ii2 



GLEANINGS IN EEE CULTUItE. 



Mar. 



this equivalent to feeding, to induce brood rearing. 

 The weather was quite cool during April and a part 

 of May, which used up the most of the apiaries 

 around here, while mine kept right along rearing 

 brood, as I left them packed snugly in their boxes, 

 only removing the chaff from over the hive. Tou 

 know I pack them a la Townley. 



They did not feel the effects of the cold weather, 

 and when white clover came, they were " booming," 

 and ready for business. Clover lasted, with short 

 intermissions caused by dry weather, until July, and 

 was my main dependence for surplus honey. Bass- 

 wood did not yield much honey, and buckwheat did 

 but little better, but kept the bees busy for a few 

 days, which closed the season for surplus honey. 



CHAFF PACKING, AND ADVANTAGES OF KEEPING IT 

 ON LATE. 



By the way, I would say that I did not remove the 

 packing from my bees until June, which accounts, 

 in part, for my success. I have shipped 8351b. , near- 

 ly all white-clover honey, have 228ft. crated ready to 

 ship, and have over 150ft. left for the home trade, 

 making in all over 1,200ft., all comb, except about 

 50ft., and I have increased to 32 colonies. I used no 

 fdn., except for starters in the boxes. If I had had 

 empty combs I could have done better. How does 

 this compare with the Banner Apiary, considering 

 the disadvantages that I labored under? 



S. H. Mallory. 



Hamilton, Van Buren Co., Mich., Feb. 1, 1880. 



!<w%' §^adim 1 ^" 



FROM ONE OF OUR FEMININE ABC SCHOLARS. 



S ORDERED a $1.00 queen of you last June, which 

 I received July 18th, in good condition, after 



J being 4 days on the road. She and her escort 

 had consumed about half the honey in the small 

 comb, and the queen had filled the empty half of 

 comb with eggs. I introduced her in 24 hours after 

 receiving her, to a colony of blacks that had been 

 queenless for 4 days, and had started 10 queen cells. 

 They received her with kindness, immediately tore 

 down their half-built queen cells, and killed, and 

 tossed out of the hive the last one of the queen's es- 

 cort who had so faithfully guarded her during the 4 

 days journey. I was sorry to have them treated so 

 harshly. 



The young Italians appeared outside of the hive, 

 for the first time, Aug. 13th, just 25 days after the 

 queen was introduced. They were beautiful bees, 

 almost as large as their mother. They are all 3 band- 

 ed and extremely docile. They show the 3 bands at 

 all times, whether they are filled with honey or not. 



1 now have 2 full colonies (one Italian and one 

 black), and 2 nuclei of 5 frames each. I put all of 

 them in chaff hives during the month of Oct., with 

 chaff cushions above. I examined them Jan. 3d (the 

 weather being warm enough for them to fly), and 

 found one nucleus with plenty of stores to last them 

 through the winter; the other, consisting of a small 

 after swarm which came out June 20th, was entirely 

 out. The Italians had perhaps 8 or 10 ft. of honey, 

 and the colony of blacks scarcely any at all, although, 

 during the fall, they seemed to have as much as all 

 the rest combined. This being the parent stock, it 

 of course had the full benefit of the entire season. 

 I immediately furnished all four colonies with candy 

 in brood frames according to directions given in 



ABC, and, upon examination 8 or 10 days afterward, 

 found all busy storing the candy in combs, the Ital- 

 ians, however, going far ahead of the blacks in this 

 work, having stored twice as much in the same 

 length of time. 



Last season was a very poor senson in this locality 

 for honey, so old apiarians say. My 4 colonies all 

 came from one last season,— 2 natural swarms and 

 one artificial. I think I can take them through all 

 right as they all have nice, warm, dry hives, with 

 ample facilities for furnishing them all the food 

 they want. 



I am pleased with the fdn. you sent me. The bees 

 drew out the cells, and the queen had eggs in some 

 of them, in 48 hours after it was placed in the hive. 

 I think it just the thing for brood rearing and sav- 

 ing honey. I had to take nearly all the sheets out 

 of the hive, and cut % in. off from the bottom, the 

 bees seemed to lengthen them out so, when they 

 worked on them freely. They sagged but little, as 

 the cells at the top will show. 



Now for a question. Will not your regular size of 

 fdn., 12x18 in., answer my purpose by cutting each 

 sheet in two? I use the Adair frame, and half of a 

 sheet would fill my frame lacking V% in. on each side, 

 andlji in. at the bottom. Sheets as thick as those 

 you sent me will stretch y 2 in., or more, While being 

 drawn out. Mrs. D. J. Ballard. 



St. Paul, Ind., Feb. 5, 1880. 



I am very glad, my friend, to hear of your 

 succeeding so well, but you surely ran a 

 great risk, in going into winter quarters with 

 only enough, in one nucleus, to last until 

 Jan. 3d. The sheets of fdn., cut in the man- 

 ner you mention, will do very well, although 

 the space below is rather more than you 

 need. May I suggest that, if you have only 

 4 hives of the Adair frame, it would be bet- 

 ter to change into the L. before you get any 

 more? Even if the frame you mention is a 

 trifle better, and I feel sure such is not the 

 case, you will eventually find it inconvenient 

 to have a different size from that of the 

 great mass of bee-keepers. 



ARTIFICIAL POLLEN AND SPRING DWINDLING. 



Mr. C. C. Miller's letter in Gleanings induces me 

 to say that Mr. A. *nd myself have come to the con- 

 elusion that bees kept in the cellar until they can 

 get natural pollen are less likely to dwindle in the 

 spring; at least, such has been our experience, and 

 the more quiet we can keep them the better. All 

 through Jan., our bees have been remarkably quiet ; 

 only one day have they been uneasy, and that day 

 we had a very warm room above them for about 10 

 hours, but we cooled them off by opening windows 

 and door of bee cellar at night, and cooling the room 

 above them. In fact, our bees have never been so 

 quiet in the winter, in the cellar, as they have been 

 all this winter. 



We have 160 colonies packed as closely together as 

 the hives will allow, each bive being packed full of 

 straw, as you will remember has been our plan. We 

 have lost but very few wintered thus in the cellar. 

 To those left out-door last winter we fed, in Feb., 

 about a two bushel sack of fine flour, mixed with 

 straw, also a considerable chopped grain. We be- 

 lieve it was worse than lost to the bees. In March, 

 they threw large quantities of it out of the hives, 

 and those bees dwindled badly, while those kept in 

 the cellar until they could gather natural pollen, or 

 until about that time, were set out and crowded 



