180 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



DEPOSITORY OF 



Or Letters from Those Who Have Made 

 Bee Culture a. Failure. 



fJIHB. Bible says that in the last days there shall 

 be weeping 1 and wailing- and gnashing' of teeth; 

 —i I tell you that there is a wailing- cry ascen- 

 ding- from our part of the country, this spring, over 

 the great loss of bees during the past winter and 

 spring. I think, without over estimating it in the 

 least, that fully!) colonies out of 10 are gone over the 

 dam. This was getting to be a great bee country. 

 I know of quite a number of men that had from 7") to 

 175 colonies in the fall, but the winter lias whipped 

 them nearly all out of existence. I started in the 

 winter with 43 skips, and, if I get through with 5 I 

 will do better than I think I will. One of my neigh- 

 bors had 175 swarms in the fall, and he has only 

 6 colonies left now. I have watched and studied 

 pretty closelv for the cause of their dying, and 

 I think that it is to be attributed to their long 

 ■ionflnement during the winter. During more than 

 3 months, steady stretch, they could not fly, on ac- 

 count of cold weather. We have not had a very 

 severely cold winter, but cold weather was so very 

 steady that there were no warm days when The bees 

 could take a flight; therefore they had to empty 

 themselves in the hive, and it gave them a disease 

 that is called in these parts, the bee cholera. 

 Is there any help for this complaint? and what can 

 we do for the colonies afflicted with it now? A 

 great many are discouraged, and say that they will 

 never try to raise bees again; but I am not discour- 

 aged yet, although it has been a very great loss to me. 

 I hadmade quite extensive preparations to supply 

 this county with hives and bee supplies in general. 

 I am going to try again, thinking that if I had un- 

 derstood their natures better, I could have had bet- 

 ter success. I have made bee culture a study and 

 a specialty for a few years past, but the present 

 state of affairs has rather put a check to my opera- 

 tions. Never daunted, however, I shall look ahead 

 with the firm expectation that success will crown 

 mv efforts at last. 

 Caro, Mich., March 3j, 1879. J. S. Kitchen. 



Now for my report on the past winter. I would 

 much rather leave it blank, for I fear you will 

 chuck me in Blasted Hopes, at once; but as lam 

 always glad to hear the reports of others whether 

 they be good or bad, I suppose it is but fair that I 

 should give in mine also. Well, last August I could 

 count 68 hives from which bees were flying, and all 

 but 4or 6 I considered vei-ygood. To-night, April 7th, 

 I can count but 23 and not more than % of them are 

 even fair. Thisiswhat has become of them: a few 

 were robbed out last fall, during the 4 months when 

 I was in Pennsylvania: some froze during the cold 

 winter; a large number had the dysentery and died 

 badly; a few starved; and lately they have been 

 dwindling, and swarming out day after day, and, 

 in the latter case, have almost invariably left brood 

 and plenty of honey. To-day, 3 colonies have swarm- 

 ed out but T have hived them all together in one 

 hive. Swarming out is very general through this 

 section. However, lam not going to let them be at 

 me yet; for, with all the combs I shall have, I will 

 make them "pit up and git" when they do settle 

 down to business next summer, and if I do not 

 have so many swarms to hive, I will have the 

 more time to attend to customers who may want 

 hives and sections. 



Port Washington, O., April 7, 1879. 



A. A. FRADENBURG. 



I bought one hive of bees, 4 years ago this spring. 

 In 3 years (that was last year), I had at swarms, all 

 rich in stores and mostly strong in bees. They are 

 all dead but one, and that is very weak. Four-fifths 

 of all the bees in this neighborhood are dead. Those 

 who have fared best are those who took the least 

 care of their bees, apparently. Some who housed, 

 and others who put their bees in cellars, lost all 

 their stocks. Some who left them out in all the 

 weather without any care saved nearly all. I packed 

 mine nicely with straw, with the result above 

 named. D. D. Lightneg. 



