56 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



TVs side and top storing plan will succeed under all 

 conditions. Now, whatever works satisfactorily in 

 !i country where the honey-How comes at an un- 

 uatural time of the year, as it does in Cuba, when 

 the bee-keeper has got to work every way he can 

 think 'd to tret his bees in condition to take advan- 

 tage of the early flow, thai way is the hest. Then 

 comes in Mr. Doolittle's plan; i. c, have your bees 

 when the honey-flow comes. Bui will the tiering- 

 up plan work in the case of a long honey-flow? No, 

 for you will not get the best results in that way. 

 I'or too much time is waBtecl in capping the honey; 

 too much heat is wasted by adding mure room. 

 Now, there is where friend Doolittle is right, ac- 

 cording to my experience -keep the bees compact 

 and warm; for never, in my experience of live 

 years in Cuba, did 1 lind that 1 had my bees ton 

 warm. We always had them snugly tucked up 

 under enamel cloths, and in tight hives. How far 

 you can carry the expansive plan of managing 



i s for surplus, is a point that can be decided by 



circumstances only. .lust what those circum- 

 stances are at all times, I would rather someone 

 else would tell than I. My experience with colo- 

 nies in managing them for extracted honey is to 

 keep them warm; give no more room than they 

 can occupy, and have nothing between the brood 

 and store conibs; nothing' to hinder the free pass- 

 age of heat from the brood-chamber to the surplus 

 department, right directly over the brood. Hut in 

 ease a colony is not strong enough to occupy two 

 stories, very good results can be secured by con- 

 lining them to the brood-chamber, and working 

 them on the side-storing plan. 



What Mr. Doolittle says about the dry-goods box, 

 I can hardly agree with; that is, if we take a dollar- 

 aud-eents view of it. Let friend Doolittle, next 

 spring, take 1 lb. of bees and put them in a dry- 

 goods box; then put the same amount of bees in a 

 hive with a division- board all tucked up warm, and 

 report results in the fall. 1 contend that more 

 honey can be secured by keeping the bees crowded 

 and warm than by giving them lots of room and 

 compelling them to store what they can in old di- 

 lapidated hives Now. how many bee-keepers do 

 you think judge correctly of the proper condition 

 of their bees when they open a hive? 1 fear too 

 many thiuk their bees need more room when they 

 are in just the right condition to do the best work. 

 A friend said to me last summer, "Aren't you 

 afraid your bees will swarm?" I said, " No. Tf 

 they want to swarm, I let them do as they like, but 

 seldom more than once, and that does very little if 

 any harm." As 1 said at the beginning, I want to 

 see this subject properly discussed: " The giving of 

 more room when the bees do not need it." 



San Diego, Cal., bee i:;, 1888. A. W. Osbcrn. 



THE CORRUGATED HIVE-COVERS. 



PHI END REESE REVIEWS THE MATTEK. 



T WAS so thoroughly imbued with the idea that I 

 Ay had hit on the best water-proof hive-cover, and 

 I* only positive relief from swelling from bee- 

 * stings, thai your comments on page 766 were 

 more than a surprise to me— especially when 

 you object to the weight of the eorrugated iron. 

 Let us review the matter a little, and see if there is 

 not more merit than you have discovered. One 



'• ' -land. oil corrugated iron, painted 



weighs [ 7 ,,-„ of a pound, or a little less than '. t of one 

 pound. A piece 18 inches wide and 24 inches long, 

 which would cover a Simplicity hive nicely, project- 

 ing over each side about one inch, and far enough 

 over the front to protect the entrance from much 

 rain, snow, or hot sun, would weigh just 2,',;;, 

 pounds, and cost just 12 cents, all painted and ready 

 for use. Now, when you take into consideration 

 the fact that no other cover, is really needed, it is 

 nol so expensive or heavy after all. I put the sheet 

 of corrugated iron right down on the enamel cloth 

 that covers the sections or frames, and lay any old\ 

 boards on top as a protection from the hot sun, and 

 to keep the iron in place. When winter comes (we 

 will take it for granted we use Simplicity hivesi, 

 just set an empty brood-chamber over each colony, 

 i tver the frames put a piece of old carpet or a felt 

 or straw mat; on this, in turn, put four to six inch- 

 es of planer shavings or sawdust, or a chaff cushion, 

 and over the whole the corrugated iron cover. This 

 will admit sufficient circulation, and we may rest 

 easy so far as protection is concerned. For a chaff 

 hive which must be kept dry, well, you can see how- 

 it is yourself . If you will turn to page 15 of Dr. 

 Miller's " A Year Among the Bees." you will see 

 his "tolerably light cover" weighs 5M pounds, and 

 costs from 20 to 25 cents. How does the comparison 

 strike you? 



1 now prefer the '—inch corrugations, and send 

 you herewith a sample with the maker's name. It 

 would be quite a job for the majority of people who 

 keep bees, to tit tin to their old leaky covers, tack it 

 on and paint it. 



The bee-sting remedy, you will please understand. 

 is simply to make a slight cut, merely passing 

 through the skin, just where the bee-sting entered, 

 and allowing the alkali to come in direct contact 

 with the poison, causing neutralization at once, and 

 the swelling does not take place. The incision 

 made with the knife cau scarcely be noticed 

 a few hours after, and is not painful, as the flesh is 

 not " dug into " as you term it. In a recent num- 

 ber of one of our bee-journals some one suggests 

 the use of the hypodermic syringe to inject an al- 

 kali into the venomed parts, which is certainly a 

 capital idea if we could have at hand, as convenient 

 as our pocket-knife, the little expensive syringe. 

 My two little boys, four and five years of age, inva- 

 riably come to me when they get stung, to get the 

 soda water put into the stung place on their bare 

 feet, etc. ; and when I am not at home when they 

 ai-e stung, they always swell, and regret my ab- 

 sence. J. S. Reese. 



Winchester, Ky., Nov. 0, 1888. 



Many thanks, friend K., for the sample of 

 your corrugated iron. It Mall no doubt an- 

 swer splendidly ; but in our locality it would 

 be blown off by the winds, and they would 

 get smashed and battered up, so we should 

 be obliged absolutely to hitch them fast to 

 something. Another thing: If anybody 

 should sit down on a hive, or even if one 

 hive were rested on top of another, they 

 would be pressed out of all shape. I do not 

 believe I should like them nailed fast to a 

 wooden cover. In that case the tin we al- 

 ready use would be cheaper, and I think 

 rather preferable, because it is smooth on 

 top.— Cutting into the flesh with a knife, in 

 order to get the alkali in contact with the 

 poison, ma\ be a positive remedy. I am 



