1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



63 



G3TTIN3 SURPLUS FROM BOX niVE3. 



Say to H. K., that with si sharp inch bit that will 

 cut smoothly, he can bore any number of holes he 

 may wish, iii the top board of his box hives, without 

 any injury; bore down into the combs & in. and the 

 bees will fix all right. 



It seems to me, where oh iff i-s not plenty, the com- 

 mon cat-tail flag', which in many places is easily ob- 

 tained, if properly cured, and run through a straw 

 cutter, would make good cushions and a first rate 

 packing, as it is a good absorb ,int< of moisture, and 

 dries out readily. 



We have had 3 weeks of steady cold here, so that 

 it has not thawed in the middle of the day at all. 

 Bees are on summer stands, without packing, except 

 in the cap. An old fogy Quinbv box-hive man, 



Battle Ureek, Mich., Jan. 10, '78. J. A. Robinson. 



given a fly as I have directed in the ABC, 

 and found to be all right. This however 

 will seldom pay, unless for experiment. 

 Keep a sharp look out, but beware how you 

 needlessly tinker with them, in cold weath- 

 er. After they have had a good cleansing 

 flight, it is always safe to overhaul them, 

 and fix their hives and combs, if they need 

 it. 



BADGES FOR BEEKEEPERS. 



1 think your objections to badges for bee-keepers 

 are not well sustained. At the meeting of 'The 

 Western Beekeepers' Society," we had a badge of a 

 large bee printed on a blue silk ribbon, 2x3 inches, 

 for each member; and 1 tell you it was a treat to 

 meet one of our badge friends on the street, many 

 of whom we would not otherwise have known. I 

 think we have as good a right to wear pins as any 

 other society; for, are we not a society bound to- 

 gether by ties of common interests? I put in my 

 vote for the bee-keepers pin. Let us have the pin, 

 by all means. Never mind your scruples about it; 

 if they don't buy a bee pin, they will buy some other 

 trinket. Will. M. Kellogg. 



Monmouth, 111., Jan. 20, 1879. 



Your reasoning is good, friend Kellogg, 

 but why not have the silk ribbon badge, hi 

 place or the pin V They can be got up very 

 nicely, and so cheap that when one gets soil- 

 ed, we can have another. Please send me a 

 sample, and tell me where they are made. 

 It will be strange if something neat and 

 pretty does not come of it. 



BEES GETTING LOST ON THE SNOW, AND FASTENING 

 THEM IN. 



I have fixed some 20 hives with chaff cushions, and 

 left them out doors. They seem to be all right so 

 far, except that, when a bright warm day like this 

 comes, epiite a number will fly out, and many are 

 lost on the snow. How can this loss be prevented ? 

 It is sometimes recommended that the snow be piled 

 about the entrance, and the bees be thus confined to 

 the hive ; this does very well for a time, but unless 

 constant care be taken to keep the snow firm against 

 the hive, the bees will soon work their way between 

 the hive and the snow and none will get back into 

 the hive. Tell us how to contrive this matter. 



Decatur, 111., Jan. 17, ".'J. E. A. Gastman. 



I do not know how to prevent some of the 

 bees from getting lost on the snow. I used 

 to be very much troubled about it, and fear- 

 ed they would all be lost ; but as there 

 seemed a fair colony left, I finally learned to 

 let it pass without worrying Very much. 

 Banking the snow around them, rouses them 

 up, and many times induces them to fly, 

 when they would not otherwise. After try- 

 ing a variety of ways, I think it best to just 

 let them alone, unless I find the entrance 

 clogged and the bees trying in vain to get 

 out, or something of that kind. You should 

 bear in mind that many bees die of old age 

 every winter, and that they maybe found 

 on the bottom board in the spring, or 

 scattered about the yard on the ground, and 

 of course nearly invisible, or scattered about 

 on the snow. In the latter case you see them 

 all, and they seem to lie very many; but if 

 you will gather them all up from a given 

 area, you will find there are not so many af- 

 ter all. When colonies are diseased, they 

 sometimes scatter about on the snow and 

 die in great numbers. For experiment, 

 they have been gathered up, warmed and 



BEE KEEPING FOR FARMERS. 



How to attend to the farm without neglecting the 

 bees, or to give the bees the attention they need 

 without neglecting the farm, is the dilemma I have 

 got myself into by studying Gleanings, the Bee- 

 Keepers' Magazine, Langs troth, etc. 



Don't you think an article in Gleanings on Bee 

 Keeping by Farmers, would be interesting to many 

 of its readers '! 



I kept bees 3 or 4 years without any trouble, for 

 about all the summer's increase|would die out the 

 next winter, leaving the hives (box) ready made for 

 the next years increase. I got precious little honey 

 though. Jas. P. Gilmer. 



Honey Grove, Tex., May 11, 1878. 



You are right, friend G. If a farmer has 

 only a half dozen stocks, and cares for them 

 with the latest improvements, they may very 

 soon compel the consideration of the ques- 

 tion, which it shall be the farm or the hees. 

 Unless you have help in the shape of boys 

 and girls, or those around you needing em- 

 ployment, it may be best to give up one or 

 the other. It is much better to do one well, 

 than to neglect both. There is one way you 

 can do to keep your apiary within bounds, 

 and that is to sell off, each year, all above a 

 certain number; we have farmers in our 

 neighborhood, who have done this for years 

 past, making a sure profit, year after year. 

 A dozen stocks carefully managed will swarm 

 but little, and where both honey and increase 

 are sold promptly for what they will bring 

 in a home market, it cannot very well prove 

 a losing business. 



feeding bees in winter. 



I write to ask you what to do for my bees. I want 

 to feed them and they will not eat anything. I tried 

 them on grape sugar, and on syrup made of white 

 sugar, and they will not eat either. They are nearly 

 all dead now, and those that are still alive, I think, 

 have nothing to eat. Please let me hear from you 

 at once. Peter P. Yates. 



Greensboro, N. C, Jan. 16, 1879. 



It is quite a difficult matter to feed bees in 

 the winter, especially, when the weather is 

 steadily freezing, and the colonies are weak. 

 They cannot take syrup, because they would 

 have to leave the cluster to get it, and would 

 be frozen before they could get back into it. 

 The only remedy is candy, and it must be 

 given them in small lumps, placed right over 

 or among the bees, and then closely covered 

 with warm, dry woolens, or chaff cushions. 

 Grape sugar can be fed in the same way, 

 but, for reasons I have before given, should 

 not be used unless some honey is present in 

 the hive to be used with it. Colonies can be 

 wintered on the flour candy, with no honey 

 at all. It is a bad policy to allow bees to get 

 out of stores in the middle of the winter. 

 Better attend to all such work before cold 

 weather. 



Comb honey will do, of course, if it is 

 handier than candy, but even with that 

 it is risky business unless we have a 

 thaw. 



