470 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Dec. 



was evident that this plan would not work 

 in wintry weather. The trouble was that 

 the bees in the hive drew down away from 

 the cages, and chaff cushions having no 

 warmth of their own are only a protection, 

 when the cluster of bees is enough to give 

 out warmth which they can confine. Will 

 finally improvised a cage for introducing in 

 cold weather, that answers the purpose nicely. 



INTRODUCING CAGE FOR COLD WEATHER. 



It is simply a piece of wire cloth, 3x4 in- 

 ches, rolled lengthwise, so as to make a tube 

 f in. in diameter. An inch of one end of the 

 tube is filled with soft candy, and a 2 dram 

 vial, with the usual notch in the cork, is put 

 in the other end. The queen is put into the 

 cage, and it is then pressed between two 

 combs, in such a way that the bottle is at 

 the upper end. Of course, the cage is put 

 right in the midst of the cluster, where the 

 bees cannot help getting acquainted with 

 her. • So far, we have had no failures with it. 

 We can furnish such cages, candy, bottle, 

 and all, for 5c. 



CHAFF HIVES VERSUS SIMPLICITIES. 



As the past season has been generally a 

 poor one, our neighbors, many of them, have 

 been discouraged, and have come to me to 

 have me buy their bees. I have already 

 bought so many, that our apiary now num- 

 bers about 325 colonies. We have delayed 

 uniting, on account of the last shipment of 

 imported queens, and because there are al- 

 ways so many wanting a queen the very last 

 thing. I do not know that I have ever be- 

 fore been able to supply all orders very late 

 in the fall. Our last dollar queen was sent 

 off yesterday, and now we have nothing but 

 tested and hybrid queens, aside from the 

 imported ones. 



7th.— We have had a severe, freezing, 

 wintry spell; but to-day it is so warm the 

 bees are out again. In front of the Simplic- 

 ity hives, almost without exception, w T e find 

 handfuls of dead bees ; but, at the entrances 

 of the chaff hives, almost no dead bees. 

 Worse than that, a good many of the Sim- 

 plicity hives containing weak colonies or 

 queen rearing nuclei have been balling their 

 queens. This occurred mostly in hives 

 where there were many dead bees found on 

 the bottom board, and after looking at the 

 matter carefully, I am convinced it was the 

 imperfect protection that has got them thus 

 dissatisfied and demoralized. Out of about 

 20 colonies in the Simplicity hives, six had 

 balled their queens, and two imported queens 

 were killed by the operation. Will it not 

 pay to have even nuclei in chaff hives? I 

 am convinced it will, and into chaff hives 

 they shall go to-morrow. 



NEIGHBOR RICE HAS JUST BEEN HERE, 



and he says he has only six or eight colonies 

 in his house apiary, and that he will soon 

 take his bees all out, for the simple reason 

 that he does not like to work with bees in a 



building. As his house apiary cost him 

 quite a sum of money, this is a very impor- 

 tant matter to those contemplating building 

 such structures. As he extracts all his hon- 

 ey, it would perhaps make a difference if he 

 worked his bees for comb honey. He uses it 

 to set his hives in, in winter, and likes it 

 very well for that purpose. 



COVERING THE FRAMES — WHAT SHALL WE 

 USE FOR THE PURPOSE V 



Neighbor R. uses old carpets, and says he 

 likes them better for the purpose than any- 

 thing else— especially as they cost him no- 

 thing ! 



" But they do cost you something, friend 

 R." 



" Why, no ; we alw r ays have carpets wear- 

 ing out, and, after they are washed clean, 

 they are much softer for the bees than a new 

 carpet even. My wife hems them all round, 

 and when they are just the right size they 

 are warm, and no bees can get above them." 



" But the bees bite holes through them 

 after a while." 



" Why, yes ; they do in time, and some 

 colonies will eat a carpet much faster than 

 others ; but, after they get too bad, Ave give 

 them another." 



" The bees will also cover them with pro- 

 polis, in time, so that they kill bees unless 

 you are very slow, and very careful in put- 

 ting them down, will they not V " 



" Yes ; but we then give them a new one, 

 as before. They last a good while, and I 

 have got so used to carpets that I like them 

 better than anything else." 



Now, my friends, there is perhaps a good 

 deal of truth. in the above, and as I can not 

 well manufacture soft old rag carpets, per- 

 haps each one would better make them at 

 home. Unfortunately, there are a good 

 many bee-keepers who will go without a 

 thing before they will make it themselves. 

 For such, we will make sheets of burlap, and 

 hem them all round, for 5 cents each. This, 

 like the carpet, is good until some adventur- 

 ous bee bites holes through it. The wooden 

 mat, we have decided to try at the same 

 price next season ; but the tin-lined sheet of 

 cluck or enameled cloth, preferred by a great 

 many, we can not furnish for less than 10 

 cents. 



THE NEW GRAPE-SUGAR CANDY. 



After severe cold weather, this has par- 

 tially hardened in the cells, after all ; but, 

 as it is still as soft, or softer, than pollen, I 

 do not apprehend any trouble from it. Some 

 of the colonies that emptied one tray very 

 quickly seem to be a good deal slower in 

 emptying the second. I do not know whe- 

 ther it is because they have got tired of it, 

 or whether it is because of the different 

 w T eather. At any rate, it has caused the 

 rearing of quite a lot of new brood, late in 

 the fall. 



Nov. 26.— "It never rains but it pours." 

 Fiorini sent us 52 queens last month as I told 

 you ; Bianconcini sent us 32 shortly after, 

 and last Saturday Tremontani sent us 20 

 more. Just think of it, an invoice of queens 

 from Italy as late as the 22nd of Oct. Thanks 

 to Wills new cage, they are all successfully 



