360 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



May 



sumed but very little honey. T averaged, last sea- 

 son. 14.5 lbs of honey per colony, and 90 per cent 

 increase. The last 7 years I have averaged 135 lbs.; 

 and. taking out the 2 first years, my average has 

 been 21.5 Kis. mostly extracted, with over 100 per 

 cent increase each year. You may hear from me 

 this season. The most snow this winter fell March 

 26th and 27th— 18 to 20 inches on a level in the 

 timber. Some of my hives were completely cover- 

 ed up with snow. I had a time in getting the snow 

 out of the apiary. The ground is covered with 

 snow, but it is going off fast. The bees were gather- 

 ing honey and pollen yesterday and today, and 

 the ground is covered with snow. Have you bees 

 that can beat that? Wm. Malone. 



Newbern, la., Apr. '6, 1887. 



NOT .\ COr.ONV LOST OUT OF 300 PUT INTO WINTER 

 QUARTERS. 



Our bees at this date were never in better condi- 

 tion. Thei' have lots of brood, and are strong in 

 bees. We have not lost any yet in about 300 colo- 

 nies. We wintered outdoors in a clamp, and about 

 100 in a bee-house, all in fine shape. 



Smith & Jackson. 



Tilbury Center, Ont., Can., Mar. 4, 1887. 



11 TO 25, AND 1300 liBS. OF HONEY. 



1 will give my report for 1886. T started last 

 spring with 11 swarms, and increased to 25 by nat- 

 ural swarming, and took 13li0 lbs. of comb honey. 

 I use a double-walled hive. The inside wall is 

 made of rye straw. .John Shoht. 



Moliiie, Mich. 



1^EP0]^¥^ DipC0a^^6IiM(3[. 



almost a candidate for blasted hopes. 

 T SEE that your department of Reports Dis- 

 ||F cou raging is not very well supplied, so I send 

 ^t you a report. Last fall I started in to winter 

 "*■ with 106 colonies of bees; .57 were in chaff 

 hives; 49 were in Simplicity. All had a plenty 

 of winter stores. The chaff' hives had good chaff 

 cushions in the upiier story; the Simplicity hives 

 had chaff division-boards at the sides, and were well 

 packed with chaff' above. Out of the 106 colonies, 

 56 are dead: 6 are (|ueenless, and over 40 are weak. 

 Out of the 49 in the Simplicity hives, 41 are dead; 

 and out of the .57 in chaff' hives, 15 are dead. The 

 chaff' hives will probably keej) me out of Blasted 

 Hopes. 



This has been the hardest winter on bees in this 

 locality since the winter of 1881). A good many bee- 

 keepers have lost all of their bees, and not over 20 

 per cent of the bees in this locality will " weather 

 the gale." TTnless the weather changes pretty soon, 

 [ may be able to give you a report for Blasted 

 Hopes. Bark louse nectar gathered late in the fall 

 was what did the business lor us. 1 shall be glad 

 when Prof. Cook comes around with his bark-louse 

 destroyer. Geo. A. Wright. 



Glen wood, Sus(|. Co., Pa , Apr. 19, 1887. 



Youv report is a little discouraging, friend 

 Wright; hut if it does iiotliing more, it 

 demonstrates the very great superiority of 

 chaff-packed hives over siugle-walled Sim- 

 plicity hives for wintering. I don't think 

 we oiight to run the risk of trying to winter 

 our bees in Simplicity hives. If the winter 

 should be favorable you are all right ; but if 



it should be like the one you have just 

 .passed through, then you could have well 

 afforded to buy chaft' hives outright for all 

 the colonies, instead of sustaining the loss 

 you did. The winter in your locality must 

 have been somewhat more severe than in 

 most other places. As near as we are able 

 to gather from reports, last winter, as a 

 rule, M^as very favorable for wintering bees. 



thikd attempt and third failure at bee- 

 keeping. 



This is my third attempt at bee culture, and my 

 third failure, sol conclude to ijuit. 1 will relate my 

 last start. Last fall I bought two colonies. They 

 were not rich in stores, so I fed during the fall to 

 each about 26 lbs. of granulated sugar. 1 bought 

 two chaff' hives, and transferred the bees into them. 

 This spring the bees were in splendid condition. I 

 began to notice that one came out several times on 

 warm days, so I thought they had no queen. The 

 whole swarm finally left for parts unknown, but it 

 does not stop here. I find another swarm had rob- 

 bed this one; and when they had cleaned it out they 

 went for the other swarm, and now I ha\e two 

 empty hives for sale. L. Kottman. 



Benton, Ohio, April 1.!, 1887. 



The old saying of " three times and out'" 

 seems to be veriHed in your case, friend R., 

 but I hope you will not be discouraged yet. 

 Your bees wintered nicely, but you allowed 

 them to be robbed. You "now have a stock 

 of experience that will help you to be more 

 successful hereafter. In your closing sen- 

 tence you corroborate just what I said in 

 regard to robbing, in my reply to friend 

 Miller. Where the robbers "succeed in 

 using up one colony they are just in trim to 

 pounce on and conquer one right beside it. 



UNFAVORABLE FOR FLORIDA. 



This has been the worst season 1 have known 

 here. The pleasant weather came early, and this 

 past month has been very unpleasant. I have not 

 heard of any bees swarming this year. 



Sorrento, Fla., Apr. 3, 18^7. N. Adams. 



]^I0¥EJS ;«[ND (^HEI^IEg. 



DO vanquished bees help their CONQUERORS? 



■T HAVE lost two colonies of my bees out of 

 jMf twelve. One of them starved to death, the oth- 

 ^t er one was overpowered and robbed by a 

 ■*■ stronger colony. The battle-ground at the en- 

 trance of the hive showed signs of a desperate 

 struggle. When discovered, the (jueen was dead, 

 and the remainder (if there were any) \vere busily 

 engaged in heli)ing tlieir \ ictors to carry out the re- 

 maining honey. Do vanquished bees, after losing 

 their queen, alwajs help their conquerors? 



Laura, Ohio, April 25, 1887. R. W. Brandon. 



[Vanqui.-hed bees do frequently turn in with their 

 conquerors and help carry the stores to the new 

 hive. A? good authoritj', however, as friend IDoo- 

 little has expressed doubts of this. It was several 

 years ago tlirough (Jleanings; but so many re- 

 ports came in at once, corroborating the matter, 

 that I believe most if not all accepted it as truth.] 



WHAT an A B C SCHOL.^R DID. 



My spring count was .56; fall count, 70. I se- 

 cured 1500 lbs. of honey, all comb, in one and two 



