8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



four frames of young brood, just coming- out, and 

 placed them in the hive, drove the bees and queen 

 to one side of the cage, slipped the wire off the other 

 side, then placed it by the side of the brood, and 

 watched the result. When three or four bees came 

 forward and discovered the brood cninbs, they made 

 rather a joyful demonstration, and, at this, "Zeep! 

 Zeep !*' went the queen, exactly as I wished her to 

 do. Now, what was the result? The bees went 

 right back at her call. I put it this way: when she 

 heard those bees making - such a fuss over the brood, 

 she called, "Zeep," or, "Come back here; you are 

 nil right; I am here." Then they all came out in 

 force, to explore. About that time, I shut the hue. 



As I am deeply interested in studying their voices, 

 I tried the same process with one that was very 

 lively. She came out first, and started on the run 

 up the frame, and when she reached the top shook 

 her wings, and ci - owed somewhat after the fashion 

 of a rooster, with a guttural voice, "There is room 

 for me and all," and down the other side she went, 

 out of sight. I had a wire cloth over the box and 

 watched her for some time, but heard no '"Zeep" 

 from her. I was so disappointed, I shut her up for 

 four days, then let iht bees out. I knew she would 

 come too, being such a romp. Out she came and 

 started off to take an airing, but I stopped her flight, 

 cut her wing, and put her back. She sobered down 

 and went on with her business. 



Can't you help me to some telephone, or micro- 

 phone, or something to intensify the sound? Some- 

 thing which I can apply inside the hive, and be able 

 to sit back four or five feet, leaving the bees in their 

 normal condition, and hear all that is going on in- 

 side? that would just suit me. By the bye, I'll send 

 you some of our pampas plumes, for a Christmas 

 gift; so when they come, you will know them. 



J. N. Gilchrist. 



Loma Apiary, Santa Barbara, Cul., Nov. 18, '79. 



There is no trouble about arranging the 

 microphone, friend G., but I fear your great- 

 est trouble would be to rind an interpreter to 

 enable you to understand the meaning of all 

 that was said inside of the hive. If you will 

 have a hive so arranged that you can con- 

 veniently place your ear against its side, you 

 will get a pretty clear idea of all of the talk 

 inside. The queen, I believe, rarely says 

 anything ; like a good and faithful servant, 

 she keeps steadily on with her business, un- 

 less something very extraordinary turns up, 

 such tis swarming, rearing new queens, or 

 something of the kind. 



You can hardly tell, friend G., how much 

 pleasure the pampas plumes gave us. They 

 are the admiration of the whole neighbor- 

 hood. Tell us what we shall do to return 

 the compliment. 



FUIEND SIMPSOxVS STORY. 



SOMETHING ABOUT "WATER FOR BEES." 



r-']RIENDROOT:-I have a story to tell about 

 ™ wintering bees, and yet fear to tell it, on ac- 

 count of the criticism which I know, according 

 tothe books, and, in fact, according to all authorities 

 on wintering, 1 richly deserve. Yet "All is well 

 that ends well, " and it may be that we have gone too , 

 far in preparing our winter quarters, &c. Now, T 

 will make a plain statement of facts, and you and 

 others can deduct your own conclusion. 



During the summer of 1878, I purposed building a 

 honey house, with a cellar under it for wintering 

 my bees. During my leisure hours, I dug the cellar, 

 and when the honey season closed, I took sick and 

 the building of the house was abandoned. But, quite 

 late, I put a frame of poles in it, and laid the sleep- 

 ers across it with rails on them. The next step was 

 to get the straw ; but my team was in the corn field, 

 and no straw could be put on until the corn was all 

 cribbed. So time passed. At last, the corn was in, 

 and the next day it commenced snowing, and we 

 commenced hauling- straw. We had agood distance 

 to haul it, and the result was a layer of straw and a 

 layer of snow, until we had about two feet of snow 

 and straw on. when it got so cold and bad that wc 

 quit. That evening, 1 got some of my neighbors to 

 help, and set my bees in the cellar, the combs being 

 covered with frost, and the tops of the hives with 

 snow, with snow in the cellar, everything being di- 

 rectly opposed to teachings. Well, the next three 

 days were stingers, and I felt glad that they had es- 

 caped the severe freezing they would have got on 

 their summer stands. On the fourth day, it moder- 

 ated a little, and we commenced to haul straw and 

 it commenced snowing again, giving another layer 

 of straw and snow alternating, until I had abjut 

 four feet on, and quit. 



Now I intended to set my bees out the first good 

 weather that came, give them a flight, and then put 

 them away according to the books; but no good 

 weather came until the last of February, and they 

 were put ra on the 7th of December. After they 

 had been in a week or two, I picked up heart, and 

 went in to see how they were getting along. When 

 I opened the door, I was sicker than ever; dr.ip, drip, 

 drip, from over head, the bottom of the cellar all 

 slimy mud, hives all dripping wet. Now, remember, 

 I had over eighty stands of Italian bees in there, but 

 not all the bees I had, for my lower apiary, as I call 

 it, contained forty-seven stands and I had them put 

 away according to the books, and 1 felt quite sure of 

 them. Well, after locking around a little while, I 

 found there were no dead bees on the ground, and 

 nothing about the hives to indicate disease or death. 

 So I closed the cellar, and came out of the rain into 

 the cold. Another snow and cold spell followed, last- 

 ing until sometime in January, and I did not oother 

 them for three weeks. When I went in again, the 

 snow had about all thawed off the straw, and it be- 

 ing flat, of course the water ran through and down, 

 over the bees. Kemember it was the heat of the 

 bees that melted the snow. I expected to find a sor- 

 ry lot of bees. When I opened the door, 1 could just 

 hear a faint hum, sufficient to let me know that 

 there were some left to tell the tale; but, as the 

 light of the lantern struck them, the humming 

 sounded like the joyous song of a June day. Still, 

 there was that drip, drip, from over-head, and the 

 hives were all wet from top to bottom, but there 

 was not a pint, all told, of dead bees on the floor. 

 Now, here is the point I wish you to mark: at the en- 

 trance of each hive that I examined, the bees were 

 out in regular circles, drinking the water that flow- 

 ed down the hive on to the alighting board, as 1 set 

 my hives in, bottom board and all, just as they 

 stat.d in the apiary. After drawing a long breath, 

 I felt better. I looked at them several times more 

 during the winter, and found them always, in great- 

 er or less numbers, taking water. Well, the result 

 was that I never saw bees come out in better condi- 

 tion in the spring; there was not a moldy comb, not 



