SO 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



March. 



Gleanings in Bee Culture, 



Published Monthly, 



.A.. I_ ROOT <Sc CO., 



EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS. 



MEDINA, OHIO. 



Terms: 75c. Per Anniim. 



For Club Rntes see Second Page. 



IMIEIDinsr.A-, 1s/LJ^R. 1, 1874. 



Mil. Muth, sends us a sample honey Label in blue 

 and gold with a Langstroth Bee Hive thereon that is 

 rather neater than any thing we have seen heretofore. 



We can furnish Gleanings with the A. B. J. for 

 $2. 25 ; with Mrs. Tupper's Journal, for the same ; with 

 Bee Keeper's Mag. $1.50, or all four of the above for 

 $4.00. Terms, invariably cash in advance. 



Just as we feared, and 'tis the Prairie Farmer that 

 has copied from the A. B, J. the article on the Worth- 

 le.ssness of the Italians. 



They have our thanks however for the aid they 

 have given toward establishing a Standard Frame, by 

 giving our article on the subject. 



In Mrs. Tupjwr's Journal for Dec. page 287 we read : 

 "Three thousand and six hundred workers will till a 

 quart measure. * By careful count we find One thous- 

 and nine hundred and eighty eight clean, dry dead 

 bees fill a quart measure, and judging therefrom we 

 think one thousand live Italians would have to be 

 squeezed some to get into a quart measure ; at our es- 

 timate of $1.00 per quart, ten bees are worth just one 

 eent, so you can see just how expensive 'tis to use a 

 hive that smashes the little innocents. 



E. Kretchmer & Co., Coburg Iowa, write us they in- 

 tend rearing 1000 $1 Queens the coming season, all 

 from Imported Queen mothers ; also that they sell a 

 hive thoroughly painted for $1.00, without frames, all 

 of which would be pleasant news were it not that Mr. 

 K's. Circular, like his book gives one a very unfavora- 

 ble opinion of the man. He seems now even more un- 

 scrupulous than of old, in copying the ideas of others 

 as his own, and goes so far as to even make extracts 

 in such a way as to entirely change and subvert tiie wri- 

 ters original meaning. In regard to his business hab- 

 its we know nothing further than that he does not 

 scruple to receive money for "rights'' to devices, 

 knowing they are utterly worthless for the purpose 



intended. 



> ♦ • 



It were no more than just to our correspondents to 

 inform them, while thanking them for their favors, 

 that it is utterly impossible to publish one fourth part 

 of the good articles sent us for publication. For inst- 

 ance : we have now on hand at least a dozen on win- 

 tering, worthy of a place but matter of more impor- 

 tance at this season, demands we dismiss the subject 

 again until fall. In one of our former circulars we off- 

 ered to pay for new, valuable matter, and we do so 

 yet, but it should be borne in mind that unless the 

 writer has had the care of a considerable number of 

 colonies, the chances are much against his article be- 

 ing considered one we can afford to pay for. No apol- 

 ogy need ever be made for writing us on Bee-culture; 

 'tis our business to carefully read and weigh the con- 

 tents of each letter. Questions of a general nature we 



prefer to answer through these pages, all others with 

 very few exceptions will receive prompt answers, t0> 

 the best of our ability, by return mail. Where a sub- 

 ject has been discussed at length in the back numbers 

 we cannot do more, than refer to such numbers. 



Mr. King, in speaking of the decease of Agassiz re- 

 marks; "He repudiated the repulsive Darwinian doc- 

 trine of development, with all the force of his impul- 

 sive nature." We hope we shall be excused for won- 

 dering if Mr. King too, has not read Darwin : it is not 

 our province here to discuss his theory, but 'tis his. 

 due to state that Darwin's experiments with bees, to 

 determine in what manner their combs are built (see 

 Origin of species, page 218 to 224,) were perhaps more- 

 thorough, than any similar ones ever made by our 

 modern bee-keepers. No Apiarist can fail to see that 

 every line of what he writes on bees was the result on- 

 ly of careful and patient observation. 



It may be well to state here that we first saw the 

 book after having written our criticism on Agassiz'' 

 "Life in the 15ee Hive" in our June No. of last year; 

 it was then handed us by a friend, remarking that our 

 account of comb building strangely agreed with Dar- 

 win's observations on the subject. 



How much of Agassiz' Life in the Bee Hive was real 



observation, and how much guess work, Mr. K. knows 



full well. "Truth is mighty etc.," and should not b-> 



smothered, even out of respect to the memory ot 



those departed. 



» ♦ ♦ 



We find to day, Feb. 9th, three more colonies dead. 

 Two of them obviously died as did the two former 

 ones, from lack of bees ; the other presents to us a 

 case not easy of solution. It had been one of our 

 most active colonies of hybrids, and in fact the hive 

 was christened the "Robber Chief" on account of 

 their propensity to hustle out all hands at the faintest, 

 intimation of any such disturbance. 



After their journey to the swamp, (they had been a 

 populous two story hive) we found a large amount of 

 dead bees on the bottom board, and a week or two la- 

 ter when they were fed, another heap of dead bees 

 was brushed off; and on lifting them to go into win- 

 ter quarters still another heap remained on the bot- 

 tom board. An examination showed they had still 

 kept dying until the last of them perished among 

 clean combs of sealed sugar syrup, no trace of dysen- 

 tery, and the bees were dry and clean. We can think 

 of nothing amiss'unless the bees were too old, but this 

 seems very unsatisfactory, for some brood was reared 

 in the fall we feel sure, we cannot now recollect how 

 much, nor how late. It hardly seems proper to call 

 this a disease when the bees seem so perfectly healthy. 



Mr. Wilkin and some others mention similar cases. 

 All the rest of our colonies with a few exceptions- 

 seem to be wintering finely. 



P. S. We measured three quarts of dead bees al- 

 though every dead bee was carefully removed from 

 the hive when housed Nov. 22nd. 



Feb. 16 We have just purchased two loads of 



course, fermenting manure at the livery stables ; plac- 

 ed three hives on their summer stands with the en- 

 trances turned southward, directly under the grape 

 vine trellisses; placed about 6 inches of manure under 

 each, then protected the hives from being discolored 

 etc., by standing cheap shingles all around them and 

 on top", then covered the whole hive < xeept the en- 

 trance at the south. As the hives are but (i feet apart 

 we make a winrow as it were of manure over each row 

 of hives. The idea is to use manure enough to pi'evtnt, 

 the hive being exposed to a freezing temperature at 

 any time, on the wan of a mild hot bed. The Simplic- 

 ity Mves again . snow their great advantage over the 

 others with their projections ; but a very small amount 

 comparitively, being needed to cover the former, both 

 of shingles and manure. 



