650 



gleani:ngs ln bee cultuke. 



Sept. 



as well as in outdoor work, and 1 would not 

 give up the privilege of spending half of my 

 time out in the open ;iir, for any salary that 

 could be offered. It is not only the open 

 air with me, but it is the opportunity of 

 meeting face to face C-Jod's work, and of en- 

 Joying direct his great and wondrous gifts ; 

 and 1 would not stay in a store, from day- 

 light till dark, as I have done year after year 

 in times past, losing the relish for food, as I 

 used to lose it — losing also the keen zest and 

 pleasure that even existence gives — for any 

 salary that could be mentioned. In fact, I 

 hope that the larger the salary that might be 

 offered, the less I should want it. 



A VISIT "WITH GILHOOLY. 



OVERCOATS FOK HEES, ETC. 



T WAS just di-iving- past neighbor Gilhooly's apia- 

 j^[ ry, consoling myself with the thought that I 

 ^r was not the only one in the bee-business who 

 ■^ had " got left " this year, when out came neigh- 

 bor Gilhooly himself, in hat and veil, smoker 

 in hand, and a kind of body-guard of cross bees 

 hanging around him. 



" Hold on, neighbor Fowls, I want to talk bees 

 with you." 



'• Whoa! Well, 1 have no objections'if your escort 

 there don't talk back. But what makes you work 

 so early in the morning, when those fellows are so 

 troublesome?" 



"Oh! on account of robbers. I'd rather take a 

 tew extra stings now, than to be bothered with so 

 many pesky robbers later in the day." 



" But you have a tentV" 



" Yes, but it's getting full of holes; and besides, a 

 gust of wind would, likely enough, tip it up just at 

 the worst time." 



" I see you arc working on that row of new 

 swarms— taking off honey, I reckon?" 



" Now, neighbor Fowls, that's downright cruel of 

 you to talk like that; but I suppose I'll have to for- 

 give you, as you're in the same boat. Well, I did 

 take off some unfinished sections there, but 1 am 

 hunting out the poorest queens, to remove them." 



" Going to give them new queens, I suppose'/" 



" No, I'm just going to double them up. You see, 

 they're light, both in stores and bees; and as I've 

 always lost more of the new swarms, I thought I'd 

 make big swarms of them and see if I can't winter 

 new swarms as well as you do." 



" Very good, but your old swarms still have the 

 advantage in one respect, and the most important 

 one too, neighbor Gilhooly." 



" What's that— in having a young queen?" 



" Yes, that is an advantage if she is a better lay- 

 er; but that wasn't what I was driving at. Your 

 new swarms have new combs, haven't they?" 



" Yes, built on foundation." 



" Well, those new combs are colder than the old 

 black combs your old swarms have." 



" Do you reallj' think there is so much differ- 

 ence?" 



"To be sure, 1 do. See hero neighbor Gilhooly, 

 what was your object in sending that poor neigh- 

 bor that parcel of bedding last winter?" 



" Why, to keep him from freezing. You know 

 his old house lets in the cold; but what's this to do 

 with the been?" 



"Just this: A l)ee-hive lets In the cold too; and to 

 keep them warm you must give them warmer bed- 

 ding. You must exchange your new combs for old 

 lilack ones." 



" How do you save the brood in the new combs, 

 and keep the queen from laying in them?" 



" Why, that's very simple— by using the queen-ex- 

 cluding honey-boards. Take an extra hive, with 

 your old combs in it, contracted just as you want it 

 for winter, put it on the stand, shake the bees and 

 queen in front, then put your combs of brood in 

 the top .story, with queen-excluder between, and 

 leave them three weeks." 



" But 1 can't see that the bees will have their bed- 

 ding, as you call it, around them— only a few will be 

 crowded in the cells; the rest will be clustered be- 

 tween the combs." 



" Where they have eaten out the honey there will 

 be at least half of them encased in a warm over- 

 coat." 



" How do you make that out?" 



" Why, calling the cells half an inch deep, that 

 would make an inch of empty cells; allowing one- 

 fourth for the aforesaid overcoat, that would be 

 equal to three-fourths of an inch, and you wouldn't 

 have more room than that between the combs." 



" Well, your warm overcoats won't help those 

 fellows between the combs much— they'll be in 

 their shirt-sleeves." 



" True; but they will keep warm with the warmth 

 of their fellows. Just imagine a crowd of thousands 

 of men, half in overcoats and half in shirt-sleeves, 

 crowded together hundreds deep in all directions, 

 all pressing toward the center." 



"Yes, just to get a sight of Her Majesty, the 

 queen." 



" Correct; like the English, you know, when ev- 

 ery Englishman wanted to see the Queen at her ju- 

 bilee.glWel], I must go on. Get up, Jenny!" 



Oberlin, Ohio, Aug. 23, 1887. Chalon Fowls. 



Thanks, friend F. We have enjoyed the 

 account of your visit with Mr. Gilhooly. In 

 regard to old combs versus newly built 

 combs for winter, we have this to say : Last 

 winter we wintered 40 colonies on combs 

 which had just been drawn ottt on founda- 

 tion. By far the larger part of these combs 

 had never liad any brood in them, and yet 

 every one of the 40 colonies wintered per- 

 fectly. I know it is generally considered 

 that old tough combs are preferable ; but 

 are we perfectly sure of it? It is true, the 

 old combs are filled with cocoons, and 

 theoretically they would make the combs 

 warmer for the bees. Although you do not 

 say so, yet I suppose that these cocoons are 

 in reality what you call ''overcoats;" but do 

 these little overcoats make a very percepti- 

 ble difference in the way in which bees pass 

 the winter? We .should be glad to hear 

 from others. 



I think I shall have to correct Ernest a 

 little, in his remarks above. Years ago, 

 when we were more intent on increase than 

 on getting honey, or even rearing queens for 

 sale, we used to have much more trouble in 

 getting colonies through the spring, where 

 they had newly built combs, than with old 

 tough black combs ; and I believe it is gen- 

 erally conceded that the old black combs are 

 far the best t\)r the brood-nest for winter. 



