18So 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



243 



My bees are in fine condition. 1 put 36 stands in a 

 cave last fall, and every one wintered. I had them 

 out for a Hy last week. The ground being covered 

 with snow, I scattered hay over quite a large space { 

 of ground, and, as a result, I lost scarcely any bees. 

 It was (luite warm, and what a jolly time they did 

 have ! I never saw bees fly stronger than they. I 

 called for Sadie to come out and enjoy the sight 

 with me. By the way, Sadie is my better half, and, i 

 in my opinion, one of the very liest women in the 

 Hawkeye State. 



FEEDING BEES BY POITRING THE FEED UIM)N THE 

 BOTTOM-BOARD. 



My bees will need some feeding before long. 1 

 tipped the hives back slightly when I carried them 

 back in the cave, with the view of feeding at the en- 

 trance, in a way which 1 have never tried. I wish 

 to know whether I can not pour a small dipper full 

 of syrup along the entrance, letting it flow back 

 over the bottom-board, say once each day for a 

 Avliile. I fed them one evening in this way, and they 

 took it up clean, as I could see back by holding my 

 lantern properly at the entrance. Having no feed- 

 ers, this is convenient, if no detriment to the bees 

 results from it. I have tlie caps on them well pack- 

 ed with dry slough hay. B. F. Woodcock. 



Pleasantville, la.. Mar. I-*, If-'H.".. 



Friend W.. I tlo not like to hear yon say 

 you stopped other bee- journals in order to 

 take (;leanin(;s. AVill it not pay you to 

 take all of them V— If I remember rit^litly. I 

 have mentioned lluber a far times, even to 

 new subscribers. He is a partieulai' friend 

 of mine. In fact, his mother says we are de- 

 voted to each other ; or, in other words, that 

 we mutually admire each other, and I rirther 

 think it is a (credit to both of us that we do. 

 But, about that cave. Ever since I visited 

 Mammoth Cave (and, by the way. I have j^^ot 

 a great big story in store for tlie little ones 

 in regard to that Mammoth Cave), it has 

 seemed to me that a sensible place to winter 

 bees is in a cave — a dry cave, like most of the 

 Mammoth Cave, where the temperature did 

 not vary more tlian one (n* two degiees from 

 a steady ")"). I am glad you called your wife, 

 and I am glad. too. yoti put the bees back 

 and afterward fed them. Your plan of feed- 

 ing is one of the very best, providing you do 

 not feed so much tliat some of it is left on 

 the bottom-boards in the morning for rob- 

 ber-bees to get into. If you allow any thing 

 of that kind to happen, you may wish you 

 never thought of feeding, or thought of bees 

 either, for that matter. This plan of feed- 

 ing is an old device ; and where the bottom- 

 boards are tight, or where one is careful not 

 to let it drip or drizzle outside, it is as good 

 a way as has ever been devised. 



ROBBER-BEES GOING SIX MILES. 



In early days, one of our old-time beekeepers, 

 who was a close observer of the outside of a gum, 

 discovered that robbers were helping themselves to 

 the honey of one of his hives. When he saw in 

 what direction they flew, he was greatly surprised, 

 for it was to a small grove a mile and a half away. 

 It was his usual custom to hunt bees. He was sure 

 he had them trapped; but by caging a few of the 

 robbers, and letting them have their liberty near 

 the grove he found they went over the grove to the 

 yard of a friend si.\ miles away. But in those days 

 there w-as no bee forage until basswood came in 



bloom. The bees would rear a large number of 

 young, entirely exhaust their stores, and frequently 

 starve. More instances than one can be referred 

 to where bees will fly a long distance in a time 

 when honey is scarce. 



RAISING STRAWBERRIES BV THE BARREL. 



In your issue of March flrst I noticed an article 

 on raising sti-awberries in pots. Thei'c is another 

 way where room is very limited. Take a sugar-bar- 

 rel, and around it bore two-inch holes far enough 

 apart to give the plants room in which to grow. 

 Fill the barrel full of rich soil, and set your plants 

 one in each hole. The whole outside of the barrel 

 will be covered with red and green when the fruit 

 is ripe. If the soil becomes dry, irrigate by pouring 

 water in at the top, and keep the top covered over 

 with something, that the soil may not be baked by 

 the sun. A friend of mine has three barrels 

 an-anged in this manner, and he claims they will 

 furnish all the berries they can use. 



W. S. DORMAN. 



Mechanicsville, Iowa, March 1(», 188.5. 



Many thanks for the facts you give, friend 

 L). Your iilan of raising strawberries in a 

 l)aiTel has been going the rounds of the news- 

 l)apers. but I shoul(i be much better pleased 

 to heai- from somebody who has made it a 

 success. You say your friend claims that 

 his three barrels will furnish all the berries 

 they can use. Now. if he gets a good croj) 

 of berries by the plan, please write and tell 

 us. will you V and also please tell us if he 

 does not get a good crop. Suggestions like 

 these, that are rather odd and curious, are 

 always Hnding their way into the newspa- 

 l)ers.'and they are generally copied exten- 

 sively ; while reports of good results obtain- 

 ed in the old orthodox way are passed 

 by with comparatively little notice. 1 for 

 oiie am in doubt as "to whether any straw- 

 berries were ever raised by the barrel pro- 

 cess. We have been trying to rai;;e straw- 

 berries in the greenhouse ; l)ut although we 

 make the plants grow nicely, and get plenty 

 of blossoms, and some very small green fruit, 

 we have not seen a ripe berry yet. 



HEKS (OMIXC OCT OF THE HIVES, AND DVI.NG 0.\ 

 THE SNOW. 



J should like to know how to keep the bees from 

 coming out of the hive when the snow is on the 

 ground. I have three colonies, and I am afraid 

 when they keep coming out whenever the sun 

 shines. I have tried every thing that I could think 

 of, and I think I shall try bee-keeping two or three 

 years more, and see if I can't do better than I did 

 last year. I had three old swarms, and they 

 swarmed ten times, and I hived them all, but they 

 did not want to stay. They would leave the hive, 

 and I would hive them again; but they would leave 

 it again, and I kept only five young swarms, and 

 now I have three. Ben Betten. 



Goodies, Mich. 



Friend H.. from your description I should 

 think that your bees were suffering for want 

 of ventilation, or from disease of some kind. 

 Healthy bees seldom come out and die on 

 the snow, as you mention, although they do 

 sometimes, it is true, "come out when the sun 

 shines full on the entrance, when they are 

 impatient after a long continement. At such 

 times, putting a broad board in front of the 



