146 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



April 



A REPORT TN FAVOR OF CELLAR WINTERING. 



Nov. 25, 1878, I put into winter quarters, in my cel- 

 lar, 93 colonies of bees; 21 in box hives, and the bal- 

 ance in Simplicity and Standard hives, and did not 

 move them to their summer stands until March 8th. 

 I have kept bees 7 years, and never had them winter 

 better. Two colonies only have died, and those of 

 starvation. The rest are strong and in a splendid 

 condition. I wintered one colony out doors in the 

 chaff hive you sent me last year, and it also came 

 through the winter as strong- and healthy as those 

 in the cellar. More than 50 per cent of bees win- 

 tered out doors in this section are dead. 



Norwalk, O., March 10, 1879. S. F. Newman. 



MELTING DOWN BY CONFINEMENT; SEVEN SWARMS 

 IN ONE, ETC. 



I am just a beginner in bee culture. I commenced 

 2 years ago (1877), by finding a swarm of Italians in a 

 tree. I put them in a L. hive, and increased them 

 to 3, that season. They wintered all right, and in 

 the spring of 1878, I bought 9 more, making 12 in all. 

 I carried one into the cellar to keep it from being 

 robbed, and it being closed up, the combs melted 

 down and drowned the whole colony. Well, I had 11 

 left, and was a little wiser. I increased them to 32, 

 and extracted 12 gal., and took 8U0 lbs. of comb hon- 

 ey. I put the 32 in the cellar for winter quarters, 

 Nov. 23, 1878; took them out of the cellar the 6th of 

 March. They came out lovely, without the loss of 

 one. 



One man in this neighborhood lost 18 out of 67; he 

 had them in a cellar. There are a good many bees 

 in tkis neighborhood. One neighbor, with old fash- 

 ioned box hives and gums, had 7 swarms come out 

 at one time, last summer, and all settled in one pile. 

 He told me he never saw such a pile of bees in his 

 life. He could not do a thing with them. They 

 finally rose and went off in every direction, so he 

 lost all. 



So you see at this date, I have 32 to start this sea- 

 son's work with, and I intend to do my best with 

 them. Geo. W. Penn. 



Colfax, Iowa, March 8, 1879. 



GETTING THE BOXES TOO FAR FROM THE BROOD, ETC. 



In the spring of 1871. 1 bought one hive of bees; 

 that is, I made a Quinby hive "old style," and had a 

 swarm put in it the summer before. I knew but lit- 

 tle about bees, except that my father had kept a 

 few since I could remember until the moths de- 

 stroyed them. I bought Quinby's Bec-Keeping, and 

 with my one hive launched into the business. My 

 object was to have plenty of honey to eat, but my 

 bees increased and we could not eat it all, and peo- 

 ple said "What luck Cotton has with bees!" 



Now there is one thing that experience has taught 

 me, and that is, that the distance from the hive to 

 the honey boxes is too great in the old Quinby hive, 

 and I am seriously thinking of changing to the Sim- 

 plicity. Last year, I took the top and honey board 

 from one hive, put on a large box, and took it off in 

 August with 80 lbs. of honey, leaving plenty for win- 

 ter. I. N. Cotton. 



Traders' Point, Ind., March 17, 1879. 



I agree with you, friend C, but the Q. 

 hive is not as bad as some others in the re- 

 spect you mention. The Am., Gallup, and 

 other deep frames are still worse, although 

 side storing may be so employed as to very 

 much help the matter. 



Our swarming time now begins. There are plenty 

 of drones flying now. Clara Slough. 



Daytona, Fla., Feb. 3, 1879. 



HOW TO TELL WHEN BEES ARE ROBBING. 



I am one of your ABC scholars, am keeping bees, 

 and have been reading Gleanings, fee., trying my 

 best to become an adept in bee culture; but now, 

 I guess you will have to put me in the "Growlery" 

 or "Blasted Hopes" department, just wherever you 

 think I belong, for I am discouraged, and afraid I 

 can't keep up in my class; not, however, because 

 my bees have not been doing well, for they have 

 withstood the severe winter well so far, and appear 

 to be in good condition. 



But I will tell you why I am discouraged; in Jan. 

 No., under the heading of "How to Know Robbers," 

 we have the following instructions: "A robber bee, 



when he approaches a hive, has a sly and guilty 

 look." Further on, we have "hurried and guilty 

 look." Now that may do for some of you amateur 

 bee-keepers, with skillful and experienced eye, to 

 tell by the countenance of a bee whether he is a 

 robber or not, but, for a beginner like myself, it is 

 drawing it a little too fine, and I despair of ever be- 

 coming able to distinguish the difference between 

 the looks of guilty and innocent bees. 



After carefully reading the instructions on "How 

 to Tell Robbers," I am sometimes as much at a loss 

 as ever, to know whether the bees are robbing or 

 having a frolicsome play. If you can help me out 

 of my trouble, I will be much 'obliged to vou. 



Mogadore, O., March 18, 1879. Wm. P. Myers. 



It would be strange, friend M., if I would 

 not come to the help of one who lives in the 

 town where all my childhood days were 

 passed, and where fond recollection goes 

 back every time I see the postmark, Moga- 

 dore. I did not mean that you were to look 

 a bee square in the face, and try to read in 

 the lines of his countenance, whether he is 

 given to dissipation and loafing, as you would 

 that of a young man, but that you are to 

 judge by his actions and behavior. If he 

 approaches the bees around the entrance 

 cautiously, and jumps back when one at- 

 tempts to pass the compliments of the day 

 by extending his antennae, you may judge 

 that he is guilty. If he gets grabbed by the 

 wing, and spins around in his efforts to get 

 away, or is '•'wheeled 1 ' back and forth, as it 

 were, in front of the hive, you may know he 

 is a robber. If he stands his ground and 

 seems lost and troubled, but does not try 

 to get away, while the rest gather around 

 and bite and pick at him, you may know he 

 is a young bee that has got to the wrong 

 hive by mistake, which often happens when 

 they tirst fly in the spring. Where a colony 

 will not defend itself at all, as is sometimes 

 the case, you will see nothing of this ; simply 

 plump heavily laden bees darting off hastily, 

 after running' up the sides of the hive as I 

 have explained. A few days ago, on going 

 to dinner, I told Will the bees were robbing. 

 He was sure they were not, but I knew they 

 were, by the high key note of the bees that 

 were buzzing about. It was a colony in the 

 house apiary; they were just about as busy 

 as the rest, and the bees were going in and 

 out just about the same. The only way I 

 detected it was by seeing bees crawl up 

 above the auger hole before taking wing. 

 On going closer, I saw that each bee was 

 podded out with honey, until he could con- 

 tain no more. The next Sunday, I declared 

 that bees were robbing again, but on look- 

 ing I saw there was no robbing from our 

 hundred hives and over. Next morning, a 

 man had his hand badly swollen ; was it a 

 felon? No ; it was a bee sting. I looked to 

 his sister, who kept bees, for an explanation. 

 They were not hers, for hers were all dead ; 

 but other bees were there robbing the hives 

 of their honey all day, and that was what I 

 heard in my apiary nearly a half mile away. 

 Although she is the proof reader of Glean- 

 ings, she had not gathered that any particu- 

 lar harm would ensue from allowing the 

 hives to remain thus open. I wonder that 

 all the people in the neighborhood were not 

 stung. Thus you see that we judge from 

 actions, sound of their wings, and general 

 deportment, as to whether thieving or hon- 

 est labor is going on. 



