162 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



seem to have wintered as well as they ever 

 did, but the losses seem to extend so widely, 

 that it is almost impossible to ascribe it to 

 any special locality, or kind of stores. The 

 chaff hives, it is true, were all right when 

 the others were dying off at a rapid rate, but 

 within the past week they, too, have begun 

 to follow the rest, at a rate that is alarming. 

 The house apiary, somewhat to my aston- 

 ishment, seems almost unaffected, only that 

 they are making very slow progress in brood 

 rearing, and a very few stocks show signs of 

 the universal dwindling. Even the flour 

 candy seems to have lost its potency to start 

 brood rearing. I have had experience in 

 this same line before, and it seems to me 

 that nothing but new honey and new pollen 

 can revive the drooping courage of our little 

 pets. I need hardly add that grape sugar 

 lias nothing to do with it, for apiaries where 

 it has never been used are just as much af- 

 fected. The bees have died close up to 

 combs of sealed clover honey. No symp- 

 toms of dysentery are to be seen. Meal has 

 been given them in tine weather, but their 

 zeal for it has been nothing like what it is 

 usually. There are now 55 "hives with bees 

 in them," in our apiary. Perhaps a dozen of 

 these have queen cells, instead of queens. 

 Four whole colonies, 9 nuclei, and 35 queens 

 (48 in all) have been sold. I am thus partic- 

 ular in giving these details, because I think 

 all who embark in bee-culture should have a 

 fair view of the obstacles they may have to 

 contend with. 



It is not often that I disobey orders, butthe 

 following describes so vividly the condi- 

 tion of my bees, except those in the house 

 apiary, that I 'have concluded to run the risk, 

 and give it. It may make some poor fellow 

 feel better, friend Bray, for you know that 

 misery loves company. 



Well, I wont into winter with about 130 colonies of 

 bees. Today I think I can house all I have left in 

 a M bushel measure— yes, I believe I could put them 

 in a peck basket. Don't publish this. It would cost 

 me about $500. to replace them. What's the matter? 

 However, I shall not give it up. Can you offer me any 

 consolation? I hope you have had better hick than 1 

 have. J. B. Brat. 



Lynnville, Ten., Mar. 23, 1876. 



April. 2oth. — "We have now had nearly a 

 week of beautiful weather, and the troubles 

 are all over. The bees are at work on the 

 maples, and under the influence of new hon- 

 ey and pollen, everything is promising. 

 The weak colonies have still quite a propen- 

 sity to swarm out, and for some strange rea- 

 son, our queens most unexpectedly turn up 

 missing every day or two. This trouble 

 seems mostly confined to the black queens 

 in hives I have purchased, so we cannot 

 well ascribe it to any artificial ways of man- 

 aging. The farmers in the country round 

 about us have lost most heavily. Our 

 neighbor Shaw, of Chatham, strange to tell, 

 has come through again this winter, without 

 the loss of a single colony. His hives are 

 not chaff packed, but are double, with a dead 

 air space between the walls. Those of our 

 neighbors who reared queens for sale last 

 season have generally lost badly. Our en- 

 graver, who had quite a fine little apiary in 

 the fall, has now but two colonies left. His 

 imported queen went with the rest, and it 



was perhaps his sad experience that promp- 

 ted our cartoon for this month, which I may 

 as well give you right here. 



AN EXPERIENCE THAT "BLESSED BEES" 

 DIDN'T TELL OF. 



For some little time past I have talked to 

 the boys and girls at our noon-day prayer 

 meeting, of the blessings that many times 

 come in the guise of troubles. If we suc- 

 ceeded in every thing without trying hard, 

 we would never develop much strength of 

 character, or power of mind or body. Still 

 farther, if we take- troubles aright, they al- 

 most always do us good, in the end. Well, 

 what good' is to come from having our bees 

 all die, as they have done during the past 

 mouth or two i That is a question I have 

 been asking, and I begin to think I see a lit- 

 tle daylight ahead. I have nearly a ton of 

 nice sealed honey in frames, just right to 

 build up new colonies. I can buy nice young 

 queens, very soon now, from our Southern 

 friends, at a low price, and with the thous- 

 and or more nice combs stored away in the 

 honey house, I could build up an apiary very 

 quickly, if I only had the bees. Where shall 

 we get bees? If I buy, they must come by 

 express, and are almost invariably in some 

 great heavy awkward hive that I have to hire 

 a man to make into kindling wood, after pay- 

 ing several dollars express charges on it. 

 The combs, too, are crooked and not to be 

 compared with those we now make the bees 

 build from the fdn., but I have to pay the 

 express charges on these too, just to get the 

 bees. The apiary, at present, furnishes only 

 three commodities ; honey, wax, and queens. 

 Why not make a fourth by selling bees V A 

 quart of bees would be worth to me during 

 the month of May, a dollar, without any 

 question, and you 'who have plenty of bees, 

 without doubt, could make a nice thing of it, 

 by furnishing me and others who have plenty 

 of empty combs and stores, at the price 

 mentioned. The express charges on the 

 bees alone, will be but a trifle, compared 

 with that of a great hive, and now I will tell 

 you how I have been "walking round the 

 stairway," with a view to helping you all. 



