1885 



GLEAxMNGS IN 1]EE CULTURE. 



731 



ken at any timo. nor can it bv carried in the pocket. 

 A veil iiiailc of grenadine, with a Brussels net for 

 the face, offers searcelj- any obstruction to the eye- 

 sight. I don't remember that I ever had any trou- 

 ble in seeing eggs with a veil of this kind. Unless 

 the bees are very cross, or one has some particular 

 work on hand, I think the ability to control the 

 nerves and muscles of the face is far superior to any 

 veil that was ever invented. One must have such 

 control of himself, that when a bee alights upon his 

 eye or nose, with evident hostile intent, he will pay 

 no heed to it. In the great majority of cases, the 

 l)ee will conclude that it is a waste of sting to give 

 vent to his ire, when seemingly it would do no good. 

 It took me a long time to learn this, an<l sometimes 

 I get out of practice now. T-'athei- used to poke fun 

 iit me, and tell me that I would abandon the contin- 

 ual use of the veil. I mentally vowed I wouldnt; 

 but it is strange how people inf/change their minds, 

 isn't it, and that they should sometimes think that 

 the sole embodiment of wisdom and experience is 

 theirs? 



THAT .NAMELESS DISEASE, AdAlNV 



.V correspondent, in another column, claims that 

 the removal of the (jueeii does not effect a cure. 

 Perhaps there are different phases of this disease, 

 as of foul brood. The colony in our apiary that I 

 spoke of some time ago seems to be on the road to 

 recovery. The bees from the new (pieen we intro- 

 duced seemed strong and healthy, and show none of 

 the symptoms of the old liees. I am inclined to 

 think that the disease that affected the swarnj in 

 our apiary is hereditary, though it may differ in 

 other localities. 



I'AiNTiNt; unis. 



w. 



low gi\ ing all our tin-root 



Iff- 



i\e cov 



ers a new coat of paint, as they begin to need it 

 now. It has been some tlii<>(' or four years since 

 Ihey were last painted. Riinest K. Hoot. 



PREPARING FOR "WINTER. 



IT. 



AS I am now busy, and luixc liecn foi' the jmst 

 month or more, preparing my l)ees for win- 

 ter, I thought perliaps sonu' of the readers of 

 (ii.EAM.Nos might liUe TO know how 1 t1.\ed 

 tliom. The first thing I did was tt> see that 

 all had honey enough, which sliould be at least 2.') 

 lbs., to last from the first of October till the tlowers 

 secrete lioney ne.vt year; but as I found that I did 

 not have enough to give all quite that amount, I 

 have allowed only 'M lbs. to those which ai-e to lie 

 >N^ntered in the cellar, e.\i)eel ing to feed, if neces- 

 sary, in the spring. To ascertain the amount in each 

 hive I first took some average empty combs the 

 same age as were in the hives, containing about 

 the same amount of bee - bread, and weighed 

 them, by which I found that the average weight of 

 ii comb was three-fourths of a iioiuid. I then took 

 !i spring balance ami went to a hive, opened it, and 

 hooked each comb of honey on the spring scale, 

 setting down the weight thereof. The whole was 

 then added up, and the weight of the comb subtract- 

 ed, which gave me the amount of honey in the hive. 

 If there was not -V) lbs., I took out the corol>s having 

 the least hopey in them, aiirl put in full combs of 

 honey, which 1 had reserved for feeding (lurposes, 

 lintil the proper amount was pbtaiped, If they had 



too much, some full combs were taken awaj- from 

 them, to be used in feeding others; and in this way 

 all were made to weigh '.JO or 2.5 lbs. of honey. After 

 thus weighing the combs in a few hives, I got so I 

 could dispense with the scales, and just count the 

 number of pounds of honey right off by simply 

 lifting the combs. Weighing them afterward 

 showed that I was not one-half pound out of the 

 way. After one gets used to this plan 1 consider it 

 much better than the weighing of hives, for there 

 is a certainty at)Out it. secured in no other way. 

 After all had sufficient h<jney, those which are to 

 j be left on the summer stand during winter were 

 carefully packed with chaff at the sides, in place of 

 tlieside bo.ves which were used during the summer. 

 As the chaff packing in the front and rear remains 

 undisturbed year after year, this gives packing all 

 around, except on top. For the to|), 1 prefer (after 

 having used all kinds of material for packingl, flne 

 basswood sawdust, such as comes from the saws in 

 sawing sections. This is filled into common cotton 

 cloth, so shaped as to form a cushion four inches 

 thick, or deep, and large enough to come over the 

 top of the brood chamber, and half way over the 

 chaff packing on all the sides. The reason for pre- 

 ferring this flne basswood sawdust is, '.that it seems 

 to pass off moisture, and retain the heat of the bees 

 during all times that any packing will pass off 

 moisture; and at times when this moisture does not 

 so pass oft' it will absorb it, even to almost the bulk 

 of the cushion, tints keeping the bees always dr>-. 

 bright, and warm. Those colonies which are to be 

 .wintered in the cellar are all in single-walled hives, 

 I having an eiglii-inch-high cap. This cap is turned 

 bottom side ii|i, and filled with fine straw, when a 

 i follower is i)hu-ed on the straw, upon which I stand 

 I a moment or two, thus pressing the straw into the 

 j cap. .\s I am a 'do -little fellow," weighing only 

 :,'T(» lbs., this process fixes the straw so you can 

 1 handle the cap as you jjlease, and the straw will not 

 fall out afterwanl. The cap is now placeil on the 

 [ hive, which has, ovei- the frames, a <|uilt of two 

 thicknesses of cotton doth, which allows the 

 ' moisture' to pass up through the straw and out at 

 I the cracks at the top of the cap during the fall 

 I months, before setting in the cellar. When set In 

 the cellar, the cap is raised one-hail inch above the 

 top of thj' hive, resting on little blocks at each 

 j corner. ,Vs the straw always settles a little Itelow 

 the bottom of the cap in the middle, when 

 I thus raised it strikes tne top of the hive ex- 

 cept all around the outer edge, thus keepi"ff the 

 cluster of l)ees warm, dry, and nice, while the 

 moisture escapes all around the outside of the hive. 

 The first hive is set eight inches above the cellar 

 bottom, and the next set on toii of the cap to the 

 first one, and so on until the top of the cellar is 

 reached. Don't understand that I have set the 

 bees in the cellar yet: for from the l.")th to the:;.'«th 

 of N'ov. is the time I usually do this; but I have 

 them all fixed but setting in. C M. Uooi.itti.k. 

 IJorodino, N. V.. Oct. Iti, ^»K>. 



Frieml 1).. I af?ree with yoti exactly in all 

 \ou say in the above; biit with onr cliaff 

 hives we prefer about a peck of loose ehatV 

 spread directlv over the sheet of burlap, be- 

 fore putting down the chalf cushions, This 

 peck of loose chatt' is spread all aroiuid so 

 as to lill all the corners, and absolutely pre- 

 vent any bee from getting into the uppej' 

 stoiv or aroujid the veutilntors; 



