226 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



No doubt, you are right, friend M. The 

 hottest part of the day here is about 3 o'clock 

 usually, and that would seem to indicate a 

 position midway between south and east. 

 Our vines usually become so bushy near the 

 tops, in July, that it is an easy matter to let 

 them throw out large leaves at the west end 

 of the trellis, which will keep off the after- 

 noon rays. 



CHAFF HIVES FOB WINTERING IN WIS. 



The loss of bees in this locality is large; one-half 

 or more, is dead. Thanks to you for your descrip- 

 tion of chaff hives. Last fall, 1 thought I could make 

 a chaff hive, so I went to work. I made enough to 

 hold all of my bees, by putting two swarms in each 

 hive. Perhaps this will explain to friend Martin, or 

 he can get an idea how to use the chaff as a double 

 hive. When 1 made my hives I bored a hole on the 

 back through both the outer and inner shells, with 

 a V-A inch auger, then made a plug with y 2 in. hole 

 through the centre, and drove this in tight, then put 

 in a very thin board on top of brood frames, M inch 

 above them, took racks from my Langstroth hive, 

 bees and all, and placed them on top, covered with 

 a quilt, and chaff over that. 



I did not lose one quart of bees in all. All the 

 hives are now full of bees. These old box hive bee- 

 keepers laughed at me, last fall, for fixing up my 

 bees so, but they have changed their tune now; 

 they have no bees to look at only as they stop and 

 look at mine. Oh, they say, if I had done as you 

 told me to do, invested one dollar for Gleanings, 

 we would have been all right. And so it is; persons 

 without any knowledge of bees cannot be success- 

 ful, lialians stood the cold here, just as well as the 

 black bees. O. A. Sisson. 



Mindoro, Wis., May 12, 1879. 



Messrs. Barnes:— I am well pleased with the new 

 improvement of the large pulley on the end of the 

 mandrel of the Barnes' foot-power saw. I can saw 

 as much 2 inch stuff, and as fast, as I could ? 8 inch 

 stuff with the other pulley. Wm. B. Snider. 



Dallas City, Ills., May 6th, 1879. 



CHAFF FOR WINTERING, MATS, ETC. 



Bees have wintered badly here, and heavy losses 

 are reported; but, thanks to the liberal use of chaff 

 bags and division boards, my own have come 

 through safely, and with no loss not resulting from 

 loss of queens, and robbing, before fruit bloom. No 

 effort was made to stimulate, for it seems very poor 

 policy to build up too early, where an increased 

 number of colonies is not desired; for it involves a 

 large cost to keep an army in inactivity. Last year 

 the honey flow began June 25th, and then 1 had 

 colonies that would fill a two story L. hive. The en- 

 ameled cloth, though the best we have had so far, 

 will, to some extent, be perforated. I think your 

 new mat is going to prove a valuable acquisition. 

 It seems to admirably meet the requirements. I 

 am trying it and will report. J. W. Porter. 



Charlottesville, Va., May 12th, 1879. 



SPRING DWINDLING. 



Neighbor Hathaway is on his back with lung fe- 

 ver. His bees have spring dwindling bad; about 

 half of the stocks are gone up. I have lost one. I 

 have made the subject a study and think it is no 

 disease, but that it is only old bees dying faster than 

 they are replaced with young ones, whatever may j 

 be the cause of their not raising brood. Those of 

 my bees that came out of pit with brood in all 

 stages, and plenty of it, don't dwindle. 



Friend Stewart, of Orion, has abandoned frame 

 hives as a nuisance, after a partial trial of one sea- 

 son. He is authority on wintering bees. His 75 

 stocks, wintered out of doors, year after year, with 

 no sign of dwindling, dysentery, robbing, desertion, 

 or freezing, is a knock down argument no one can 

 get over. His hives, if you remember, are 19 inches 

 every way, inside; box hives filled with brush. The 

 secret of his success can be reached with frame 

 hives, viz., large hives, absolutely no upward venti- 

 lation, porous or otherwise, combs attached to sides 

 of hive, plenty of stores, and the brush securing 

 many winter passages. His bees give him a swarm 

 once in 2 years, and 75 or 80 lbs. honey the alternate 

 year. R. L. Joiner. 



