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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



SOME EXCELLENT HINTS ON CELLAR WINTERING. 



My cellar is ventilated by means of a large pipe 

 entering a tall heated chimney, giving 1 abundant 

 opportunity for the ingress of fresh air; atid, al- 

 though the cellar is only 18 by 28 ft. and 8 ft. high, 

 the air does not get foul with the 144 swarms in it. 

 When the weather is warm, however, I keep large 

 cakes of ice on two stands which extend up nearly 

 to the top of the cellar; this keeps the bees quiet 

 during all warm weather. I put them in, in Nov., at 

 the first oold spell, and before any dampness could 

 condense in the hives. This is the simple secret of 

 my success in cellar wintering. Of course, I watch 

 them closely, and keep my thermometer as near 40 

 as possible. Last year many of my swarms bred in 

 the cellar, until when I took them out there was a 

 heaping half bushel of bees in a hive. Some had the 

 lower story packed full, and an 8 inch half story en- 

 tirely full, and would have starved, had I not taken 

 all the bees in the half story and divided them 

 around among some lighter swarms which bad 

 plenty of stores. They all received the new comers 

 kindly except one or two colonies which also con- 

 cluded to do so, after a vigorous smoking. If you 

 can give these thoughts to the class, it may prevent 

 some failures in cellar wintering. H. V. Train. 



Mauston, Juneau Co., Wis., Mar. 20, '80. 



GOOSE QUILLS— A SUBSTITUTE. 



Friend Novice:— I am somewhat surprised to see 

 you propose to send goose quills over the country for 

 brushing bees from combs and sections, when every 

 bee-keeper has at his own command the very nicest 

 brushes for that purpose. The first time you kill a 

 chicken for your table, before scalding it just chop 

 off one or both wings at the first joint, so as to get a 

 wing brush with about a dozen quill feathers with 

 it, and you have it. There! I fear I have interfered 

 with your business and spoilt a large trade in goose 

 quills, so I will shut right up now. 



HOW TO GET ROBBER BEES OUT OF A HIVE. 



I see it is generally recommended to shut the en- 

 trance of a hive which is being robbed, until just at 

 night, then open and let the robbers go home. This 

 is, I think, very objectionable, for they are kept 

 there perhaps all day to worry the rightful bees, 

 and are also likely to ball and kill the queen. Now 

 any bee-keeper can get every, or nearly every, rob- 

 ber bee out in 15 or 20 minutes. Take a bunch of 

 weeds, grass, a broom, or almost any kind of a brush, 

 and swing it briskly back and forth close to the en- 

 trance. It will not prevent them from coming out, 

 but it will prevent them from going in. I have 

 sometimes closed the entrance for 3 or 5 minutes, 

 then brushed away all outsiders, and again opened 

 the entrance and the robbers would pile out like a 

 swarm coming. This repeated a few times will sure- 

 ly be a success. Then, to keep them out, I have 

 never yet found a better plan than I gave you two 

 years ago; that is, cover the hive with a cloth or 

 blanket. I never move a stand to a new location. 

 A. A. Fradbnburg. 



Port Washington, O., April 5, 1880. 



Very good, friend F. I ha^e practiced 

 the same plan in getting ont robbers, but, 

 for sonriH reason, I have never before thought 

 to speak of it. I have had an opinion that 

 many of the rightful owners came out too, 

 and got brushed away, but perhaps it would 

 do no great harm ; tliey could slay out. un- 

 til *some other time," as a wholesome les- 



son for not guarding their domain better. 

 Some way I always imagine a "wing," has a 

 look of untidiness, suggestive of "dead 

 hens," but perhaps I am notional. I be- 

 lieve I like a feather best. 



HONEY COLUMN — WHAT IT DOES. 



I have sold all my last crop of honey. I sold 175 

 gnllons from your advertisement in Gleanings, 48 

 gallons of which I have as yet got no pay for. 

 Thanks. My first swarm came the 19th inst., and 6 

 or 8 have come since. Tbey are all very strong, the 

 second stories having been left on through the win- 

 ter, mostly full of honey, which is really in my way 

 now. I noticed the first new honey coming in yes- 

 terday. The willow is just commencing to bloom. 



C. C. Martin. 

 Benton, Bossier Par., La., Mar. 27, 1880. 



FROM A VERY NEW ABC" CHILD," WHO DON'T QUITE 

 KNOW WHERE HE DOES BELONG. 



As I have been reading Gleanings in Bee Cul- 

 ture for the last 3 months, I think I ought to give 

 you a little "inkling" of my experience in bee cul- 

 ture. But, fearing 1 that you might be a little both- 

 ered to decide what department to put me in (as I 

 see you have several in Gleanings), whether Smil- 

 ery, Grinnery, Growlery, Blasted Hopes, or Hum- 

 bugs, I have so long hesitated; and yet, for fear you 

 might seat me "in the wrong pew," I will for the 

 present content myself with giving my report for 

 the past year. 



Beginning with the spring of '79, I had 10 colonies, 

 not very strong. Increased them to 15 by artificial 

 swarming, and got — well, honestly, about thirty-five 

 pounds of comb honey, not very nice. Early in the 

 fall, I discovered that my colonies were not so 

 strong, some of them at least, as I could desire, and 

 some of them had stored but little honey for winter. 

 This I attribute to three causes; viz., the poor sea- 

 son, a cider mill on one side, and a sorghum mill on 

 the other. Well, late in the fall, I found one stock 

 queenless, and united it with another. Another one 

 ran out of "grub" at home, and moved in with their 

 next door neighbor. This reduced my number to 13, 

 and to-day they all seem to be well and hearty, 

 though some of them are a little weak, and some 

 of them may have to be doubled up yet before the 

 peach-tree blossoms. But don't put me in "Blasted 

 Hopes," for "I've been there" long ago. "I'm not 

 a chicken," by any means. I have been in the bee 

 business more or less (mostly less) for a number of 

 years, and experimented a good deal with bees and 

 bee fixtures, but the season of '79 was the poorest 

 honey season in these parts that I have any recollec- 

 tion of. Jacob Copeland. 



Allendale, 111., Feb. 17, 1880. 



BLUE THISTLE. 



I notice in March No., pages 129 and 130, that 

 Duff and Wilson seem to be particularly averse to 

 blue thistle, and, in reply to friend Wilson, would 

 say that I was raised in the hlue thi tic region of the 

 Shenandoah Valley, and I have observed that London 

 County and, in fact, all the counties in Va. iu which 

 the seed in question is found, are the richest coun- 

 ties in the state. Our best farmers in these bluo 

 thistle regions all admit that a en p of the thistle 

 is equal to a crop of clover when ploughed under at 

 the proper time, and it need not interfere with 

 other crops when properly managed. All friend 

 Duff has to do is to give his bees a fair chance on a 



