24 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTHRK. 



.1 AX. 



corners when the yield of honey is not very 

 good ; when honey is coming in rapidly, and 

 they are crowded for room to put it, the^ 

 will fill every cell, clear up to the wood 

 Filling the section-box with fdn., as men 

 tioned above, seems to favor filling out the 

 corners, yet does not insure it during a poor 

 How of honey. 



UNSEALED STORES FOR WINTER. 



1 see. on page 49fi of December Glf,a kings, thai 

 •you ask if it i* an advantage to use unsealed comb 

 of honey to winter bees on, and if anyone has tru e 

 lit. I have always advised and practiced having 

 sealed stores when this is possible, hut sometimes, 

 when colonies are united and fed late in the fall, a c 

 queen-rearms- nuclei, for instance, T have had therr 

 leave some of their honey uncapped: and if the«' 

 were suitably packed, I could not see that it was an< 

 disadvantage I had several colonies in this condi 

 tion last winter, and they wintered tinelv. I sup- 

 pose, under th<*se circumstances, Ihere is specia' 

 need that the hive should be dry inside, which con- 

 dition seems to be secured by the use of ohaft'. 



A. D. Weed. 



Detroit, Mich., Dec. 8, 1879. 



ADVANTAGE OF BEING ALWAYS WITH YOUR BEES. 



We have six apiaries on shares, in the country, and 

 our own apiary at home. Apiary No. 1, at home, fi- 

 swarms, gave 2,340 lb. of section honey, 130 lb. of ox 

 tracted honey, and 41 new stands; but I hadtokil 

 the new swarms so as to feed the rest, to keep them 

 over winter. It took all except 138 lb. in frames sold 

 to neighbors to winter their bees on. Apiary No 2. 

 41 swarms, gave 450 lb. of section honey, and 207 lb 

 of extracted honey. I killed the increase to feedth 

 remainder. 



Apiary No. 3, 12 sw'ms, A. Knupp's, no honey, fi inc 

 " 4, 11 " J. Shnlers, " " 7 " 

 " 5, 8 " W. Yagel' s, " " " 

 " 6, 2 " C. Teonharfs, " " 1 " 

 So you see that those bees at home, with care, out- 

 strip all the rest. Thiswasthe poorest vear for bee? 

 for many years. Of hees that swarmed two or threi 

 times, I dare say six-tenths will starve before March 

 1 know young swarms that came about the 20th of 

 dune that h ave not got 8 pounds of honey; 1 mean 

 tirst swarms. 



DYSENTERY IN THE FALL. 



John Elliott told me, about three weeks ago, that, 

 being in his apiary, he heard a peculiar hum of bees, 

 and; on examination, found that it came from three 

 hives. The bees were all on top of the frames, and 

 when he uncovered them they began to fly, and ha 1 ' 

 the worst dysentery he ever saw; so he killed them 

 at once. What was the cause of dvsontery in those 

 thrte swarms, out of his apiary of 07 swarms? 



Henry Knupp. 



Warren, Pcnn., Dec. 6, 1879. 



I have never seen a case of dysentery in 

 the fall, such as you mention, and I can give 

 no reason for such an occurrence, unless it 

 was that these three had gathered stores 

 from something which the rest did not find 

 An examination of the hives might reveal 

 something else. How does the honey look 

 and taste ? 



Mr. Root: — J should think you would get out of 

 patience with us, for, every time we think of any- 

 thing we write to you, as if we had made some great 

 discovery, when perha s it is as old as bee-keeping. 

 By we, I mean the ABC class. In the first place, I 

 have a chaff hive that is a little different in its con- 

 struction from yours. Don't we all like anything 

 we make ourselves a little the best? 



LEGS TO HIVES. 



Do you object to legs to a hive? I don't Like to put 

 them in the ground, for it must rot them so much 

 faster. Rowland White. 



Grand Rapids, Wood Co., O., Dec. 9, 1879. 



