1S75, 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



149 



Qucca we decided to unite the bees with a nu- 

 cleus in one end of the Staudiird liive, distant 

 about 10 i'eet, and for want of a ))ettor way, 

 slioolv all the l;ees oft" the eonabs in a heap be- 

 fore the entrance, removing tlie old hive en- 

 tirely. .Now altliougli another similar hive 

 stood much nearer, the bees on the wing gath- 

 ered at ouce to the Standard hive attracteil by 

 the loud humming of their companions, and 

 all went in as a new swarm. Although several 

 iine days have passed not a bee has gone back 

 to its former home ; for some strange and 

 unknown reason, they seem to have made a 

 unanimous agreement among themselves to 

 forget all old associations and adopt the new, 

 and several experiments since, result in the 

 same way ; after the weather gets cool in the 

 fall — it mat/ work at other seasons — shake the 

 Itees in front of any hive you wish them to en- 

 ter, take their old hive clear out of sight, and 

 the bewildered bees will then, in response to 

 the call of their comrades enter, and stay in the 

 new abode if it is near enough for them to hear 

 the call. One experiment succeeded perfectly 

 when they were moved as much as two rods. 

 We arc a little surprised to liud that not a sin- 

 gle Queen has been molested in these experi- 

 ments. 



But is not all this uniting colonies that were 

 divided only a few weeks ago a great waste 91 

 both time and trouble? Franklj-, it is. About 

 iSept. 1st vre had a number of hives that> seemed 

 LOO small to contain the bees that hung on the 

 outside, but when the autumn yield opened, 

 these Avere just the ones that filled up nicely^ 

 for ■winter and now are all that wc could desire 

 in bees ami stores, while similar ones that 

 were divided about that time have to be "tink- 

 .-red up" iu both bees and stores. It is true we 

 luid a few Queens to sell by running uj:) to 108 

 and then cuitlng down to 90; but it would have 

 been rnucli less labor to have built each colo- 

 ny up to full strength as we Avent along, i. e., 

 taking a few bees and combs from each of 

 several hives. 



]S'(fi\ 20th — Our bees are all housed and right 

 glad are we, for altiiough we tried this season 

 to take it all coolly and methodically and to 

 have no di-;igreeabie features connected there- 

 with, yet it turned out much as usual after all, 

 aid we are iirmly determined that if the house 

 apiary winters anything like as well as the 

 others, we will never more lug bees into the 

 iiuuse to winter. 



Our bees are not all in the condition we 

 could wish after all. Those iu the house api- 

 ary have too few bees, all being new colonies 

 made late iu the season ; the others have ^^M-- 

 ty of bees, but on tliis very account were fouud 

 sc) short of stores iu Oct. that we gave them 

 candy, and although they stored it in the 

 ("jmbs at a very fair rate during warm weather, 

 v.'hen it became cool, the candy Avas talceu very 

 slowly, and AV'if have left them out full tAvo 

 Weeks later than Ave should have done, just to 

 let them finish their candy, and since they 

 fould not linish it,- avc put them aAvay candy 

 aud all, throwing a piece of old carpet over' 

 them so as to close all openings left by raising 

 the quilt enough to admit a couple of the can- 

 dy bricks. We shall 'give the candy a good 

 test at any i-ate; aud whife aa'C are about it we 

 have one more confession to inake. Wo had 



part of a barrel of clover honey t'lnt was "too 

 thin," and to "<ix it" we put it into the queen 

 nursery Avhich has proved a capital thing for 

 melting candied honey. Well, it was evapora- 

 t( d down until it was very fair, but to get it 

 ■c.i'trii, Ave put some more Avood in the sto\-e and 

 left it for the night, thinking of course the hot, 

 Avater Avails Avould prevent its burning. But 

 alas, they didn't, for in the morning it was not 

 only beautifully thick, but beautifully dark, 

 and had a queer taste. Noav A\-e do liato to 

 have things like this standing round, and al- 

 most before Ave thought, Ave fed it all — about 

 50 ll)s. — to a dozen strong- stocks, and even if it 

 Avas so thick, avc fear it will be the death of 

 them as it Avas fed so late. This isn't all either. 

 our confectioner made one lot of "dark" candy, 

 and a stock that had some of this seems to be 

 dying; if burnt candy Avill kill bees perhaps 

 we can make the experiment as Avell as anyone. 



We are trying five hives in the open air : the 

 Quinby hive Avhich contains about the best 

 colony in the apiary, aud would Avinter Avell 

 Avitiiout their chaff or anything else; the 

 Standard hive, Avhich has two colonies in it ; 

 the one with the burnt candy, and Iavo more 

 fair stocks to test the advantage of a close hive 

 compared Avith an ojxju one. One of them is to 

 be tucked up snugly with a quilt, and the other 

 is be put on eight combs in the centre of a two 

 story L. hive Avith nothing over or around 

 them, except the cover to keep off rain. Both 

 are carefully Aveighed and neither have been 

 "tinkered" Avith late feeding. Double walls 

 and chaff aud straw packing have been so 

 much extolled, Ave Avish to try the opposite — 

 no protection at all. 



If some plan AA-ere devised for couA'crting sug- 

 ar iuto candy cheaply, as avc stated in Prob. 1, 

 Ave noAV feel sure that i)ee-feeders of every de- 

 scriptiod AA'Ould forever go into oblivion. You 

 can feed at auy time, iu the middle of a sum- 

 mer's daj' — telling the robbers to load up at 

 their oavu pleasure — or iu midAviuter at mid- 

 night, Avith no fear of consequences of any kind. 

 If it coulu only be sold at the price of sugar, 

 what a boon it would be to our readers. See 

 if Ave do not manage it during 1870. 



"SHE Wltil. BE MEi-SE TO-DAV I" 



sf^'DITOR GLKANINGS:— Foi- the amusement of 

 jlrJii your readers, I cojjy a rhyming epistle just recM 

 > "v from a friend. It explains itself,— but 1 will add 

 that for months "our l)ees.'' tor one reason ami anoth- 

 er, had been my sole excuse for postponing a long 

 promised visit. Cvi:l.\. Iw.ssavik. 



My eyes have Krown bij^, 



Aiid my ears have grown long, 

 Watching iuid listening for you; 



Every morninfr I say. 



"She will be here to-day ! " 

 Eut the prophecy never comes true. 



» 



Then I think of your bees, 



Jlound the dry, 'loali<.'>s trees. 

 And I think, as I fancy them humming, 



Tliat the day may "be warm. 



And tlic rascals will swarm. 

 Just enougir to prevent yoa from coming. 



So, bereft of all hope. 



I've sat down to nio))e. 

 Not a grin of good humor at hami : 



Ari(\ wishing all bees 



(More especially these.) 

 AV'erc feafe in tlie "far better land,"' 



I Nov 2, '75. 



Yolu-a crossly I ! M— - L . 



