1889 



GLKANINGS IN BEE (CULTURE. 



.,i 



lean not say exactly; but I should judge aboul 

 20 pounds. Of course, much of this was used out- 

 side of wintering proper. I wintered in chaff 

 hives, out of doors. O. 0. Popfleton. 



I can not give you an average of the stores con- 

 sumed from Oct. 31 to May!. It requires about 

 twice the honey to carry bees through from Oct. 31 

 tu April 1 outdoors that it would in the cellar. Dur- 

 ing the months of April they will be outdoors in 

 either case, usually. T think perhaps the average 

 is 10 pounds indoors and 30 outdoors, between Octo- 

 ber 33 and April I. James Heddon. 



There, friends, I am very glad this ques- 

 tion has come up in the shape it has, that 

 you may see how much we differ, or, I am 

 tempted to say, how loose some of us are in 

 our estimates. II. R. Boardman says from 

 20 to 25 pounds, and he is one of the best 

 bee-men there are in the lot. T wish he 

 had told us whether he just guessed at it or 

 whether he had been in the habit of weigh- 

 ing. Dadant & Son are worse yet — 30 

 pounds to the cellar, and 40 outdoors. With 

 that great big Quinby frame of theirs, there 

 must be such rousing colonies that it takes 

 double, or even more, than some of the rest 

 of us report. Now, in contrast with the 

 above, Dr. Mason says from <> to 11 pounds. 

 Doctor, stand up and tell us what you mean 

 by such a statement as that. You remind 

 us of the man who brought home two stoves. 

 When his wife asked what he meant, he 

 said the agent warranted that kind of a 

 stove to save half of the fuel ; therefore 

 with commendable good sense and fore- 

 thought he bought two stoves, that he might 

 be enabled to save the whole of it. If you 

 can winter good colonies of bees on from 6 

 to 11 pounds of stores, we had better ship 

 our bees to you, and get you to winter them 

 for us : that is. where it takes from 30 to 40 

 pounds. My experience would agree pretty 

 nearly with Doolittle's, only I should add, 

 some rousing big colonies "might need 20 

 pounds, and I do not know but we have had 

 a very few in our experience that used up 

 25 pounds ; and I also want to add, they 

 used it profitably, for the 25 pounds of 

 stores enabled them to send out tremendous 

 swarms very early ; or when we practiced 

 extracting they gave enormous crops of 

 honey, while moderate ones did nothing to 

 speak of. Prof. Cook has also wintered bees 

 on only 7 pounds of stores. Come to think 

 of it, I have done even better than that. I 

 have seen a weak colony consume only a 

 very small amount of stores during winter ; 

 then when spring came, as they just managed 

 to pull through, they got down to a mere 

 handful, and did not consume any stores to 

 speak of until honey commenced coming. 

 Under the circumstances it cost little or 

 nothing to winter them ; but the profit dur- 

 ing the summer from them was also little or 

 nothing, for it took the whole season for 

 them to build up in decent shape for winter. 

 There, friends, you have my explanation of 

 these reports, so widely different. Is it not 

 a pretty good one? Another question arises 

 —Which is the more profitable, colonies that 

 require from 20 to 25 pounds to carry them 

 through, or those that will get along on 

 from 5 to 10 pounds? 



Every boy or girt, under 15 years of age, who writes a let 

 ter for this department, containing some valuable fact, not 



GENERALLY KNOWN, ON BEES OR OTHER MATTERS, will receive 

 one of David Cook's excellent five-cent Sunday-school books. 

 Many of these books contain the same matter that you find In 

 Sunday-school hooks costing from $1.00 to $1.50. If you have 

 had one or more books, give us the names that we may not 

 send the same twice. We have now in stock six different 

 books, as follows; viz.: Sheer Off , Silver Keys, The Giant-Kill 

 er; or, The Roby Family, Rescued from Egypt, Pilgrim's 

 Progress, and Ten Nights in a Bar-Room. We have also Our 

 Homes, Part I., and Our Homes, Part II. Besides the above 

 books, you may have a photograph of our old house apiary, 

 and a photograph of our own apiary, both taken a great many 

 years ago. In the former is a picture of Novice, Blue Eyes, 

 and Caddy, and a glimpse of Ernest. We have also some pret 

 ty little colored pictures of birds, fruits, flowers, etc., suitable 

 for framing. You can have your choice of any one of the 

 above pictures or books for every letter that gives us some 

 valuable piece of information. 



f( >W many of our young folks can draw 

 pictures? Hold up your hands. Why, 

 almost all of you can. But, how 

 many can draw real nice ones ? Let's 

 see the hands again. Is that all ? 

 There are only just a few hands. Well, that 

 will be enough. We want some of you who 

 ■' know how' 1 to draw, to illustrate your let- 

 ters. If your papa has gotten up some new 

 " fixin' " for the apiary that he thinks is real 

 nice, suppose you make as good a picture as 

 you can, and then describe it in your own 

 words. If the tool or device shall be of val- 

 ue to bee-keepers at large, then we will en- 

 grave it ; and how nice it will be to see your 

 little letter with a picture beside it, that 

 you made yourself ! Remember, your draw- 

 ing must represent something useful, if you 

 expect to see it reproduced in these col- 

 umns During the last few days the juve- 

 nile letters have been coming in at a good 

 rate, for which we extend our thanks. They 

 are exceptionally good ones too. Some of 

 them we give herewith ; the rest will have 

 to wait over till next time, for want of 

 space. 



bees; foot-power buzz-saws. 



Pa has bees, and I help take care of them. In 

 the spring of 1887 we started in with 33, and in- 

 creased to 48, eight of which we sold at fii.oo each. 

 Forty are now on their summer stands. We use 

 the American hive, and like it the best. We use 

 foundation for starters in the sections. We live by 

 a big cranberry patch, and it is a good place for 

 bees. We have a foot-power saw, so we can 

 supply our customers as they come in. 



C/jAUdM. Burnett, age li. 



New Vernon, Pa., Dec. 24, 1888. 



UNCLE JOSEPH'S BEES. 



My uncle has taken a good many pounds of hon- 

 ey. He winters his bees in chaff hives packed 

 with autumn leaves, outdoors. I got a large story- 

 book, and lots of candy and nuts, for Christmas. I 

 have but one brother, named Bertie. He is 12 

 years old. 1 am 10. My aunt Mary does not like 

 the bees, because they get in her hair and sting her. 

 and they get after Uncle Joseph too. My grand- 



