278 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



FRIEND "GOOD'S" GOOD SUCCESS, AND "GOOD" RES- 

 OLUTIONS. 



I am more than ever convinced thnt the tenement 

 chaff-hive is the "boss" for wintering and springing 

 bees. I have this spring transferred 50 colonies of 

 bees from the box to a chaff hive of my own make. 

 I And the bees in my tenement chaff hives are in a 

 much better condition than they are in unprotected 

 hives. How do you like your tenement chaff hive 

 by this time? I would like to hear from friend Un- 

 derbill and others that have the tenement hives. I 

 have wintered 07 colonies without the loss of one, 

 and my bees are all strong and in good condition. 



A great many men are going to embark in bee 

 culture in my neighborhood. I may have been get- 

 ting too many subscribers to Gleanings for my 

 own good, but, come to think, it will be all right 

 after all, for I am going to devote the most of my 

 time this summer to rearing "dollar" queens, and if 

 I have neighbors and friends that keep bees, I will 

 have a better chance to sell my nice queens. I have 

 an order from friend Wm. Clement, Mnlcom, Iowa, 

 for 50 "dollar" queens. I. It. Good. 



South West, Ind., April 26, 1K80. 



I am glad to know you are doing so well, 

 friend &., but our tenement hive has hardly 

 given us the best of satisfaction. Perhaps 

 it was because we did not put a good strong 

 colony in each compartment, large enough 

 to keep the whole structure tilled with bees 

 and well warmed up. Besides that. Ave have 

 not found it as convenient to manipulate, as 

 the ordinary, single chaff-hives. 



NEW SWARMS ABSCONDING. 



On the 22d inst., I put a large swarm of Italians in 

 a ten-frame Langstroth, gave them a frame of brood 

 and eggs, and all went on well until the 25th inst., 

 when they came out and went to the woods. They 

 left in the hive 5 pieces of new comb as large as a 

 man's hand. The hive was new; i. e., it had never 

 been used before, and had been painted a year or 

 more. I have failed to account for their strange 

 conduct ; can you account for it? I shall not trouble 

 to give brood to any more swarms, as I am now sat- 

 isfied that, if they intend to leave, brood will not 

 keep them from going. J. B. Mitchell. 



Hawkinsville, Ga., April 20, 18S0. 



Be not hasty in your conclusion, friend M.; 

 although we have occasionally a case on rec- 

 ord like the one you mention, where a swarm 

 absconds leaving a frame of brood, the 

 number of swarms that have been induced, 

 by its use, to stay after having repeatedly 

 left an empty hive, is strongly in its favor. 

 A swarm that has lost its queen will stay 

 with brood, but they are sure to leave very 

 soon without it. I presume, of course, your 

 frame contained unsealed larvae, as well as 

 eggs and brood, for that is the most impor- 

 tant part of it. 



bee candy. 

 We have tried your receipt for bee candy, and 

 were entirely successful. We added, however, % lb. 

 of maple sugar which, we think, made it a trifle 

 more relishable to the bees. It appeared to me that 

 the bees have to be "taught" to eat it, although the 

 entire teaching seems to consist in inducing them 

 to take the first mouthful. To do this, one of the 

 warm days last week I took some sweet clover hay, 

 and placed dishes containing the bee sugar upon it. 



The odor of the clover soon attracted the bees, and 

 almost the entire amount was carried awny the 

 first day. 



LOOK OUT FOR MICE. 



Our friend Van Ness, who handed in his report of 

 wintering bees for the winter of '78-9, to the Michi- 

 gan State Convention, did not meet with the same 

 success this past winter. He packed them all snug- 

 ly with straw as usual, and it made a fine home for 

 the mice, which gnawed through the matting, ate 

 the honey, and raised sad havoc generally. 



Croton, Mich., Apr. lit, ',«o. George Day. 



It seems a little strange that some should 

 entirely fail in getting their bees to take the 

 candy, while others succeed so well ; but, if 

 we look back, it was just the same in feed- 

 ing rye meal, the same with introducing the 

 fdn., and, to some extent, the same with 

 even the extractor and section boxes.— It is 

 a very important matter indeed, to have all 

 hives so made in the first place that no 

 mouse can possibly gain a lodgement any- 

 where. Our tarred paper in the bottom of 

 the chaff hives is intended to repel mice by 

 its odor, as well as to keep off the dampness 

 from the ground . 



BOOK OF RECORD FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



I see you want an idea for a book of record for 

 the apiary. I don't know that my idea is a good one, 

 but I have kept a record of work done to each 

 stock of bees, receipts and expenditures, and also 

 an aggregate account of debit and credit with the 

 whole yard, for a number of years. I use a book of 

 about 100 pages, size 3J£x5V6 inches. Each page is 

 numbered at the top, and each page number cor- 

 responds with the number of a hive. Each hive has 

 a number in large figures, say 2' i inches high, paint- 

 ed on the back of each one, and the hives are set 

 hexagonally in the yard, so that, by taking one or 

 two steps either right or left, when standing in the 

 rear, I can see every number. My book, I carry in a 

 little box, along with my smoker, fuel, knife, etc., 

 and when I do anything to a hive, I note it with 

 date. In the back part of the book, I simply keep 

 a Dr. and Cr. account in single entry, under the 

 head of apiary account for 188—. It requires no 

 great skill, and not much time, and gives me much 

 satisfaction; as I can look over my book at any 

 hour, and know the condition of every hive, without 

 having to make a special examination. With the 

 pencil which is attached to the book by a light 

 string, the "conditions" are quickly "noted." 

 Sometimes my fingers are slightly soiled by propolis, 

 and my book does not always look like my books in 

 the office, but it is legible, and answers the desired 

 end well. 



BEES DYING IN A CELLAR. 



I want you to answer me a question: I'll explain; 

 last Nov., I put most of my bees into a well ventilat- 

 ed bee-room, dry and dark, where the murcury did 

 not range 8° either way from 45°. They were in a 

 good, healthy condition, with plenty of honey gath- 

 ered early in the season, as we got almost none in 

 the Autumn. They did not have a fly during the 

 winter. When set out this month, I found quite a 

 number dead, with plenty of honey. They all had 

 good blankets over them, with % in. square sticks 

 under them on top of the frames, for passages from 

 frame to frame, 3 sticks each. The bees were 

 found almost all on the bottom board, dry and dean, 



