1887 



GLKANINGS l^' BEE OULTL'KE. 



441 



THE BEVELED EDGE. 



Please do not dispense wiih the beveled edge. It 

 is certainly not a niiisHnce. Paul Pkine. 



Martinsburg, W. Va., Apr. 23, 1887. 



[Here is my hand, friend P. 1 am g-lad to find 

 there is at least one man who tcels as I do alioiit it. 

 By the way, 1 should like to have some of the 

 friends who have been using the Simplicity hives 

 try some made with the old-tashioned square 

 edges.] 



wide frames with slotted top and bottom 



BAKS. 



The surplus arrangement 1 have settled on as the 

 best suited to my own needs, is a modification of 

 the wide frame, the bottom-bar to be as wide as 

 the top-bar. and both slotted to match the sections, 

 with reversing device and metal corners. Sucli 

 frames will perfectly protect all the sections from 

 propolis, enable us to change the sections about at 

 will, easily dislodge bees when surplus is removed, 

 and handle honey with the least possible fatigue. 



Ord, Neb., Apr. 29, 18s;. Mrs. E. A. RussEf,L. 



MOVING BEES. 



I moved 13 stands, side by side, in front of a board 

 wall for wintering— the furthest not over 20 feet 

 from summer stands. Will it be safe to move them 

 at any time back, or had they better be moved a 

 few feet at a time? Would there be much danger 

 of losing many bees by moving all at once that 

 distance? C. D. Gough. 



Rock Spring, Mo.. Mar. 10, 1887. 



[Friend G., it is a pretty hard matter to move 

 bees short distances without more or less loss— that 

 is, if you move them when the weather is warm 

 enough for them to fly every few days. As the sub- 

 ject is a complicated one, I think we had better re- 

 fer you to the ABC book. Some old bee-men rec- 

 ommend carrying them a couple of miles, and leav- 

 ing them three or four weeks. You can then move 

 them back and place them where you like, and they 

 will all stick to their hives.] 



NATURAL GAS FOR HEATING A BEE-CELLAR. 



If some of our large bee-men lived in Kokomo 

 they might have the satisfaction of heating their 

 bee-cGllars with natural gas. We have already 

 three wells that send forth over 15,000,000 feet per 

 day. It is a grand sight to see it burning; and as I 

 often watch it 1 think, "What would Bro. Root do 

 with it? He could save hundreds of dollars in fuel 

 and light." I shall use it in my house as soon as I 

 get the pipes in. No more wood or coal for me, 

 please. I shall turn my wood-bouse into' a bee- 

 hive shop; my wood-boxes will make hens' nests; 

 no dirt, no dust, only matches, for kindling-wood. 



Kokomo, Ind. J. S. Scoven. 



EARLY SWARMING. 



J' HAVE had three swarms of bees come out this 

 [ spring. One swarmed on the 23d, one on the 

 I 2.5th, and one on the 26th of April. They were 

 ■ all Italians, which shows to me their superi- 

 ority over the black bee. I will also state, that 

 the spring has been very backward here. 

 McMinnville, Or.. April 28, 1887. S. F. Harding. 



our old FRIEND W. B. HOUSE. 



My one swarm of bees has wintered through 

 splendidlj', with )in protiction but a very loose L. 

 hive and lots of upward ventilation. Temperature 

 several times was 40° below zero. W. B. House. 



Detour, Chippewa Co., Mich., May ti, 1887. 



109 WINTERED OUT OF 11.5. 



My first swarm of bees came out March 2-tth. At 

 this date they are swarming quite liv.ly. 1 went 

 into winter with 115 colonies, and came out with 109, 

 very strong. A. R. Hillbun. 



Viola, Pender Co.. N. C. Apr. 13. 1887. 



alsike in six months' drought. 



We were glad to find j'our alsike seed only $7.00 

 per bushel, as our failure of crops last year makes 

 close times. We sowed 2'/4 acres of alsike last 

 spring. It lived through our six months', drought 

 and trying winter, and now looks nice and green. 



Pauline, Kan , .Mar. 13, 1887. Mrs. J. N. Martin. 



71 colonies wintered out of 73 in the cel- 

 lar. 



Allow us to report that we put in our cellar, Nov. 

 22, 73 colonies of bees in good condition, and to-day 

 placed on the stand 71, all apparently in fine order, 

 and well supplied with stores. Isn't that a good re- 

 port after such a hard winter? We had 140 days of 

 continuous sleighing. We are all delighted with 

 Gleanings, and prize it very highly. 



.1. B. Darrow & Son. 



West Eaton, N. Y.. April 22, 1887. 



A net profit of $484 from 14 colonies. 

 This is a poor locality for bees, one cause of 

 which, probably, is because there are so many 

 sheep kept in this vicinity. Last year was an ex- 

 ception, for such another honey year* as we had 

 then was never before known. I gave you my re- 

 port last fall in rhyme, and will now give you the 

 profits in dollars and cents which I received from 

 only 14 colonies, left me on the first of May, without 

 any feeding or stimulating whatever, or doubling 

 of colonies. They gave me .500 lbs. of comb honey 

 and 1200 lbs. of extracted. The comb honey I sold 

 for 15 cts., and the extracted for from 10 to I2V2 cts. 

 per lb.— an average of 10?i cts. I increased to 62 

 by swarming and making colonies and three-frame 

 nuclei from the queen-cells left in the hives, and 

 feeding them up in the fall. This made 40 full colo- 

 nies and 22 three-frame nuclei, 5 or 6 of which I 

 placed close together for wintering in a store-box, 

 leaving 4 inches all around them for chalf. They 

 came through the winter without the loss of one, 

 not even a queen, and no necessity for feeding. I 

 have, this winter and spring, sold 46 colonies, and re- 

 ceived payment for them as follows: 



25 full colonies. $8.00 each $200.00 



21 3-frame nuclei, $5.00 '* 10.5.00 



1 " " 2.00 



,500 lbs. box honey. 15 cts. ^ lb 75.00 



1200 lbs. extracted honey, lO^i cts. ^ lb 129.00 



1 col'y left more than the original number. . . 8.00 



Total $519.00 



I fed, to build up nuclei for winter, sugar. . . —35.00 



Net profit on 14 colonies $484.00 



Average per colony 34.57 



Whigville, Noble Co., O., Apr. 30, 1887. H. Large. 



NO colonies lost out of 31 PUT INTO WINTER 



quarters. 

 I now send you my result in wintering 31 colonies 

 of bees on their summer stands in I'j-story Sim- 

 plicity hives with the combined honey-crate left on 

 and filled with chaff. I remove three frames of the 

 ten, and ])ut chaff division-boards in their place, 

 put a Hill device on the seven remaining frames, 

 and a piece of burlap a little larger than the hive; 

 then after removing the slats from your combined 

 crate, I place the orate on and press it down. That 