Wyoming, Wis., May 10th, 1879. 



SMOKER FUEL, ETC. 



Some time ago, Dr. Milwee, of Greenwood, ordered 

 two smokers; one for him, and one for me. I have 

 never told you how I liked it. I see some complain 

 of them, but I have no complaints to make of mine. 

 I use rotton elm wood, and it works well. I was dis- 

 couraged at first, tried corn cobs, and it was worse 

 than nothing, but after I got the rotton elm, had no 

 more trouble. 



Now for the hives he ordered for us. I think they 

 are the nicest thing in the way of bee hives I ever 

 saw. Every body is pleased that see them. The 

 sections are so nice. 



SALT TO KEt'P AWAY MOTH WORMS. 



Does fine salt, sprinkled on the bottom board of a 

 hive, do any good toward destroying worms, in case 

 you are not able to Italianize. I see a worm now 

 and then, on the bottom board of my hives, and 

 have sprinkled fine salt on the bottom of those 

 hives, and am under the inpression it has done good, 

 but am not certain. Hope this letter will not wory 

 your patience, and hope you will answer the ques- 

 tions, though they may appear trivial to you. 



Greenwood, S. C, May 9, '79. J. D. Fooshe. 



If the salt was where it would get wet, so 

 as to soak the worms in strong brine, it 

 might possibly harm them," but I do not 

 think dry salt would have any effect what- 

 ever. They are pretty tenacious of life, and 

 I am not sure but they would stand the brine 

 unharmed. 



BINGHAM'S PATENT ON SMOKERS. 



Seeing it stated in last Gleanings that the Scovil 

 smoker "is no infringement," I wish to say that 

 there must be a great mistake somewhere. The 

 A. B. J. pronounced it "an infringement," and I 

 sent for a smoker, and I think it is not only an in- 

 fringement, but a substantial copy of my smoker. 

 1 trust you will do your readers the favor and kind- 

 ness of publishing my 4th claim, or this letter, (you 

 have my claims I believe), and greatly oblige me. 



Otsego, Mich., May 10, '79. T. F. Bingham. 



Beg pardon. If the A. B. J. said it was 

 an infringement, I did not see it. Aren't 

 you getting a little wild, friend B., in talk- 

 ing about infringements? According to 

 your patent claims, Mr. L. C. Hoofs new 

 smoker is a point blank infringement, yet 

 the patent office did not hesitate at all in 

 granting him a patent, if I am correct. 

 Friend Scoville might get a patent on Ms 

 without the least trouble in the world, and 

 then the patent office would tell you, if you 

 wanted your "rights," to fight it out. There 

 are plenty of patent office attorneys waiting 

 for a job. 



Since the matter has come up, permit me 

 to protest a little against the way in which 

 you have attempted to "gobble" the cold 

 blast arrangement, and friend Sutliffe's rag 

 burning cartridge. Quite a number have 

 written in good faith, to know if you had 

 patented Corey's cold blast arrangement. 

 I have kept still, because it pains me to do 

 or say anything more that may stir up 

 trouble. I do not know but that I have 

 erred in giving place to this. There are 

 hundreds now in the field, improving imple- 

 ments for bee culture, and the great mass 

 of them bring forward their offerings with 

 joy and gladness, telling the rest to make 

 use of them or improve them as they choose. 

 The pages of Gleanings are always open 

 to these, but I can not consistently give 

 room to the few who would say, "Here ! you 

 let that alone, its mine, I got it patented!'''' 



There are three, if not four, patents on 

 the section boxes in common use ; why are 

 none of these patents respected? Simply, 



