76 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



ITALIANS ROBBING THE BLACKS. 



I begun last spring 1 , with 2 colonies,— one Italian 

 and one black. My black colony ii-.creased to 4, and 

 my Italian to 2. The season was extremely dry, 

 therefore my bees made no surplus, but I think 

 they probably have enough for winter. For the 

 past 6 days, bees have been <>n the wing all the 

 while. My Italians are tolerablv roguish. It seems 

 as though they will ju-t completely wipe out my 

 blacks, in spite of all I can do. I have tried every- 

 thing I can think of, and nothing but closing the en- 

 trance will stop them. Now, friend Boot, if there 

 are any means by which to prevent their robbing, 

 except by closing the entrance, I certainly will re- 

 ceive the information with the greatest of pleasure. 



I think, friend B., your robbing troubles 

 are not the fault of either the Italians or the 

 blacks, but mostly the fault, if it may be 

 called a fault, of the inexperience of their 

 owner. Somewhere among your 3 new 

 swarms of blacks, I think there must be a 

 queenless one, and you yourself give the 

 reason why the Italians discovered it first, — 

 because they start out earlier and with more 

 energy than the blacks. After they had got 

 a taste from this one poorly protected hive, 

 they would be sure to '••pester" the others. 

 See that the hives all have good queens, con- 

 tract the entrances, and make them defend 

 themselves by the ways I have so often giv- 

 en. 



DO BEES ROB BECAUSE THEY LACK STORES? 



It certainly can't be for the want of plenty of 

 stores, for 1 am satisfied that they have at least 511 

 lhs. each. I intend to Italianize next season. I did 

 intend to do so last season, but wanted to try an ex- 

 peiiment. I had heard so murh in regard to Ital- 

 ians and blacks, I thought I would give them a trial. 

 I have lound the Italians to be far superior. They 

 work later and earlier, and, during the drouth here, 

 they were at work while the blacks were dormant. 

 I could not see where the Italians could get any 

 honey, unless from some neighbors' hives of black 

 bees. B. C. Ballow. 



CKvaneco, Christian Co., III., Jan. 8, 1880. 



Many uninitiated persons have insisted, 

 that, when bees are always robbing, it must 

 be because they have not feed enough, and 

 are lacking in stores. A friend once so 

 strongly argued this that I threw flour on the 

 robbers, and took him to the hive where 

 they were rushing out and in with their 

 loads. The hive, when opened, was found 

 literally crammed with honey, and was prob- 

 ably the heaviest in the whole apiary. 



SHIPPING BEES IN THE WINTER, ETC. 



The enclosed card I found on one of your chaff 

 hives containing live bees, at my front door, 

 Jan 3d, 1880. I write to let you know that they are 

 all right, and that I could find yellow bees working 

 on flowers all day Sunday. The weather has been 

 like spring here, since Dec. 7th. J. B. Pierce. 



•Richmond, Va.. Jan. 6, 1880. 



And this was what was on the card. 

 J. B Pierce, Esq.:— Compliments of Friends. 

 "A New Fear's Gift." 



Your friends must be of the substantial 

 kind, friend P. I am very glad to hear that 

 the bees arrived safely, and proceeded forth- 

 with to "improve the shining hour." 



CARRYING IN FLOUR IN JANUARY. 



My bees are all alive yet, and have been Hying for 

 the last 7 days. They have also been carrying in 

 flour for the last 15 days, fairly swarming on it. I 

 have 22 stands, all strong and healthy. I fed them, 

 durinjf Oct. and Nov., 120ft. coffee A sugar made in- 

 to syrup, and 5 gallons of extracted honey. 



Although the weather here has been quite 

 warm for two weeks past, we have had no 



days suitable for feeding meal. The advisa- 

 bility of feeding meal in the winter months 

 has sometimes been questioned. Will you 

 please report, friend II., how your bees come 

 out in the spring. 



BLASTED HOPES. 



Last fall, the bee business became as "dead as a 

 door-nail." At one sale in the country, bees brought 

 from one to two dollars per colony, box hives and 

 Langstroth the same. At another place, they never 

 received a bid at all, and they are now offered at 

 $2.25 a stand, and warranted to live until spring; 

 these are in box hives. A good many colonies of 

 bees near town are already dead, — starved, just as 

 I pr> dieted last July they would be. The owners let 

 them get robbed out, and now they are baiikrupt in 

 the bee-business, and will quit in disgust. Others 

 talk of buying bees in the spring, and will probably 

 follow in their foot-steps. 



ROBBING THE NEIGHBORS' BEES. 



Three of my stands are robbing somebody's bees 

 now. I cannot find out where they go. The loser 

 will probably find it out, if the weather remains 

 warm a few days longer, and may lose his bees in the 

 baryain. What is one's loss is somebody's gain. So 

 goes the world. I don't care as long as mine are on 

 the winning side. Geci. L. Hollenbach. 



Noblesville, lud., Jan. 8, 18S0. 



One might almost think, friend II., that 

 you did not believe in doing as you would be 

 done by. I should tind out where those bees 

 go, and for my neighbor's interest, if for noth- 

 ing more, help him to stop the robbing. It 

 is true, that, to a certain extent, it is the 

 business of every one who owns bees to see 

 that they are not being robbed, and he who 

 is careless and indifferent must expect to 

 lose. 



CORRECTION IN REGARD TO BAKER'S DIVISION 

 BOARD. 



I would like to make a few remarks in addition to 

 yours, given in Jan. No. of Glevnings, up m the 

 construction, etc., of my division hoard. 



First, as a correction, I would say, cut yourboards 

 1J4 in. shorter than the hive is wide. The % x % in. 

 elea's, when placed in their respective grooves, add 

 3 4 of an inch. The whole will then be V« inch short- 

 er than the hive is wide, and, if now hung iti the 

 hive, % in. space would occur between each end 

 cleat and the walls of the hive. To fill this vacancy, 

 strips l*i in. wide, cut from table oil-cloth such as is 

 found in most stores, are tacked against the cleats, 

 in a sort of semicircle. To make it plainer, lay the 

 board on its side, and the oil-cloth strip on the cleat 

 with its edge against the shoulder of the board; tack 

 along, as shown in the engraving; bend it around 

 and tack likewise on the opposite side. Have the 

 enameled side of the cloth out, of course. Let me 

 s ay to those wanting something cheaper than a chaff 

 division board, try it. lam sure it will please you. 

 If you have no machinery, friend Koot can probably 

 furnish them cheaper than you can make them 

 yourselves. If you are getting a lot of hives cut at 

 a factory, you can get these hoards cut at small cost; 

 it would, however, be well to obtain a sample division 

 board; then you would be sure to get them all 

 right, and no mistake. D. B. Baker. 



Kollersville, O., Jan., 1880. 



HOW FRIEND kevdig gets a big crop of honey 



DURING A POOR SEASON. 



T have been much interested in the reports seen 

 in Gleanings from time to time, from my brother 

 bee-keepers, and therefore think it might interest 

 some one to hear from me. In '78, 1 put into the 

 cellar 105 stocks, which all came out s ife, except one 

 queenless one. I had no spring dwindling When 

 the bees were taken out, I contracted the brood 

 nests, and put chaff partitions on each- side, and 3 

 in. chaff cushions on top. 



STRONG STOCKS TO GET THE HONEY. 



I could not get my stocks all strong by the middle 

 of June, when the honey harvest opened, so I then 

 doubled up till they were brought down to 75, mak- 

 ing about 18 nuclei of the surplus queens. About 

 the middle of July, surplus stopped. I had only one 



