80 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



but part of them. I cannot think a young queen, 

 raised from a pure, imported mother, can raise any 

 black bees, regardless of what kind of drone she has 

 met with. Yours in Charity, Amos Blank. 



Woodville, O., Jan. 20, 1880. 



[Still a little more charity, friend B. As a general 

 rule, the bees from the daughter of a pure queen all 

 show more or less yellow bands, even if the daughter 

 has mated with a black drone; but, now and then, 

 we find queens whose progeny seems half pure 

 Italians, well marked, and the other half, pure 

 blacks. The same thing is often observed in crosses 

 of fowls and other domestic animals. This is an old 

 question.] 



I have got so stuck up with grape susar that I 

 have not been able to extricate my hands to write 

 for you to send the Gleanings for another year. I 

 hope to learn enough more so as to set this barrel 

 down my starving bees. I would also like to get the 

 ABC when you publish a new edition, containing 

 revised description of the bee feed (the latest). Per- 

 haps I shall learn something yet about it by ex- 

 perience, but have not got through the " slough of 

 despond " as yet. A. D. Griswold. 



Southport, Chemung Co., N. Y., Jan. 3, 1880. 



[Friend G., you want to teach some handy girl to 

 handle the sugar, and then all you will have to do 

 will be to carry the dry candy around to the hives, 

 and see them get full of brood vinder its influence, 

 as ours are doing now. Will was just saying our 

 bees have increased in numbers at least 3^, since 

 they were packed in Nov. New editions of the 

 ABC are going out all the time, and new matter is 

 being almost daily added to it.] 



WINTERING ON CANDY ALONE. 



Will a good strong stock of bees subsist altogether 

 on candy, made from white crushed sugar, with a 

 proportion of wheat flour? and what quantity would 

 it require to winter such a stock? 



[You can winter bees on the candy alone, if you 

 give them only small pieces, say not over a It)., at a 

 time, and have it so well protected that they can 

 keep it warm even during severe weather. The 

 quantity required is quite variable, owing to weather, 

 amount of biood reared, and size of the colonv. It 

 may be all the way from 5 to 2u lb.; perhaps Id Id. on 

 an average.] 



OAT HULLS FOR WINTER PACKING. 



Will a double hive filled with oat hulls, 2 in. all 

 around do for wintering on summer stands, when 

 bees are fed with the above mentioned candv? 



[Oat hulls may answer, but they are too hard and 

 cold to be as good as chaff. Two inches is too thin, 

 even with the best of chaff; better have 4 or even 6 

 inches at the sides, and 8 or 10 above them.] 



I had 14 stocks in the fall, but reduced the number 

 to 9 by uniting. So far, they are doing splendidly. 

 Last season was good for honey. There was a great 

 yield of basswood. In one week, I extracted from 5 

 stocks 110 lb. All my honey found ready sale at 15c. 

 per lb., and I could have sold as much more if I had 

 had it. The cold blast smoker 1 bought of you works 

 like a charm. I don't see how bee-keepers can get 

 along without them, and, at the price you sell them, 

 I don't see why some people will destroy their lungs, 

 blowing smoke from a piece of rotten wood. 



William Vickbrs. 



Fergus, Out., Co. Wellington, Ca., Jan. 21, 1880. 



you, and give you a statement each month on a 

 postal, the money, of course, always being subject 

 to your demand.] 



WHAT TO DO WITH BOX HIVES THAT ARE SHORT OF 

 STORES IN WINTER. 



I recently bought, at a neighbor's two miles away, 



' 9 stands of bees, hybrids, in old box hives. A few of 



i the colonies are well supplied with honey, but most 



of them are small and scantily furnished. How shall 



I move them home? and how shall I feed them until 



the honey season? The weather is very mild for 



winter, and they are consuming stores very fast. 



Midway, Ky., Jan. 17, 1880. E. A. Bagby. 



[Move the bees right away, if the ground is soft, 

 I or if there is snow, so they will not be bumped about 

 too much. In cold weather, you can fasten them in 

 by putting a cloth over the entrance, if wire cloth is 

 not handy. Set them on plenty of straw, and drive 

 slowly. Put them where they are to stand, and 

 feed them candy, as I have directed so many times 

 in the back Nos., and in the A B C. Turn the hives 

 over the first day it is warm enough for them to fly, 

 and see how much stores they have, and be sure 

 they do not starve. If there are no holes in the top 

 of the hive to permit you to lay candy over the 

 cluster of bees, cut out a part of the top, driving the 

 bees away with smoke. When you get the candy 

 fixed among them, cover it with a chaff cushion 

 warm and tight, with a tight box over the chaff to 

 1 keep all dry.] 



