1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



308 



TALK ABOUT GLEANINGS, BEES, AND 

 DKONE-EXCLUDERS. 



SOME KIND WORDS IN'TEKSPEKSED WITH VALUABLE 

 FACTS. 



BOOD MORNING, Mr. Root. This is a pleasant 

 April morning. Please take a seat, if you 

 can spare a few leisure moments, as I wish to 

 talk with you. Spring- time is here; the sun 

 shines, the birds sing, and all nature begins 

 to rejoice in praise to its Author. A more fitting 

 time could not well be found to talk with a friend. 



Well, I need not tell you I take Gleanings; your 

 list of subscribers tells that. I hope you will excuse 

 me for expressing my opinion of it to you, for it has 

 not been formed in haste, or for the want of apicul- 

 tural literature, to say nothing of nearly fifty 

 .years' experience in bee-keeping. With all this T 

 find Gleanings all the more valuable. 



Of course, some of the inventions and articles on 

 lice culture arc enough to make a good-natured 

 man smile. Notwithstanding, those articles, talks, 

 and discussions in Gleanings bring out some 

 grand ideas, and much valuable information which 

 the bee-keeper can not well afford to do without. 

 Then your talks in Our Homes; you have such a 

 clever and happy way of telling it; it must certain- 

 ly meet the approbiition of every go^d man and 

 woman, boy and girl. 



I wish every person in America, old, middle aged, 

 and young, white, black, or bi'own, would turn to 

 (i leanings, March 15,188.'), page 2)], and read it; 

 and those for whose special benefit it was intended 

 'should read it morning, noon, and night. Then ffet 

 up in the winter at midnight and read it, till their 

 knees would tremble like a Belsha/.zar; yea, even 

 more, that the thundei-s and forked-tongued light- 

 nings would flash it, and every stone, straw, stick, 

 leaf, and tree would echo it in their ears until they 

 are reclaimed. For, to see so many jieoplo going 

 through the world lying, stealing, and in a heedless, 

 lazy, slip-shod, careless way, borrowing :'.nd spong- 

 ing their living off their neighbors, well deser\-e to 

 be treated with an ironical reception. Can they 

 read those lines without a blushV If so, oh shame! 

 If the ministers in the churches had the courage to 

 preach such sermons, and try to impress it, it cer- 

 tainly would do much good; it is certainly one of 

 the best sermons 1 ever read. I hope the reader 

 will look it uj), and see if he doesn't agree with me. 



BEES. 



Well, I was going to say something about the 

 bees. Last summer there were the most bees I ever 

 knew. Nearly all the neighbors had from one to 10 

 or 15, some 100 colonies. The bee-fever was run- 

 ning high; in fact, it was contagiovis; but at this 

 writing it assumes more the nature of an intermit- 

 tent; the pulse has fallen from UO to considerably 

 below blood-heat. Respiration is long and heavy. 



Some have lost this winter one-half; some two- 

 thirds, and some all. Alas I how soon fond expecta- 

 tions perish! In all my experience with bees I 

 never knew so great a loss. It was not the cold 

 that killed them; they died of diarrhwa. Last sea- 

 son the bees gathered tons of poor honey, nuich of 

 it black as ink. I never saw any thing like it in 

 honey. It had a nauseous smell, and very disagree- 

 able taste. Some of it was so bad it had to be 

 buried in the ground. This poor honey is what 

 killed the bees; it gave them the diarrhoea, and 

 they died before the winter was half over. Many 



got this poor honey in the surplus boxes and brood- 

 chamber. I put on 1000 surplus boxes, and every 

 drop of honey in them was excellent. But in the 

 brood-chamber there were large quantities of poor 

 honey. I can not account for it, except that I put 

 on the surplus boxes over two weeks later than my 

 neighbors, and caught nothing but locust and white 

 clover, then took them off. The poor honey in 

 brood-chamber resulted in the loss of several colo- 

 nies. I have quite a quantity of this poor honey. I 

 don't like to let the bees have it, for fear they will 

 retain some of it for next winter. What would you 

 advise me in such a case? 



Now% here comes another query: My bees were 

 all on summer stands, and apparently went into 

 winter quarters with equal chances. After this 

 long cold winter, some of them on the first warm 

 day in Api-il came boiling out as if to say, "We stood 

 the winter all right," and one colonj- in particular 

 was bright, clean, and dry; not to exceed a table- 

 spoonful of dead bees was in the hive, and the 

 third day they were carrying in pollen. 



DKONE-TRAPS. 



Now something about drone-excluding devices 

 and traps. The best device I know of is Alley's 

 drone-trap, with my improvement attached. It is 

 so satisfactory I see no need of any thing better. 

 On page 2131 of Gleanings, April 1, 188."), you gave 

 us a device from D. C. Noble, for excluding drones, 

 wliich is another instance of the difference between 

 theory and practice. It reminds me of a man who 

 once api)lied for a patent to raise sheep without 

 any wool. He says the invention is his, and calls it 

 a drone-excluder, to be placed at the entrance of 

 the hive, hinge side out. The doors are one-twenti- 

 eth of an inch longer than the spi'.ce, causing them 

 to stand out at the bottom: and as the drones come 

 pushing along they will raise the doors and jiass 

 out, but can not enter again. 



If you remember, Mr. Root, you thought the 

 hinges rusting might be an obstacle to the move- 

 ments of the doors, and said you would be very 

 glad to hear from some one who had used these 

 machines. Now, I have no reason to doubt but 

 that Mr. Noble is a nice man, and would not otter to 

 the brother bee-keepers an article if he did not 

 think it i)osscssed real merit, and feels confident 

 his device is what he claims for it; but I am in- 

 clined to think he has never given it a thorough 

 trial. Many years ago I did not like the plan of 

 letting the drones eat so much honey; and as soon 

 as they could be dispensed with I frequently sat 

 down by a colony of bees, and, with the sharp- 

 pointed blade of my i)ocket-knife, I speared them as 

 they pushed their way out on the alighting-board. 

 After some practice I become an expert, and could 

 take them as fast as I could count, but this took 

 time and patience. So in 185.5, nearly 30 years ago, 

 I invented a device exactly like Mr. Noble's but 

 made of different material. I used very heavy hard- 

 finished paper, with fine wire hinges for the doors. 

 One afternoon, about :? o'clock, I placed this device 

 on the entrance of a strong colony, well supplied 

 with large fat drones. I sat down, folded my hands, 

 and awaited results. Soon the bees came tumbling 

 through the open spaces, heels overhead, then up 

 and off' about their business. After some delay 1 

 perceived a vibrating movement at the small doors; 

 they finally opened, out rushed the drones like rats 

 from an olii barn on fire. I clappedjny hands, and 

 exclaimed, " Eureka! " But, alas! my fond expec- 



