1875 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



room by artiJlcial heat, does not seem to restore 

 their passion tor the aceumuhition of stores. 

 Do not uncUn-stand us liowever to say tiiey do 

 not lly, for tlu>y ijo all over the room and re- 

 iiiun their liives with very little loss, and the 

 «'onibs, bees, and all seems bright and healthy. 

 Only one colony is now rearinj; brood, and 

 they only work sutticiently to gather meal 

 daily for the nourishment of the brood. In the 

 morninij as soon as the room becomes warm 

 enough, they work (juite briskly but jjradually 

 cease, and by one -or two, P. M., have nearly 

 all ceased ; by the next morniuij this supply is 

 nearly all used up. This colony will take no 

 notice of honey, or syrup, but some of the 

 liives just brought in carry it in to some ex- 

 tent. It seems (juite certain that weak colonies 

 can be wintered with such an arrangement that 

 could not be wintei'ed otherwise. Our "tea- 

 cupful" nucleus, are as healthy as can be desi- 

 red, and go out and fly in the sunshine, and 

 back again as safely as if in the open air, yet 

 they icoti't rear brood. When the weather 

 becomes warm in the spring they can be allow- 

 ed to go out, and will doubtless then commence 

 brood rearing without trouble. On the 10th, 

 it was warm enough for an hour or so to allow 

 flying out, and we opened the doors. Their 

 first movement after taking their points was 

 to fly oflTin a strait line so far that it seemed 

 they never could come back, but we believe all 

 returned in 10 or 15 minutes, and they then 

 sought their respective corners with buzz that 

 seemed to say "there ! a fly of four or Ave miles, 

 does a body good." 



Even if we do not succeed much with Ijrood 

 rearing until the weather permits them to have 

 occasionally a day out of doors, we think we 

 have no cause to feel disheartened. The forc- 

 ing house will prove a most excellent place to 

 give the out door colonies meal, and perhaps 

 sugar too, for they learned to go out and in as 

 safely as need be while we were making repairs. 

 We are very glad to be able to give the two 

 following letters from practical Florists ; they 

 show somewhat the ditticulties with which we 

 have to contend, but Ave tliink need not be 

 considered discouraging. 



I have been watching with interest your greenhouse 

 oiierations. I tried the same six or seven vears tifxo 

 but failed. I thought of course, being a t"lonst by 

 profession, I would encounter but few difficulties but 

 I soon found out in this as in some other tilings it 

 "was not all gold that glitters." I put a very large 

 swarm into my greenhouse which is 60 feet long. 

 When the sun shone brightly the bees would rush out 

 in great numbers, tire themselves against the glass, 

 fall down amongst the plants and die. I lost theni all 

 liefore spring. 1 have no doubt but the cold frame 

 will answer the jiurpose as stated by Mr. IJidwell. I 

 have put a few in one of mv cobl frames and will give 

 them a tly a f»»w times, and 1 think they will he all 

 right in the spring. But here let me caution bee-keep- 

 ers wlio are now trying and will try, this method i(f 

 wintering. It is not every one that can run a green- 

 house or even a cold frame ; this is a business by itself 

 and there are some things about it that cannot be 

 taught, but bv dear bought experience. 



Geo. Thomi'SOS, Geneva, Kane Co., Ills. Dec. 12, '74. 



Mr. root, Dear Sir :--Your interesting little paper 

 rec'd. and postal card saying i)robably I could be of 

 assistance to yon, but you 'dill not say "in what wav, 

 you said "sf*" Glean I AGS" so I looked but could see 

 nothing except it was in the matter of greenhouse. 

