issd 



GLEANLNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



281 



seen the different kinds of stencil plates yon 

 allude to, but we much prefer marking 

 cup and brush. - \V. O.'s" liquid blueing 

 makes a very plain and indelible mark, and 

 a live cent paint brush will do to make the 

 letters, although it is a little large. Trim 

 the point with the shears, and practice on a 

 board until you can write plain. I am al- 

 ways glad to get these friendly talks, friend 

 M. 



A FAVORABLE REPORT FROM SORGHUM. 



I will have to tell you how my bees are doing'. Ex- 

 cuse me it I brag a little, for I cannot help it this 

 time. My bees are far ahead of what I expected at 

 this season of the year. I had to give some of them 

 more room this week, and I found one colony with 

 6 combs almost full of brood. That was all they had, 

 and they were building- queen cells. I gave them 

 empty combs quicker than you could say "scat.". 

 I think the cause of all my good luck is the way I 

 wintered, and plenty of flour and sorghum. I will 

 not want any grape sugar this season, but look out 

 for an order for 1,000 section boxes and some comb 

 fdn. 8. II. Lane. 



Whitest own, hid., April 17, 188;). 



AN ENTHUSIASTIC ABC SCHOLAR. 



Hurrah for the Italians! I have a large swarm of 

 the yellow beauties which came off to-day, and the 

 drones are Hying- thick this afternoon. I fed rye 

 flour all winter. I look for another swarm of Ital- 

 ians in a day or two. My blacks are doing well, but 

 are not nearly as strong as the yellow follows. I 

 brought all through safe. J. C. Whitehead. 



West Point, Ind., May 5, 1880. 



HYBRIDS THREE FOURTHS ITALIANS. 



I want to Italianize. I have one fine, pure, Ital- 

 ian queen, and one nice, large queen whose workers 

 are hybrids. Now, will it do as well to raise the 

 drones from her as from one that has been purely 

 mated, starting the queen cells from the pure one? 



Barry, III., April 7, 1880. ABC Scholar. 



If you want bees for honey only, I suppose 

 you will get just as much by the course you 

 suggest, as by having pure. Italians, but 

 your bees will, as a general thing, be much 

 crosser to handle. Some of our friends 

 think it "awful," I know, to advise a taint of 

 common blood instead of all pure Italians, 

 but I care a great deal more about honey, 

 and vigor and energy of stock, than I do for 

 yellow looking bees', or gentle ones either. 

 To be sure you cannot think of rearing 

 queens for sale, from any such stock as you 

 describe. 



WORKER VERSUS DRONE FDN. FOR STARTERS. 



Mr. Root: — The sections received from you are 

 the finest I ever saw, but the fdn. I would have liked 

 better, if it had been worker size. I thought your 

 thinnest fdn. was made with the new 3 in. rolls, 

 worker size, as the sample you sent me; so I wasn't 

 particular to order worker size. I used drone start- 

 ers last season, but the bees very often built worker 

 comb below the starter, and the worker comb looks 

 much the best, in sections. H I. Uarber. 



Bloomington, 111., May 2, 1880. 



When honey is coming in with sufficient 

 rapidity, the bees will assuredly store more 

 in drone comb than worker; your bees built 

 worker below the drone fdn., "because honey 



was coming so slowly they did not want to 

 build drone comb. I agree with you that 

 the smaller cells do give the comb honey 

 rather a liner and prettier appearance, but 

 then comes the question as to how much 

 honey we can afford to sacrifice, for the sake 

 of looks. I think the experiments now be- 

 ing made will soon decide, many of these 

 matters. 



HOW MUCH DOES IT TAKE TO WINTER BEES ? 



You stated in April No., p. 170, that I should re- 

 port about the 1st of May. I think that is too late, 

 because bees are now working on soft maple and 

 increasing- in weight by brood; so 1 present my re- 

 port below, as neaily correct as possible. I stated, 

 in the Apr. No., that my bees had then consumed, 

 from Oct. 13th to Feb. Uth, 5 l A lbs.; from Feb. 14th 

 to April 10th, they consumed 1 lbs. and 10 oz ; which 

 makes from Oct. 13th to April 10th, 10 lbs. and 2 oz. 

 I weighed 25 swarms April 10th, and found out what 

 they consumed. The largest amount which one 

 swarm consumed was 13 lbs.; the smallest 64 lbs. 

 Can you give reasons for this difference? The 

 swarms were standing side by side, and wore so 

 nearly alike that I could see no difference. 



Warren, Fa., Apr 12, '80. Henry Knupp. 



I believe the above is about the general 

 average of what it costs to winter bees in 

 good health. A very large colony may con- 

 sume 15 lbs., but I do not know that I ever 

 knew one to use more than that. This, to 

 be sure, must be sealed stores, not thin, un- 

 sealed, watery food. I cannot tell why there 

 is so great a difference, unless it is owing to 

 the quantity of bees, and the amount of 

 brood reared. If I understand correctly, 

 these bees were wintered oat of doors, with- 

 out any especial protection. 



A SLOPING ENTRANCE TO CnAFF HIVES. 



I mail you to-day a small model of bottom board 

 for chaff hive, such as I am using-. I find, in prac- 

 tice, that your entrance in cc Id weather will get 

 stopped with snow, dead bees, etc., and hence needs 

 more attention than should be necessary at that 

 season. Also, in cari-ying out dead bees, the hive 

 being- warm inside, they will leave many in the en- 

 trance, on account of cold outside. This board hav- 

 ing a short and slanting passage, dead bees at the 

 entrance will take care of themselves. It can not 

 get stopped up. The model will explain the con- 

 struction. N. J. Moseley. 



Cambridge, N. Y., April 10, 1880. 



Your point is a good one, friend M. This 

 winter we reduced the size of the entrances 

 to the chaff hives, by a little chaff cushion, 

 or rather two thin boards covered with cloth, 

 with chaff between them. One objection to 

 these is that they will be soaked with water 

 during wet weather, and we have been not a 

 little puzzled to devise some way of keening 

 the water from running so readily into these 

 entrances. A slight slant, it seems to me, 

 will do it, and this can be easily accom- 

 plished by making the board that forms the 

 central part of the bottom board, taper down 

 to a thin edsre. where it projects to form the 

 entrance. I think this will give suilicient 

 slope, and the board above it, forming the 

 covered way through the chaff, can be set in 

 sloping parallel with the bottom part just 

 about as easily as any way. 



