12 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



2875 



DEAR FRIEXD :— As I have never made any re- 

 port to you as to my "Bees an<l Honey" I will ilo so 

 now. Last fall I hatrsi stands, one starved and one 

 lost their Queen, which left nie 30. Only ten of these 

 were good, ten medium and ten very poor; six of the 

 latter never made one box of honey. I used the ex- 

 tractor I got of you, and like it very much ; think it is 

 one of the best if not the very best. With it I got some 

 300 lbs. Ijut the Queens tilled the combs so that 1 could 

 use it no more. My hives are Langstroth's with 8 

 frames, don't see how you get so much honey with 

 extractor unless you have more room for the Queen. 

 Had to put on my honey boxes and got 1086 lbs. that I 

 sold, besides some 130 six lb. boxes that are partly 

 tilled, and have increased to 57 stands. These I think 

 are in good condition at present. My first swarm is- 

 sued on the last day of May. I gave them 7 frames of 

 comb and they built one. In eight days I ext'd five 

 frames and got 36 lbs. of honey, then put "on my boxes, 

 and got 12 filled, (some 75 lbs.) and some partly filled. 

 I think that is very well, though some have done 

 better. One man in this County had last spring 80 

 stands and got over 7500 lbs. of box lioney which he 

 says averaged him 28 cts. i)er lb. Another man had a 

 stand that produced over 300 lbs. of box honey. I had 

 one from which I took 200 lbs. I think this County 

 will in five years, if it does not now, ship more honej' 

 than any other Co., in tliis State. 



JosEi'n A. Hakt, Craig, Switzerland Co., Ind. 



Another report in favor of small hives. 

 Friend H. you must put on an extra set of 

 combs above, or make your hives to hold more 

 than eight Langstroth frames if you are going 

 to make the extractor do duty. Box honey 

 isn't (72«te all done away with after all. If we 

 get some "big"' colonies next spring, well try 

 it once more. 



CONCERNING gEVEKAL PROBLEMS. 



But what makes me write to you is about that dwind- 

 ling away of of bees last spring. I too liad such, and 

 some of my very best got to be the weakest. I think 

 I can tlirow some liglit on the subject. I wintered 19 

 stocks, 6 out on summer stands and the rest in cellar, 

 5 of those outside never receded but kept strong, all 

 the while, but the sixtli came very near giving out the 

 first week in May. They had brood on four combs but 

 not bees to cover it and all young, consequently the 

 robbers had every chance of stealing from them. I ilid 

 all that a man could do to counteract marauaing for 

 near ten days when the bees themselves beg;in to 

 fight these robbers. The guardians at the entrance 

 would be attacked by these robbers by three and four 

 and if you ever noticed it, it gives a strange appear- 

 ance. They will rush all on one bee and when down, 

 attack another etc., and these young bees will easily 

 submit and give up. Nowithis stock did not rear 

 brood the fall before, later than the 25th of Aug. On 

 1st of Sept. it had scarcely any sealed brood and none 

 else, but being very strong it remained so luitil April 

 when they showed considerable decrease in old bees. 

 They had brood on two combs Marcli 15th and kept 

 increasing tlie brood space until thev had four combs 

 by April 15th. Now one would think breeding at 

 that rate they should liave got strong, but I am certain 

 tliat the old bees were nearly all gone by the 15th of 

 A|iril, and as the old bees die oflf the young ones al- 

 though matured to take the place of the old ones, can 

 not stand tlie chilly weather as well as such bees as 

 have been raised in the fall before. Adult bees are 

 tlie ones that will feich a hive along, and so long as 

 there is a good portion of tlicm in a hive the young 

 bees raised in spring will not come out so soon to 

 work, and will consequently fill u)) the hive, and by 

 the time, say 15th of May, when the weather begins 

 to be stea(lily warm, the old bees will be nearly all 

 gone even if raised in Oct., and then these young bees 

 will be able to stand the weather. You surely know 

 that when a hive is in its proper order and breeding 

 in the middle of summer, the young bees will not 

 come out to tvork till they are nearly 30 days old, but 

 move the hive to a new stand and you will find that 

 JUiy bees remaining after two days, are )»ut ten days 

 old, and will fetch bee bread etc., the third day from 

 the removal of the old stand. 



I had one stock that I started Aug. 25th with two 

 frames brood and adhering bees and young (Jueen. 

