482 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUIJE 



imto her, Thy sins are forgiven/' as found 

 in the seventh chapter of Luke. The last 

 verse of the hymn describes the reward God 

 gives to those who liave put the world be- 

 hind them, and who liave triumphed over 

 Satan, and stand before him true and loyal, 

 with the first commandment given from 

 Sinai. The verse is tliis : 

 In the sky, after tempest, as sliineth Ihe bow,— 

 In the friance of the sunbeam, as melteth the snow. 

 He looked on that lost one; "her sins were forgiven." 

 And the sinner went forth in the beauty of heav( n. 



WINTEKING BEES IN A CYCLONE- 

 HOUSE. 



0aR 0WN 'ft.FiM^. 



CONDUCTED BY EBNEST K. ROOT. 



A BKGINNER'S EXPEKIENCE. 



T PURCHASED 10 nucleus swarms from Oliver 

 (gl? Foster, some hives from A. I. Root, and started 

 ^t in the bee-business. We had a very dry season 

 ■^ —no rain for 3 months, from June 1st, but the 

 bees managed to fill the brood-chamber all 

 right, and made 200 lbs. in the section boxes. This 

 I took for my share and gave them the rest. As 

 soon as cold set in I carried them into a cycloue- 

 house, built all under ground, with a roof of dirt 

 four feet thick, with a stovepipe in the center, for 

 a vent. The cave, or cellar, was very damp, so I 

 screwed some narrow strips of board on the side of 

 the hives, near the cover. The strips were six inch- 

 es longer at each end than the hive, making the 

 hives look something like a box for carrying coal in. 

 Then I made racks along each side of the luouse 

 and hung my bees up by the handles on their hives; 

 but I first took them out of the portico hive and 

 put them in the upper story so »s to avoid a perma- 

 nent bottom-board. I then made a bottom-board 

 by putting on screen, such as we use on our doors, 

 and in the same way, and hung it on the bottom 

 of the hive with hooks, so the bees could not come 

 out, but so one could take it oil' while they were 

 asleep, turn it over, and hook it on again, or jar off 

 any dead bees or any other litter, and give them 

 plenty of air. After that I took some old newspa- 

 pers and spread one of the four sheets over the 

 hive, then put the cover on tight, letting the paper 

 extend outside all around. Thus 1 shut off the air 

 above, knowing that too much air might give them 

 a sore throat. Then I thought if, alter going to all 

 that trouble, they wanted to die they would cer- 

 tainly be very ungrateful. But they did not die. I 

 looked at them as often as once a month, and al- 

 ways found them di-y, and clustering up next the 

 paper, and all over the frames. However, I found 

 considerable moisture in the toi>of the cover. This 

 I threw off, generally, so Iput alittle blockunderthe 

 paper to raise it in the center and allow the mois- 

 ture to run out under the cover, in case it fell back 

 on the paper. Sometimes the little busybodies ate 

 through the paper, in which case I just spread an- 

 other over that one. 



I carried them out as soon as maples blossomed, 

 and put them into the porticos again. They had 

 lioney enough to have wintered again, so I let them 

 keep it. Up to date two have cast off' swarms, and 

 all are doing as well as could be expected, since the 

 drought is on us again, and on to stay, according to 

 all appearances. The temperature of that cyclone- 

 house ranged from 36 to 40°. Now you know how a 

 greenhorn winters bees. Ed. Parker. 



Union, Iowa, May 23, 1887. 



FOUL BROOD. 



§INCE our last report, foul brood seems 

 to have gotten under way in every 

 portion of the home apiary. We have 

 been treating sometimes as many as 

 live or six colonies daily. To-day, 

 June 10, the boys have found a dozen cases 

 of foul brocd, and Uiis afternoon we are go- 

 ing to treat them— by complete extermina- 

 tion as at first V oh, no! We shall employ 

 the starvation method, or perhaps, more ex- 

 actly, a modification of it. As we have been 

 experimenting upon tlie cases developed in 

 the last few days, and have not as yet ar- 

 rived at any definite conclusion, I vvill not 

 give the exact modus operandi. Suffice it to 

 say. we liave now liad 40 cases of foul brood 

 in the hist three or four weeks. But, more 

 anon. 



THE DOOLITTLE QUEEN-CELL PROTECTOR. 



During this spring and summer we have 

 been giving the Doolittle queen-cell pro- 

 tector a pretty thorough trial. All the cells 

 we have raised this season were placed in 

 the wire protectois before insertion in the 

 liive ; but for some reason or other we have 

 not met with very good success. Mr. Spaf- 

 ford showed me some of the cells which had 

 been gnawed into. Upon inquiry I found 

 he had not puslied the apex of the cells into 

 the apex of the wire cone, and the bees had, 

 in consequence, crawled into the mouth of 

 the protector, and so gained access to the 

 sides of the cell. I then told Mr. S., here- 

 after to push the apex of the cell down in 

 such a way as to close the mouth of the 

 queen-cell protector. lie then obtained 

 somewhat better results. But even then 

 cells would be found with the capping torn 

 off, with the young queen within not fully 

 mature. 



I feel pretty sure that Mr. Doolittle ob- 

 tains better results tlian we have so far. It 

 is possible that the manner in which we con- 

 struct the protectors makes a difference. 

 We sent a sample to Mr. Doolittle when we 

 first made them, and he pronounced them 

 all right. Perhaps there is some trouble 

 from the way in which we manipulate the 

 cells in the hive. At any rate, we should be 

 glad to be shown where the trouble lies. 



CONSIGNMENT OF IMPORTED QUEENS; 



TW^ENTY-FIVE QUEENS RECEIVED, 



AND NOT ONE DEAD. 



Shortly after our last issue was out, we 

 received a consignment of 25 imported 

 queens from Italy, l^pon opening the box- 

 es we found that every queen was alive and 

 hearty. Not only that, but the queens were 

 unusually nice ones. I do not remember to 

 have seen as nice a lot. One was sent off as 

 soon as it arrived, and the remaining 24 

 were introduced successfully, as usual, in the 



PEET CAGE. 



If there is such a thing as " absolute and 

 unvarying success'- in bee culture, the Peet 

 cage, in our own apiary, has come as near 

 reaching this high standard as any thing we 

 have ever tried. When we found that 



