22 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



used a quart oyster can, one of the tall ones with a 

 corn cob and some little sticks in them and on the out- 

 Bide, it is a real tedious job the wav we had to feed 

 our bees. Mrs. S. J. W. Axtell, 



Roseville, Warren Co., Ills. Nov. 22nd, 1873. 

 Our Friends certainly deserve success after 

 the discouragements they have met with, and 

 we have no doubt but they will be prepared to 

 give us an encouraging report next season. 

 With the sugar stores they have so bountifully 

 supplied them we should consider their chances 

 for safe wintering almost a certainty. 



DEAR NOVJCF: On page 5 of No. 1. Vol. II. of 

 Gleanings 1 find a very proper expression, which 

 deserves mentioning. Sometime ago we were taught 

 to measure bees by the quart, by brother Hosnier. 

 This has done a great deal of mischief. All of my 

 friends anil myself included, understood a quart of 

 bees to be a very small swarm. One of my zealous 

 fri ends reduced his swarms to a Quart by shaking 

 the superfluous bees on the snow. The large number 

 of bees in the hives was what had ruined his bees in 

 Winters before this. Now he had it ; but alas! that 

 Winter, my friend lost almost all he had. I had sup- 

 posed that and told my friend so when I learned what 

 he bad done. Now, we understand a quart of bees to 

 he a good strong swarm, that is, what we call a good 

 strong swarm in winter. I don't blame brother Hos- 

 mer; no doubt he knew what he meant, but the ex- 

 pression "a quart of bees" was very unhappy indeed. 

 Now, answering Mr. Patterson's questions who asks 

 how many combs should be covered by a colony in 

 October to enable them to winter, you say! "If you 

 do not see bees clustered in at least three spaces "du- 

 ring a cool day you had better not undertake to win- 

 ter them. If they can be seen In four spaces call 

 them fair, live spaces good, six spaces line, seven 

 tip top," etc. 



This is perfectly plain and cannot be misunderstood 

 by anybody. I therefore move that all quart measures 

 be abolished when speaking about our bees hence- 

 forth. 



Charles F. Mini, Cincinnati, O. 



I am wintering 3 swarms of bees on box honey one 

 year old, the bees in like condition as near as possible 

 to last winter, to find out if I can whether it was 

 honey or season that caused destruction among my 

 bees one year ago. 



Thomas PieksOn, Ghent, Ohio. 



Give us the result by all main* friend P. such 

 experiments are worth more than whole col- 

 umns of theory. 



Mr. N. what am I to do, in looking over my bees in 

 the middle of Dec. I found they were getting in a bad 

 condition, the combs were Met' and mouldy. I went to 

 work as per Gleanings and made each bive a quilt, 

 1 put them on top of frames over the bees and put the 

 honey board over them, the honey boards have three 

 ventilator holes in them, have 1 done right? I have 

 them in a room in the house, the temperature ranges 

 from 34° to "ii ° so tar. I mii keeping a diary of the tem- 

 perature in the room tit. in the first of Jan.; the fourth 

 of Jan. was a warm day. 1 carried most of them out, 

 they had a good fly, carried them back at night and 

 BO they remain. 



1 have a small room I am keeping a light stock of 

 bes in for experiment and feeding them all they will 

 take of sugar syrup, the temperature ranges from 40° 

 to 70° do you think they will increase in strength be- 

 fore spring? They are very lively now, I have a cage 

 tbr them right against the window so they can exer- 

 cise themselves when they choose. I have no trouble 

 witli them going back in the hive. 



Would it answer at the time when we use the ex- 

 tractor to move the hives and bees say 50 feet from 

 their stand ? 



M. RiCHAHDSON, Port Colborne, Canada. 

 Don't put a honey-board over the quilt by 

 any means. At a temperature of 50" we 

 should prefer removing even the quilt if the 

 bees' were kept in by wire-cloth. We are very 

 giad to lirai' you have succeeded in letting the 

 bees fly in doors, tell us how the colony turns 

 out by all means, as we have told friend Pier- 

 son just before you. Your plan for extracting 

 we think would not do; you would get the 

 young ] ': es Los1 and possibly the Queen. 



I have extracted IS gallons this month, wanned the 

 room to about 85° had no trouble extracting; have put 

 uji a few jars, find them lull of particles of wax, is there 

 any way to get rid of it ? give me what information 

 you can and much oblige. J. H. Bolles. 



Jan. 23rd, 1874. Watertown.Wis. 



If you use a strainer of cheese cloth, such as 

 we described in Vol. 1, attached to your ex- 

 tractor, you will have no such trouble. Heat- 

 ing honey to the boiling point injures the sale 

 of it by darkening the color, but the honey 

 may be evaporated to any desired consistency, 

 even to candy, in a slow oven without injury. 



I cannot agree with J. Bolin as to cold killing bees ; 

 in the winter oi '71— '72 I wintered a st< ck in a3-8 pine 

 nail keg, very open, which stood on the west side of a 

 shed some three feet off the ground so as to get all the 

 benetit of all the cold winter blasts ; they came out all 

 right in the spring. 



We have many such reports which it seems 

 to us Mr. Quinby too, would do well to con- 

 sider in rendering his decisions. Our friend 

 goes on to attribute the cause to dampness 

 from frost etc. but we have many severe cases 

 of it where they were kept in dry cellars that 

 did not freeze at all. He adds further : 



I dug a hole and put one in, put boards over it 

 and piled on straw, fed it all winter on sugar-syrup, 

 and my experience was, and I examined them every 

 time it was warm, that if there came a thaw lasting 

 some days, but not so bees could fly, they would com- 

 mence to soil their frames ; if they could fly it would 

 cease. Ed. Wellington", Kivertoii, Iowa. 



Just as we should expect, for syrup fed in 

 cold weather unless days occur that the bees 

 can fly, invariably produces dysentery or some- 

 thing much like it; as we have said repeatedly, 

 it must be sealed up in warm weather- 

 Sealed honey, however often produces the 

 most aggravated cases. We, should have pre- 

 ferred to have the bees out of the hole, and in 

 the sun. 



CONCERNING PROBLEM NO. 19. 



st^jRIEND NOVICE:-! have been letting a few of 

 jCrJ- my bees fly according to the following plan. 

 _L Make a "light frame about two feet square, 

 cover the four sides with wire-cloth and the top with 

 thin boards except a square hole in the center, about 

 as large as the inside of the hive; place a swarm of 

 bees on this cage in a warm room and let them fly. 



Do you think it will be an injury to the bees ? 

 Jan. 5th, 1874. Henhy Pauiek, Hart, Mich. 



An appeal fc<- further particulars brought 

 the following : 



The bees do get back into the cluster all right. In 

 all those examined since their flight, have found 

 brood : they had none before. 



Jan. loth, 1874. II. P. 



It seems the above must answer the purpose. 

 It might prove an injury to a strong colony to 

 start brood-rearing in Jan., but we think it- 

 would certainly prove advantageous to a weak 

 one, providing they could have warm quarters 

 in which to mature their brood. 



Our own experimental colony after losing 

 quite a number of their force in the wire-cloth 

 house experiment, survived but a short time 

 after a second reduction of their numbers, 

 caused by carelessly shutting down the wire- 

 cloth cover to their hive. Of course they flew 

 to the windows and as it was, just about, the 

 first of the year, in our hurry they were not 

 noticed until 'twas loo late. 



With the Simplicity hive we think flying 

 room could be given in extra stories placed 

 either above or below with ..'■.-cloth, to ad- 

 mit light and to prevent them from getting 

 out and lost. 



