isa 



GLEANINGS IN BEU CULTURE. 



Oct. 



The way the bees have started this fall, in 

 many places where they had heretofore done 

 almost nothing: duriniithe past season, is aston- 

 ishing-. Listen: 



Since the middle of Aug. g-ood stocks have brought 

 in atjont 2 lh«!. ))er day, strong ones more, and weak 

 one* less. The yield will continu'? till the frost cuts 

 the flowers off. About :{ acres of buckwheat within 

 range of mv bees. About lOO colonies in town. 



T. G. McGa W.Monmouth, 111. Sept. 4th '75 



DEARNOVICE:-Our bees have been ot but little 

 use until within the last ." weeks ; they are now doing 

 splendicily and making honev like fun. I am working 

 for l)n\; lioney mostiv, it sells for a little better price, 

 and much more readily than extracted honey. I sell 

 box honey and cannot'supiilv the demand at 35c. ; ex- 

 tracted, for 20c.. and but dull sale. We ai'e having a 

 terril^le time here, with our bees swnrming out. I am 

 not troubled so much as some of my neighbors. 



It is a fearful task to go through our bees now and 

 keen the Queen celjs destroyed, everythinzis so cram- 

 med with honey. ' The general cry" is, "bees swarm- 

 in ir," "don't know what to do," etc.. etc. My neigh- 

 T)or, W. O. Parmenter, lias much trouble from his bees 

 swarming out; I have to laugh every time I see him ; 

 the fir.st thing is, "bees been swarming again." By the 

 way, he is coming ti« vour iilace this winter, visiting, 

 and you wi'l get eno\igh from him on the bee subject, 

 as I wantliim to get lull and run over enough so'that 

 I cm gar some good, practical ideas from your l>ee- 

 house, etc. But some more on this swarming question : 

 I don't think bees are so liable to swarm if they are 

 kept well ventilated aii<l shaded, with plenty of room 

 In which to work and store their surplus honey. 



I make my honey boxes 12 inches long, by 6 wide, 

 with .Wholes for bees to pass through from below, and 

 one glass aide lengthwise of the box; I think putting 

 a small piece of comb 3 or 3 inches square, in the box. 

 (heating and sticking it in the top of the box,) makes 

 the bees commence working sooner. 



Don't you think it late for the bees toswarm. and 

 would it not be best to put them back in the old hive 

 again, and give them more room above, with plenty of 

 ventilation ? 



Wintering bees is the great question in this ijart of 

 the country. 1 have wintered mine for ;^ years in my 

 cellar, and am convinced that with proper care, it is 

 a good place to keep them in. My cellar is dry and 

 well ventilated by stove flue. I use the L. hives, put 

 them in, one on top of the other, leaving the lionev 

 boards on, with 4 holes open and top covering oQ". I 

 put the lower tier of hives about 3 or 3 feet from the 

 bottom of the cellar, with front of hive next to the 

 wall, and keep the cellar dark as jiossible. and at a 

 temperature of from ■10 toOOilegrees. I seldom if ev- 

 er lose a stand of bees kept in tliis way ; the main 

 thing is to keep them well ventilated, in order to allow 

 moisture to .pass off instead of congealing in the hive. 

 A cellar with a board floor woulil be best, I think. 



A(!cept my regards and best wishes for yourself, 



family and little "Blue E3'es."' (I have a little Grav 



Eyes, about the same age; she doesn't fear a bee as 



much as I do, and likes "lioney juice," as she calls it.) 



I. N. Elliott, Chariton, Iowa. SeiH. 3nd '75. 



It certainly wonld seem strange to iis to 

 have swarming in Sept., and if we could not 

 give the bees empty combs, or room in some 

 shape for all they might gatlicr, we sliould feel 

 that we were a "small" bee-keeper indeed. 



