308 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



A FLOOD IN CALIFORNIA. 



We have just had a flood, from March 16th to 17th; 

 10 inches of water fell at our house, making 22*4 

 inches to date. One mile further up the Sespe they 

 got 13 inches. Some houses were washed away in 

 Santa Paula. I suppose it was very disastrous in 

 Los Angeles. The trains are stopped on account of 

 washouts. The papers call the creek in front of 

 our house the " Raging Sespe." The name was not 

 appropriate when you were here; but if you could 

 have seen it on the 16th, bounding and roaring like 

 Niagara, you would not wonder at the Indians think- 

 ing there were " devils " in it. I am acting now on 

 the supposition that we 6hall get a honey crop this 

 season. J. F. M'Intyre. 



Fillmore, Cal., March 18, 1889. 



Rep@i^ ENceai^GiNG. 



NO LOSS IN WINTER. 



"1^ AST fall I had 42 good swarms. I packed part 

 l^j of them in fine oat straw and chaff, on their 

 cJ^T summer stands, and put part of them in my 

 •*" bee-cellar, which is in sandy soil, and proper- 

 ly ventilated. On the 18th inst. I took 5 

 swarms out of the cellar; on the 20th I took out 3, 

 and on the 22d I took out the rest of them ; and now 

 on this 23d day of March I have just 42 good 

 swarms, gathering pollen quite lively. 

 Coral, Mich. L. W. Itzenhouser. 



You ought to see the bees working on the red- 

 maple bloom, getting honey and pollen. 

 Lincoln, Tenn., Mar. 13, 1889. T. P. Gillham. 



ONLY ONE DEAD OUT OF SIXTY. 



My bees, sixty swarms, have wintered well. Only 

 one is dead out of sixty. I had to move them out 

 of our village 2 years ago, away up on a side hill, 

 since which I have not done so well. J. E. Todd. 



Unadilla, N. Y., March 15, 1889. 



WINTERED WITHOUT LOSS. 



Bees have wintered here well this time. I win- 

 tered 93 on summer stands, and have not lost any; 

 lost only 4 queens. Bees have been very busy on 

 soft maple and elm. Red-bud Is just bursting. 



Alma, 111., Mar. 19, 1889. Richard Edmonds. 



COLONIES NEVER WINTERED BETTER. 



I am happy to say that our success in wintering 

 my bees has never been better. We went into win- 

 ter quarters with 48 colonies; and to-day, March 18, 

 45 are in good condition; 3 died of starvation, which 

 was my own fault. The bees are busy bringing in 

 natural pollen, and the prospects for the coming 

 season were never better. Fred Leininger. 



Douglas, Ohio, Mar. 18, 1889. 



EARLY POLLEN; THE GOLDEN BEE-HIVE. 



Bees are gathering pollen now to some extent; 

 mine are all strong, or seem to be, from the way 

 they are at work; but I have not examined any of 

 my hives. I have only lifted the top and taken a 

 peep in. I am the only one who has any Italians in 

 this county, so far as I know. Some others use a 

 frame hive; it's a patent trap, and known to the 

 trade as the "Golden " bee-hive. I make my own 

 hives, and they are modeled after the Simplicity. 

 I have sold some of them to owners of the Golden 

 bee-hive after they paid $10.00 for a right for it. 



Moltke, Tenn., March 22, 1889. S. L. Medlin. 



WINTERED WITHOUT A LOSS. 



My bees have wintered well. I have not lost any. 

 In examining them a few days ago I found brood in 

 all the hives, and plenty of food to do them until 

 they c:m gather new honey. They were taking in 

 pollen quite lively on Sunday, March 24. 



Clachan, Ont. E. J. Purcell. 



WINTERING AT THE AXTELLS'. 



We have taken 30 colonies of bees out of the cel- 

 lar, because we had so many in the cellar we could 

 not keep it cool enough. Those taken out have 

 wintered finely— better than those out of doors. 

 They were gathering pollen nicely yesterday, the 

 19th, which is earlier than usual by two weeks. 



Roseville, 111. Mrs. L. C. Axtell. 



WINTERED WELL; THE STRONG DRAWING FROM 

 THE WEAK. 



I took bees out of cellar yesterday, 68 hives, one 

 dead; examined them all to-day. They are in the 

 best condition, cleanest and strongest I ever had 

 them. They gathered some pollen to-day. One 

 trouble is, that a good many hives catch bees that 

 do not belong to them, making themselves strong 

 at the expense of others. You may remember, 

 page 11, Jan. 1, 1889, that I wintered this time with 

 the heavy cloth mat removed, and only a piece of 

 burlap over the front half of the frames. It is a 

 perfect success this time, certainly. 

 Grinnell, la.. Mar. 20, 1889. J. F. Whitmore. 



LOOKING FOR A " WHOPPER." 



At this date my bees have wintered well. They 

 seem to be stronger than they were last fall. I went 

 into winter quarters with 29 stands; one starved; 

 another was queenless, and I united it with another 

 colony, so I have 27 stands yet. They have plenty 

 of stores, and are breeding rapidly. We have had 

 a very mild winter. I winter on the summer stands, 

 packed with chaff. My bees commenced gathering 

 pollen March 16th. The prospect for a " whopper " 

 this coming season is very flattering. There is an 

 immense crop of white clover, or will be, if the 

 season is favorable. It is looking fine at present. 



Paris, 111., March 21, 1889. J. P. Adams. 



FROM ONE WHO OWNS NEARLY 600 COLONIES, AND 



WHO SHIPPED COMB HONEY BY THE TON 



AS EARLY AS 1857. 



The bees seem to be wintering well so far here. 

 Of course, it is too early in the season to make a 

 safe prediction as to the honey crop of the coming 

 summer. We only know that, so far, they have 

 wintered well. But it is in the next two months 

 that we meet with our greatest loss, especially 

 when cold bleak winds prevail during this time. I 

 speak somewhat from experience, this being the 

 thirty-sixth year of my experience in bee-keeping. 

 As early as 1857 I was shipping comb honey by the 

 ton. This was considered a large amount of honey 

 to be raised by one bee-keeper at that time; but 

 now it is not uncommon to ship many times that 

 amount. I went into winter quarters last Novem- 

 ber with over 550 colonies. They seem to be doing 

 well. For this I feel encouraged, and hope that 

 they will continue so to do. 



We are naturally looking for and expect a good 

 season this year, from the fact that last season was 

 a very poor one, there being no basswood bloom in 

 this section of country, and the yield of clover anfl 

 other kinds was very light. 



