1S79 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



85 



I am going to move to another part of the town in 

 which I now live. My bees are in the cellar. What 

 will be my best course in moving- them? I know 

 taking them off several miles and then returning is 

 the best way, but it is expensive. [Bees wintered 

 in the cellar can be placed anywhere when taken 

 out. Take them out in the spring, and place where 

 you will.] 



1 can buy 5 swarms of common bees, in box hives 

 (guaranteed to winter), at $3.00 each. Shall I buy 

 them? I want bees. (Yes, even at 84.00.] 



Does it make any difference which side or end of 

 the sheet of fdn. is fastened to the top bar or comb 

 guide? I have some I got of you. but had no oppor- 

 tunity to try il thoroughly. 1 will get more in the 

 spring. [It may, a little, hut is not decided fully.] 



In the absence of grapevines, shrubbery, etc., for 

 shade for hives, can you suggest any way by which 

 I can properly sbade them, with boards, during the 

 summerV I want them to do their very best, and 

 am willing to aid them in every way. [Any kind of 

 shade with boards will do.] 



Will it be injurious or likely to cause dysentery, if 

 I examine my bees in the cellar, to see if they have 

 plenty of stores, and, in case they havn't, to give 

 them a frame of candy? [I think it will do no 

 harm.] 



I have a friend who had one swarm of black bees, 

 and when they swarmed last summer, he says they 

 were nearly all Italians. Could his queen have met 

 an Italian drone 4 miles away? [Stocks of black 

 bees, 4 miles away from Italians, often become hy- 

 brids.] 



What will the cost of IT honey racks for the Quin- 

 bv hive be? Hive, pages 68 and 09, Mysteries of Bee- 

 Keeping. [Such as Mr. Quinby used should cost you 

 about §1.50 per hundred.] 



How do you use the transferring cla=ps you ad- 

 vertise? [Cut your comb or combs to lit, and slip 

 the clasps over the top, bottoms, and sides, of the 

 frames, until the bees fasten the comb.] 



Could not rollers for fdn. be made of vulcanized 

 gutta percha, and do the work as well as those now 

 used, and be made cheaper? [I do not know how 

 anything besides metal could be brought into shape 

 with sufficient accuracy, and I doubt gutta percha's 

 being hard enough.] Ed. I). Heckkrman. 



Bedford, Pa., Jan. 7, 1879. 



How far from the trellis for the grapevine do you 

 set your hive? [Perhaps 3 inches.] 



Is it intended that the bees should enter and go 

 out under the lower bar of the trellis? [With a hive 

 that has the entrance on the side, but not with the 

 L. and Simplicity hives that have the entrances in 

 the end.] 



Is not 3x4 ft. too small a space for a strong grow- 

 ing vine, like the Concord, to be restricted to? [We 

 have no trouble in restricting the Concords to the 

 trellis mentioned.] 



Why do you train 2 shoots to each post and wire, 

 making 10 shoots, when you cut them all down in 

 the fall to the horizontal arms? My practice has 

 been to cut down half, and leave tho other half for 

 fruit and shade. Those cut down to one eye give 

 new shoots for the next season, for bearing, and 

 then the bearing ones for the past season are cut 

 out. and new ones trained up for the next season. 



[My plan of training grapevines was taken from 

 Fuller an the Orape, and I much prefer it to the plan 

 you have named.] 



Does 3 ft. in height, from cross bar to top. give 

 shade enough? Would not 5 or even 6 ft. be better 

 for height? 



[The arrangement shades the hive beautifully, is 

 not at all in the way, and allows the sun to strike 

 the hives both in the mornihg and evening, in the 

 early part of the season. I would not have the trel- 

 lis more than 3 feet high, because it would be harder 

 work to reach the growing' shoots, to keep them in 

 bounds. The foliage reaches a full foot above the 

 top bar.] 



Simplicity or Langstroth hives are 18^ in. in the 

 clear, lengthwise, and : . : in. off, for the passage of 

 bees on each end of the frame, would make the out- 

 side measure of the frame 17% in., instead of 179s; 

 also % in. at each end for rabbets, added to is 1 ; in. 

 Inside measure of hive, would make the top bar of 

 frames 19& in. in length instead of ]9\, ; or do you 

 calculate on 'i for play room? Please explain. 



