22 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



SPRING DWINDLING. 



FRADENBURG'S PLAN FOR ITS PREVENTION. 



fi WILL now g'ive my plan for prevention of spring 

 dwindling, and, as I said in my former article, I 

 — ' would like to have as many bee-keepers as will, 

 try the experiment that I shall propose, and report 

 the result; then wc can tell whether my theory is 

 correct or not. 



1 will take some hives, like the Langstroth or your 

 li-2 story that has a portico, and make a light frame 

 that will just fit inside the opening- of the portico, 

 and cover this frame with wire cloth, and put it in 

 place in the entrance to the portico. It can be fas- 

 tened with light hinges, hooks, buttons, or any such 

 device. Thus you see I will shut my bees up at home 

 on all the cold, chilly days, but not shut them into 

 the hive by closing- the entrance. The main idea is 

 to give them the benefit of fresh air, and sunshine 

 when there is any, and a little chance to exercise 

 their wings, but not to fly off and get chilled. Of 

 course, I would not think of keeping the screen al- 

 ways closed. On warm days, after it gets really 

 warm, I will open the screen and give them a fly 

 once or twice a week, but be sure and know, before 

 letting them fly, that the air is quite warm enough 

 not to chill them. I believe there are many days in 

 the spring-, after the bees begin getting pollen and 

 honey, when the loss of bees by flying out and get- 

 ting chilled amounts to more than what they gain in 

 stores. I expect some bees will worry about the 

 screen, trying to get out, and die there; but I. think 

 not nearly as many as would die if the ordinary en- 

 trance to the hive were closed. Try, and know. 



A. A. Fradenburo. 



Port Washington, O., Nov. 17, 1879. 



While I think it very likely that many bees 

 might be saved by a judicious confining of 

 them to their hives, I am inclined to think a 

 hive, with the entrance closed, without any 

 portico, would be better. I have fastened 

 bees in the hives while in the cellar, in just 

 the way you suggest, but they came out and 

 died clinging to the wire cloth. I have also 

 confined them in that way while moving 

 them in the fall, and during cool weather 

 they would nearly all of them go back upon 

 the combs. The more I think of it. friend 

 F., the more I am inclined to think it would 

 be an advantage in the hands of a careful 

 bee-keeper who is always on hand at the 

 right time. Remember, there will be many 

 days in the spring when the morning gives 

 every promise of a most favorable day, but 

 about noon, perhaps, it will cloud up and 

 the weather change so suddenly that you 

 may lose great numbers of bees in spite of 

 all the precautions you may take in keeping 

 them at home. 



^ ■•■ 



SCOTLAND. 



BEES AND BEE-KEEPING IN 1879. 



BEE-KEEPING, this season, has been a failure. 

 Of all the bad seasons the present race of bee- 

 keepers have had to contend with (and such 

 seasons have been by no means few), the season of 

 1879 has been decidedly the worst. From all quarters, 

 reports come to us of wholesale death and starvation 

 among bees; whole apiaries cleared out, and not a 

 single " ruskie " left to mark the place where, but a 

 little while ago, whole colouies were toiling and 



singing as bees only can. Even from the most favor- 

 ed spots in England, we have letters bewailing the 

 loss of whole apiaries; and little wonder; more ty- 

 rannous than Pharaoh of old, the wretched summer 

 supplies no material for the poor creatures to oper- 

 ate on, though they wandered more widely and 

 searched more diligently than did the brick-making 

 Israelites. In the whole month of July, our best 

 honey gathering month, there wci-e not more than 

 four good honey-gathering days; so rare were the 

 " westlin winds" that "bring hame the laden bees," 

 and so frequent the easterly winds with their sad 

 drizzle. 



We learn from correspondents in various parts of 

 Aberdeenshire and the north generally, swarming 

 has been the exception and not the rule. Swarming- 

 with us was about six weeks late and only from one 

 swarm, a Ligurian, have we been able to secure any 

 surplus honey, all the others needing their stores for 

 self support. The working power of these foreign- 

 ers is indeed astonishing, and their early habits are 

 worthy of imitation. Our acquaintanceship with the 

 Ligurians and our observation of their merits, have 

 led us to decide on abandoning the old native race. 

 No doitbt the Ligurians are dreadful thieves, but 

 their thievish propensities find little scope in a com- 

 munity where all alike are "tarry Angered;" or it 

 may be the honor which is said to exist among thieves 

 will make honest bees of the Ligurians, when all 

 temptation in the shape of black bees and their 

 stores is removed. Anyhow, since we Ligurianized 

 our apiary, we find less fighting than with the native 

 bees; and, besides the decrease in robbing and wor- 

 rying, we find the honey yield of the Ligurians to be 

 most certainly greater than that of the old race. 



Returning from this digression into which the 

 mention of Ligurians has led us, we would remark, 

 how unfortunate it is that such a year should have 

 overtaken us when the public had become really so 

 interested in the subject of bee-keeping! Through- 

 out the country, a keen interest in bees has been 

 manifested, which a glance at the newspapers will 

 amply demonstrate, shows and other apicultural 

 matters finding a place among other items of news 

 that the general public are supposed to peruse. 

 This year, we have had noted apiarians from foreign 

 countries visiting the exhibitions representivo of 

 this country's apiculture, America, Germany, 

 France, and Italy, especially, sending delegates. 

 What a pity then that we should be seen in such 

 form by " chiels amang us takin' notes!" but worse 

 than the weak front presented by the great gather- 

 ings is the fact, that some honey and bee shows have 

 had to be entirely abandoned this season, and, when 

 held, these local exhibitions have been almost minus 

 honey exhibits. 



All we now want in this country is a scries of good 

 years to place bee-keeping on a firm basis, as one of 

 the regular industries, and to make good its claim 

 to'rank among the most profitable of them. 



Parkhill, Aberdeenshire, Scot. K. M. Greig. 



The "Christian Weekly " writes to one of our sub- 

 scribers, as follows: 



As to Mrs. Cotton, although we can not find any- 

 thing positive against her, 1 think, in the future, we 

 shall decline her advertising. 



. B. C. EVh-RiNGHiM, Manager Advertising Dept. 



It seems to me they find it a little hard to own up, 

 that they have been in the wrong. 



