GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



171 



near the steam, when there was a dearth of 

 pasturage, such as we had last season. If 

 the steam was carried up a tall chimney, 

 would not that cool it off so as to he harm- 

 less 4 ! 1 Of course, no sugar-maker would 

 wish to do this for the sake of the bees 

 alone, hut is it not customary, with the 

 larger works? 



TAKING CAKE OF BEES ON SHARES, ETC. 



The implements 1 ordered from you came prompt- 

 ly to hand, and I am well pleased. 1 feel satisfied 

 that my t hree boys would not take 7.1c for the smok- 

 er, on account of the fun they have had with it, to 

 say nothing' of what I expect from it. For the life 

 of me, I could not think how you tilled the feeder, 

 as I could see no place for pouring- in the syrup. I 

 could hardly keep my wife from pulling- oil' the top 

 so as to till it, insisting that was the only way that it 

 could be done. But when I referred to your descrip- 

 tion of it, she remarked, " How simple 1 " I replied, 

 " So many mysteries are, when explained." 



A man about two miles from me has 15 swarms of 

 bees in old fashioned box-hives and barrels, which 

 he wishes me to transfer to frames, and take charge 

 of during the summer. He wishes me to take my 

 pay out of the increase. We each furnish our own 

 hives. What share of the increase ought 1 to charge 

 him? I ask this thinking you may know what is 

 customary for such work. John H. Brillhart. 



Tecumseh, Neb., Feb. 20, 1880. 



I am glad, friend B., that you had the 

 wisdom to consult the price list before com- 

 plaining. Beginners find a great many 

 things to inquire about, and I have tried to 

 meet all their inquiries ; but where they in- 

 sist on having each thing explained by let- 

 ter, rather than to go to the price list, and 

 find it by means of the copious index, I 

 sometimes find it hard to help them. I hard- 

 ly know what to say about your taking your 

 neighbor's bees in the way you speak of, un- 

 less I tell you to work for him by the day, 

 and to buy bees enough of him to pay you 

 for your work. Bees on shares, or in the 

 way you have mentioned, have caused so 

 much unneighborly feeling, I can not feel 

 like advising it. Better reduce everything 

 to a cash value, and then you will have no 

 misunderstanding. 



FEEDER TO SLIP UNDER THE FRAMES. 



I send you by this mail one of my bee feeders. 

 You see the bees can only reach it from the inside. 

 No robbing can be done, and it is so easy to fill, that 

 a boy 10 years old can feed 100 stocks in less than an 

 hour; besides, it can lie filled so that the bees will 

 hardly hear you. I have tried several other feeders 

 and found none to equal this, unless you wish to 

 feed a lirge amount. For spring stimulating, and 

 allother feeding in a small way, it is "boss." 



You can try It. Should it be better lhan any you 

 use, give me the credit, if it belongs to me. You can 

 make and sell them if you choose. If it is of any val- 

 ue to the bee fraternity, it is well. M. C. Smith. 



Starkville, N. Y., Feb. 23, 1880. 



This feeder, with others of its class, is 

 based upon the supposition that there is as 

 much as -J in. space between the bottom of the 

 hive and the bottom bars of the frames. In 

 our apiary, we object to so much space as 

 this, because the bees soon build little steps 

 of wax, to walk up to the frames on, or what 



you would perhaps call little lumps of wax 

 at intervals along the bottom board. If you 

 let the bottom bars come within i inch of 

 the bottom board, and we can safely do this 

 with the wired frames that can not sag, 

 there will be hardly room for any kind of a 

 feeder, no matter how shallow. The feeder 

 sent is made of tin, that there may 

 be as little space used as possible. One end 

 of tliis shallow pan, as it is, extends out to 

 the entrance, and has a little hinged door to 

 cover the end. The feeder is filled by rais- 

 ing this door. Of course, the entrance must 

 be well contracted that no robbers may push 

 in. Friend 8. uses strips of wood to divide 

 it off something like the Simplicity feeder. 

 I have never found this necessary with so 

 shallow a pan. I have used feeders of the 

 same kind for several years. Last fall, we 

 fed quite a number of hives in this way, but 

 for the reasons I have mentioned, I did not 

 illustrate them. In cool weather, it is some- 

 what difficult to get the bees to go down to 

 the bottom board. 



ANOTHER ABC SCHOLAR'S REPORT. 



I always was afraid of bees, but sometime in June, 

 '78, 1 saw a neighbor cut a bee-tree, and I got "the 

 fever" bad. Sept. 13th, '78, I bought 2 stands of 

 Italian bees, and took my first lesson in bee-culture, 

 and have been " red h<">t " ever since about bees, and 

 am not much afraid of them now. My 2 colonies 

 wintered finely and, in the spring of '79, I bought 

 one more swarm of Italians. I did not get much 

 honey; the season was very poor here. My bees 

 built much new comb, and became very strong, but 

 did not swarm. About the last of July, '79, 1 sent to 

 you for a dollar queen. She came all right, Aug. 2d, 

 was introduced safely, and is doing well. Soon after, 

 my nephew found a bee-tree, cut it, and saved the 

 bees, but lost the queen. He also sent to you for a 

 dollar queen, which came safely and is doing well. 

 About Aug. 22d, '79, Sammy Keys sent for a dollar 

 queen to Italianize his one black colony. His new 

 queen came all right, but three of us could not find 

 his old black queen, although we looked the hive 

 through twico. So Sammy sold his new queen to 

 me, and I made a nucleus for her. I now have, or 

 rather we have, 3 dollar queens, which are pure, for 

 they produce the fairest Italians I ever saw. 



Nearly all our bee-keepers use the old box -hives. 

 Some use what they call a " Palace," big enough to 

 put a cow in. Bee-keepers up with the times don't 

 use " Palaces." Why do absconding bees generally 

 go westward? I have only known 3 swarms to go 

 eastward, while many have gone west. 



I must think you mistaken, friend S., in 

 your idea that bees generally go west, and 

 if they do, I think that the reason is owing 

 to something else than the simple point of 

 the compass. With us, swarms generally 

 go to the north-east; but I have supposed it 

 is because pasturage is more plentiful near 

 the river that Hows within about a mile in 

 that direction. The bees surely have not 

 been reading, and profiting by, Horace 

 Greeley's advice? 



DO BEES EAT MORE HONEY IN MILD, OR IN SEVERE 

 WINTEKS? 



Will bees eat more honey in a mild, open winter 

 like this present one. than in a winter like lust one? 

 Our bees have been flyinjj nearly every week up to 



