93 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July. 



FORCIIVOBE£S AS WE DO VEGETABLES. 



*^^^HEN we mentioned the matter of mak- 

 ^\^ ing use of glass sash, etc., in Vol. I, we 

 liad no idea of letting the bees fly under the 

 glass as on the Bidwell plan, and although so 

 many fiiilures are reported with the sashes, it 

 is quite likely that when properly used, they 

 may serve a very good purpose in April and 

 Alay. We insert the following : — 



About the mirl'Ue of last November I put into win- 

 ter (luarters ',a dry cellar under my house) 49 swarms 

 of bees. To-day I have in good condition 4i swarms. 

 I lost one by neglect, (starving,) one by "tooling" 

 with it, (I forced it, too much in my forcing house, i. e. 

 I forced it out of existence,) two left their hives and 

 took up their quarters with their neighbors, one was 

 robbed, one "lit out," and I have purchased one. My 

 bees have used about 1'25 lbs. of rye Hour this spring. 

 The rtrst week in May they worked as briskly on it as 

 at anv other time, carrving into their hives during 

 that week, about oO lbs. My experience shows that 

 the forcing house is good if not used to excess. 

 During the winter, if a swarm Ijecame uneasy, 1 put 

 it into che forcdng house, removed the quilt, let the 

 bees have a "rty," and at evening returned it to the cel- 

 lar. I experimented witli 20 dilierent swarms in this 

 way, on as many bright sunshiny days, sometimes 

 tlie thermometer outsiile being below zero, with very 

 beuelicial results. If 1 had not done it, I think I 

 should have have lost several more. 



Norvvalk, Ohio, May '25th, l!-75. 



In the above, the "fly" may have been bene- 

 ticial, but we cannot think the evidence very 

 positive. In the next there seems to be no 

 chance to doubt that the direct rays of the 

 sun were the cause of making the poorest 

 stock the best. 



FRIEND NOVlCK:-This past winter .and spring 

 liave been very hard on bees. Some liave lose all ; 

 one man Jiad 25 colonies in box hives, another 16, botli 

 lost all ; another, 7; lost all but one. I had 29 in the 

 fall that were in pretty fair condition. 1 fed in fall to 

 induce breeding, so as to liave young bees to winter. 

 I tliink that was one reason so many hives perished 

 during the past winter and spring, (bees too old, and 

 constantly diminishing in numbers.) I transferred 

 .seven very weak colonies in March. Some of them 

 liad only a pint of bees ; saved all of them, and they 

 are good strong colonies now. I I'laced a sash of 

 glass over one of them to see what 1 could do in the 

 way of forcing, and 1 succeeded fmely. Every day 

 that the sun shone out warm, 1 removed most of the 

 old clothes from the hive, and let the accumulated 

 warmth of the sun's rays through the glass warm the 

 bees. At night or in the evening I would put back 

 llie old cloliies and cari)et, and weiglit down with a 

 board and rock, to as to retain tlie warmth. The re- 

 sult was, tliat the pint of bees was the lirst one of 

 forty colonies to build new comb. Of course 1 was 

 feeding stimulatingly all this time. I liave some 

 young Italian (.Queens, raised this season, that are 

 laying nicely, one colony sent olV a large swarm the 

 last day of 3Iay, during the How of honey from the 

 gum and poplar trees; but we have but few of these 

 liere, our main de|tendence is white clover. 



J. B. IlAi'i-, Orrville, O. June 8th, 1875. 



In the above case, it seems that warming 

 the bees did not induce them to fly out and get 

 lost, after all ; and altliough much was said 

 about it at the time of our manure experiment, 

 we do not think such was the case at all. 

 That the manure kept the sun from them, lifter 

 it had ceased to ft;riiient, we think was the 

 case ; but that wiiriniug uj) a hive on its sum- 

 mer stand will induce the bees to go out dur- 

 ing bad weather, we tliiidv an error. On page 

 69, Vol. 3, is a letter from M. Miller, and his 

 Hudden death is noted in the same No. This 

 gentleman had several colonies arranged in a 

 bank cellar, so they could fly from the outside; 

 as an experiment, lie arranged tin underground 

 flue directly under some of the hives, in such a 

 way as to warm them up grtidually by means 



of Are heat. Mr. Pierson, of Ghent, O., who 

 saw the experiment, states that he warmed up 

 the hives unril the bees crowded out at the en- 

 trance, as they do during a hot day, but that 

 no bees took wing or got lost, and when their 

 hives got cool, they went back qitietly. After 

 friend M's death, his familj" wrote us to know 

 what they should do with their great crop of 

 clover honey, and flnally a sou made us a call. 

 We questioned him about the experiment, and 

 although he said he had no preference for the 

 bee business, we gathered that the most of 

 their great crop had been obtained from the 

 few hives thiit his father "built a Are under." 

 Such an arrangement would hardly be tidvisa- 

 ble on the ground of economy, yet the princi- 

 ple brought to light is important. During our 

 recent visit to Mr. Coe's house Apiary, we saw 

 a number of two or three comb nuclei, that 

 seemed to be flouisrhing so finely despite the 

 cold damp weather, that we inquired if he had 

 used no artificial heat. He replied, only so 

 much as was aftbrded by placiug in the room 

 a can of hot water, and so perfect are the 

 walls, doors, windows, etc., that it kept the 

 apartment at a temperature of, we think, 60" 

 or 70" per 24 hours or more. The walls are 

 made with a series of dead air spaces, and 

 would without doubt, besides economizing the 

 heat from so many colonies, preserve any kind 

 of artificial heat for a long time. 



^ ■>■ ^ 



OBITUARY NOTICES. 



m GREAT calamity has befallen the bee- 

 ^^ keepers of our land in the very sudden 

 death of Mr. M. Quinby. Aside from the books 

 lie has written, he has been an almost constant 

 contributor for years to the Am. AgricuUimtst, 

 and his article in the last Juue No., would give 

 no indication of the loss of the great mental 

 activity he has always exhibited through a 

 busy and useful life. 



}le was born in 1810, in Westchester Co., 

 N. Y., and came to Montgomery Co., in 1853. 

 He died the 26th of May, 1875, probably of ap- 

 poplexy. May we all, when we come to our 

 dying beds, have canse to feel that our lives 

 have t)eeu as useful to our fellow men, as has 

 that of our departed friend, M. Quinby ; and 

 shoultl no pn1)lic monument ever be erected to 

 his worth, his memory will stand for ever in 

 the hearts of his couutrymen. 



The following is at hand in regard to the 

 death of one of our number, whose report ap- 

 peared on page 61), May No., and was afterward 

 copied in the New Orleans Home Journal. 



Emmett Fuller, who made so flattering a report of 

 his Ai)iculturiil success last season, in the May No. of 

 (ii.KAN'iNGs, died at the age tf 22 years, on tlie 14lh 

 inst. He was a member of the "graduating class" of 

 the Michigan State Agricultural College. His luneral 

 w;is iittended l)y forty of his class-mates and a large 

 concourse of friends ;uid neiglibors. Priest Abbott, 

 ol the Oollcge, conducted the religious exercises. The 

 deceased was universally ;uid highly esteemed by liis 

 cla&s-mates and accpiaintances, both in the Oollege, 

 and at home. He resided with his friends, uetir 

 Mason, (about sixteen miles from the College,) when 

 lie died. 



G. E. CORHiN, St. Johns, Mich. 



<)i;u neighbor Mr. Clark, who publishes the Yoim'j 

 Folk'a (Jon, and who lias a card in this No., we arc 

 happy to say is a thorough gentleman, and one e(iual 

 to the task of comluctinc; his large business. 



