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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb 1 



when newly hived, is liable to swarm out 

 again, no matter what the conditions. But if 

 we can make them once stick for a day or two, 

 we can hold them. — Ed ] 



WINTERING BEES I\ THE SOUTH. 



BY J. W JACKSON. 



Some time ago some one from the South 

 asked Gleanings why it did not tell hovv to 

 winter bees in the South. The substance of 

 the reply, as well as I recollect was that the 

 same conditions did not apply; in other words, 

 that the winters are so mild in the Soulh that 

 there is no such thing as wintering. 



Wintering here is not of such moment as it 

 is at the North, but still it should have some 

 attention. Opelousas is only 6}^ or 7 degrees 

 north of the Tropic of Cancer ; but it gets very 

 cold here sometimes in the winter, compara- 

 tively. The thermometer may drop in a day 

 from 75° or 80° to 25° Fahr., and then the 

 bees, small colonies especially, when left as 

 they were in the summer, suffer from the cold. 

 After a cold night of a cold " snap " I have 

 seen apparently a quart of dead bees lying at 

 the entrance of an upright triangular hive. 

 Wintering here, then, would consist in pro- 

 tecting the bees against these sudden and ex- 

 treme changes of the weather. 



Winter before last — the coldest one on rec- 

 cord — the thermometer went down to 5° or 6° 

 Fahr. ; ice floated past New Orleans for the 

 first time in a hundred year*. Of course, 

 many unprotected or insufficiently protected 

 bees were destroyed. During the winter of 

 1888 there was no ice at all, and no frost (hoar 

 frost) after November. Corn planted in Feb- 

 ruary came up in five days. China-trees, usu- 

 ally in full bloom about the 10th of April, were 

 in full bloom then the first of March ; on the 

 3d of March there was a freeze that caught the 

 advanced vegetation, killed the young corn, 

 and killed the limbs of many China and even 

 peach trees, to the body of the tree. Bees nec- 

 essarily suffered. 



Bees, then, should have some protection in 

 winter. I use the gable-end cover on my 

 hives, for summer ventilation. About the last 

 of October I put oilcloth on the tops of the 

 frames, to protect the bees against the cold air 

 of the nights and cloudy days passing through 

 the cover ; I also reversed the bottom-board 

 (Danzenbaker) so as to have the 3^-inch side 

 up and the %-inch side down, and contracted 

 the entrance according to the strength of the 

 colony. The weakest colonies I reduced in 

 space with division-boards. So far this has 

 been all that was necessary. But I have ready, 

 for the cold snaps that may come, an oilcloth 

 sack or box for each hive, to protect its in- 

 mates during the existence of the snap — some- 

 times a day or several days, a week, and pos- 

 sibly longer. I use the ten-frame Langstroth 

 hive, and I find that oilcloth 46 inches wide is 

 very good in size. I cut a strip off 23 inches 

 wide. It is then 46 inches long. It runs 

 lengthwise of the hive, making top and ends 

 of the sack or box. I mark it so the top is 23 

 inches, and the ends each 11>^ inches. Then 



I cut another strip 11^ inches wide, and di- 

 vide it in the middle. Each piece is 11)^X23, 

 and makes the sides, the ends of the top piece 

 uniting with the ends of the side pieces. The 

 sewing can be quickly done on a machine. 

 When a cold snap comes I propose to drop or 

 place a sack over each hive while it lasts. 



This year I have some bees, gotten late in 

 the season, that have not two sets of combs. 

 Others have two sets, and were working in the 

 upper story. One had even three boxes. 

 With these I put the upper story on the bot- 

 tom-board, laid on it a honey-board, and put 

 the brood-chamber on top. I think they will 

 winter better in that condition. 



On Saturday, Dec. 1, the weather was so 

 mild that I saw many bees out after sundown. 



Opelousas, La. 



CUBA. 



A few Plain Facts for Those who Think of Going 

 There. 



BY THE AMERICAN TRAMP. 



It is quite a while since I had the pleasure 

 of writing to Gleanings ; but after reading 

 Mr. Osburn's article on page 915 I should like 

 to give my view of conditions here, and ask 

 him for some information. 



I think a man with a little money had better 

 stay out of Cuba, no matter how much push 

 and perseverance he has. A good doctor or 

 dentist who has a good paying practice here, 

 or some one holding a government or other 

 good paying job, if his personal habits are not 

 too extravagant, can afford to go into bee- 

 keeping here. 



Mr. Osburn says the price of every thing is 

 high. I think this should read, "The price of 

 every thing we buy is high, and what we have 

 to sell is worth nothing. " 



Let us take honey. The price of the best 

 honey at the present writing is 40 cents per 

 gallon, Spanish gold. This is equal to 36 

 cents American . It costs the bee-keepers here, 

 on an average, $3 00 for freight and cartaee 

 on the emp'y and full hogshead of honej' (100 

 gallons). This brings the price down to 33 

 cents per gallon, or 2:^{ cents per pound. 

 Now, the cost of living here is more than dou- 

 ble what it is in the United States ; so, com- 

 pared with the bee-keepers of America, as we 

 have to live by our product, we are getting 

 the very high price of 1 ^-i cents per pound for 

 honey. 



In the same issue of Gleanings I see Mr. 

 Aikin criticised for selling his honey for 6 

 cents. He'd better sell out up there and come 

 to Cuba, where he can get the very high price 

 of If^ cents per pound, taking the price of 

 living here into consideration. 



I have not overdrawn this, as there are plen- 

 ty of everyday staples that we have to pay 

 not only double for, but four times as much as 

 they cost in the United States. If Mr. Osburn 

 calls 3 cents a pound a high price for honey, 

 will he in his next article please rise and tell 

 us what he would call a low price ? 



Artemisa, Cuba. 



