almost if not entirely agree w ith you 

 in regard to Cyprians and Syrians. — In I'egard 

 to the cleansing flight in winter time. I think 

 tile general decision is about as you give it. So 

 many have testified to excellent wintering right 

 under tlic kitchen, where there is lots of noise, 

 we can not think the noise would be any objec- 

 tion, providing the hives rest on the ground, 

 and tlie jar of the floor does not shake the 

 hi\'es. 



CALIFORNIA. 



TIIK NIJ.SAXCK OF ODD-SIZKI) FKAMES. 



In my California letter on swarming I did not 

 say any thing about th(> swarm that took an old 

 oil-can for a lumie. nor the one that built in the 

 hollow shell of an old pmniikin. nor yet of the 

 one that came down llie chimney into the tire- 

 place below, to the astonishment of the family 

 in the room. This last was do\\ n near the riv- 

 ei', where there is more timber than here. Such 

 ■I'e sonu> of the wonders of Califoi'nia bees. 

 They are put into all soi'ts of boxes for hives. 

 Nail-kegs, baj'rels. and stor(>-boxes I have seen 

 used. Biven where regulai' hiv(>s ai'e made, they 

 are nuide according to the size that the luml)er 

 will cut best for. nu)re than to any regular or 

 standard size. A dealei' in supplies Jiei'e showed 



me his patterns for cutting foundation by: and 

 how many do you think tliere were? About 30. 

 I should say. though I did not count them. It 

 is everywhere evident in California bee-keejj- 

 ing. that the bees are made to be secondary to 

 other consido-ations. They are not valued here 

 as they are in the East. The tixtvncs of an a|)i- 

 ary. including liixcs, contain a larger per cent 

 of the value of an apiary here than there. It is 

 not so haixl to increase here. Sul])huring, or 

 killing bees, is often done to get the lioiny. 

 wher(» some one has taken a swarm or two in a 

 box or keg some months before. 



In the ajiiary we bought, we found about four 

 sizes of frames for the same size of hive. The 

 hives and frames were substantially made of 

 good material, and would have been good pro])- 

 erty had the maker fortunately understood the 

 ))roper size of a bee-space. I can say that I un- 

 derstood fai- better what th(^ itrojjei- distance 

 was before commencing with bees at all than 

 the owner of this apiary did. I I'cad the A I> C 

 book, and had the fundamental principles well 

 fixed b(>foi'e commencing. 



We found frames in our ajjiary that we could 

 hardly jjush down b(>tween the waxy walls of 

 the hiv(>. and frames that stood away fully "4 of 

 an inch from the sides, and frames that did not 

 ct>me within more than an inch of the top of the 

 ones below. The bees were obliged to build in 

 between in order to crawl up on the ujjper 

 frames, which tnade very bad work when re- 

 moving a frame. I suppose Mr. Hoot wouldn't 

 tolerate such frames for a day longer than abso- 

 lutely necessary, and I am sure we will not. for 

 they would drive us out of b(^e-keeping alto- 

 gether. Uuying and selling bees is much hin- 

 dered here l)y the many sizes of hives used. 

 The buying of be(>s usually means a transfer to 

 your o\\ n size of fi'ames, and there is not much 

 selling in lots less than a whole apiary. 



The avei-age California bee-kee])er is ai)t to 

 ''lump" things, as the expression is. If it is a 

 good yeai' he ex])ects a good yield of honey : 

 and if a jjoor one. he reasons that it doesn't 

 make much difference. I can not say that the 

 bee-nten hei'c are as pr(3gressive and intelligent 

 as they might be. Among the large bee-keep- 

 ers are men of fully equal capacity to those in 

 other lines of business; but it se(Mns to be re- 

 S(n'ted to sometimes as a make-shift way of 

 getting a living. Perhaps I am wi'ong about 

 this, and the neglected appeaiance of many 

 California apiaries may be due to the fact that 

 persons of small means take this way to pro- 

 cure a living, and stn tch theii' capital to ac- 

 c(mti)lisli as much pi-ictical result as jjossible. so 

 that the apijearance is much neglected. After- 

 ward these i)ers(ms embark in other enter- 

 prises, and leave the apiaries in the hands of 

 others jtist comnuMicing business, so that no 

 outlay is made in the \\ ay of taste and ap|)ear- 

 ance. If the outward ai)peaiance of many api- 

 aries and their suri'onndings were any index to 

 the quality of the honey produced. I should not 

 wonder tliat it brings a low price in the \\ orld's 

 maikets. Some one who could get \\\) extracted 

 honev as nicely as ISIi-. Terry does iiis sti-aw- 

 berries would doubtless find it to pay. It is 

 jjossible to cleanse oil-cans so that they are 

 clean, and free from taint: yet carelessness in 

 their use has doubtless done much to lower the 

 quality of the California product. 



BKKS AND FIU'IT IX CAMFOUNIA. 



"Bees versus fruit" is a question I sui)p()se 

 you who are old bee-kee|xrs have discussed un- 

 til vou hardly care to say any thing more about 

 it. lint it is all new to m(>: and when I saw the 

 fruit of mv neighbois covered with my bees I 

 supp(jse I felt that tliere were at least two sides 

 to the (|uestion. It is claimed by some here, 

 that the bees eat into Sound fruit to obtain the 



