1885 



GLEANINHS IN BEE CULTURE. 



389 



live there with a druukeu father, far away from 

 school or neighbors or Christian intiuence. I hope 

 the roll of pretty papers may brighten those sad 

 little faces and cheer their dreary life a trifle. How 

 I came to know of them would take too long to tell, 

 and be a story in itself. 



Our bees did rather pooi-ly last season in the way 

 of surplus. The heavy and continued rains seemed 

 to wash the sweet all out of the flowers. This has 

 been a hard winter so far, and many bees have 

 "turned up their little toes." We went into winter 

 Quarters with .50 colonics. Claha Bunker. 



El Dara, 111. 



A HINT OH TWO ON WINTERING. 



I had last fall 3.5 colonics that I started to winter, 

 and I have now 25. I let Ihem alone until March 4, 

 when it had been warm for two days, and I thought 

 I must look some of them over. I found them all 

 alive, with a few without any honey near the clus- 

 ter; those, T moved the outside combs up near the 

 bees so they could reach the honey. That night it 

 came off cold, and remained so for the rest of the 

 month. April 1st I found that four had died (three 

 whose honey I moved), and two more ready to go, 

 with only a few bees and a queen, which 1 couldn't 

 save. It was warm about the middle of April, and I 

 found four colonies dwindling. I tried to save them 

 by adding hatching brood, but it was of no use, for 

 it came around cold again, and most of the brood 

 was lost (the bees were dying very fast, and there 

 were not bees enough to cover the broodl. Don't 

 advise putting brood to weak colonics in a cold 

 spring; better form a nucleus by taking one or two 

 frames of hatching brood covered witli bees.^and 

 shut them up in a good warm hive with division- 

 boards, in a snug place for three days, and (hen i>ut 

 thera in your dwindling colony. 



The bees that I lost were from late August and 

 September queens, excejjt two that 1 disturbed eve- 

 ry day in March, by going after hens' eggs in the 

 leaves beside the hive. The honey in the others, al- 

 though there was enough, was too scattering. The 

 hives were my chaff hives. I shall see to it in the 

 future, that my bees have sealed sugar or honey in 

 every frame to the bottom, and then be contented 

 until warm weather before I look at them. 1 moved 

 my bees last November to where I now live, so that 

 had something to do about the loss. .1. I.. Hyde. 



Pomfrct Landing, Ct., May 18, 18S5. 



"BE VE NOT WEARY," ETC. 



I noticed friend Waterliouse, in Gleanings of 

 Apr. 15, says he can produce as cheap and good ex- 

 tracted honey as any one. Well, he deserves it, be- 

 cause he went through his tribulation and appren- 

 ticeship without getting discouraged, and comfort 

 is his reward. Chas. Gutekunst. 



Bayou Chene, La., April '.27, 1S8.5. 



What yon say. friend (i.. is simply another 

 way of e.xpiessiiiij,- the old liililc piomise that 

 I have started at the head of this. 



hibernation; does it injure a bee TO BE 

 THAWED OUT QUICK'? 



I read Mr. Doolittle's article on the hibernation 

 theory with much interest. I think that perhaps 

 it's not quite complete. In the first place I don't 

 think that a frozen bee or insect of any kind can be 

 handled carefully enough to be free from injury 

 while frozen hard. Second, thawing them out too 

 rapidly seems to be an injury. Just think of how 

 very cold our fingers feel when warmed too fast; 



then how different when bathed in cold water. An 

 apple can't be frozen hard enough to injure it here 

 at 40 below zero, provided it is three weeks or a 

 month in thawing out. Then one that is thawed 

 out in two days will turn black, and is then spoiled. 

 If a bee's whole body hurts all over when quickly 

 thawed as my fingers have when quickly warmed, I 

 don't wonder at his dying before he is limber 

 enough to kick. .Iohn Xorris. 



Manchester, Ohio. 



Friend N.. I have often thought of the 

 point you make, but I am inclined to think 

 that it does not hurt a bee to be thawed out 

 as it does a human being; for bees, when 

 warmed up, after being chilled, seem to be 

 just as good as ever in an hour or two.— For 

 a long time I doubted the fact you mention, 

 in regard to apples : but last winter we had 

 turnips frozen as hard as they could be. for 

 months. They were lying on the ground, 

 covered with straw : and when fully thawed 

 out in that position they were as good as 

 those that were never frozen. May be it 

 will not always work, and may be it does not 

 work with all sorts of turnips. Who can 

 tell usV 



CAN A CHRISTIAN CONSISTENTLY SELL TOBACCO"? 



The Sunday- Sd 100 1 "rimefi, in discussing 

 the above question, wliich was propounded 

 to them by a Massachusetts subscriber, re- 

 plies as follows : 



A .lerseyman was seen gathering some wild mush- 

 rooms in the woods. "Look here, my friend," said 

 the passer-by, "<?io8(' mushrooms are rank poison. 

 You'd better let 'em alone." "Ohl don't be afraid," 

 was the quick response. "1 ain't picking em to 

 eat. I'm picking 'em to sell." But those are mush- 

 rooms, and that was in New Jersey. About selling 

 tobacco in Ma.ssachusetts, we would rather not e.\- 

 |)ress an opinion. 



HEDDON COVERS, ONCE MORE. 



T see that you and some others fear that the Hed- 

 don covers may be easily blown off the hives. I 

 have used these covers two years, and have never 

 had one displaced l>y the wind, although I have 

 used no weights of any kind. The bees fasten them 

 with propolis in a few hours, so that it is impossible 

 (or the wind to lift them off. They are the lightest 

 covers I have ever used, and the easiest taken off 

 and rei)hu'<'d. 1 think that about "5 per cent of the 

 bees in this locality will be dead May 1st. 



Bloomington, Ills., Apr. 4, l.'^So. H. 1. Barber. 



Thank you. friend B.; but if your bees 

 fasten the covers down with propolis so the 

 wind can not blow them off, they certainly 

 can not slide on to the hives in the way 

 friend II. describes ; and if so, how can you 

 put them down into place, unless a very 

 great deal of time be taken, without killing 

 beesV 



PHOTOCItAPH OK THE MEMBERS OF THE BEE-KEEP- 

 ERS' CONGRESS. 



Can we not hit on some plan to number and name 

 the bee-keepers of N. O. Bee-Congress photo? 1 can 

 name 22 of them correctly from memory, and would 

 like to get the rest. Jas. A. Nelson. 



Wyandott, Kansas, April 18, 1885. 



Friend N., what you speak of would be 

 very desirable indeed, if it could be managed. 

 Perhaps I may explain to our readers, that 

 toward the close of the session it was sug- 

 gested that the entire lot of ^ bee-keepers 

 present in New Orleans should group them- 



