120 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct- 



taming the brood and sealed stores, and empty 

 their temporary combs as fast as filled, or ex- 

 tract all unsealed stores. We think we should 

 prefer sealed honey to unsealed syrup. One or 

 two wrote last winter saying their bees 

 \\\ie doing finely on uusealed stores notwith- 

 standing all that had been said against it. 

 Late in the spring one of the most sanguine of 

 them wrote as follows : 



DEAR NOVICE:— My bees have all gone to the 

 d— d— d— dogs this winter; did not have one left 

 when the weather became fine enough for bees 

 to fly. So I have commenced afresh with 17 swarms 

 that I bought last week, all natives. Now Sir how 

 would it work to winter bees in this way, say have 

 both stories on with the bottom story empty, no frames 

 nor comb in it, have combs frames and bees in the top 

 story with a straw honey board on the top, and sun 

 cap over that, and place them on the south side of an 

 S foot high tight board fence. I think of trying this 

 plan next winter if vou are in favor of it. My experi- 

 mental swarm I spoke of last winter, in the room, did 

 not increase the least ; the young bees would not come 

 to perfection from some cause or other, and I could 

 not keep my store room in which I kept my bees, cool 

 enough to keep them quiet, and through fooling about 

 With them lost them all. 



M. RlCHAKDSON, Port Colborne, Canada. 



The plan you mention friend M., has been 

 tried, and gives no especial advantage. A 

 strong colony often winters well in this way, 

 as they do in hives without bottom board at 

 all, but much more food is consumed. 



It should be borne in mind that a very strong 

 colony can be safely fed, later than a weak one ; 

 if their hive is full of bees they can evaporate 

 and seal up, but beware of giving a feeble col- 

 ony in a large hive a large amount of stores, 

 after the weather has become too cool for them 

 to ripen it. All such experiments, so far as 

 we can learn, as taking bees into a warm room 

 In the winter time have proved failures. What 

 will be accomplished by utilizing the heat of 

 the sun's rays in winter time remains to be seen. 



Some writers claim to have Queens hatch in 9 days, 

 I never had one hatch in less than 10 days— unless it 

 was the first lot 1 ever raised, and I have often thought 

 the mistake was mine. Never have seen one of the 

 Queens that only live two or three months. How 

 long will a fertile worker live ? G. M. Doolittle wrote 

 a number of years ago, that a pure Queen mating a 

 black drone would never show any black bees among 

 her worker progeny. I have had a good many Queens 

 that mated impurely whose worker progeny never 

 showed any black bees. 



T. G. McGaw, Monmouth, 111 



season, with sugar, that, we don't like to think 

 of their being idle during warm weather. Our 

 friend Dean who has had such success in send- 

 ing Queens great distances, gives them nothing 

 but honey in a sponge. A sponge filled with 

 water does not answer for long distances ; it 

 evaporates and the sponge is dry, while the 

 honey remains unchanged. 



DEAR NOVICE & Co.— Just now with us, it is dis- 

 tressingly hot and dry, not a particle of honey in the 

 fields, still the bees arc flying at a rapid rate. "Do you 

 ask what they are after? I answer water, water. 

 Writers tell us", as well as our own experience, that 

 bees require water to prepare food for the grubs. 

 With me, breeding for the present is suspended, no 

 grubs to be provided for, still the bees drink an im- 

 mense deal of water, they require it for their wwi bod- 

 ies, they also furnish the' Queen with a liberal amount. 

 My close daily observation this summer has fully 

 satisfied my mind, that many, very many Queens sent 

 by mail and express, during intensely "hot weather, 

 are lost while ''in transitu" solely for the want of 

 water. I am not a Queen breeder,"but an occasional 

 Queen buyer, and hence, feel an equal interest with 

 the breeder in safe transportation. 



J. H. Wilson, Sen. Lexington, Texas. 



If you allow your bees to be entirely without 

 brood in Aug., we fear we shall have to con- 

 sider you a bad bee-keeper. Why don't you 

 get ready for the yield that is coming? Water 

 is a very good thing no doubt, but aint it rath- 

 er "thin" for a regular diet? Joking aside 

 friend W., we presume you know your own 

 business Inst, hut we have been so well pleased 

 with the plan of keeping things lively this 



I sent to Mr. Alley last year and got an Italian 

 Queen, she lived till May this year, then was missing. 

 Bees raised live Queen cells, the Queen they saved 

 was lost in bridal trip. Then I was plagued with a 

 fertile worker and they actually made Queen cells on 

 drone eggs. I gave them a black Queen and after she 

 had laid a quantity of eggs, she disappeared and they 

 raised another Queen which now reigns I suppose. 

 Now I have been plagued with that hive beyond ac- 

 count, and if I had not kept it up with brood and bees 

 it would have gone up ere this time. 



John Dawson, Pontiac, Mich. 

 We dare say you have had far more trouble 

 with the hive than if you had made an exam- 

 ination of it once in every week, or two weeks 

 even. Fertile workers never make their ap- 

 pearance in a well conducted apiary, and they 

 may almost be considered as only an evidence 

 of inexcusable carelessness. If a Queenles-- 

 hive has fresh eggs given every week or ten 

 days, they will never appear; they are only 

 seen when the colony lias no Queen, and no 

 means of raising one. With proper hives, w r e 

 can remove a frame from the center of tin- 

 cluster and see if the Queen is all right, in five 

 minutes at least, and he who cannot take this 

 trouble whenever the deportment of the bees 

 outside seems to indicate a want of thrift, de- 

 serves to have trouble. We are well aware 

 friend D., that you are not the only one who 

 allows a hive to go, ''weeks" without a Queen, 

 but it is assuredly at a loss, for all that. 



You say you suppose they have a Queen now , 

 we advise you to suppose nothing about it but 

 look and see, at once. 



Please tell me whether a stock will be any more 

 likely to accept a strange Queen after having been 

 Queenless for a time ? 



Ila Micheneu, Low Banks, Ontario, Canada. 



We think as a general thing they will. 

 Should they however have been Queenless so 

 long as to induce fertile workers, the case 

 would be different. A steady yield of honey 

 has more to do with a favorable reception than 

 any thing else we know of. Regular, liberal 

 feeding until comb building has commenced, 

 we think comes next to it. 



Can Queen bees be sent from Ohio to this place 

 through the mails? If so what would each Italian 

 Queen cost me here, and how soon in the spring could 

 you furnish me with a small number? Bees begin 

 swarming here the latter part of Eeb. 



D: F. McFakland, San Diego, Cal. Sept 3d, 1874. 



We think our friend Dean, of River Styx, 

 will send them without trouble, but it is diffi- 

 cult to furnish dollar Queens here before July. 



Some one asked you the question— will it do to win- 

 ter in the long hives? I believe you answerd, yes. 

 Shall we give the bees the whole length of hive, giving 

 them plenty of honey, pollen, and a lew empty combs 

 in middle? or shall we restrict them to a limited por- 

 tion of hive, giving i hem the balance of room in spring 

 as they may need it ? J. II. Wilson, Sen. 



We have had no experience in wintering in 

 the long hives, and are therefore unable to de- 

 cide. We should favor a division board, having 

 uniformly had much better success at all times 

 of the year, when the hive was of such size 

 that the bees filled it completely. 