I object to legs to hives, because it is so 

 much harder for the bees to get in at the en- 

 trance. It is true, you can put a slanting 

 board up to the entrance, but this, with the 



legs, would be an extra exoense. mid it would 

 he hard to keep the space under the hives 

 rjlean and tidy. If the corner posts to the 

 hives are rested on four half-bricks, and coal 

 cinders are piled up just even with the bot- 

 tom around the outside, the bottom will not 

 rot: and, by covering all with n. little clf-m 

 white sand, we can have it all clean and 

 tidy, without any lurking-places for spiders, 

 toads, and otherenemies of the bees. 



HOPES NOT BLASTED, AFTER ALL. 



Well, friend Root, I see you have got me in Bla c t- 

 ^d Hopes, but I h >ve just begun to be encouraged. 

 ; have been keeping bees 25 vesirs, and one vPil' - "fo 

 last spring thought T would mike a business of it, 

 vnd so vou call me an ABC scholar. Well, I didr rd 

 ill of your ABC books, and then gave them awaj ; 

 r also V ad ihe A. B. J. and Gleanings, and many 

 ither bonks in that line; I also bought Ave colonies 

 >f Rev. Mr. Saulsburv. Those were nice b«cs. This 

 ins been my ftr-t failure in business, but then, may 

 e one needs to fall, so he may know how to rise. 

 But, " On to victory!" so. give me a good season and 

 ' will tell you a di' T erent storv. My bees now are 

 ill packed in chaff boxes, with plentv of sugar to 

 >at. W. Emerick. 



Sumner, Lawrence C.i.. 111., D-c. 6, 1879. 



GOOD FOR AN A B C SCHOLAR. 



Remembering the bees of mv childhood's home, it 



'oeurred to me th it bee-keeping would at least pro- 

 vide an occupation and assist in making our income 



arger; so I bought fi stands last spring, increased to 

 '4, and sold $50. worth of honey. I don't know of any 

 on" else around here who has dine half so well even 

 in honey, while the great majority are not able to 



ealize over 5!b. of honev to a hive. Let me say, 

 •• ; u'ht here, that I consider that to vouv admirable A 

 B C and to Gleanixos, the credit is mistlv due. 

 ^riend Sawyer and T exchange publications; ho 

 takes Gleanings. T have puwhased some verv tine 



ineens of Messrs. Dadant and Hai 'bur?t ; among the 



est, a tested imported one. which h is given promise 

 of being extra, good. Would yon car.' for s -me of 

 her dniohters next war? T shall not expeet nv of 

 my queens to produce hybrid workers, and will 

 make all such good. The neighboring bee-keepers 

 h ve already given me orders aggregating 250 



ineens: I intend raisins - about 500. 

 I shall send you, before long, a design for a bench 



o make hives on, as so few are able to fret out the 

 -tuff in go-«l shape by hand. I think you will like it ; 

 [ know I do. 



ANSWERING LKTTERS mvself. 

 I have written you a Ion? letter, and wish you. 

 would answer it yourself, even if it waits a week; I 

 ^•ould feel better satisfied. T. L. Vandorn. 



Omaha, Nebraska, Nov. 3, '879. 



We shall be very glad indeed, friend V., 

 to see your plan of a work-bench. I have 

 often thought of something of the kind for 

 bee-keepers. 



In regard to my answering letters individ- 

 ually ; it seems hard to refuse "so simple a 

 request, and since so many have made it of 

 late, I think I shall have to tell you why I 

 can not well do it. I have learned by expe- 

 rience, that it is far better for me to have 

 each letter answered the day it is received. 

 If I commence laying them away until some 

 better time, a pile will accumulate, and I 

 shall have them lying on my conscience and 

 worrying me every day for months it may 

 be. Well, after reading a letter through, as 

 I always do everything you write, I am bet- 

 ter prepared to answer it then than I evpr 

 shall be again, for it would be a great waste 

 of time to read a letter more than once, and 

 enter into the spiiifc of it, and get acquainted 

 with the writer, as I always try to do. Now, 

 I do not answer letters at all ; in fact, I have 

 been absolutely unable to answer the kind 

 letters I have received from my own broth- 



