1875. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



81 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



«rp HAVE frames with comb In them somewhat soil- 

 ill ert bv bees voiding their feces on them, (the bees 

 *!?* diedl if the combs were empty I wouhl wash them 

 but most ot them contain some honey and I have no 

 extractor. Do voii tlilnk, or do vou tnow from expe- 

 rience that it would liurt bees to put these Irames in 

 their hives? John Dawson. 



Pontiac, Oakland Co.. Mich. April '28th, 1875. 



We know from uxperieiice that it will not 

 hurt a stroug colony of Italians to j:;ive thcni 

 one of these combs at a time, in the centre of 

 the hive. We have used combs thus that were 

 so mouldj- as to lie offensive to the smell, have 

 used combs that seemed hopelesly infested 

 with moth worms, yet in every case our faith- 

 ful little friends did a job "of cleaning and 

 cleansing, in a few hours, that might well ex- 

 cite the envy and admiration of every good 

 housewife. lu some cases where the comb is 

 !?adly infested with webs, our engineering 

 friends decided on cutting down and dragging 

 out a considerable portion of the comb, and 

 ■woe betide the unfortunate worm who imag- 

 ined he had only black bees to deal with. 

 For this purpose you need a strong colony, in 

 the working season, and after once seeing 

 the rapidity with which young Italians do this 

 work, we think you will never afterward think 

 of fussing with combs yourself, iu trying to 

 clean them. 



Our bees. 77 colonies have all wintered well and bid 

 lair to do well. The nucleus hives will be ready for 

 basswood honey. 1 can winter small colonies without 

 loes, but in future will let such as choose winter their 

 small colonies; for me they are not prolitable. Our 

 Vjces were wintere<i in a house ; temperature 37 to 48°, 

 average about 42. They had both upper and lower 

 ventilation. They were too wann in December at 46 

 to 4S°, and were <[uite restless until the temperature 

 was reduced. They were hoxised the '24th of Novem- 

 ber, and placed on their summer stands the 24th of 

 Febniarv. Had straw mats on each hive and find 

 them excellent. K. C. L.4KCH. 



Ashland. Boone Co.. Mo. April 24th, lt75. 



Cold winter weather. Mercury for the last three 

 -mornings has been 8, 17. 10°, which is not verj' favor- 

 able lor rapidly O.ecreasinp colonics. My bees are 

 weaker than ever before at this season of the year. 

 Have but 86 with prospect of losing 11 more at least. 



G. M. DooniTLE, Borodino, N. Y. April '20th, 1875. 



Fed some cotion seed meal in Feb., as an experiment. 

 I'ees seemed to like it as well as the rye meal. March 

 '20th, commenced cutting out Queen cells. April 8th, 

 the first swarm.— unusually early— 14th, another 

 swarm, l.ith, put on supers, itth, bees at work in some 

 of the supers, and everything going on finely up to 

 tills writing ('26th). I went into winter quarters with 

 '2:5 hives on 17tb Xov. last, with plenty of stores and 

 strong stocks. I wintered some on 'sinnmer stand, 

 some I gave additional quilts, some '■'■upward ven- 

 tilation" and some no ventilation, and yet they 

 all came through in splendid condition. One stock is 

 in a f//o.s.s fiive— bottom only being wood. At one 

 time I saw a cake of ice nearly filling the entrance to 

 this hive— the condensed moisture from within— and 

 though we had one spell of six weeks cold, during 

 whitli Liees did not flv at all. vet they came through 

 all right. W. H. P. Jones, Nashville, Tenn. 



An excellent moral conve5'ed. Are any of 

 us free from a disposition, to think we have 

 made some grand discover}-, if by chance some 

 pet i)rqiect happens to apparently succeed ? 

 Friend J. tries all sorts of plans, and they all 

 answer equally well. Mr. Langstroth tells us 

 that the best colony he ever had iu the spring, 

 was wintered without quilt, honey-board or 

 any thing; an emptj-^ upper story kept off the 

 tain and that was all. Now we would not in- 



fer from this, that such a course would be best 

 for all colonics, but rather that tery Strang ^ol- 

 onkn would suffer no injury from such very 

 abundant upward ventilation. 



I put '20 colonics into winter ciuarters. LoBt21n Jan., 

 one in cellar and one on »ummer stand; the rest came 

 through till first of Ajiril, as 1 thought, in good condi- 

 tion. Half were wlnteiod In cellar, the others on 

 summer stand. 8ince ti.en they have had the "dwind- 

 ling down'' as it is called, and in that way lost 6 more, 

 some of those that were wintered In cellar, as well as 

 those wintered on summer elands. Some of the 1'2 

 that I have yet, (contain only the Queen and a lew 

 bees, what can 1 do with them ? 1 have heard <>t ma- 

 king a mound of spent tanbark, taking ofl' bottom 

 board, setting colony on, and covering with same from 

 middle of Nov. to middle of April. Cover two leet 

 thick. Shall try it next winter. 



J. 1. Snvdkk, North Lima, O. 



Those that contain too few bees to build up 

 of themselves, had better be treated as you 

 would a surplus Queen ; give them two ^or 

 three frames of hatching brood at once — enough 

 to luake a swarm in fact — from other stocl<s 

 that can spare it. If you waste your time iu 

 giving them one comb of brood at a time, they 

 will probablj' let it all die, and finally die 

 themselves. Such experiments as you men- 

 tion, with sawdust and tan bark, may do as 

 well as a good cellar, but are a deal more 

 trouble, besides the liability of getting damp 

 and mouldy. 



Have increased from 5 to 14 swarms this spring, all 

 natural save one. One hive has swarmed live times 

 to date. Vol. 1st is a great treat to a beginner like 

 myself. J. H. McDowell. 



Red Fork, Desh a Co., Ark. Ma y 1st, '75. 



I have lost, winter and spring, 30 swarms, and still 

 they are dj-ing. 1 have had 4 leave their hives and 

 young brood. 1 can't account lor it. 



Lyman Lego, Rose, N, Y. May 3rd. '75. 



All cases of desertion of the hive in spring, 



that have come under our notice, have been 



weak colonies ; good strong ones, never do it. 



I blistered my hands yesterday digging up the grass 

 from around my hives. I thought vou were joking 

 when you said the bees tried to pull up grass from 

 their door-ways, but think now they always do It 

 when the i)lace is tolerably clean and only a few sprigs 

 show themselves. ' Miss Anna Saundeks. 



Woodvllle, Miss. Feb. 3rd, 1875. 



We agree with you Miss Anna, and we do 

 believe that bees take pride in, and enjoy hav- 

 ing a neat pretty home, about as much as any 

 other piece of animated nature. The colonies 

 that "clean up" their door yards, and try to 

 pull up the grass etc., about their hives, we 

 find are invariably profitable honey gatherers, 

 and in fact they never commence picking up 

 around out-doors, until they have become 

 strong and populous ; then they begin to feel 

 themselves energetic and independent. Rob- 

 bers, worms, ants, flies, and grass that attempt 

 to obstruct their door-ways, are given to un- 

 derstand that this is "their house," and that 

 they mean to take care of it too. We are just 

 now beginning to think that even the bee dis- 

 ease and the "spring dwindling," would have 

 to seek other quarters too, if we would allow 

 them the population that their nature and in 

 stinct demand. Who can say that bees too 

 have never felt the charm conveyed in that 

 simple phrase, our men home ? Have we any 

 among us, that have ever felt the meaning of 

 the words, "I have no homeV May God bless 

 our homes, all of them, and may he help us to 

 deal gently, with all his creatures, who may 

 be directly or indirectly, dependent on us for 

 their homes. 