Hobart, Ind., Apr. 9, 1879. 



It is true, that many colonies have been 

 reported dead, when every thing seemed in 

 proper si rape so far as we know, but by far 

 the greater number of reports indicate plain- 

 ly a decided advantage in proper protection. 

 When we come to get at the full facts, we 

 And as a general thing, that those who have 

 lost so badly did not have them well taken 

 care of. Now, friend L., was your straw 

 packing close up to the bees, and were they 

 closed down into a small compass for win- 

 ter, as I have so strongly urged? I, too, lost 

 powerful colonies, but they were in large 

 hives, with 4 times as much' honey, as they 

 could possibly need. 



We have a fearful loss of bee? here, and more 

 among the Italians than any thing else; mine are 

 about all gone. John Meruit. 



Pittston, Pa., April 9, 1879. 



It has been a very hard winter for bees in this sec- 

 tion. I know of several that have lost all they had, 

 and I have lost 29 stands myself, but I don't want 

 you to say anything about it, for I am perfectly 

 ashamed of it, and I don't mean it shall ever hap- 

 pen again while my name U Ed. Tucker. 



Marengo, Iowa, April 9th, 1878. 



FEEDING BEES MASHED UP HONEY AND DIRT, FROM 

 BEE TREES. 



I have lost all except 2 colonies out of 12, includ- 

 ing my tested and imported queens. 1 am going to 

 advance an idea as to why I lost them. Two years 

 ago last fall I had two colonies, one weak and one 

 strong. I cut a bee tree, and fed the weaker swarm, 

 in the hive, all the crushed products of the tree, con- 

 sisting of bark, worm dust, &c, and had them 

 packed just like the other hive with thoroughly dry 

 saw dust. I fed the strong one nothing. They 

 came through all right, but the one fed was attacked 

 with dysentery and died in a few months, leaving 

 me but one. This I increased to 5 the following 

 summer, and not having time to cut any of my trees 

 I fed the weaker ones, and packed all nicely in chaff 

 and cut straw. All came through nicely. Last 

 summer I increased the 5 to 12 giving them 6 Italian 

 queens, and packed them just as they were packed 

 the winter before. Late in the season, I cut 2 bee 

 trees, and to economize (?), 1 fed all the "hashed" 

 honey, bark, dust, dirt, and all, to my bees at large, 

 placing it in front of hives, on boards, &c. I was 

 careful as to ventilation, &c. All had well stored 

 hives, but in a few mouths I saw the hives be- 

 smeared just the same as my first one, and 4 were 

 dead in a few days. I moved them into the barn, 

 packing them up there, but still they died. When [ 

 saw your answer to some one who had done simi- 

 larly, I removed the remaining four outside, and 

 protected them by packing. In a few weeks 2 of 

 those died, leaving but 2. It was a noticeable fact 

 that all black bees died first, with one exception. I 

 now have one of each, and am pretty well convinced 

 that there was something unhealthy about that 

 dirty tree-honey. Could there be such a thing as 

 the "worm dust's containing acid enough to induce 

 or start the dysentery? Nearly all the hives contain 

 enough honey yet, to winter a colony. I am not dis- 

 couraged, by the way, and am fitting up a shop 

 where 1 expect to make every thing in the way of 

 hives, &c. D. M. Sharpnack. 



Petroleum, W. Va., Apr. 4, '79. 



I can hardly think it was the dirt or dust 

 that, gave the bees the dysentery, but rather 

 the old honey. I have many times known 

 old, thick honey to produce just the result 

 you describe, especially if it was dark and 

 strong. It is on this account, that I have so 

 many times urged that syrup made from 

 pure white sugar "is safer than honey to feed 

 to bees for winter. Almost anything will 

 answer to feed them with so long as they 

 can fly every day, but beware of using food 

 any way objectionable, after the approach of 

 winter. Did you not feed them so late that 

 they did not get it perfectly sealed over? 



