136 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



metal, makes it brittle, prevents it holding an edge, 

 and makes it hard to file. I should like your opin- 

 ion. I have read the ABC, but it doesn't cover 

 this particular point. I like the plan there given 

 best. 1 am making a saw-table, somewhat under 

 this neighbor's directions. Wm. Young. 



Palmyra, Neb., Jan. 18, 1889. 



Large heavy saws can be set by hammer- 

 ing, but it does not answer so well for 

 small saws less than \ inch in thickness. 

 You are right. The hammering, in setting, 

 does rupture, and not unfrequently breaks 

 the teeth. We formerly recommended the 

 Star sawset ; but as the Boynton has given 

 so much better satisfaction, we shall rec- 

 ommend it hereafter. Perhaps we should 

 remark, that the Star sets the teeth with a 

 sharp blow. The Boynton accomplishes 

 the same result by simply bending the teeth 

 gently, but perhaps not quite as accurately, 

 as the Star. Either is provided with a 

 gauge, so that any desired set may be used. 

 The Star set broke so many teeth that we 

 were obliged to use something else. Since 

 using the Boynton we have had no trouble 

 with the same grade of saws that formerly 

 broke. Both sets are listed in our cata- 

 logue at 75 cts. each. 



WHAT MADE THEM DIE ? 



On Christmas I thought I would take a peep at 

 my bees. I found that one colony had died. They 

 were clustered, and some of them had crawled into 

 the combs and died. There was honey all around 

 them, and I don't think it had been cold enough to 

 freeze them. They were in Root's one-story chaff 

 hive. The hive was packed well, and I can not 

 make out what caused their death; but I could not 

 find any queeu. There were two quarts or more of 

 dead bees in the hive. Will some of you tell me 

 what caused their death? J. W. Rupert. 



Foxburg, Pa., Jan. 30, 1889. 



It is difficult to decide just what did 

 cause the death of the colony in question. 

 In the absence of a queen, a colony is more 

 apt to die. They seem to get the idea into 

 their heads that, without a mother in the 

 house, life is not worth living. Bad stores 

 might have been the cause of their death. 

 If so, then their hive ought to show some 

 signs of dysentery. 



HOUSE -APIARIES, HEXAGONAL, SQUARE, OR OB- 

 LONG. 



I expect to build a bee-house this season, and 

 write to ask if you have had any experience with 

 bees in such a house as I propose to build. 



operator can have the extractor, etc., in the 

 center of the building, and the steps he 

 would be obliged to take are reduced to a 

 minimum. Another thing, bees will iind 

 their entrance better in such a structure. 

 We suppose you are aware that house-apia- 

 ries have been discarded by the majority of 

 bee-keepers. You will find their ad- 

 vantages and disadvantages are very well 

 and fully covered in the A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture. 



1 think this arrangement will work, but I desire 

 to get all the information I can, before building. 

 The squares show the hives. The spaces between 

 the hives are 30 inches, from entrance to entrance. 



Westminster, S. C, Jan. 14, 1889. R. E. Mason. 



Friend M., your plan of a bee-house would 

 work, but we would suggest that one hex- 

 agonal in form, or even square, is much bet- 

 ter than one oblong, built as you propose 

 making. In either one of the former, the 



STRENGTHENING WEAK COLONIES IN WINTER. 



Would you advise giving a weak colony a quart 

 or more of bees to strengthen them, or not? Does 

 the Chapman honey-plant grow and do well in this 

 part of Texas? What honey-producing plants or 

 trees will be the most profitable to grow here for 

 honey and fruit, and also just for honey? 



Enoch Anderson. 



Comanche, Tex., Jan. 11, 1889. 



Friend A., it is hard to advise for your 

 locality. If the bees are bunched up in a 

 small cluster, and seem to take no more 

 space than a quart measure, they are proba- 

 bly strong enough. On the first few warm 

 days they will probably expand out enough 

 to make a respectable-looking swarm. 

 Some of the strongest colonies here in the 

 North are so much packed together that you 

 would almost think you could get them into 

 a teacup ; but when a warm day comes they 

 will fill the whole hive. If the colony you 

 speak of is weak in reality, then perhaps it 

 would be well for you to give them more 

 bees, preferably from a queenless colony. — 

 We can not tell you whether the Chapman 

 honey-plant would do well in Texas or not ; 

 probably it would. You had better consult 

 some bee-keeper in your locality. 



CHANGING TO ITALIANS, AND BACK AGAIN TO 

 BLACK BEES; HOW DID IT COME ABOUT? 



Friend Root:— I have for a few years been a silent 

 admirer of the Simplicity hive and your bee-litera- 

 ture, and now I feel like standing up and telling 

 you how happy I am to be a member of your ABC 

 class, and to be numbered among the thousands 

 who are so fortunate as to be subscribers to Glean- 

 ings. Not unlike many other beginners, perhaps, 

 I have had some failures in bee-keeping; but by 

 the use of the Simplicity hive and the aid of the 

 ABC book and Gleanings I have secured crops of 

 honey which in quantity and quality astonished my 

 " log-hive " neighbors who are apt to look upon any 

 attempt at intelligent bee-keeping as a mere exper- 

 iment or humbug. 



The honey-season here for 1S88 was very good. 



I wish to here relate a bit of strange experience 

 with a hive of bees— strange to me at least— on 

 which 1 hope you will give a little explanation: Of 

 the four queens ordered of you at different times, 

 I succeeded in introducing one nicely. She proved 

 to be a good layer, and soon I noticed my combs 

 were well filled with brood. A little later, and hun- 

 dreds of young Italians might be seen in the hive. 

 The Italians increased rapidly, while the black bees 

 gradually disappeared, until very few of the latter 

 remained. Thus far I felt truly proud of my suc- 

 cess. But soon, to my consternation, I observed 

 that my golden-banded beauties were gradually de- 

 creasing in numbers, while the blacks were as sure- 



