i879 



CLEANINGS LN BEE CULTURE. 



want them furnished with fdn. starters V do 

 you want all wood or metal cornered frames V 

 etc., etc. Many of the A B C class say, "I 

 don't hnow what I want; what do you ad- 

 vise V" In that case. I advise you to pur- 

 chase very little to start with. If you havn't 

 much money, get a £1 hive, and test all these 

 other things one at a time, and you will, in a 

 fern weeks, lie able to make out your orders 

 understanding!) - . 



ICE IN THE HIVES; WHT? 



I have 11 stands, mostly box hives, set close to a 

 hoard with an entrance 3 in. by %, and from 6 to 8, 

 inch holes in the top, over which is a cover C or 7 in. 

 high. 



This winter being unusually severe, I made some 

 straw caps (by tying a bunch tightly together at the 

 top), and spread one cap nicely over each hive, tying 

 a band around below; but this I neglected till after 

 the first cold spell. 



Now I notice, in some hives, that the vapor has 

 rim down the inside, and frozen so as to close the 

 entrance partly, and some bees are already com- 

 pelled to leave'the hive, and are unable to get home. 

 L fear this indicates dysentery, and will result in 

 a serious loss. 



1 know Quinby ad\ ises to set them bottom up in a 

 room or dry cellar; but we have no vacant room, and 

 our cellar is so cold that water and even turnips 

 froze to some extent. 



I think they all have honey enough, there being' 

 only 1 last summers swarm. Now, what shall 1 do 

 to save my bees? 



I might vacate a room in the house for their re- 

 ception, if by so doing-, you think I can save them. 



J. II. Yodek. 



Leetonia, O., Jan. 16, 1879. 



Take off your straw, and let the sun di- 

 rectly on the hives. Open all the holes, and 

 raise the cap a little, so the air can pass 

 through the hive slowly. The straw on the 

 outside of the hive will do no more good 

 than it would on the roof of your house, to 

 keep you warm while in bed. It really does 

 harm,' by keeping off the sun. Do not put 

 your bees in a room, by any means. A dark, 

 dry, frost proof cellar is what Quinby ad- 

 vised ; but, taking all things into consider- 

 ation, I would rather risk them out of doors. 

 If you could pry off the whole top of your 

 hives, it would be better; you could then put 

 a bag of chaff right next the bees. This 

 would absorb all the dampness, and allow 

 air to pass through it, and yet, at the same 

 time, keep them warm. Protracted cold 

 weather, such as we have had this winter, is 

 what is making the trouble ; but if the colo- 

 nies are strong, and packed as I have advised, 

 close to the cluster, they seldom suffer. 

 Hives that are near the ground, and com- 

 pletely covered with snow are generally do- 

 ing the best. 



PUTTING BEES IN DOORS, ETC. 



In trouble again; I bought 4 colonies of bees this 

 winter, in wretched old "gums," and it being too 

 cold to transfer (5° to 20° below zero), I set them all 

 in an old house I had bought, which is plastered and 

 tolerably warm, and has one window on the east. 



Now on the first nice day, they took a flight, and 

 worried around the window to get out; I only 

 learned it, however, upon finding V% pint of bees 

 dead on the window sill. I had hoped they would 

 find sufficient space in the large room for flight. 

 Now I want to know, first ; would you raise the win- 

 dow on nice days, or carry bees out? It is.very light 

 in the room. If they go out at it, would they return 

 through it? Bees certainly would have frozen in 15 

 seconds, the day they tried to get out. 



Second; can't I transfer in a good, warm room 

 raised to 60° or 70°, if I have hives, cushions, &c, 

 ready? Dr. A. C. Williams. 



Hugo, 111., Jan. 2, 1879. 



No, my friend, do not hoist the Windows, 

 but do "hoist" those bees out of that build- 

 ing, and set them under the broad canopy of 

 heaven, even if it is 20° below zero, at times, 

 and there let them stay the rest of their lives. 

 Every little while, some one of the ABC 

 class kills his bees in just the way you have 

 been doing, by kindness, or what is intended 

 as such. Our veterans will doubtless have a 

 good laugh at your idea of having the bees 

 fly around your large room, and go back to 

 the hives without getting on the windows. 

 My experiments with bees in the greenhouse, 

 given in former volumes, pretty well demon- 

 strated the difficulty of such arrangements. 

 If you put bees into a room with fire in it, 

 they will be sure to fly on the windows and 

 die'; if you fasten them in the hives, they 

 will usually worry themselves to death in 

 trying to get out. If you put them in a room 

 with no lire in it, they are, as a general 

 thing, colder on an average, than when out 

 doors, for they are deprived of any chance 

 sunshine that may come. Worst of all, 

 should the weather turn warm, they are sure 

 to get out and die in just the predicament 

 mentioned. Bees should never be housed, 

 unless they can be put into a room that is 

 perfectly dark, and frost proof. 



All things considered, I think very much 

 the best way is to leave them permanently 

 out doors oh the summer stands protected 

 in the way I have so often told you. An ex- 

 perienced hand can transfer bees in the win- 

 ter, in a warm room, having but one colony 

 in the room at a time, but you will be very 

 likely to fail, unless you study the subject 

 up most thoroughly. 



SALT FOR BEES, ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT GRAPE 

 SUGAR, 



Last spring, when I took my pork from brine to 

 smoke, I put the bbl. and brine out of doors, some 

 5 rods from my bees, thinking to give it to my hogs 

 as needed. The next day I saw many bees visiting 

 it, and a few days after, quite a line was kept up 

 between it and my apiary. I also found about a pint 

 of dead bees in the brine. I then put a board to 

 float on top, from which they worked well, without 

 loss. So 1 left it all summer; and as you will see by 

 my report last Aug., my bees did well. 



You may think it was water they wanted; but wa- 

 ter was in great abundance much nearer. Nor was 

 there any sweetening in the brine, as some use it. 



In regard to grape sugar, I have used it with sig- 

 nal success, and shall keep a supply on hand in case 

 of need. 1 got it last spring, from Davenport Manf. 

 Co., Iowa, in a time of drought, and I did not lose 

 a swarm, while many lost several swarms without it. 



Falls City, Neb., Dec, '78. Harry Pittock. 



COMPARATIVE EXPENSE OF CHAFF HIVES AND SIM- 

 PLICITIES. 



Since getting up the 3 chaff hives ordered of you a 

 short time since, I like them so well, and they are so 

 little trouble and expense after they are once pro- 

 cured, that I have decided to use them altogether, 

 if I can make them come inside my means, and the 

 difference is not too great, to start with, between 

 them and the Simplicity. 1 can get the Simplicities 

 in the flat In St. Louis* at 30c each, but I am not en- 

 tirely satisfied with them for winter, as both ends 

 are exposed even with the chaff division boards. 



Kirkwood, Mo., Oct. 19, '78. N. H. Allen. 



This is a problem, friend A., that many 

 are studying on. I can see no better way, 

 than to have both kinds. The cheap, light 

 Simplicities are always desirable for sum- 

 mer use, even in an apiary where the bees 

 are all in chaff hives, and no inconvenience 

 can result in having both, if all are made on 



