1885 



GLEANINGS m liEJi CULTUKE. 



383 



free passage through the loose chaff, and 

 the cluster of bees inider the Hill device 

 have always plenty of air, no matter if tlie 

 entrance is sealed up solid by an icy storm ; 

 and yet the loose chaff holds Av'arm air 

 enough so that the bees are never exposed 

 to a cliilling current of air. 



TKIALS OF A BEGINNER IN BEE CUI/rUHE. 



I have been a silent observer and close reader of 

 Gleanings for about a year, and have noted with 

 much interest the various experiences of different 

 individuals, which has tempted me to throw in my 

 mite and make my first report, which is as follows: 

 In August, 1883. under some peculiar circumstances 

 1 was induced to trade for 18 stands of bees— 15 in 

 box, and 3 in Lang-stroth hives, in various conditions 

 as to strengrth ; and under peculiar circumstances I 

 was oblig-ed to move them four miles over a very 

 rough road one of the hottest days or nig-hts there 

 were in said month. The consequence was, my 

 three best colonies, and Italians at that, in my 

 Langstroth hives, were melted down and smother- 

 ed, and several in the box hives nearly ruined. Oh 

 what a day and night of horror! It makes my heai-1 

 jump and my blood curdle when 1 think of what 

 suffering of mind and body I passed through that 

 daj'. Bees were dumped out on a temporary plat- 

 form, honey dripping through, bees all flying, 

 stands to fix, bee-man gone, and everybody afraid 

 to come in the yard: house full of bees, family all 

 fled or hid, and I alone to suffer. But before morn- 

 ing it turned a little cooler. I got my bee-man to 

 come to my assistance l)y sending a time oi- two, 

 then going after him, though he had promised to 

 comeback and set them up, but took suddenly ill 

 after he had got his pay. Hut oider being finally 

 restored, the spring of 1881 found me with U stands. 



Pine Grove, ()., May 8, 18!-5. S. Daniels. 



Friend I)., your little story illustrates viv- 

 idly the importance of commencing with 

 one, or at the most two colonies at a time, as 

 I have so often urged. You began by mak- 

 ing a purchase of IS stands, when you were 

 unfit to manage even one. I know some- 

 thing about your sufferings, mental and 

 physical, for I have been through the same 

 troubles; whereas, had you commenced 

 small and increased your responsil)iIities as 

 you were able to bear them, you would liave 

 enjoyed the work all through. 



I'OOR SUCCESS IN WINTERING ON SCM.MKK STANDS. 



5Iy bees were packed about the middle of Novem- 

 ber, as follows: I used I'o-story hives with two 

 division-boards— one on each side of brood-nest. 

 The frames had holes through the center, or else 

 sticks were laid on top of the frames for passage- 

 ways, and a cotton cushion on top of the frames. 

 On the side of division-boards, and on top of cotton 

 cushion, clover chaff was packed in about five 

 inches thick, but not tight, and still I have lost 

 heavily. I think the packing was all right, as I 

 wintered them in the foregoing way before, and 

 didn't lose many; but the long confinement, and 

 poor honey which they gathered last fall, gave 

 them the dysentery, and thus they die with plenty 

 of honey in the hive. Unprotected bees are all 

 dead. Out of about 450 stands of bees which were 

 li'j.t in winter (juarters last fall, only about .50 are 

 left in (his townslii]). In our township (Eden, 

 La (;raiig(- <'■.).>, our ;'.s?css()i- worked six days 



before he came to me, and found only two colonies 

 alive. He assessed our bees at Si. 03 per stand, 

 which makes about 60 ets. tax on one hundred 

 stands. 



My apiary would make a nice picture in Glean- 

 ings now, to see the empty hives piled up along the 

 fence, with a dozen or more hives set in rotation 

 that are alive yet. I can not accommodate my 

 home demand for full colonies this spring. I have 

 borrowed neighbor S.'s apiary to raise bees and 

 queens for sale. 



now TO BRING chilled BEES TO LIFE AGAIN. 



To day noon I walked out in my apiary where I 



had a small nucleus standing. I opened it, and I saw 



they were dead (or, at least, I thought they were). 



I lifted out two frames where thej' clustered. Thej' 



showed no signs of life. Then I supposed they 



were only chilled, because it was so cold for the 



last three days that the bees could not fly. So I 



put the frames back into the hive, and took up the 



hive and carried it into the house upstairs, to th 



stove-pipe that goes through the floor from the 



stove below, and took the two frames out again 



' and blowed my breath over the cluster a few times, 



and soon they showed signs of life. I had some 



; syrup in the cupboard, which was made from gran- 



j ulated sugar and water. I went and got it, and 



[ made it milk-warm, then I took a tablespoon and 



dropped the syrup over and around the cluster. In 



I less than half an hour I had my nucleus restored to 



life. Two hours after, I opened the hive again and 



the bees then came boiling up through the frames. 



I Then I went to neighbor S.'s apiary and there 1 



I found two nuclei in the same condition, and I 



treated them in the same way. Then I went to 



I neighbor E.'s, and there I found one in the same 



' condition: again, this was treated in the same way. 



; Now ail are alive again, except one queen which 



was chilled too much, and died. 



I Now, brother bee-keepers, especially beginners, 



don't be in too much of a hurry to throw these 



supposed dead bees out of the hive, that you are 



sure were alive two or three days before. By the 



1 above operation you can save many a valuable 



I ijueen. I have tried this before this spring, and I 



therefore know that you can save them. 



!!— J. C. MiSHLEH, !>. 



Ligonier, Ind., May !», 1885. 



Eriend M., I do not believe that cotton is 

 good material for the cusliions. and I am 

 inclined to think clover chaft" is not porous 

 enough. 1 should prefer loose oat chaff, 

 and coarse burlai* for the cushions. It 

 seems to me it is (pute important that this 

 ; matter of restoring chilled bees be well un- 

 I derstood. Hundreds of colonies might have 

 1 been saved during the past cold spring, had 



their owners been on the 

 after them as you did: 



ilert. and looked 



PYRACANTIIA AS A HEDGE AND HONEV PLANT. 



Our bees have been swarming incessantly for the 

 last two weeks. There has not been a day but they 

 sent out from one to four swarms", except Sunday. 

 Mine are not "Sabbath-breakers," like friend Doo- 

 little's. Bees are swarming on " pyracantha " 

 hedge-plant now, which seems to be a splen- 

 did honey-plant. We have another honej'-plant 

 called McCartney rose, which the bees work on 

 very much. AV. C. Wright. 



Hcagan.Tox.. April ~'l, 1885, 



