1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



403 



INTRODUCING, ITALIANS, WIRING FDN., ETC. 



On the 8th inst., I sent a P. O. order to you for 3 

 Italian queens. On the 14th, they were here, and in 

 the very best possible shape. 1 immediately went 

 through the ceremony of introducing-, after the 

 fashion friend Hutchinson mentions in July No. of 

 Gleanings. I had two queenless stocks in waiting-, 

 to which I gave two of the queens. The 3rd one was 

 given to a stock very strong, by simply removing 

 their queen and dumping the Italian in her place. I 

 gave them all a good strong smoking with tobacco 

 and rotton wood, and closed up the hives. I did not 

 open or disturb them again until to-day (the it h day), 

 and, to my great delight, L found all 3 of them busily 

 depositing eggs. It required an effort to keep from 

 swinging my hat, for I had been extremely anxious 

 for their safety, as they were such golden beauties. 

 Please accept thanks for promptness. 



Get away with your black bees. Since trying them 

 this season alongside of the Italians, I am ready to 

 go to work in earnest next spring, to Italianize my 

 whole apiary. 1 have used 20 lb. of fdn. this season, 

 and had but one card which bulged or dropped down. 

 But, friend Root, instead of putting the wire into 

 the frames perpendicularly, it should be run hori- 

 zontally. In this way, 2 wires will do more good 

 than y 2 dozen the other way, and it is much less 

 trouble to insert it; at least, this is my experience. 

 In this vicinity, it has been a poor honey season, 

 and instead of the cry, "What snail we do with our 

 honey?" we inquire, "Where is the honey to come 

 from?" D. E. Brubakek. 



Iowa Centre, la., Aug. 20, 1879. 



A SURE(?) METHOD OF INCREASING THE NUMBER OF 

 COLONIES EVEN IN WINTER TIME. 



I do not know whether I should be put in the 

 "Smilery" or the "Blasted Hopes" (I hope that is 

 not profane). I bought 4 swarms of bees last winter, 

 and have 4 swarms yet. No increase. I transferred 

 3 of the swarms from the old gums, into frame hives, 

 and got about 20 lb. of honey from each, by the 

 operation. That is the extent of the profits, except 

 an amount of knowledge and a little experience 

 which are worth to me exactly one thousand dollars 

 (my selling price is a little lower than the worth of 

 the articles). I shall increase my stock this winter 

 by a sure method which I have discovered. I shall 

 take my 4 swarms, and, by the use of proper means, 

 increase them to 20. The method is not patented. 

 What will you give me for it? Wait a little. L will 

 tell you how to do it. It will cost me just the price 

 of sixteen swarms. I intend to buy them. 1 know 

 you advise all beginners to "grow up with the busi- 

 ness," but as the young man told H. Greeley when 

 advised to go west and grow up with the country, 

 "It takes too much time." At the present rate of 

 increase, I should be older than Methuselah before I 

 could say I had five swarms. What do you think 

 about it? W. G. Ashton. 



Cuthbert, Ga., Sept. 5, 1879. 



HOW TO FIND A BLACK QUEEN. 



For the benefit of beginners (I am one). I would 

 say: To catch black queens, use a sheet of perfora- 

 ted tin that will just let all the workers out, and 

 hold the queens and drones. Place the sheet of tin 

 on the bottom of an empty hive, then shake all the 

 bees from the combs of the colony where you wish 

 to -catch the queen into the empty hive; place the 

 cover on close except one corner, where you must 

 smoke the bees to drive them out through the tin. 

 In a few minutes, there will be so few bees left that 

 you can find the queen very easily. I catch them 

 every time, in that way, when I could never tind 

 them by looking through the hive three or four 

 times. Jas. A. Nelson. 



Wyandott, Kansas, Sept. 6, 1879. 



We ordinarily rind queens without any 

 particular search, hut, with a very strong- 

 colony of hlack hees, I do not know hut I 

 might he induced to resort to some such 

 arrangement once in a great while. 



