1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



207 



fered with dysentery, and great mortality has afflic- 

 ted them without regard to age, color, or previous 

 condition. Abundance of food, strong colonies, 

 chaff hives, and unremitting care enabled him to 

 report at this time only something like l A the num- 

 ber of colonies that he had last autumn, and these 

 only in tolerable condition. His bees had fed largely 

 on dark honey, but several that had only white hon- 

 ey for winter had perished also. The cold and back- 

 ward spring had added to his misfortur es, so that 

 many which had survived the hardest frosts had fal- 

 len by the wayside. Added to this was the disposi- 

 tion of good colonies to swarm out, and either leave 

 for parts unknown or unite with other colonies. 

 Probably half a dozen had done thus, while a much 

 larger number had apparently first suffered their 

 brood to perish, and then died themselves. His 

 neighbors, as far as he could learn, had done no- 

 better, and cannot be said to have fared much worse 

 All alike have suffered greatly, probably to the ex- 

 tent of one half the bees in the country. 



J. D. Gregg had lost over half his colonies, all his 

 small stocks without exception, and some of his 

 best. He had scarcely 20 alive at this time, out of 

 nearly 50 last autumn. Very few had frozen, al- 

 though he wintered on summer stands, with packing 

 above the frames. They invariably left plenty of 

 stores and sometimes brood. Spring dwindling and 

 swarming out had left a large number of hives va- 

 cant. He had considerable acquaintance with small 

 bee keepers. Those persons who, as usual, had paid 

 but little attention to their bees, have lost in many 

 cases all their colonies. One man had 70 last fall, 

 and nowhasbut 8. Another had 26 and now has but 3. 

 All attribute their losses to the intense cold weath- 

 er of winter, followed and aggravated by a cold 

 and backward spring. Up to this time, bees have 

 not been able to collect one particle of honey, and 

 only very little pollen. 



E. M. Hayhurst went into winter quarters with 00 

 strong colonies, protected on their summer stands 

 with burlap and chaff cushions. He had lost a great 

 many bees, but had united those colonies which had 

 suffered the most, and now had 60 stocks in good 

 condition. He had fed them considerably to stimu- 

 late brood raising, and already had 40 young queens 

 in nuclei. The late cold weather, however, had caus- 

 ed his bees to kill their drones, and he can't say 

 when the young queens will become fertilized. 

 Does not attribute the great mortality to the dark 

 honey, but rather to the fact that brood rearing 

 ceased so early last fall as to suffer but few young 

 bees to go into winter quarters. Dysentery, which, 

 he thinks, was brought on by the intense cold wea- 

 ther, also destroyed many bees. 



S. W. Salisbury went into winter quarters with 71 

 colonies, 12 of which were nuclei with young queens. 

 Had fed his bees iti the fall 80ft. of grape sugar, dis- 

 solved in water and mixed with an equal quantity 

 Of honey. Had fed from Root's Simplicity feeder in 

 super of the hives, until his poorest stocks showed 

 at least 20ft. of food each, for winter use. Had 

 wintered on summer stands, with frames removed 

 from the super, and super filled with fine hay after 

 top of brood frames had been carefully covered 

 with a piece of carpeting. 



Had lost none with dysentery, and but 3 had frozen 

 or died in the winter. An unusual quantity of dead 

 bees, however, covered the bottom boards of every 

 hive, and the cold and backward spring seems to 

 have favored their mortality. He was forced to 



unite weak stocks, sometimes placing 3 colonies to- 

 gether in order to save the remnants. Swarming 

 out had also been a cause of loss, no less than 5 of 

 his stocks having disappeared in this manner. He 

 now has but 52 colonies in good condition. Those 

 colonies to which he fed the grape sugar have been 

 the greatest sufferers, but they were also the weak- 

 est to start with. Some of his strongest colonies, 

 however, are among those that have disappeared. 

 He attributes the great mortality to several causes 

 combined : 1st, want of lite forage and consequent 

 stoppage of the queen's labor at an earlier period 

 than usual ; 2d, unusual severity of the winter, so 

 long continued as to actually freeze that part of a 

 colony least protected, while it caused disease to 

 others ; 3rd, to the very unfavorable spring, often 

 chilling and sometimes killing the brood, and other- 

 wise apparently discouraging the bees or causing 

 them to swarm out and leave. 



S. W. Salisbury. 

 Kansas City, Mo., May 5, 1879. 

 The above, although lengthy, is an excel- 

 lent summing up of our wintering troubles, 

 and gives, perhaps, as far as it is possible, 

 the causes of these wintering losses. While 

 chaff hives cannot of themselves be consid- 

 ered a complete remedy, I am satisfied they 

 go a great way towards helping the matter. 

 I think we need to look out for all the points 

 mentioned — plenty of young bees, a good 

 colony, plenty of good food, and a chaff hive, 

 or something equivalent. With such a win- 

 ter and spring as the one just past, a house 

 apiary is certainly ahead of a chaff hive. 



% 



•%rc 



•• 



[This department is to be kept for the benefit of 

 those who are dissatisfied; and when anything ia 

 amiss. I hope you will "talk right out." As a rule 

 we will omit names and addresses, to avoid being 

 too personal.] 



y'MHE hive and other articles which you sent us 

 |P| | J came all right except the pound of fdn., 

 'rr'i which we do not find, but it was mentioned in 

 your statement. If you conclude to forward it, send 

 by freight to Bridgeport, our nearest R. R. depot. 

 Plattsville. Conn., Apr. 21, '79. E. N. Taylor. 



The above letter was carried to the clerk 

 who put up the hive, but he positively de- 

 clared he did put in the fdn. I remonstrat- 

 ed, and told him the man who received them 

 would certainly know if it were there, and 

 that, if not there, the evidence was plain 

 that he left it out. He stoutly insisted that 

 it was there, and concluded by declaring 

 that he had not the faith in humanity, that 

 I had. 



kt Why B., do you think the man would say 

 there was none "just for the sake of getting 

 an extra lb. of fdn.?" 



He thought he did, for why should not the 

 fdn. be there when he knew he put it in the 

 hive. Now I will tell you what I think of 

 it. and I have in these years had a deal of 

 experience with humanity. I do not be- 

 lieve I ever had a customer, and I often 

 have a hundred in a daw who would write 

 back that some particular in their bill was 

 missing, just for the sake of getting another 

 for nothing. I do not believe there is one so 



