isso 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CL'LTUilE. 



Thank you, friend K. Ten pounds a day 

 from the willow, I should say. is very extra- 

 ordinary. It seems to me that willows must 

 be very plentiful where you are. We were 

 aware that it yields honey largely, but did 

 not know it came in at the rate you mention. 

 If the colony on the scale was an average 

 one, your apiary must have gathered two or 

 three hundred pounds in a single day. 



A GOOD REPORT FROM FRIEND BLOOD. 



Our home apiary has wintered, as usual, without 

 liiss. The colonies have been evened up, and the 

 last week all brought in honey freely from willow 

 and maple. I am g-lad to see that you have a man 

 in charge of your bees who is a hee-keepcr. In the 

 past ten years we have lost bees twice. One winter 

 they had a short supply of honey; and as we were 

 away from home, about one-fourth starved. At 

 another time we tried to winter several small colo- 

 nies which should have been united. These two 

 experiments are all we need. Now, how do we 

 winter? 



1. Tl'e are very sure that everj- colony is strong- in 

 young and vigorous bees. 



3. That they have moir than enough good honey 

 to last them till spring. 



.3. All upward ventilation is closed, and eight- 

 inch entrance at bottom wide open. 



4. All hives are double-walled on sides and bot- 

 tom. One-fourth inch above frames is a one-inch- 

 thick honey-board which the bees wa.x down. 



I should add, that we do not extract honey, nei- 

 ther do we use the bees in raising queens during 

 the summer. I think we feel as sure of our be^-s 

 being alive in the spring as we do of our hens. We 

 use the L. and Gallup frames, about an equal num- 

 ber of each. There are more dead bees on bottom- 

 boards of L. hives than of the Gallup. Strong col- 

 onies Avinter well on L. frames; smaller ones on the 

 Gallup. A. H. K. Br.ooD. 



Quincy, Mass., May 8, 188.'j. 



NEW HONEY IN ALABAMA. 



Some of my hives have upper story chock full. 

 I hived a ncnv swarm on Apr. 2d on empty frames; 

 gave them upper story of sections at once. 1 have 

 taken 80 full scaled sections from it, and have two 

 frames, 8 boxes each, ready to take out now. How 

 is that for work? .1. .1. Davidson. 



Grand Hay, Ala., May 2, ISSr.. 



ONLY 4 LOST OUT OF 88. 



I am still out of Blasted Hopes. The 88 swarms 

 that I put in winter quarters came out in tine con- 

 dition, except that two died, and two have dwindled 

 from loss of queen, leaving 84 hives of bees at this 

 date. John Cline. 



Fayette, Wis., May 15, 1885. 



OOOD PROSPECTS. 



After my report on page 318, May No., 1 lost three 

 more colonies of bees by dwindling; two more are 

 pretty weak. The rest are in good condition at 

 present. Some have ten frames with brood, with 

 plenty of bees to gather honey, if any were fit for 

 use. Apple - trees, strawberries, dandelion, and 

 buckeye - trees are yielding honey at present. 

 Buckeye makes fine honey; but honey from the 

 other sources is not good, especially what is gath- 

 ered from willow, which will be in bloom in a few 

 days. Bees will be in better condition to gather 



clover honey when it commences, than they were 

 last year; I am in hopes I shall be able to secure a 

 fine crop of honey the coming June and July. 

 Lima, 111., May 14, 18S:,. J. A. Thornton, T-i—m. 



THE MAN WHO WINTERS BEES BY 

 THE HUNDREDS Or COLONIES, 



and WHO WINTERS IN SPITE OF THE HONEY- 

 DEW STORES, ETC. 



r|UR friends will find a picture of the 

 l*j writer of the foUowmg on page AifY; 

 Ij Aug., 18S8. Learning that he had 

 **' again wintered his bees without loss. I 

 wrote him a letter, asking him for par- 

 ticulars. Below is his reply : 



1 can do but little more than acknowledge the re- 

 ceipt of your letter of inquiry, and refer to a de- 

 tailed description of " How I winter my bees," pub- 

 lished in Gleanings of Oct. 15, 188.3, p. .VJe. I have 

 made no material change in my manner of winter- 

 ing. 



My bees are in a prosperous condition; the out- 

 look for the season is very promising at present, f 

 have three large apiaries to care for and look after, 

 with at present but one assistant. This I am sure 

 will be a sulHcient apology for not trying to add one 

 more to the voluminous list of articles on wintering 

 bees. 



Yes, I wintered in spite of honey-dew. Not only 

 had I thousands ol pounds of it in my winter stores, 

 but I fed up several colonics upon it after taking 

 away every thing and giving t hem only empty frames 

 or foundation, and these without exception wintered 

 in perfect condition as well as the very best. 



Mr. S. F. Newman, of Norwalk, visited two of my 

 bee-houses in March. A few words from him in 

 regard to that visit might not fail to he interesting. 



East Townsend, Ohio. H. K. Boahdman. 



Thanks, friend B.; but we should have 

 been glad of a longer letter. Friend New- 

 man, you see you are called on. Please tell 

 us about that visit. I have just turned to 

 tlie page mentioned above, and read again 

 tlie description of the way in which friend 

 B. winters liis bees. Several things have 

 impressed me by reading it. The tirst and 

 most imi)ortant one is. that this matter of 

 wintering is witliin our control. Where one 

 man winters his bees successfully year after 

 year, wliile liis neighljors lose fearfully dur- 

 ing tliese same years, it is pretty good evi- 

 dence that it is the man and the manage- 

 ment, rather than disease or even a " hap- 

 pen so." 



Another point that impresses me is, that 

 these old hands at the business may each of 

 them winter (juite successfully, and still be 

 unlike in their methods of management ; 

 tiiat is because each one has learned by ex- 

 perience what he can do and what he can 

 not do : and each one may have a peculiar 

 fashion of liis own for accomplishing the 

 same result. Friend Boardman, as you no- 

 tice, winters indoors, and others get along 

 just as successfully by wintering out of 

 doors. ^lay be the stores consumed in the 

 latter case are, however, an objection in the 

 way of expense. Friend B. also favors arti- 

 ficial heat as a means of ventilating his win- 

 ter repositories. Another point, his hives 