WHEN TO BUY BEES, WHAT TO PAY, ETC. 



As you seem to like to hear from the ABC class, 

 I write you a few lines. I have 41 swurms all in good 

 order, but bees haVe not done very well here this 

 season. I used cushions for 4 hives last winter, and 

 think they are excellent for wintering. Which do 

 you think is the better time for purchasing bees, 



the fall, or spring? Would you think bees cheap at 

 $4.00 a swarm this fall? Did you ever use packing 

 boxes for wintering? I think the GLEANiNGs3|are 

 just "boss." F.T.Locke. 



Fabius, N. Y., Sept. 8, 1879. 



The hest time to purchase hees is undoubt- 

 edly in the spring, hut if you have to pay 

 very much more for them then, it might he 

 best to purchase them in the fall, andjthen 

 that would he the hest time. I have just 

 offered $4.00 each for a lot of Italians in 

 Simplicity hives. They are not provisioned 

 for winter, and many of them have not bees 

 enough. Were they full of stores and young 

 bees, I would give $2.00 more for them. 

 Were they wintered through to next May, 

 and strong in numbers, I could perhaps give 

 another $2.00. This is the buying price. If 

 I were going to sell them, and guarantee 

 safe delivery, by express, I should want 

 from $10.00 to $12.00, according to the num- 

 ber purchased. You may say this is a money 

 making business ; and so it is, every step, if 

 you can avoid losses, but any business of a 

 like risky nature must have broad margins. 

 Those who are careful, thorough, and expert 

 should make money ; or rather, should have 

 proper pay for their skill and care. 



I have never used packing boxes, but the 

 chaff hive amounts to the same thing, and is 

 not so unsightly. 



ARTIFICIAL HEAT FOR A WINTERING HOUSE. 



My wintering house is above ground, and when 

 shut up it is damp, and in the coldest weather not 

 quite warm enougn. To remedy the latter, J intro- 

 duce fire; but an ordinary, stove is greatly in the 

 way, and, if not frequently attended to, gives too 

 much heat. I got through last winter (only 30 hives) 

 without any loss; still I would like to improve. 1 

 am thinking of making a pit in the centre of the 

 house and getting communication with the external 

 air, and having a coal oil stove. What would you 

 think of it? Are such stoves safe from explosion? 

 Do they make smoke? and where should the venti- 

 lating pipe from the inside start from? near the ceil- 

 ing or near the ground? You ask what is the objec- 

 tion to a cellar? I have never used one, but would 

 say a very serious objection is the putting in and 

 taking out the hives. Although my house does not 

 maintain a sufficiently high temperature in winter, 

 it keeps cool in the warm weather in spring. I shall 

 feel obliged if you will give me any suggestions. 



' All my experiments with artificial heat 

 have been pretty much failures, as you will 

 see by the A 13 0, under the head, artifici- 

 al heat. A coal oil lamp is safe (if you 

 carry off the vapors by a suitable chimney), 

 and not very expensive, but I doubt much 

 whether it would give sufficient heat to dry 

 out the walls of such a room as you mention. 

 Putting a stove under the building would be 

 better, but great care must be taken to avoid 

 too much heat or disturbance. The heat 

 furnished by a large colony of bees is the 

 most sensible, natural, and successful of any- 

 thing I have tried. Protect them with chaff 

 cushions, wind breaks, and every thing of 

 that kind, hut leave them to fly out whenev- 

 er they wish. At present, a house apiary is 

 the best method of wintering of anything I 

 have ever tried. 



QUEENS BY MAIL, AND CANADIAN POSTAL REGULA- 

 TION. 



It appears that, in some parts of the U. S., the 

 P. O. regulations respecting bees are not observed, 

 and is not this one of those cases where "the law is 

 more honored in its breach than in its observance?" 

 for it is absurd. I have not heard that any attempt 

 has been made to exclude bees from the mails in 