[You have got it right ; we always allow % play 

 room, to be sure there is no sticking in handling the 

 frames.] A. Fahnestock. 



Toledo, O., Jan. 13, 1879. 



I tell you, friend Isovice, that fdn. machine of 

 yours is a great invention. I place it next to the 

 movable combs, and a long way ahead of the extract- 

 or. The way my bees daw it out, in the brood nest, 

 is a marvel. 1 also prize it highly in the sections, 

 when there is not too much put in. Some bees take 

 to it like bees to water; others use it slowly, and 

 don't thin it out as much as I like, but I will remedy 

 that by and by, by breeding only from such as use 

 it to the best advantage. J. P. Flory. 



Modesto, Cal., May, 31, 1878. 



sweet water running out of the hives in coi,d 

 weather. 



What causes the honey to run out of the hives, du- 

 ring cold weather? I have several new colonies 

 from which the honey runs. Wouldyou please let 

 me know how to prevent it. ('. (1. McCr.uRG. 



Elizabethtown, Pa., Jan. 7, 1879. 



[Plenty of upward ventilation will stop it, but a 

 covering of chaff will be much better for the bees. 

 It is caused by the moisture from their breath con- 

 densing, and sometimes forming ice, on the combs 

 of unsealed honey. When the temperature lowers, 

 this ice, or trust, melts and dilutes the honey, so 

 that it runs out. If you will taste it, you will find it 

 is sweetened water, rather than honey. It indicates 

 a bad state of affairs; for, if the colony is weak, they 

 often get dysentery from this thin, watery food.] 



HOW TO KEEP BLACK DRONES OUT OF THE WAY. 



I have 4 colonies of common hybrids and one colo- 

 ny of pure Italians standing in a line, t! feet apart. 

 1 want to Italianize in the spring, and increase my 

 stock as largely as possible. How will I keep the 

 black drones from fertilizing my early queens? 



[You caii get rid of all objectionable drones in your 

 hives, by removing all drone comb, by keeping the 

 stocks weak by dividing, or by slicing their heads 

 off as soon as they are sealed over in the combs. If 

 black bees are kept within 2 or 3 miles around you, 

 I do not know how you can help yourself. If all 

 your queens are reared from your pure stock, the 

 black drones will do but little harm so far as your 

 honey erop- is concerned, and, if you keep on, the 

 Italians will soon preponderate so far that the na- 

 tive bees will stand a poor chance. The bees in the 

 woods all about you will soon become Italians, if 

 you persevere in this way.] 



FDN. PART WAY DOWN. 



Don't you think that in using the fdn. in the brood 

 chamber of the L. hive, it would be better to have it 



say "> in. deep, and the usual length from end to end 

 of the frame, thus obviating the danger of sagging 

 anil breaking down? 



| They would often build out with drone comb.] 



Wilmington, N. C, Dec, 22, "18. K.C.Taylor. 



Tell our friends who have home made foot-powers 

 to make the bearings of brass, and there will be less 

 friction than with any other metal. Bees have win- 

 tered well, and were carrying in pollen on the 28th 

 of Jan. A. T. MclLWAiN. 



Abbeville C II., S. C, Feb. 3. 1879. 



1 have been writing to you with reference to buy- 

 ing some hives, etc., this spring, but from present 

 appearances, I shall not need them. It is a warm 

 day. and the bees have tlown out, but fail to return 

 to the hive. They are not out 3 seconds before they 

 turn over on their backs, flutter a little, and then 

 die. They do not smell bad, and the hive is not dir- 

 ty, so I think it is not dysentery. Please give a rem- 

 edy. 



Can I give them a fly in the house and examine 

 the hive? if I can. please give directions. 



Jamestown, N. Y., Feb. 6, '79 < '. E. Jones. 



I I can not tell, from the symptoms given, what is 

 the matter with your bees. You might try giving 

 them a fly in the house, but 1 doubt whether it would 

 do them any good. For directions, see Jan. ami Feb. 

 NOS. Of GLEANINGS, for '79, or A B C, Part Second.] 



How can 1 post myself in Apiculture? 



[Get a swarm of bees, then read the books and 

 journals, and make practice and study go hand in 

 hand. You. want the books to guide you, but they 

 are worth little, without the practice to go with it'] 



Will it pay to devote one's self to it as a business? 



[I think so.] 



Are its risks of management fully understood? 



[The risks are pretty well understood, but there 



