142 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apiml 



SAWDUST VERSUS CHAFF. 



I have 114 hives now, 84 in the cellar and 30 out in 

 double hives. I took those in the cellar out last 

 week, and anxiously looked into them, and into the 

 out door ones. All looked fair, but the examina- 

 tion was decidedly in favor of the out of door win- 

 tering-. 



I have made double hives somewhat after your 

 pattern, but cannot go the fixed second story. I 

 take it off in winter, and till up with sawdust. By 

 the by, I cannot agree with many as to the superior- 

 ity of chaff over sawdust. I cannot see that my 

 sawdust is one whit damper than the chaff (I have 

 both), neither does my observation lead me to be- 

 lieve In the necessity of leaving the cracks between 

 the siding open, for the purpose of drying out the 

 sawdust or chaff. 



The best results I have got as yet, with regard to 

 both the dryness of the packing and the appearance 

 and dryness of the bees and combs, have been in 

 hives constructed as follows: the outside hives are 

 made, in every respect, like your chatf hives (for 

 which idea we may all thank you), except that the 

 roof is made to cover the whole hive; thus 1 can 

 get at and examine or remove the sawdust. The 

 outside shell is lined with tar piper, effectually ex- 

 cluding air and wet from the outside. 



The inside hive (one story with movable super) is 

 made as usual, of inch lumber (I tried some of 4 in. 

 siding but not with as good results), thus effectually 

 preventing the dampness from the hive from get- 

 ting to the packing between the side of the hive and 

 outside case. 



For winter, I just lay a cloth over the frames, and 

 put on 8 or 10 in. of sawdust. In one of the heavy 

 snow storms which we had this winter, considerable 

 snow blew in under the roofs, on to the sawdust. I 

 let it stay there and melt, for a test. It has almost 

 completely dried off. As far as I have seen, I have 

 fovind no packing which has got damp from the in- 

 side of hive. The moisture from the bees passes, 

 without condensing, up through the covering ma- 

 terial, which fact is proved by laying a board on top 

 of the packing. In cold weather, it will be coated 

 with frost on the under side, by the moisture's con- 

 densing on it. 



PREVENTION OF SWARMING BY REMOVING THE 

 QUEEN. 



Now, I should like to have your opinion on the 

 following point. Suppose I take a hive, when full 

 of brood and bees and in condition for swarming, 

 and remove the queen (say kill her 1 , and in 8 days, 

 go through the hive, and pinch off all queen cells 

 but one. Is that hive pretty sure not to swarm for 

 7 or 8 weeks from the time of removing the queen? 

 and will the bees, during that time, continue to 

 work with the same, or nearly the same, zest as if 

 thev had a laving queen? Wm. L. King. 



St. Joseph, Mich., May 14, 1878. 



I fear very few will agree with you in 

 thinking sawdust better than chaff. I have 

 made a few experiments, with very fair re- 

 sults in favor of sawdust. 



If you remove the queen when the swarm- 

 ing fever is under way, the colony will al- 

 most invariably stop work, until they get a 

 new, laying queen; it stops the swarming, 

 but it is generally an awfully expensive pro- 

 ceeding. 



GRAPE SUGAR FOR SUMMER, DURING A DEARTH OF 

 HONEY. 



Our bees gathered but little honey last spring. 

 Many people '''robbed" their bees of what little they 

 had, and then they died before fall. With the mova- 

 ble frame, and a barrel of grape sugar I saw the 

 point, fed my bees nearly all summer until Aug. 15th, 

 doubled my colonies, got considerable fall honey, 

 and have now all my colonies in good condition, 

 save 2 weak ones. Many of the old box or gum hive 

 cokmies of my neighbors "went the way of all the 

 earth." I exhorted some to feed their bees, but as 

 they were flying in and out of the hive, the usual 

 reply was, "They are working' and it is no usetofeed 

 them." My grape sugar saved mine, and did them 

 no harm. We have had glorious weather for 3 weeks, 

 and my bees are fast spreading themselves; i. e., the 

 queens, with my help, are spreading the brood. 