Has no one tried the foundations in such a 

 case? We have little I'aith in the efficacy of 

 cutting out Queen cells, with the Italians, and 

 in fact M'e do not laiow that it ever did any 

 good with any bees. Plenty of room and emp- 

 ty combs have been abuntlantly proved, bnt is 

 it not possible that cutting out Queen cells is 

 only one of the errors that have been so long 

 copied that — V If tlie nights are cool we must 

 be careful about too much ventilation, but sha- 

 ding the hives we think quite important; — if 

 you don't use the house Apiary, plant the grape 

 vi nes. 



In regard to that visit, we are always glad 

 to see our friends, but there are a great many 

 of them, and if you should come at a time when 

 we are very busy, as is often the case, you 



might go away with a much poorer opinion of 

 us than you had before making the visit. 



So far as our Apiary is concerned, yau ar^ 

 all of you most heartily welcome, and we are 

 .glad to have you open hives, help j'ourselves to 

 honey, gi-ajDes, or whatever you wish, if y(M! 

 will pleasantly excuse us when we feel that du- 

 ty demands that we should keep an with the 

 work that very often is piled up before us. 



Again, there is a class ot people (we are very 

 glad to be able to assure you, kind reader, 

 that y(yii are not one of theni,) who think and 

 even say, in fact, that they don't want a Jour- 

 nal, for they prefer to come and see how we do 

 things, and these people will sometimes come 

 on Saturday, and commence asking questions 

 that would be kept up all through the Sabbath, 

 had we not of late decided it to l>e a positive 

 duty to decline trying to answer them. They 

 will commence by asking why we place the 

 hives on the ground, then if there is such a 

 thing as a Queen in a hive, how \ve keep them 

 from swarming, how we raise Queens, how we 

 divide colonies, etc., etc., until we Would most 

 cheerfully make them a present of the whole 

 back volumes, and in fact, almost anything else., 

 if they would only give us a little respite. 

 Very likely we had planned in the morning: 

 that a lot of goods was to be sent to some one 

 v.'ho had been waiting patientl}', or that a heap 

 of unanswered letters was to be attended to, 

 but yet night had come and it was all undone, 

 just for one individual who could not aflbrd to- 

 take Gleanings. 



Of course this does not apply to those who 

 have followed lis through all our work for 

 years past, and who are qualified to teach as 

 well as to be taught, for such we are always 

 glad to see. 



Bees have Ijcen doing well since the Ist of Aug.. 

 and swarnied at a great rate up to Sept.; I returned 

 nearly all of my natural swarms in Aug. 



Please state in Gle.\ni.\(,s if thei-e is any sale for 

 propolis ; how much is it usually worth ? 



WiLLi.\M Trover, Annawan, 111., Sent, (ith, '75 



Propolis':' Yes, who wants it':' We sliould 

 like very well to shake hands with some of our 

 readers who don't have any, when it gets the 

 ends of our fingers all stuck together, as it does 

 nowadays when we open hives. 



Bees have been working sjilendidly for the past 4 

 weeks, white clover is yielding hoiiey now, which 

 it did not do last spring. J. Scuoll, 



Lyons Station, Ind., Sept. pth, '75 



P. S.— My 80 stocks wintered without loss. 



E. BiioWN, Port Rowan, Ontario, Aug. 23d, '75 



A neighbor who keeps a few bees, and winters 

 them on summer stands, experimented in the fol- 

 lowing manner: Three years ago lie suspended a col- 

 ony several inclies above tlie bottom board, and win- 

 tered them in that position. The following winter he 

 lost one half of liis bees, tliose left beingvcry weak, 

 except the suspended swarm, which seemed stronger 

 tiian before. At last accounts he expected to suspend 

 more colonies in tlie same manner. It appears to me 

 that in some localities bees need a great deal of ven- 

 tilation. O. F. Slough, CoUegeville, Pa., Aug. 31st, '75. 



The same thing has been suggested several 

 times, but Ave believe it has not been found to 

 be of any particular advantage generally. 



Having suflicient space between the comb-^ 

 for the dead bees, etc., to fall below the combs, 

 may be a good idea, but we have the same thing 

 in all hives that have not built their combs 

 clear down, and we cannot learn that such 

 usually do any better than others. 



