1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



418 



the non-swarming bees that we occasionally hear of 

 are mostly bees that have been totally let alone for 

 years. E. E. Hasty. 



I expected friend Hasty to say that they 

 swarmed because they got the swarming 

 mania, even when buried in the ground. I 

 do not believe that I exactly agree with 

 friend Boardman when he says extreme dis- 

 content. If ever a bee is happy it is when 

 there is a great abundance of honey and pol- 

 len coming in ; and I think they are happy 

 when they get the swarming mania. They 

 seem to behave a good deal as the younger 

 ones do during a Fourth-of-July parade. 

 They are full of enthusiasm and patriotism, 

 even if they are not big enough to know 

 what it all means. If friend Boardman 

 means that they are getting too happy and 

 too important to remain longer in cramped- 

 up quarters, then I think I agree with him. 



^EP6IW$ ENC©0^6IN6. 



FROM 37 TO 60, AND 1600 LBS. OF HONEY. 



(T UNE 1, 1888, I had 37 stands in Simplicity hives, 

 _ ijp all in very good condition. I secured 1600 lbs. 

 «|l of honey in 1-lb. sections; average, 43 lbs. to 

 ^ the colony. The season was a poor one. I in- 

 creased to 60 stands; these I put in the cellar 

 about the middle of November. I took them out 

 April Oth to 11th. All are in splendid condition, ex- 

 cept one that had no bees in it. I think they had 

 lost their queen and went into the hive by the side 

 of it. My last year's crop of honey has all been dis- 

 posed of except about 200 pounds. I got lf> to 2u 

 cents per pound. C. Abraham. 



Fayette, Wis., April 27, 1889. 



HONEY COMING IN FAST. 



Bees are doing fine. Pollen has been coming in 

 steadily since March 15 (except on rainy days), and 

 the honey is coming in so fast to-day that it can be 

 plainly smelled at the entrance. Box-elder and 

 willow are in bloom now. We use chaff hives. We 

 will not remove the chaff from above the bees till 

 fruit-bloom, which is in about a week. Do you 

 think 100 drones are sufficient for queen-rearing? 

 We have about that many pure ones, and there are 

 no blacks out yet. S. P. Trego. 



Swedona, 111., April 32, 1889. 



It depends altogether on how many hives 

 of bees you have. If there are no other 

 drones in an apiary of, say, 100 colonies, I 

 should think that 100 drones might answer. 



NO LOSS. 



Our bees wintered well, no loss. Through the fa- 

 vor of a kind Providence we have never lost a colo- 

 ny yet. I have been an A B C scholar for about 

 three years; commenced with one old hive. T now 

 have eight in Root's chaff hives. I winter on sum- 

 mer stands. John Langley. 



Widnoon, Pa., April 25, 1889. 



I never saw a finer yield or nicer honey than or- 

 ange honey this season. I have 15 gallons from 

 three hives. J. W. Shearer. 



Micanopy, Fla., April 18, 1889. 



Bees wintered well in cellar, and are now strong 

 and healthy. 1 lost one out of forty colonies. 

 Falls City, Neb. Geo. W. Schock. 



Every boy or girl, under 16 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 SI. 00 to SI. 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 (iiant-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 ahove 

 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. 



THE PECAN-NUT OF TEXAS. 



I have not finished up the pecans. The pecan is 

 divided in halves like the hickory-nuts that grow in 

 Ohio. There is a hickory-nut in Southern Texas 

 not like that of Ohio. A pecan-tree raises a differ- 

 ent pecan from that of its neighboring tree, either 

 rounder, longer, or larger. A pecan-tree raises the 

 same shape of pecan every year, and the same size. 



Belton, Texas. Wm. Morgan. 



papa's hill device. 



We have 32 colonies. One died, and one is very 

 weak. 1 will tell you the way 

 papa makes his Hill device.' 

 First he takes the hoops of a^ 

 sugar or salt barrel, cuts two^^ 

 pieces 15'/4 inches long, and 

 one 8y 2 inches long, and nails them on a little block 

 as the drawing shows. I made the picture. 



Westphalia, Ind. Freddie Graeper, age 10. 

 Very good; but why nail the hoops on 

 the blocks? If they are nailed together in 

 the middle and clinched without the blocks 

 they ought to hold and be a little better be- 

 sides. 



wintering in chaff. 



I thought 1 would try to get the picture of your 

 own apiary, and tell you how pa winters his bees. 

 He does it in chaff hives. He packs the bees where 

 they were through the summer. 

 He has 50 colonies, which he win- 

 ters in chaff hives. 1 have drawn 

 a picture of one. Pa generally un- 

 packs his bees in the month of May. 

 I have two colonies of my own; and my little broth- 

 er, who is four years old, has one which pa gave 

 him. I think the hive that I drew is drawn pretty 

 nicely. The hives that pa has take the L. frame. 

 I am 1~ years old, and go to school. 



Cambridgeboro, Pa. Alton Harmon. 



Yes, friend Alton, your drawing was real- 

 ly a better picture than our engravers have 

 reproduced above. 



DO BEES EVER LEAVE THEIR STINGS IN EACH 

 OTHER? 



I am a little boy 9 years old. Pa keeps bees. He 

 has 15 colonies. He gets his supplies from you. 

 Pa reads Gleanings, and likes it very much. 1 



