990 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



ing on a tour of inspection over her kingdom. The 

 other cells were yet intact, and I cut them out to 

 save her majesty;a quarrel. 



All had been plain sailing- so far, and we were 

 proud of our success— perhaps a little too much 

 elated. Perhaps we needed (at least we got) a les- 

 son which we will not soon forget. The queen- 

 raising was done in October, while the bees were 

 getting a good deal of honey from goldenrod. 

 About a week after our queen was hatched, the 

 harvest ended. I was feeding my two swarms a 

 little daily, as I wanted to have them strong when 

 orange-blossoms came, in February. 



One evening 1 came home and found things in a 

 turmoil. Bees were Hying about wildly, crawling 

 over the hives, and lighting everywhere. As it 

 was then after sunset I did nothing and soon had 

 the pleasure of seeing the robbers withdraw their 

 forces for the day, and things quiet down. That 

 was the beginning of the end. I shut up my hives 

 for days at a time; but, 6hut or open, the thieves 

 were/there at daylight, and stayed until dark. If I 

 left a hive open so just one bee could get in or out, 

 the result was an all-day fight and a pint of dead 

 bees at evening. After a week of this sort of thing 

 I opened No. 2 one morning, and found the bees so 

 starved that they could scarcely crawl. They were 

 tearing out the sealed brood. I gave them a good 

 feed, and shut them up " for three years or during 

 the war." 



In No. 1 my beautiful young queen was dead, 

 and there was no honey and no brood. There was 

 a sorrowful party around the evening lamp that 

 night. Two-thirds of our bees were dead, one hive 

 queenless, and a poor outlook tor orange-blossom 

 honey. The conclave decided to unite what were 

 left, shut them up, and feed by lantern light until 

 spring if necessary. 



I was afraid they would fight, and kill the queen; 

 but it seemed the only thing to do. So I hung the 

 frames on opposite sides of a hive, inverted a Ma- 

 son quart jar of syrup in a saucer, between them, 

 and left them to their fate. Next morning the jar 

 was empty, and the queen all right. That night I 

 put the frames together, and the feed in a wooden 

 butter-dish on top of them. Twenty-four hours 

 later the q ueen had changed sides and all was quiet. 

 In a few days the thermometer dropped to fifty, 

 and the robbers suspended operations. We have 

 also suspended our experiments and investigations, 

 and are going to feed steadily, and give the veteran 

 survivors of the autumn campaign the rest which 

 they so richly deserve. 



As to the outcome of this, my first term in the 

 school of bee culture, I think it has paid largely in 

 experience, and over and over again in enjoyment. 

 The ABC has been our text-book, and we look on 

 it as the X Y Z as well, in all that pertains to the 

 honey-bee. Gleanings is devoured as soon as re- 

 ceived, and re-read to wife and children when the 

 evening shadows bring us together. We are glad 

 to have found our way into the circle of genial, 

 intelligent patrons of this pure and elevating indus- 

 try, and glad to find that so many of you are confi- 

 dently looking forward to even a better inheritance 

 than our all-bountiful Father has given us in this 

 beautiful world. E. J. Baird. 



Orlando, Fla., Nov. 20, 1889. 



Friend B., the story of your commence- 

 ment is so nearly like my own in the earlier 

 volumes of the American Bee-Journal, be- 



fore Gleanings had an existence, that it 

 would make you smile to read it over. I 

 had exactly the same troubles with robbing, 

 and I once thought I would almost go to 

 the expense of a trip to either Langstroth or 

 Quinby, to have him explain to me just 

 how I could tell robbers from other bees, 

 and know what to do when they acted as 

 they did with you. I was assured by bee- 

 men of experience (through print, of course, 

 for I had never seen a live bee-man till I 

 commenced), that in a little time it would 

 be all plain and easy. — Your plan of shutting 

 your bees up for " three years or during the 

 war " may do when you ban not do any bet- 

 ter ; but I should regard it as a wasteful 

 way, at least when honey or pollen is to be 

 obtained. Almost any colony will defend 

 itself from robbers if it has plenty of bees, a 

 fertile queen, and an entrance not too large 

 for the quantity of bees. I rather think 

 they defend themselves a little better where 

 they have brood in all stages. When they 

 are suddenly attacked they sometimes have 

 to have a little assistance until things are 

 straightened up. and a decision has been 

 made as to who is running the institution — 

 the robbers or the honest owners. You will 

 get out all right— never fear. We shall be 

 quite glad to hear from you again. Give 

 our respects to Mrs. B. and the little" B.'s,'' 

 who are interested in the success of the new 

 enterprise. 



BEES IN HOUSE-APIARIES. 



J. A. GOLDEN S METHOD. 



fRIEND ROOT:— 1 inclose you a picture of my 

 plan of keeping bees, also how I hive them. 

 If you lookjat the further house, and at the 

 lower right-hand bee-entrance, you will ob- 

 serve what we call a feed-board. On each 

 side there is a wire hook that fastens into two small 

 staples jplaced in the alighting-board at the proper 



GULDEN'S HOUSE-APIARIES, AND PLAN OF HIVING 

 SWARMS. 



