120 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



are well known to be so useful in gardens, 

 can we not have a garden so fenced up that 

 the toads can be kept inside the inclosure, 

 and allowed to live in peace and usefulness V 



CHAFF HIVES VERSUS CELLAR WINTERING. 



Last November, I put the most of ray bees in the 

 cellar, except a few which I left on their summer 

 stands, with cushions on the sides and on top. They 

 have wintered well, but the weather was warm and 

 wet in Jan., which caused the cellar to be very damp ; 

 so I took 3 outdoor, and made chaff hives. The in- 

 side shell, I made of common lath; it struck me that 

 the cracks between the lath would be grand for ven- 

 tilation. I have been looking over about 30 colonies 

 in the cellar to-day, and found 2 nearly dead with 

 the dysentery, with plenty of sealed honey. 



Now, 1 want to know if bees are as liable to the 

 dysentery when packed in chaff on summer stands; 

 and whether or not the damp cellar is the cause of 

 dysentery in this case. Now, would it be safe for 

 me to make outside shells, 4 in. larger than the reg- 

 ular hives, and pack in chaff? The hives are % 

 thick; or would you advise the inner shell thinner? 



Meredith, N. Y., Feb. 5, '80. O. R. Munson. 



I think the bees are less liable to dysentery 

 when outdoor, packed in chaff ; and, besides, 

 if a suitable day occurs, they can then always 

 fly out, of their own accord, and without any 

 disturbance, such as carrying them out 

 necessarily produces. Lath for the inside of 

 chaff hives will answer nicely. I know of 

 no objection, other than that it is a great 

 deal of work. I first made the inside of nar- 

 row strips. I think thin wood is far better 

 than inch boards, for the inner walls of chaff 

 hives, for the reasons given. 



Is not this the new trait that friend Hasty 

 wants to develop V viz., a wide-awake dispo- 

 sition which will induce the bees to search 

 for and discover the honey, the minute the 

 blossoms begin to open. 



EARLY QUEENS FROM THE SOUTH. 



As it is just fun to raise queen-s here, by your di- 

 rections given in the A B C, I would like to know, if 

 I should succeed in raising a good quantity of early, 

 untested queens from an imported mother, if I could 

 sell them. As there are but few bees in this neigh- 

 borhood, I think the most of them will prove pure; 

 at least, the early ones did last season. 



Pleasant Hill, S. C, Feb. 5, '80. W. S. Canthen. 



Just go right to work and raise the queens, 

 friend C, and I think I can pay you one 

 dollar each for all you will deliver to me 

 in March or April. A great many of our 

 Southern friends have undertaken to do it, 

 but I have never been able, so far, to get any 

 until about the first of May. 



SIMPSON AND SPIDER PLANTS, AND TEACHING BEES 

 TO GATHER HONEY. 



The Simpson honey plant that I got of friend 

 Simpson, bloomed the first year as much as it could 

 bloom the second year. I have had spider plants in 

 my garden before 1 knew they were honey plants, 

 but I never saw bees working on them; so I took a 

 piece of comb honey, put it in front of a hive, got it 

 full of bees, and then put them among the plants. 

 In thi9 way, I got them to work on the spider plant. 



Louisville, Ky., Jan. 9, '80. Louis Hofstatter. 



Those Simpson plants that friend S. sent 

 out were extra nice, well rooted ones, and I 

 hope he will have some more like them this 

 spring. I have before imagined there was 

 honey in the fields, which the bees had not 

 discovered, and, as some colonies seem al- 

 ways behind others, is not this the reason? 



REPORT FROM AN A B C SCHOLAR IN COLORADO. 



I started last spring with one swarm of the yellow 

 banded tribe, and have now 6 good swarms. I never 

 tried to handle bees before last spring. Last fall, I 

 took from those swarms, 200 ft. of comb honey, and 

 left from 8 to 10 frames of honey to the swarm, to 

 winter on. The frames are 12x14 in. I laid strips of 

 wood across the frames, and then a chaff cushion, 10 

 in. thick, over them, and a cushion at each end, and 

 2 feet of chaff at the back and ends, leaving the 

 fronts as in summer. Are they cared for right, to 

 stand the winter? 



HONEY FROM THE OAK. 



I read in Gleanings about the bees working on 

 the oaks. They work briskly on them here, but 

 make dark honey from it. H. H. C. Breece. 



Greenwood, Custer Co., Col., Dec. 22, 1879. 



TAKING BEES OUT OF A TREE IN JANUARY. 



On the 30th day of January, I cut a bee tree, and 

 transferred the bees to a Simplicity hive. The bees 

 weighed one pound. I gave them 2 frames of honey, 

 and packed them up In good condition with chaff. 

 By using caution, can I keep them until honey 

 comes in the spring? I am only in my ABC. Any 

 information would be thankfully received. They 

 are doing nicely to date, yet It is quite cold. 



Bean Blossom, Ind., Feb. 4, '80. W. Parmerlee. 



There will be no trouble in keeping them, 

 I think, if you feed them so they do not 

 starve. 



FROM NEW ZEALAND. 



Dear Brother:— I am threatened with the bee 

 fever; and, just while I am brim-full, let me say a 

 few words by way of easing the pressure on my 

 brain. This is the way it came about. I began a 

 few months ago to read " Bee-Keeping, " by Quinby. 

 I became deeply interested, made a box hive, and 

 waited for swarming time (as swarms are given 

 away here). In the meantime, I read up "Bee- 

 Notes" in the American Agriculturist, from 1876 to 

 present time. I found myself (and Quinby) far be- 

 hind the times. I built a new Quinby Observatory 

 hive, and a swarm put into that, a month ago, has 

 about half filled the space with comb. I have had 

 another swarm in a common box, about the same 

 length of time. So I have started bee-keeping. 



Last Christmas, I paid a visit to Oamaru (33 miles 

 south), to my friend, and brother in the Lord, F. 

 Every. He brought to my notice your journal, 

 Gleanings, with which I was surprised and delight- 

 ed; most especially, when I found you to be on the 

 Lord's side. He lent me 11 numbers. I have read 

 4 of them and run through the others, and my brain 

 is just on the whirl. So much is said about blacks, 

 hybrids, and Italians, that I am fairly puzzled to 

 know what kind mine are. They are brown bees, 

 and are just the same (so far as I know) as all the 

 bees I ever saw, either here or in England. I en- 

 close samples, which please notice in Gleanings. 



In my enthusiasm, I have carried along a Christian, 

 Mr. Rout, who writes you by this mail to order the 

 Gleanings and A. B. J. F. Every, or his brother 

 J. H. Every,— Dunedin, has, I believe, ordered a 

 Simplicity hive from you, which I hope to see when 



