no 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



hives, the goods that had been waiting for 

 weeks and months put in appearance. But 

 even then no word of apology, no letter of 

 explanation, came. After the rush was over, 

 came a very handsome letter of apology. I 

 do not remember whether there was a pro- 

 posal to pay the damages or not, but there 

 ought to have been. My young friend stat- 

 ed, that a simple postal card, telling them 

 just what they could depend upon, would 

 have been worth more than ten dollars in 

 cash. Now, then, do you see clearly the se- 

 cret I have been telling you of — a secret that 

 is worth for advertising purposes more than 

 all the bee-journals put togetherf 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 



HOW THE BEES HAVE WINTERED UP TO 

 DATE. 



TN my last, you remember I felt some- 

 m what apprehensive as to whether the 

 W large number of nuclei with their val- 

 "^ uable queens would survive the contin- 

 ued zero weather we were then having. 

 Since this time we have had a day or two 

 of beautiful spring weather, during which 

 our bees all had a good fly. I am glad to in- 

 form our readers, that, at this writing, not 

 one of our colonies, either large or small, has 

 died. I opened, or peered into about 25 of 

 the doubtful ones— the weakest and the 

 strongest. The fcn-mer I feared might per- 

 ish from the cold, on account of the small 

 cluster ; the latter, because they might have 

 consumed their stores. All were in excel- 

 lent condition, and well supplied with 

 stores. As the bees were flying from the 

 entrances of all the rest of the hives (about 

 17o), from which bees ought to l)e flying if 

 alive, we decided not to open them up and 

 disturb their winter nest. The colonies all 

 had a great abundance of stores the previ- 

 ous fall, and we took it for granted they 

 would hardly be needy by this time. In a 

 month or so, when a w arm day permits, we 

 will examine all thoroughly, aiid all such as 

 may be running short we will supply with 

 combs of sealed stores. These latter we 

 have stowed away for this purpose, in our 

 honey-house. 



While it is encouraging thus far, the bees 

 have yet to encounter the changeable weath- 

 er of spring, and I may yet realize what I at 

 first feared. 



VENTILATION. 



For two seasons back, my attention has 

 been attracted particularly to the fact that 

 all colonies packed in chaff liives cluster 

 close to tlie front side of the hive (providing 

 they have stores in that quarter) just over 

 the entrance. In pulling back the chaff, 

 and lifting the burlap in the colonies that I 

 examined recently, I found that the bees 

 were invariably clustered over the entrance. 

 Why do they do this ? I believe it is wliolly 

 on account of l)etter ventilation which they 

 get in that quarter of the hive. Hence I 

 think the wisdom of giving bees the full 

 width of the entrance. 



WHEAT OR OAT CHAFF. 



Onp of our colonies was, by mistake, pack- 

 ed with oat chaff instead of wheat chalf , as 

 the rest were packed. The chaff in this 

 hive was wet and moldy, and even partly 

 rotted. The wheat chaff, on the contrary, 

 was nice and dry. I threw out the' wet 

 chaff and put some dry in its place. 



CLEANING THE CLARK SMOKER FROM THE 

 VALVE. 



In order to obtain the best results, the 

 Clark should be cleaned daily. Heretofore 

 we have been obliged to clean from the 

 nozzle, passing the wire cleaner through the 

 blast-tube : but as tlie latter is not easily 

 accessible through the nozzle of the smoker, 

 C. C. Miller and others have suggested that 

 the valve he made removable so as to per- 

 mit tlie cleaning-wire to enter through the 

 bellows into the blast-tube. Mr. J. T. Cal- 

 vert, one of our co-workers, as you may 

 know, and a brother-in-law of the writer, 

 has struck upon the plan illustrated below. 



THE CLARK SMOKER, WITH THE VALVE 

 SO CONSTRUCTED AS TO FACILI- 

 TATE CLEANING. 



The engraving shows the smoker in the 

 act of raking out tlie sooty accumulation, 

 the wire passing through the valve into the 

 blast-tube. You oliserve that the valve- 

 hole, instead of being located where the 

 small staple is now, is placed directly op- 

 posite the blast-tube. The arrangement for 

 permitting the closing and opening of the 

 valve is simply a screw cap of a suitable 

 size. The leather is punched to receive tne 

 rim of the cap, and is glued fast. When the 

 cap is screwed on we have a valve that w^orks 

 as before. If it is desired to clean the blast- 

 tube, the cap is unscrewed. As the new 

 arrangement of the valve adds but a trifle 

 to the original cost of the smoker, we will 

 furnish the smokers at the same price as 

 l)efore. There is only one defect in this 

 valve. After the accumulation of soot 

 has collected in the cap, it is sometimes dif- 

 ficult to unscrew it. But one with a pair of 

 stout fingers ought to be able to loosen it. 

 The bellows must l)e tightly closed, other- 

 wise tlie unscrewing of the cap will loosen 

 the valve. 



This improvement greatly facilitates 

 cleaning, as well as making a better job of 

 it. The soot, instead of being pushed in 

 the bellows, as in the old wiiy, is, by tlie 

 plan above, shoved ont through the valve- 

 hole. 