 If I could I should be very hajipy to do so— a few sug- 

 gestions though if they do coniefroni one that don't 

 know anything bees-niiglit not be amiss. In a ston; 

 in our liltle city, the pri)]i'r keeps a collection of llow- 

 ers in the window and in siniiig the bees come in 

 pretty thick and I iicmv knew of one to go out alive; 



they always bump against the gP 

 theinselvcs. Now in my grccniK 

 very low and very few liees get 

 c()nsei|uently it would be natural 

 the glass was iierlVctly level overlu"; 

 liltU^ if any loss. I would thenifori^ 

 the roof of the room be seale<l o\ 

 glass, the glass not to lap as in a s;lsli 

 using sash, for the <'eiling use stiips o 

 munting to be i)ainted two coiits and then van 

 this will make it very glossy and smooth as the gliT??!" 

 and a bee can't stick good on the undersidi^ of a Icm'I 

 piece of glass nor on the smooth varnished niuntiu}'. 

 Then 1 would have the si<le walls wliitcwashccl per- 

 fectly white which will rellcct tlu', heat anil make tlic 

 aiiartment more cheerful for the bei's, and the liglii, 

 will be so evenly distributed about the apart nu'nt that, 

 I doubt if any will fly upwards, even if they do tliev 

 can't tltick. ' Another thing, I wfuddn't ns*^ a ('oal 

 stove l\o heat with, it icill give otV gas in spile of all 

 you can do, it will kill plants and surely where iilants 

 can't live it isn't healthy for bees. The top sash of 

 your house should be made movable so you can lift 

 them oil' in early spring as soon as the bees can lly 

 and you can make them pay for themselves any year 

 by raising a few early tomato plants or starting some 

 suitable i)lants for pasturage. Lift one or two ciitnip 

 l)lants in the fall (<'r now) and jtot them; set in your 

 greenhouse and when they Ijlossom the bees will" feel 

 at home— seems to me I "could almost do it myself, 

 (conceited ! you say y) 



If I have made one suggestion here that has assisted 

 you I have done a little, yet 1 have taken the liberty 

 to say a great deal for one that "don't know a honey 

 bee from a yellow jackeW'' W. T. Ai.an. 



r. S.— How can I tell in tvintcr if a hive is well slock- 

 ed, (count the bees in a warm room f) I may start out 

 some day and buy a hive and I want to get "a good one 

 when I do. 



Crescent Hill Gardens, Greenville, Pa. Dec. 1.5th, '74. 



Very many thanks friends Thompson and 

 Alan. You do not know how acceptable these 

 letters have been. We will take up some cat- 

 nip plants this very day if the ground softens 

 stirticiently. We have onlj"^ wood in our stove, 

 but yet fear, that the heat given oft' isn't just 

 the thing. As the temperature never goes be- 

 low 40" even with no artiflcial heat we think 

 perhaps it will be as well to wait until Feb. or 

 March, before attempting to force them much. 

 If we were going to buy a swarm of bees friend 

 A., we should remove the tops of the hive, or 

 turn it over so that we could sec the combs, 

 whatever the weather was. If the colony is 

 good, bees should be seen between 5 or Granges 

 of comb, depending somewhat on the weather ; 

 when very cold the cluster is more densely 

 packed and consequently smaller. 



Supposing you put a cui tain, beneath the glass in 

 vour "greenhouse," horizontally, made of gome cheap 

 kind of netting, musquito bay" or something of the 

 kind, made just so bees can't get through it, will it 

 not be an advantage ? 



Ji,a Michenek, Low Banks, Jlonck Co., Ont., Can. 



We used a curtain of thin Avhlte cotton cloth 

 thus, in our earlier experiments, and could see 

 no advantage further thati to obstruct the di- 

 rect heat of the sun and thus cool oft" the 

 apartment, in fact the bees seemed to cluster 

 on the cloth more readily than on the glass, 

 and they would hang there all night. VVitli 

 the glass horizontally, the}' never try to clus- 

 ter on it. but attach themselves to the sash. 

 We think friend Alan's plan just about what 

 is wanted. We at one time had concluded the 

 nearer the hives were to the glass the better, 

 and ticcordingly have them now on a shelf 

 within a foot or two of the sash, one is even 

 raised up within ii few inches. Our Quinby 

 hive on the contrary, in account of its size, was 

 placed on the ground away from the stish, and 

 the lamp nucleus is back under the north roof; 

 still these latter regain their hives just tis well 

 as tiny. 