N. C. Steele. 



Kossuth, Miss., March 15th, '79. 



1 started in May, '78, wi*h about 130 swarms, and 

 got 7600 lbs. comb honey in section frames, and in- 

 creased about GO swarms. The largest yield from 

 one hive was 168J4 lbs. The largest amount of 

 honey and increase from one was 2, increase, and 

 172 lbs. honey (the honey made by the 3 swarms). 

 One new swarm, hived July 31, made 150 lbs., besides 

 filling the hive with empty frames to start with, ex- 

 cept one inch strips of fdn. L. T. Hall. 



Auroraville, Wis., Feb. 3, '79. 



STIMULATIVE FEEDING. 



Will feeding bees with brown sugar and \ t flour, 

 mixed to a thick syrup answer? My bees eat it be- 

 fore anything else. John H. Perry. 



Shirtzville, W. Va., Apr. 13, '79. 



To be sure, it will answer; my tirst exper- 

 iments with flour were in that way, but I 

 make the flour candy, because it is so much 

 handier, and can be given then in a slab so 

 as to furnish them just the proper amount 

 every day, for a month or more, without 

 any labor or fussing. Feed brown sugar 

 only in spring or summer ; it will produce 

 dysentery if used for winter stores. 



ventilation; more air. 



Last summer in June, 2 colonies died off in great 

 numbers. I asked you for a remedy. After trying 

 several things in vain, I enlarged the entrances to 

 give them more air, and that stopped the disease at 

 once. This remark may be of use to some brother 

 bee-keeper. G. Wendelken. 



Marietta, O., Mar. 24, 1879. 



I should hardly suppose too small an en- 

 trance would cause the bees to die off in the 

 way you mention, but still, it may be. The 

 Simplicity hive is especially adapted to giv- 

 ing them an entrance of almost unlimited 

 size; I have often given very strong colonies 

 in a 8 story hive, an entrance of 3 inches, the 

 whole width of the hive. They would then 

 alight right on the combs, without touching 

 the around at all. 



MY TROUBLES IN BEE-KEEFING. 



1st. Stings. Hybrids are awful. 2d. Swarming. 

 I can't control it. and do not want increase at the 

 expense of the honey crop. 3d. the everlasting 

 robbing. My bees never forget it, all winter; but if 

 a hive or two be raised, lhe whole yard is in a roar, 

 and that puts me in a roar too. -1th. Badly made 

 hives, which leak in spite < f me, and let in bees un- 

 less I look mighty sharp. 5th. I don't get the big 

 piles of honey "that we read about." (ith. Honey 

 is so low priced now. 7th. Your simplicity' smoker 

 is a failure with me. 8th. It is hot, particular, and 

 dirty work anyhow— this bee business: but never 

 mind for all that. N. C. Steele. 



Corinth, Miss,, Mar. 24, 1879. 



COLD BLAST SMOKERS. 



I don't claim to know it all, and I have not kept 

 bees very long, but I have often reproved others for 

 putting the tube of the smoker right into the en- 

 trance of the hive, for the reason that, when the 

 tube of the smoker is brought so nearly into contact 

 with the bees, there must be a great quantity of hot 

 air and hot smoke, mixed with seme sparks of fire, 

 blown into the hive amongst the bees, which can- 

 not do otherwise than irritate them. F. F. Fell. 



West Baton Rouge, La., Mar. 11, '79. 



BEE CAVES. 



A neighbor near me bought a hive of bees last 

 summer, and as soon as they were turned loose, 

 they came directly tomy place, andthe little fellows 

 loaded their legs so that it seemed hard work to fly. 



I see you speak of bees in caves; the.v do work in 

 caves, for I have robbed them of barrels of honey at 

 a time. That was on the Devil's River, Texas. I did 

 not know anything about their work, whether they 

 had any queens or not, but I do know that the.v had 

 lots of honev in their caves. H. H. C. Breece. 



Greenwood, Col., March 33, 1879. 



