"novice's" gleanings in bee culture. 



21 



II KIDS or «RAL\ FROM DIFFER- 

 ENT FIELDS. 



DYSENTERY". 



W'E insert the following as it gives a 

 very fair idea of the great bee dis- 

 ease or dysentery : 



I can give you nothing that is fresh in the 

 be9 keeping line. It must be the old story 

 over, and what do your care for that? We 

 shall never get tired of talking of our losses 

 last, spring and winter. For 16 years past I 

 have wintered my bees in one place, a large 

 dry cellar, from 80 to 100 swarms, and often 

 not lose a swarm. Last fall my cellar was 

 never in better condition, all the stocks 

 strong in bees and honey, honey very thick, 

 all frames nicely capped, and hives properly 

 ventilated. The dysentery began its work 

 about the first of February picking out here 

 and there a swarm, ten or fifteen swarms 

 were not affected at all; but all were very 

 much reduced in number caused by the con- 

 fusion in the cellar of the affected swarms. 

 My actual loss in the cellar was only 4 swarms 

 from 83, but when 1 carried them to their 

 summer stands in April, then the few bees 

 left in the affected hives, with their queens 

 iu every case, came out. So of those small 

 .'-warms that came out the first day and lit in 

 one swarm most all of them had queens, left 

 brood in all stages, plenty of honey, hive dry 

 and in good condition, for the excrement was 

 on top of the honey board and outside of the 

 hive, I returned many to their own and 

 other hives, gave them fresh box honey, but 

 stay they would not, for when flowers came I 

 had but 40 left from S'!, and they were in very 

 weak condition. To show you I had bees 

 enough when my bees went into winter quar- 

 ters .; I carried out in the spring 1 bushels ul 

 dead bees from the cellar bottom. Bees were 

 swept off all over our State in this way. We 

 had a hard drought to contend against this 

 summer, very little swarming and but small 

 amount of box honey. My bees, 51 swarms, 

 arc back in their old winter quarters and in 

 very fair condition. Let us see the result this 

 winter, Yours, Truly, 



Ripon, Wiii. R. Dart. 



We presume you ait know that we take 

 the position that there are always at hand 

 simple remedies for all evils in bee keep- 

 ing, if we only work earnestly to get 

 them; and in Mr. Dart's case we would 

 first intimate that however thick and good 

 boney may be, it doe?, nevertheless, often 

 produce the result, mentioned; but had their 

 stores been sealed su^rar syrup no such 

 confusion would have resulted. In regard 

 to leaving their hives in spring as the re- 

 sult alter such excitement, caging the 

 queens for a few days might have saved 

 them, but great care would have been 

 necessary to see that they were not de- 

 serted and chilled. Mr. Hosmer s ideas 

 in Jhc Keeper's Magazine are good but. 

 not quite sufficient we think. One of 

 ours swarmed out in this manner three 

 times last spring and only gave it up 

 when we gave them a new locality. Mr. 

 Shaw, Chatham center, this county, uses 

 a contracted entrance to keep the queen 

 inside, and it the bees go back to their 

 own luvo all is well. He lost more 

 queens in this way with clipped wings 

 than those which were not clipped for 

 they will assuredly swarm out all the 

 same. 



Fes. luth, 187*:, 



A great many bees are dying in this part of 

 the country this winter, from the combined 

 effects of dysentery and no shelter during the 



long continued cold weather. I bavc lost six 

 of seventeen, and expect to lose more. 

 Others have had still greater losses ; one man 

 has but five left of fifty-five ; another four of 

 thirty, others have lost various numbers- 

 ranging from three to eight, from lots of ten 

 or less to thirty ; the loss being greatest where 

 the bees were increased most by dividing last 

 summer, the result is that some are begining 

 to decry movable comb hives and extractors. 

 One man said to me "I tell you you must 

 throw away those patent hives and take the old 

 box num." He doesn't take the American Bee 

 Journal. Another has sold his extractor for 

 half price, offers his empty hives for sale, 

 and is going back to the dark ages of the box 

 hive. He doesn't take the American Bee 

 Journal either. Hoping these rough items 

 will not weary you, I am 



Respectfully, Yours, 

 Hudson, 111. Edgar Sagkh. 



Bless your heart, brother "Novices," 

 send along the "rough items" by all 

 means. And above all things give us re- 

 ports of the disasters and difficulties in 

 bee keeping. We believe those who have 

 the best opportunity of judging, agree 

 that dysentery prevails alike in box hives 

 and frame hives ; and among those win- 

 tered iu doors and on their summer 

 stands; and also those that gathered 

 their honey early in the season as those 

 that had all but the late honey extracted : 

 though single localities may seem to favor 

 at times any one of the above reasons 

 jriveri. So many cases have been report- 

 ed when the honey was thick and capped 

 over that we are forced to think that thin 

 or even sour honey has but little to 

 do with it, but until some one can give us 

 a plain direct fact, showing that bees have 

 ever been troubled with it when confined to 

 a diet of pure scaled sugar syrup, wc must, 

 insist that the preventive is simple and still 

 easy. Could our readers all see our bees 

 at this date, Feb. 12th, healthy, natural 

 and quiet, we think they too would have 

 some of the faith that we have. One 

 marked colon} 7 that was given mostly 

 natural stores, as an experiment, has 

 soiled the front of their hive; and bees 

 are dying with it in our neighborhood, but 

 we think from reports that colonies left 

 out doors are dying most. We most 

 sincerely pity the bees aud their owners, 

 but feel sure that this great drawback to 

 successful bee keeping, is sure to be made 

 to yield to our earnest endeavors to 

 conquer it. 



J. W. Johnson, Shelby ville, Ind., write?: 

 Bro. Novice. —Will not three or four thick- 

 nesses of newspaper answer tbo same purpose 

 of your quilt? I uso this, it is cheaper and 

 more convenient than quilts. 



We have used them some, but they tear 

 easily, are more trouble to put iu place 

 and our bees tear them up and cary thevw 

 off in little bits. 



Geo. F. Palmer, of Cincinnati, Ohio. "Do 

 you ever sell specimen eopiet of your Gallup 

 style of hive?" 



Yes, and can furnish them at the same 

 price as the "dollar" hive, but if questions 

 keep coming at the rate they do now, we 

 wish some other bee keeper would make 

 better hives than we do and sell them 

 cheaper. Tt can be done. 



