1885 



GLEANINGS IN EEE CULTURE. 



519 



A GOOD MANY THINGS ABOUT BEE 

 CULTURE. 



Friend Salisbury's Ideas in Regard to Them. 



E.SPECIALLY HIS OB.JECTIONS TO CERTAIN THINGS. 



SEE frequent memoranda in published corres- 

 pondence of Gle.aninos about how a bee- 

 paper oiifiht to be conducted. AVith reference 

 to all such, I feel as the preacher did when 

 taken to task by one of his congregation about 

 the uninteresting-ness of his sermons. "Just step 

 into the pulpit to-morrow, and preach yourself." 

 Let one of these advisers start a bee-paper, and see 

 how long- he would last. I fancy he would tell all 

 hehnnws about bees in just about two papers. I 

 have kept bees over forty years; have read Glean- 

 ings ever since I first heard of its existence, and 

 my last subscription, now well nij^h up, was for five 

 years. I take two daily newspapers, over half a 

 dozen weeklies, and several monthly i)apers or 

 magazines, and I look for no paper with more inter- 

 est than Gleanings— not that I read all or even 

 half that is therein printed, for I care nothing- lor 

 the ABC letters or sug^gestions. I find enough, 

 however, to interest me for an hour or two, and 

 would not wish to be without it. What docs not in- 

 terest me I do not read, just the same as with other 

 papers; neither would I dictate to the editor, who 

 evidently knows his own business, as his increasing! 

 subscription-list abundantly iiroves. 



WINTERING WITHOUT LOSS. 



It amuses me to see individuals boast of winter- 

 ing their bees without loss. I know they are either 

 novices or have but few colonics, and liy the merest 

 accident called "luck" liavc got through the win- 

 ter with all their colonies. One person with one 

 thousand sheep can as well calculate on wintering 

 every sheei> as another person witli one hundred 

 colonies of bees can calculate on wintering and 

 springing them all without loss. The only iiuestioii 

 is the per cent. During tO years, the hist 2.5 of 

 which have been with movable frames, I have sel- 

 dom got through with both winter and spring with 

 out some loss. Sometimes it might be, however, liy 

 the uniting of a queenless colony with a small 

 one with a queen. I have sometimes had my 

 strongest colony perish, with plenty, of honey and 

 ample protection. This last winter and spring re- 

 duced the number of my colonies by one-fourth. 

 I went into winter (juarters with over 1(X), and into 

 spring bloom with less than 80. 



AVIIAT I OBJECT TO. 



Chaff hives, immovable l)ottom - lioards, wire 

 frames, metal corners, reversible frames, fancy 

 honey-boards, moth-traps, drone-traps, and clipped 

 queens, and all kinds of contrivances for prevent- 

 ing swarming, or " catching " swarms'. 



CHAFF HIVES. 



I object to chaff hives on account of their cost. 

 I winter my bees as safely, and with as little loss 

 in Simplicity hives, as in them. 1 remove the 

 combs or l)oxes from the upper story, and fill it 

 with dry leaves, see that the colony has from 20 to 2.5 

 lbs. of good honey in the brood-chamber, and I 

 would wager swarm against swarm in favor of 

 Simplicity. 



PERMANENT IJOTTOM-IiOARDS. 



I object to immovable bottom-boards on account 

 of the difficulty in ascertaining the condition of the 

 polony when packed for winter, without disturbing 



the packing. By raising the hive from the bottom- 

 board any mild day I can at a glance tell if any 

 thing is wrong. Is there a mouse among the leaves, 

 or any thing wrong with combs or bees, I see at a 

 glance. Sometimes an unusual number of dead 

 bees appear on the bottom-board. 1 brush them off 

 and remove the cover, and work my hand down 

 through the leaves to the cloth covering the frames. 

 If the cloth is wa,rm, the bees are yet sound. If 

 cold, all the bees are dead, and you can remove or 

 leave the hive as you please. Another thing: Bees 

 sometimes cluster in heaps around the entrance 

 of the hives or on its sides. People usually say 

 those bees are preparing to swarm. I say, the in- 

 side of the hive is too warm; and if they did not 

 come out, their combs would melt down. Raise the 

 brood chamber from the bottom-board 't inch by 

 the insertion of blocks of that thickness under the 

 corners of the hive, and every bee will go into the 

 hive or field in less than an hour. Never can fifty 

 bees be seen around the entrance or sides of a sin- 

 gle hive in my apiary, and have not been seen half 

 an hour at a time in ten years. 



WIRED FRAMES. 



I object to wired frames on account of the wires. 

 They are no good except the first year, and not 

 much good then, unless you wish to ship them. Let 

 the bees build out the foundation so as to rest on 

 bottom of frame, and the wire is a nuisance when- 

 ever one desires to remove the comb from the 

 frame. Their expense and us<'lessness condemn 

 them, and the same of metal corners. Besides, let 

 an ordinary bee-keeper witli his metal corners and 

 metal rabbets to rest oi^ have his fancy hive over- 

 turned by some frightened animal, and the queen, 

 with a large number of l»ees, are gone sure. 



REVERSIULE FRAMES. 



Early this season these seemed worthy of trial on 

 account of respectability of reconnnendation, espe- 

 cially as some frames had a bee-space between comb 

 and bottom-bar. These are the ones I reversed, 

 and in no instance ha\ e the bees \et filled up said 

 sjiaee with comb. A good <iueen will occupy all the 

 brood-chamber witli l>rood during her rearing time, 

 and bees have no dilliculty in finding the boxes or 

 super-frames in second story. 



FANCV HONEV-BO.\Rl>S, ETC. 



I don't consider it worth while to even say why I 

 object to the fancy honey-boards, moth or drone 

 traps. I oliject to clipping wings of the queens, first 

 on account of cruelty to animals. Second, it is very 

 troublesome, and freijuently fails, without corres- 

 ponding advantages. About fifteen years ago I 

 Italianized my bees and clipped my queens. I was 

 necessitated to keep all grass from near the front 

 of the hives, nearly spoiling my lawn in order to 

 make sure of the maimed ladies when they ven- 

 tured forth. I secured a few all right -nice thing— 

 " big Injun." Another swarm issued; I looked and 

 looked and looked to see the queen hopping along, 

 but no queen appearetl. I oiiened the hive, not a 

 single queen-cell to be found. I divided the frames, 

 forming two hives, and filling one out with frames 

 of fdn.; repaired to tree where bees had clustered, 

 severed the limb, and brought them triumphantly 

 back to their hive. They went to work beautifully; 

 and in a few days, on e.vamiuation I found a beauti- 

 ful young queen acting as mistress. On another 

 occasion I found my clipped (jueen balled at the 

 entrance of another hive, a long distance from the 

 one she had left: This closed my clipped-queen 