A CHEAP WAY OF FIXING LEAKY ROOFS. 



Before I received the Jan. No. of Gleanings, in 

 which you make so fair an offer about the leaky 

 I roofs of the 154 story hives, I had repaired half of 

 mine by covering with heavy muslin, and painting 

 it heavily, and will fix all of them the same way; I 

 will, therefore, if satisfactory to you, take the fol- 

 lowing goods for the $5. which you place to my 

 credit. And right here let me remark that you are 

 the first mnn who ever voluntarily offered to return 

 me $5. on a bill of goods because they were defective. 



FLAT BOTTOMED FOUNDATION. 



I should like to see a sample of your thin fdu. for 

 sections, when it is ready. I tried the thin,' flat bot- 

 tomed fdn., last season, but cannot say that I am 

 entirely satisfied with it. M. Frank Taber. 



Salem, O., Jan. 9, 1880. 



KEEPING A CASH BALANCE FOR PURCHASES. 



Will you allow me to forward you, at one time, as 

 much as $10., and you place the same to my credit, 

 and allow me to order such goods as I m:iy need, and 

 at such times as I may need them, and thus save so 

 many registrations? 1 think, if all of your custom- 

 ers would do this, it would be a considerable saving 

 to them, if it is not too much trouble to you. I will 

 pay all freight and express charges, and you pay all 

 postage. Geo. B. Dean. 



Bennett, Tex., Jan. IT, 1880. 



[I will doit with pleasure, friend D. ; and, since 

 you mention it, I would remark that quite a number 

 of the friends have been doing so, for a year or two 

 back. That you may not lose the use of the money, 

 I will add this: For some time I have been paying 

 our hands interest on their spare cash, in order to 

 encourage in them habits of saving. Our book- 

 keeper foots up the interest monthly, at 8 per cent, 

 and adds it to their deposit. I will do the same with I 



EXTRACTING THE UNSEALED HONEY FOR WINTER. 



As this has been a beau'iful day, I took a peep at 

 our bees in the cellar, 'ihey are all right, except 

 two, which show unmistakable signs of dysentery. 

 I carried one out doors. They covered 6 frames 

 11x13, and 4 frames contained brood in all stages. 

 These two hives were not extracted from last fall, 

 and I look for more of them to have dysentery; in 

 fact, all that went into the cellar with uncapped 

 honey. Harry Blackburn. 



Webberville, Ingham Co., Mich., Jan. IT, 1880. 



[By reference to friend B's remarks on page 4T9, 

 Dec. No., you will see that he extracted the unseal- 

 ed honey from i.nly about half of bis 130 colonies. 

 With this very open and mild winter, it seems, from 

 his report, that the unsealed honey has not proven 

 very wholesome.] 



THE FIRST REPORT OF THE BEE MALADY. 



Bees in this vicinity did no good last year. In 

 some places, they did uot make enough honey for 

 their own consumption, while some stands made a 

 little surplus. Mine are dying fast. I lost 6 stands 

 in less than 3 weeks, with plenty of nice, sealed hon- 

 ey, and bee-bread. Very astonishing indeed! Two 

 stands were very strong and pert on Saturday, and, 

 on Monday following, they were dead, and bees were 

 flying every day, at that. From the 2 hives, I then 

 extracted 5 gal. of nice, thick honey. Strange it is, 

 indeed, to me. I only had 19 stands last fall. 



Areola, 111., Jan. 9, 1880. John Kauffman. 



[It is indeed strange, friend K., that the bees 

 should die so suddenly when they had just been Hy- 

 ing out. Are you sure they did not swarm out, and 

 go off, or into some other hive? Were there good 

 queens in the hives, and eggs and larvie, at the time 

 of their leaving? If, by any mistake, they were 

 qucenlcss, I should call it no mystery at all, but only 

 the old bees suddenly dying off. I should hate to 

 hear that the "dwindling" had commenced thus 

 early, and with such severity as your report indi- 

 cates. Here is auotuer of the same kind after all.] 