 They bred on I'our combs and kept them full till 15th 

 Oct., and on that day (they only had brood on one 

 comb all sealed and yet a weak one would cover 

 three combs pretty well) I put them in the cellar ; Ihcy 

 hadn't a pariicle of bee bread and I wondcrccl if they 

 would come out at all. March 28th they had lirs"t 

 flight, and not two dozen dead bees. They wintered 



best of any; put back in cellar again till 20th of ApriE 

 when they hadn't any brood and I wondered if the^ 

 Queen was good, for all the rest were rearing bron(6 

 strongly; I gave them a comb with some bee bread iiu 

 it and they started brood, and instead of going dowu 

 hill they grew strong. I will never trouble myself 

 about bee bread during winter and early spring iiN 

 those stocks that I can keep in a dark cellar until the 

 new bee bread makes its ajtpearance; for bees that 

 have no bee bread keep wonderfully qniet. I believe 

 the bees can be kept thus without dying of old age 

 till June. Its the brood rearing that wears out the 

 bees. I furnish you evidence and you san test it your- 

 self. This summer I started several stocks with combs- 

 of brood and found in one they had a young Queen 

 that laid no eggs. She was just hatched when start- 

 ing the stock and in three weeks I found the number 

 of bees scarcely any reduced. I gave them empty 

 frames to make comb; as I kept taking away their oltl 

 comb, they made three combs and cover«l them^ 

 nearly as strong as they did when they had the old 

 ones. Comb making, ni)' experiment shows, does not 

 wear out bees, which oi)iuion I had before, but never 

 had so clear a proof of it. Another, in fact its sister^ 

 with just the same strength in bees, were treated the 

 same way, and made three combs but they having a. 

 laying Queen,, filled the whole three combs (10x12), 

 with brood, and by the time the first bees hatched,, 

 there wasn't enough bees to cover one comb. They 

 would have perished had the weather been cool. 



C. WUKSTEK, Kleinburg, Canada. 



There is certainly some truth in the positions 

 taken by friend W. We now remember well 

 that when we have in mid-summer put an 

 Italian Queen in a stock of blacks, it would be 

 perhaps three weeks after the young Italians 

 hatched before they would gather pollen. 

 Again, in a colony having no old bees, they 

 sometimes gather it when less than a week 

 old unless we have erred in our observa- 

 tions. Also, the dwindling away in spring 

 invariably takes place when they attempt 

 brood rearing ; we conjectured that they got. 

 lost in going for pollen during unseasonable 

 weather yet it hardly seemed probable after 

 all. If comb building is not exhaustive, it will 

 be an argument somewhat in favor of box 

 honey. 



Mr. NOVICE:— Receive my heartiest thanks for 

 your untiring ellorts in bringing light and instruction 

 to such as I. I just now feel like giving you one of 

 those "big hand shakes" that come from the heart. 

 Among many valuable hints I will only name one, 

 that you justly call the universal feeder described in 

 Sept.", Vol. 2, it is simple, cheap, and what is more, 

 convenient, and the best thing out in that line. I 

 would not i)art with it for the price often times »vhat 

 you ask for Gleanings. Enclosed you will find the 

 money for two, for the coming year" and also for the 

 back Xos. of Gleanings, Vol. 1, and 2. Wishing you 

 the best success and hoping that you will be able to 

 keep the Wind-mill well gi-eased that it may run for 

 many years to come. I remain yours trulv, 



E. RiEBSMAN, W^ilkesbarre, Pa. "Dec- 5th, 1874. 



After reading friend Kern's letter we got 

 such a dismal opinion of our merits Editorially, 

 that we fear we should not have recovered for 

 some time if not longer, had not the above ar- 

 rived just in the nick of time and vibrated us 

 way over to the other extreme. 



Thanks friend R., Ave'll try to keep every 

 thing well "greased'' and to merit your gootl 

 opinion stil'. 



Four years ago I had 60 stocks. Reduceil them to 

 30 as I was moving and the 30 have dwindle(l ilown to 

 8 from dysentery et(-., and one of thcui l^Uu'cnless; 

 but witirsiiiiic fet'ding and syrup in llie si)iing hope 

 to reach 20 again. Fi:Ki). ti. Nash, Ontario, Can. 



Supposing we had it in our power to make 

 them "dwindle uj)" instead of down at any 

 season, friend N.V Don't you think we could 

 then tell a dilferent story V 



