442 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



turns the edges of the burlap up all round, and 

 makes it tight all round. I then fill the crate full 

 of ehatf, and put on the '/2-stor.v cover, and all is 

 done. T did not look at my bees until May 3d. 1 

 found them all right. Queens were all alive, combs 

 bright, and lots of brood. I find the crates better 

 than any cushion, as I can lift off the cover any 

 time without disturbing the bees. .J. Eastman. 

 Fallsington, Bucks Co., Pa., May 9, 1887. 



^EPe^Tg Dl?C0U^^6I]\[6. 



WINTER LOSS. 



fOU ask for "reports discouraging." I went 

 into winter with 18 colonies, all in Simplicity 

 chatf hives. I now have 11 left— 2 good colo- 

 ouies, the rest very weak. The best colony 

 is Carniolan, a daughter from an imported 

 queen from Frank Benton. Why they dwindled 

 down this spring I can not explain. I lost some in 

 the latter part of February, as the first two weeks 

 of February was warm. The bees began to raise 

 brood very fast, using all the honey in brood-nest, 

 then there came two weeks of steady cold weather, 

 and the bees starved with plenty of honey just out 

 of their reach. The others dwindled awaj- too 

 quick, with brood and honey, but no old bees to 

 nurse them. Samuel, Heath. 



Rimer, Armstrong Co., Pa., May 7, 1887. 



UNPAVdRABLE TO MRS. COTTON. 



I am trying as liard as I can to make a success in 

 keeping bees. 1 have tried twice, and have failed 

 under the way Mrs. Lizzie Cotton manages bees, 

 and I have also lost money by her by following her 

 plans. I Hm now managing bees under your plans, 

 and things are looking more favorable. I use your 

 hives, and am a reader of the ABC book. 



S. Woodbury, Vt., Apr. 13, 1887. W. F. Anoell. 



OTHER WINTER LOSSES. 



I see that you want more reports discouraging. 

 If all who have had bad luck in this part of the 

 State would send in their rein)rts it would fill 

 (tLEANiNGS half full. Last season was wet and cold 

 here; but little clover honey, considerable milk- 

 weed honey. Some have spoken of it as beautiful 

 golden honey. 1 consider it the poorest honey I 

 ever saw, and to that and pollen I attribute the 

 great loss the past winter. 1 don't think that the 

 winter was sevei-e. Louse nectar, as spoken of by 

 (Jeo. Wright, 1 know nothing about. My bees gath- 

 ered b\it little if any thing late in the fall. At the 

 close of the swarming season I had 34 swarms. I 

 took about 600 lbs. of comb honey, most of it the 

 miserable stuff spoken of. I use Vandcrvort's 

 chatf hive. The 34 swarms were well packed in 

 chatf; and with what honey they had in the brood- 

 I ranies there was enough and to spare. Tlie poor 

 quality of the honey, and too much pollen (not the 

 winter), reduced them to 15, and then from rather 

 weak to very weak. I do not think the cellar is 

 made in which they would have wintered on such 

 stores. S. B. Sakeoud. 



Amasa, Pa., May 7, 1887. 



IS IT FOUL BKOODV 



I am not dead myself, but my Italian bees ai"e 

 dead— all died last summer with foul brood. It's the 

 fourth attempt 1 have made to get a start with Ital- 



ians. I can not account for it. None of the native 

 bees had it, and I did not know what foul brood was 

 till 1 got some Italian bees. I had thought I would 

 write you about it ere this, but neglected to do so. I 

 have 20 hives in good condition. J. J. Keith. 



Louisville, Ga., Feb. 25, 1887. 



I can scarcely conceive how your Italians 

 conld have foiil brood, and not your black 

 bees. It is commonly considered that the 

 disease is no respecter of persons — at least a 

 bee personage. If it is a fact that you have 

 foul brood, I should suppose that you had 

 just purchased your Italians of some one 

 who already had the disease in his apiary, 

 and when the Italians were shipped you 

 they brought the disease witli them. One 

 thing, however, is certain : If you have the 

 real virulent foul brood it will attack the 

 brood of black bees just as quickly as it will 

 the brood of Italian bees. If you do not 

 think so, try it once. If, upon trial, it does 

 not have any effect upon the black bees, 

 then you certainly have not foul brood. 



Bn^^TED pePEg. 



locality overstocked, and no market for 

 honey. 



J HAVE wintered 136 colonies of bees out of 163. 

 Those lost were nearly all nuclei. Bees have 

 wintered well here. This locality is overstock- 

 ed with bees. I believe there are 2000 colonies 

 within si.Y miles of this place. But the worst 

 part is, a good friend has purchased property here 

 and located an apiary of nearly 100 colonies just 

 eight rods from my apiary. Last season our bees 

 when swarming would very often get together and 

 cluster together. Sometimes we would not see 

 them swarm, and find them after they had clus- 

 tered; then we could not tell whose they were, but 

 we are good friends all the same. 



There is no sale for honey here. Markets are 

 overstocked. One of our merchants told me a few 

 days ago that they had about 1000 lbs. of honey, for 

 which they would take6cts. per lb. They paid 10 

 cts. The outlook is gloomy. 1 should like to sell 

 out. I am discouraged. Put me in Blasted Hopes. 

 Nappanee, Ind. I. R. Good. 



Why, friend G., I do not believe the mat- 

 ter is so very bad, after all ; and as you have 

 generally done pretty well with your bees I 

 don't ])elieve I would think of trying some 

 other calling. Other industries have their 

 times of depi'ession as well as ours. 



75 PER CENT OF THE BEES DEAD. 



As I am a young subsci'iber to Gleanings, and 

 see there " Reports Encouraging," I must join the 

 "Blasted Hopes'" column. Schoharie County is an 

 excellent place for bees in summer. Last season 

 was very poor, and the past winter memorable for 

 losses. Perhaps 75 percent of the bees are dead. I 

 had 15 last fall, and shall have but 6 left. I know of 

 one old veteran in the business, who, out of about 

 80 colonies, lost all but four, which he sold, includ- 

 ing his old hives, for $8.00. A very few may not 

 have lost more than a third. A man told me that 

 he had 14, and lost every one. 



J. Van Wagenen, Jr. 



Lawyersville. N. Y., May 7, 1887. 



