1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



147 



UNITING IN THE FALL. 



To a bee-keeper who winters out of doors, one of 

 the best safeguards Is to have every colony well 

 packed with bees. 1 usually reduce my stock one- 

 fourth to one-third. There is another reason for 

 this. Brood combs are ever accumulating- out of 

 proportion to our desired increase of stock, while 

 we are still wanting many pounds of fdn. every 

 year. Hence we must cull out and render into wax 

 all imperfect combs. Drone combs, crooked combs, 

 combs filled with pollen, etc., all are condemned to 

 the wa.x-extractor. Look over your stock late in 

 September or in October; and all such frames, con- 

 taining brood, put behind a division-board until the 

 brood is hatched. If you want to unite any stock 

 with another, insert those frames behind the di- 

 vision-board of that other colony. The latter may 

 be thus strengthened at different times, while the 

 two that are drawn from may be united at conven- 

 ience. I often divide one colony between two others 

 by means of frames. Or I sometimes shake the bees 

 off in front of a colony containing its full or nearly 

 full complement of comb, and give most of the 

 frames to another. Of course, these processes may 

 be modified to suit the wishes of the apiarist. I neg- 

 lected to observe in the proper place what will occur 

 to every one, that uniting in the fall helps us to 

 weed out inferior queens. Autumn is the best time 

 to do this culling, as a rule. Geo. F. Kobbins. 



Mechanicsburg, 111. 



BROERS' REPORT. 



DOES THE COLOR OF HIVES MAKE ANY DIFFER- 

 ENCE WITH THE BEES? 



PRIEND ROOT:— As the honey season is past, 

 and I have had time to figure up results, I 

 will proceed to send in ray report. I started 

 In the season of 1886 with 24 colonies of Ital- 

 ians and hybrids in fair condition; increased 

 by natural swarming to 39. I sold and doubled the 

 rest of them back to 24, and fed to keep from starv- 

 ing. One colony deserted in May. I took in all a 

 grand total of 240 lbs. of honey, about one-half 

 comb. I got six swarms in September from the 11th 

 to the 34th, making in all 29 colonies in the fall, in 

 good condition. 1 sold 5 colonies in the fall, which 

 leaves me 24 to begin another season with. 



ARE BEES COLOR-BLIND? 



I will give you an item right here which goes to 

 show that bees are not color-b'ind. I gave my 

 brother a colony of bees; and as he had a hive of 

 his own I just took the frames and bees from my 

 hive and placed them in his. Jan. 12 we moved 

 them over to his place, about l.")0 yards distant; and 

 as the weather remained too cold for bees to fly, for 

 about a week after moving, of course they could 

 not come back; and to prevent trouble I had moved 

 their old hive about I.t feet away, and cleaned off 

 their old stand so they would not return to it. When 

 the weather did turn warm, a great many of the 

 bees returned; and on going out next morning I 

 was surprised to find about .50 bees that had found 

 the old hive, although it was placed among a pile of 

 other hives all painted white, except that the hive 

 referred to had the portico trimmed with blue. 

 The poor little fellows had clustered in the portico, 

 and some few had gone inside the hive; and they 

 Vere as forlorn a looking lot of bees as I ever saw. 



ROBBING, HOW TO PREVENT. 



A plan that works well with me is to throw a sheet 

 over the colony being robbed; and if the robbers 

 are mostly from one colony, throw a sheet over 

 that also, and Just see how quickly they will change 

 their tune. Leave the sheet on the robbed colony 

 until after sundown, and then contract the entrance 

 so it will adroit only one or two bees at a time, and 

 they will protect themselves by morning, if they 

 have a good queen. If they have not, unite with 

 some colony that has. M. Broers. 



Gonzales, Tex., Jan. 2.5, 1887. 



l^EPBws ENC()a^^ei]\[6. 



WIFE AND i; $360.35 cash for THREE MONTHS' 

 TIME WITH THE BEES. 



HEN I received Gleanings for Dec. 15th 

 you said you would take the liberty of 

 sending it. etc. We are very glad you took 

 that liberty. (By saying we, I mean wife 

 and I, for wc are partners in the bee-busi- 

 ness—and, bj' the way, I do not believe any man 

 can keep bees successfully without a good wife to 

 help him). Here is our report for 1886: 



May 1,40 swarms; sold 6 (without hives) S30.00; 

 sold 13 (with hives) for $65.00; sold honey, 3000 lbs., 

 for $330.00; total, $425.00. Our honey is all sold now. 

 Bought 25 Simplicity hives, ready for use, except 

 painting, $50.00; 3000 sections, 9.75; 9 lbs. fdn., $4.90 

 —a gain, in one year, of $360.35. 



We have .56 swarms in the cellar now; wintered 

 last winter without any loss whatever. We spent 

 about three months' time altogether; peddled 

 most of the honey, and got cash for it, 10 to I2Y2 

 cents. I never saw a section of honey until I pro- 

 duced it four years ago. What success we have 

 had we owe to A. I. Root. We have taken Glean- 

 ings, and have had his ABC book and no other. 

 E. R. A. & B. Brainahd. 

 Postville, la., Dec. 27, 1886. 



.\N average OF 95 LBS. PER COLONY. 



Bees are in fine order for winter. This year the 

 average number of pounds of honey per colony 

 was 95; but little is sold up to date. 



Thos. H. Trice. 



New Providence, Mont. Co., Tenn. 



from 35 TO ,55, and 3000 LBS. OF honey. 



I commenced the season with 35 swarms— 20 good 

 ones, 10 poor, 5 very poor. I increased to .55, and 

 made 3000 lbs. of cap honey, very little basswood. 

 Besides this I have more than enough natural 

 stores to winter on. Wm. P. Abel. 



Vienna, Oneida Co., N. Y. 



from :i9 TO .52, and 1100 LBS. OF HONEY. 



The season has been a poor one. Basswood was a 

 failure. I took 1100 lbs. in lib. sections from 39, 

 and increased to 52 by division during goldenrod 

 bloom. Each has from 15 to 20 lbs. for winter. 1 

 placed them all in my bee-cellar Nov. 13. The tem- 

 perature was .50, and they seemed to be very quiet. 

 There was an average shrinkage last winter of 9 lbs. 

 in 42 cokuiies in the cellar fom Nov. 1st to Apr. 15th 

 —165 days. Temperature was about .50. 



N. A. Blake. 



Smith's Mills, Quebec, Can. 



