Ib87 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



149 



len on Sunday, the first of Feb. In iy86 they com- 

 menced on Sunday, the IMst day of Jan. In 188T 

 they commenced on Saturday, the ~;.'d day of Jan. 

 Our earliest bloom is the water-elm tree. It is very 

 white pollen. Bees are ail healthy and stronfs" to 

 date. Papa has si.xtj- colonies; not one has died. 

 Lizzie L. Mui.i.iN, ag-e 11. 

 Oakland, Texas, Jan. 'M, 1887. 



VEST.4'S LKTTEK. 



My mother has 'iO hives of bees, and she puts 

 them in the cellar in the winter. She had 10 hives 

 last spring-, and got about 400 lbs. of honey in two- 

 pound boxes. What the bees don't finish up we 

 extract. My sister and I turn the extractor. Ma 

 sent to Mr. Root for the extractor two years ag-o. 

 Last week Thursday it rained so hard 1 could uot 

 go to school, and I tacked muslin on to the frames 

 for chaff cushions to put over the bees. 



Last summer my Sunday-school teacher gave me 

 a Bible for learning perfectly the ten command- 

 ments. When I had them learned we found that 

 my little sister Frances, seven years old, had learn- 

 ed them just by hearing nie say them. We are in 

 the same class, so our teacher gave her a Bible too. 



Oweg-o, N. Y., Nov. ^7, 1886. Vesta Padgett. 



BANKING UP SNOW FOR WINTER PROTECTION. 



My brother has had pretty good luck with his 

 bees, as he has not lost one swarm this winter. 

 The way he keeps his bees in winter is this: He 

 puts boards up around the hives so as to keep off 

 the wind, and when it snows he shovels the snow 

 up all around the hives, but leaves the entrance of 

 the hive open, so that they can get air. He says 

 that this warm weather is hard on them, for they 

 go out and try to tly around, and the snow blinds 

 them so they can not see, and they freeze to death. 

 He built a shed foi- them last winter, and they did 

 not do so well, lor he had 86 stands and lost half of 

 them. He likes to work with bees, and he likes 

 the honey also. He has now r,'2 stands of bees, 

 and he has been talking of buying some more of 

 one of our neighbors, who wants to sell them. He 

 made a great deal of money selling honey last 

 summer, and, besides, he kept enough to use, and 

 he kept enough to use all winter. Rose Custis. 



Gillem, Ills. 



I hardly tliink the bright snow blinds the 

 bees so that they die from the effects of it. 

 Bees flying out on these warm days are lia- 

 ble to "become chilled. If they olice alight 

 in the snow they scarcely ever rise again. 

 It is the chilling and not the blinding them 

 that plays mischief with our pets. 



not always be on hand when a swarm issues. 

 Instead of niiining to tell him that the bees 

 are swarming you can tend to tliem your- 

 self. Little boys and girls, you can all do it 

 if you will only try. I was"awfid "fraid '" 

 when I iirst tried it ; but the offer of a whole 

 dollar made me bold, and 1 succeeded, as 

 some of our old readers may possibly re- 

 member. After that I did not have to be 

 liired to catch swaims when •'my pa'" was 

 away. That was ten years ago. If you 

 wisli to know more about it, see last pages 

 of the ABC of Bee Culture. 



.JUVENILE SWARM-CATCH EKS. 



My pa'has 'A stands of bees in the cellar. We had 

 33 colonies last spring, and got 1~00 lbs. of honey, 

 and increased them to 5a. I like to help work with 

 bees. I help to tend them in swarming time. I 

 watch them and catch the gueen, and put her in 

 a cage and lay the cage in front of the hive and let 

 her be there until the bees comeback: then 1 let 

 her out of the cage and let her run in the hive. 

 We have our queens all cropped. We have had a 

 cold winter so far. The thei-moraeter was down to 

 26 below zero on the 7th. 



Aaron A. Knoll, ajic Ir'. 



Salamonia, lud., Jan. 17, 1.S87. 



Boys and girls make capital swarm-catch- 

 ers, tlon't they, friend Aaron V Papa can 



OUR FRIEND CHARLIE .\SKS SOME .MOKE QUESTIONS. 



AVe commenced in the spring with 8 r;olonies— .5 in 

 box and 3 in h. hives. I increased to 3i) by swarm- 

 ing. The box hives did nearly all the swarming, 

 while the Langstroth hives made the honey. We got 

 only 2 swarms from the frame hives. The box h\\es 

 made but very little honey. We took 3illl lbs. of 

 comb honey. This was a good season for bees. It 

 opened up April 17. with the blooming of golden 

 willow. This, although lasting but a short time, 

 produced lots of honey; and during its blooming, 

 bees filled their brood-chambers. Locust also pro- 

 duced a great deal of honey this year. Basswood 

 yielded lightly on account of rains; but whitejand 

 sweet clover lasted foi- several weeks. Red clover 

 produced some honey during its fall bloom. Honey 

 cauie in so plentifully all summer that we could 

 work with the bees any time in Augi:st without any 

 danger of robbing. Drones remained until after 

 the middle of August. 



How long can our bees be confined in winter 

 without being troubled with dysentery '! Are anj- 

 of the bees destroyed that are out at work during a 

 heavj' rain ? Will a little clover chaff mixed with 

 wheat chatf draw dampness? In swarming, will 

 bees always cluster up in a tent that is set over 

 them y What part of the spring is the best time to 

 Italianize"? Charljk L. Gheenfielu. 



Somerville, Butler Co., O., Jan. 3, 1887. 



With favoral)le conditions, friend Charlie. 

 I think the bees may be confined four or 

 live months, withoutany trouble whatever. 

 Where the stores aie not of the best kind, 

 however, it may be quite desirable to give 

 them a fly every three or four weeks. I pre- 

 sume some bees are lost during a heavy 

 rainstorm that comes up suddenly. If the 

 sun comes out shortly afterward, however, 1 

 believe they usually dry off and get home.— 

 I do not tliink that clover chaff would do 

 aii>' iiarm, and 1 think we have had reports 

 wliere bees v»eie wintered nicely with clo- 

 ver chatt' and nothing else.— We have never 

 tried controlling swarms by setting a tent 

 over a hive after the l)ees have started to 

 come out. I presume they would cluster 

 somewhere on the tent.— The sooner we 

 Italianize our be<is in spring, the better; 

 but the weather, however, would probably 

 make it uncertain l)usiness before the latter 

 part of si)ring, in our latitude. 



BEES ALL RIOBT SO I Ali. 



My papa has 1:^0 colonies of bees He has part of 

 them in the cellar. The thermometer stands about 

 34 degrees^ down cellar. The bees seem to have 

 wintered all right so far. They seem to be very 

 quiet. That is a sign they are wintering well. It is 

 not very cold here now. The thermometer is .id 



