1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



477 



The Lippia nodiflora is growing stronger and 

 spreading farther every day, and is covering the 

 ground with a perfect mat of green foliage decora- 

 ted with a multitude of small, white flowers. It is 

 now yielding honey constantly but slowly. 



Instead of sending for tested queens last spring, 

 when we wished to Italianize our bees, we sent to 

 J. D. Enas, of Napa Co., Cal., for 4, dollar queens. 

 They were all of the leather colored class, and all 

 proved to be purely mated, and we have now many 

 of their hybrid daughters laying. 



We think it will be better not to ship much honey 

 to San Francisco, till the glut from the lower coun- 

 ties is over, and the market more settled in regard 

 to prices. 



I think the basswood queen cage a perfect gem, 

 and it is not very likely to be smashed in the mail. 

 Our P. M. can not find any thing in the Postal Guide 

 in regard to the ruling of the P. M. G. about mailing 

 queens. Please tell us where we can direct him to 

 find the law about it. O. S. Davis. 



Lemoore, Tulore Co., Cal. 



If your P. M. will look at the Feb., 1880, 

 number of the Postal Guide, page 45, sec- 

 tion 235, he will find the ruling in regard to 

 mailing queens. 



PACKING HIVES FOR. WINTER ON THE 

 TENEMENT HIVE IDEA. 



W HAVE just been reading in Gleanings Dadant's 

 M method for wintering bees, and, although he is 

 a distinguished bee-keeper, I have the bold- 

 ness to say, I think I have a better method. I take 

 boards 16 ft. long, and make a box, or I will call it a 

 house, wide enough to receive the hives and leave a 

 space of 4 or 5 inches for packing. Eight hives can 

 be placed in this length of house, with suitable dis- 

 tance between the entrances. I place pieces of 

 board cut of suitable length, and about 4 inches 

 wide, up and down on the front of the house, to 

 form a division between each two hives, with a 

 board on their tops extending along the length of 

 the house, which protects the entrances from sun 

 and rain. It will be seen that the bees can fly out 

 whenever the weather will permit, which I think is 

 an important item in wintering them. I put a piece 

 of burlap on the top of the frames, and pack with 

 chaff or fine straw, covering the top 6 or 8 inches 

 deep. 



As yet I have spoken only of wintering, but I am 

 trying the experiment of keeping the bees in their 

 houses all summer. In handling them, I raise the 

 cover, which is hinged to the front side of the house, 

 and put a prop under it. As I stand on the back 

 side of the house, the cover, thrown up, protects me 

 against stings from the front. In working my bees 

 in this manner, 1 save the expense of both bottom 

 board and cover, and also save the trouble of lifting 

 them out in the spring, and in again in the fall. 

 Another advantage in handling bees in this manner 

 is, the shade and opportunity for ventilation in hot 

 weather. Ventilation is accomplished by raising 

 the cover a little, by which I can graduate the tem- 

 perature of the hives considerably. 



I find that these houses furnish an excellent con- 

 dition for bees in the spring. By keeping the pack- 

 ing in until settled warm weather, and the en- 

 trances small, the warmth of the bees is retained, 

 although the weather may be cold and changeable, 

 and breeding goes on rapidly, while spring dwind- 



ling, that fearful trouble of the bee-keeper, I think 

 will be avoided in a great measure. 



The experiences of the past season have rather 

 confirmed me in the above described mode of win- 

 tering and summering my bees. The results of the 

 past season with me have been rather favorable, 

 when compared with bee-keepers generally. I have 

 taken off 1,223 lbs. of comb honey, from 36 colonies, 

 and nearly doubled my stock of bees. 



J. C. Carpenter. 



Cherry Creek, N. Y., Sept. 1, 1880. 



Your plan can hardly be called new, friend 

 C, for tenement hives have been illustrated 

 in our back numbers, on almost the same 

 plan. The house apiary also embodies pret- 

 ty much the same idea. The objections are 

 that your hives are a fixture, and many find 

 it inconvenient to be prevented from walk- 

 ing all round a hive, myself among the num- 

 ber. The arrangement will, no doubt, win- 

 ter bees excellently, for the protection is 

 even better than most chaff hives. I decid- 

 edly prefer to have the covering left on all 

 summer, where honey and not queen rearing 

 is the object. Your report speaks well for 

 your plan, during such a season as this. 

 m >•• m 



EXTRACTED VERSUS COKIR HONEY. 



M S the season is now about over, reports seem to 

 /■^ be in order; and, as I like to know what oth- 

 ' ers have been doing, I will report. The num- 

 ber of my colonies last fall was 43; the number this 

 spring, 43; increase this summer, 13,-3 natural 

 swarms, and the remainder artificial. 



There was no white clover. Basswood yielded 

 honey only two or three days, but the bees filled the 

 hives full enough to last until fall harvest com- 

 menced, which was about Aug. 15th. From that 

 date until now, I have taken 700 lbs. of extracted 

 honey from 20 stocks that were set apart last spring 

 for that duty. The remainder of the apiary, 23 

 stocks, were run for comb honey. I gave them sec- 

 tions filled with natural, drone comb, which 1 cut 

 out of my combs last year for this purpose, all nice, 

 clean combs. Now the result is "nil," or nearly so, 

 —only 25 sections filled, and 50 or so about 54 full. 

 Had I run my entire apiary for extracted honey, I 

 might have had at least 700 or 800 lbs. more honey. 

 It is evident to me that I do not understand the art 

 of getting comb honey. My bees are in good condi- 

 tion for winter. All have plenty of sealed honey to 

 last over. 



A great many queens have been lost this year. As 

 many as six old colonies lost queens and failed to 

 rear others, so I had to buy them. I got four of O. 

 Foster; three of them were fair, and one was al- 

 most black, still she may prove all right.. 



QUEEN OELLS ON DRONE COMB NOT ALWAYS A FAIL- 

 URE. 



Now a little yarn; I had a lot of queen cells built 

 on drone brood. After it was time for queens to 

 hatch, I looked at them, and was tearing these cells 

 out, when I found that one cell had a nice queen in 

 it. I had torn the cell down, and had the queen by 

 the head, but uninjured. I gave a queenless hive a 

 good smoking, and dropped her in, and now she is 

 doing good service. B. F. Pratt. 



Dixon, 111., Sept. 12, 1880. 



