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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUilJa. 



AtJtJ. 



grood, no matter what variety the bees are. After 

 this first one, others often come with no prepara- 

 tion for swarming, as Prof. Cook tells of, as I con- 

 ceded in my former article. Then again, friend 

 Cook, Doolittle made no "assertion" regarding 

 even the fli-st swarm of the season. I said I had 

 never known them to do otherwise, but did not say 

 blit they might. Candidly, friend C, did you ever 

 know the very first swarm that issued in an apiary 

 to do so before the queen-cells were sealed? 



QUEEN-CELL PROTECTOliS. 



1 wish to say a few words more regarding queen- 

 ei>ll protectors. Since writing last about them I 

 sent for ten of friend Root's make, and I find them 

 too flaring, or too large at the big end. The taper 

 wants to be so slim that the protector strikes the 

 sides of the cell before the point comes to the apex 

 of the protector, keeping it back from ^a to ^4 of 

 an inch, while these last allow the point to stick 

 through about that far, so the bees can tear the end 

 off if they wish. When just right it is impossible 

 for the bees to bite into the cell — at least, so it 

 seems to me. 



Now a word about using them. Instead of fold- 

 ing the ends of the wire Oloth over the cell, as 

 friend Root directs, put a wooden plug or a piece of 

 corncob in after the cell, and fold the wire cloth 

 over that, or, better still, clip off what of the wire 

 runs above this stopper. In using, lift a comb from 

 the hive; and in a place near the brood, mash with 

 the finger a few cells down to the base of the comb; 

 and in this indentation in the comb place the base 

 of the protector, pressing it in by bearing against 

 the side of the protector and stopper. This imbeds 

 it in the comb so it will stay; and when it is lowered 

 Into the hive the combs come together as if nothing 

 were there, after which it is impossible for it to fall 

 out. This does not injure the combs any; for as 

 soon as the protector Is taken out, the bees raise 

 the cells again. To avoid chilling the cells in cool 

 weather, take to a warm room to fix In the protect- 

 ors; and when ready to go to the hives, put the pro- 

 tectors around next to the body, in front, under 

 the waistbands to the pants, the same as cartridges 

 would be slipped in a belt. This keeps them in an 

 upright position, snug and warm, and allows of 

 stooping to open hives, etc. Embryo queens are 

 easily chilled, and I mistrust this may account tor 

 some of the failures. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., July 18, 1887. 



Many thanks to you, friend D., for the re- 

 sult of your experiments in keeping chilled 

 bees. I am astonished to Iviiow tliat you 

 succeeded in keeping them as much as four 

 days and a half; but I was prepared, after 

 all, to hear that the period might be longer 

 than we had formerly put it, for I liave 

 made a few bees come to life at different 

 times, when it seemed to me as if they had 

 been out of stores a good deal longer than 

 24 or 48 hours. Now, who will help us test 

 this matter by chilling some bees when they 

 are full of lioney ? Take some from a hive 

 right in tlie height of the clover or basswood 

 How, for instance, and chill them in an ice- 

 house, just so they won't move, and keep 

 them there. Thanks, also, for the sugges- 

 tion in regard to the queen-cell protector. 

 This illustrates once more how small a mat- 

 ter will make all the difference between suc- 

 cess and failure. 



CELLAR VS. OUTDOOR AVINTERING. 



SOME EXCELLENT IDEAS PKOM FRIEND HUTCHIN- 

 SON IN KEG.VUD TO THE MATTEH. 



TT is a pleasure indeed to discuss apicultural 

 |l[ problems with such a man as O. O. Poppleton— 

 ^L one who can lay aside prejudices, and calmly 

 "*■ and fairly try to find truth. I am glad to note 

 with what unanimitj' most of the bee-journals 

 and their Contributors are dropping personalities^ 

 discussing principles instead of men. 



It is true, that these matters under discussion be- 

 tween friend Poppleton and myself arc foreign to 

 the main topic of my little book; but they are im- 

 portant and seasonable. 



In regard to caring for bees in the cellai", thei-e 

 may be a grain of truth in what Mr. Poppleton says. 

 If a man wishes to leave his bees uncared for all 

 winter, and go off to the land of flowers, it may be 

 better to protect them thoroughly upon their sum- 

 mer stands. Most of our bee-keepers, however, 

 stay at home winters, and to them this question of 

 supervision is not a weighty one. Take my own 

 ease, for instance. My bees were kept in a cellar 

 under the sitting-room, hence there was no expense 

 for a fire on account of the bees, or else there was 

 no expense for a fire to keep ourselves warm. I pre- 

 sume the majority of beekeepers are situated in 

 exactly this manner. And now about the supervi- 

 sion in regard to temperature. We ripped apart, for 

 a short distance, two breadths of the carpet, bored 

 a bole in the floor, and suspended a thermometer by 

 means of a string attached to a cork that just filled 

 the hole in the floor. A rug was kept over the slit 

 in the carpet. Our little girls kept watch of the 

 temperature. It seemed to afford them considera- 

 ble pleasure to have each one guess what the " tem- 

 puchary " (as the youngest one called it) was, and 

 then look and see who had guessed the nearest. 

 The "tempuchary" varied from 40 to fs-; most of 

 the time it was 45°. When we had extremely cold 

 weather, accompanied by high winds, the mercury 

 would sink to 4((°. Upon several occasions I kept a 

 lamp-stove burning all night in the hatchway, and 

 burned, jterhaps, between one and two gallons of 

 oil. Had there been a double door to the hatchway 

 I do not think this burning of lamps would have 

 been necessary. The mercury reached 48' during 

 warm days upon the approach of spring. Nearly 

 all cellars need a drain, and it is just about as easy 

 to make the drain so that it can be used for a sub- 

 earth ventilator as not. My own cellar drain is so 

 arranged; but I have not allowed the air to pass in 

 tlirough the drain for the last two winters. Do you 

 ask why? Well, I had my doubts as to its benefits; 

 and, besides this, it lowered the temperature. Had 

 the pipe been longer it might not have done so; it 

 is only about 70 feet. I had 20 colonies buried in a 

 clamp last winter. They were put in about the 

 middle of November. A wooden tube, 3 in. square 

 and about 8 feet long, extended from near the bot- 

 tom of the clamp up through the covering of earth, 

 and projected 4 or .5 Itct above the surface. At the 

 bottom of this tube was kept a thermometer, whence 

 it could easily be drawn by means of a string. When 

 the bees were first put up, the temperature in the 

 clamp was 47. It gi-adually sank, and in a week 

 had reached 4,")°. Here it remained until steady 

 cold weather came on, when it again gradually fell 

 until it reached 43°, where it remained unchanged 

 for nearly four months. When the warm days of 



