898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



six such triangles in the hexagon, and 6 times 

 .0057735 is. 034641, the contents of a worker-cell repre- 

 sented in the decimal of a square inch. This is con- 

 tained in one inch 28.8676 times, a trifling shade 

 more than 281:?. 



Counting 25 cells to the square inch gives us 3600 

 to the square foot, against 41.57 bj- the true measure- 

 ment, a difference of 557 in a square foot. Will it 

 not be better, ordinarily, to say 29 worker-cells to 

 the square inch? C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



Friend M., I am glad to see you have had 

 proof that the quality of the honey is some- 

 times, if not always, greatly improved by 

 being ripened in the hive ; that you have 

 also learned that this thoroughly ripened 

 honey will sometimes, if not always, remain 

 clear, without candying. I have, like your- 

 self, seen honey, so poor as to be pronounced 

 almost unfit for use, become beautiful honey 

 in the course of time, by being simply 

 ripened in the hive thoroughly. — Regarding 

 tlie number of cells to the sguare inch, I 

 have long been aware of the point you make ; 

 but if you measure several square inches of 

 ordinary comb as you find it — that is, comb 

 manufactured by the bees— you will find it 

 runs less than 25 cells to the square inch 

 oftener than it does more. This matter was 

 discussed a good deal years ago. Since 

 most of the combs in our hive are now, how- 

 ever, made of cells built on foundation, the 

 case will probably be different. You are 

 basing yotu- conclusions on the statement 

 that five worker-cells side by side measure 

 just an inch across. This is not true how- 

 ever, if I am correct, with little if any of the 

 foundation we have in the market. Years 

 ago we settled down on a size of the work- 

 er-cells, so that 24 equal 5 inches ; and I be- 

 lieve that most manufacturers of founda- 

 tion-rolls have followed us in the matter. 



SUGGESTIONS FROM READING T"WO 

 BACK VOLUMES OF GLEANINGS. 



WINTERING, WOODEN BUTTER-DISHES, VENTILA- 

 TION, ETC. 



fRIEND ROOT:— Having been bed-fast for three 

 weeks, floored by rheumatism, and having 

 read every thing else available, I got out two 

 years of Gleanings, and have been going 

 through them. They were very interesting 

 to while away the time. I am much amused to see 

 what a mutual-admiration society you old bee- 

 keepers have formed yourselves into. I think if 

 bees could live on taffy you fellows need lose none, 

 even if the drought did ci^t the honey crop short. 

 But with all the chaff you talk about, there is a 

 good deal of grain. 



1 have become much interested in the discussion 

 of wintering; and, every thing considered, I think 

 Doolittle is as near the mark— in fact, more so— 

 than any of the old heads. Chaff wintering in this 

 country is about on a par with underhouse cellars 

 — neither will do to tie to. Outdoor cellars do 

 for us. Make them, say, six feet deep, and put all 

 the earth you take out on top for a roof; sod over 

 with blue grass; leave a hole about six inches up 

 through the top for ventilating. Make two doors, 

 an outside and an inside. With this kind of a re- 



pository you will find that you have an even tem- 

 perature at about 40°. 



As to hives, if you find one that will beat Oliver 

 Foster's Simplicity for comb or extracted honey, 

 you will have to search many long years, in my 

 humble opinion. 



WOODEN BtJTTBR-DISHES. 



I have always wanted a bee-feeder, but could not 

 flnd any that suited me till in Gleanings I read 

 about the wooden butter-dish; then I knew, with- 

 out thinking, that I had found what I wanted, and 

 tried them with the utmost satisfaction. 



I was much interested in your discussion of the 

 ventilation of our houses, and the impurities of our 

 water-supplies. Like yourself, 1 drink water 

 caught from the clouds, when I can get it, though I 

 have a drilled well, and get water from the rock a 

 hundred feet from the surface. My sleeping-room 

 and sitting-room are heated by an old-style fire- 

 place in which I burn wood. I am fifty years old» 

 and this is the first time I was ever sick, and I 

 think this was caused by overwork. 



The drought cut our honey crop short. My bees, 

 however, have plenty to winter on, save three late 

 swarms, but no surplus. I have an idea that bees 

 will be as scarce in the spring as good honey is 

 now. Ed. Parker. 



Union, Iowa, Nov. 11, 1887. 



FIXING THE BEES FOR "WINTER. 



MRS. CHADDOCK'S PRACTICE AND PHILOSOPHY 

 IN REGARD TO IT. 



HEN I went to fix up my bees for winter I 

 found four colonies that had plenty of 

 stores, one that had perhaps enough, and 

 one that had perhaps enough — . That 

 minus mark means that they have perhaps 

 enough, but that is very doubtful, while the " per- 

 haps enough," without the "— ," means that likely 

 enough they have plenty. Ten others that I knew 

 had not stores enough, I united. I did this by set- 

 ting one Simplicity hive on top of another, leaving 

 the piece of muslin between them for six hours. 

 Then I put one hive on one side of the old stand, 

 and the other on the other. I took a frame from 

 first one hive and then from the other. If the frames 

 as I came to them contained plenty of honey, 1 put 

 them in; if not, I shook the bees off into the new 

 hive, and set the frame to one side. When I had 

 10 of the fullest frames in I put on the muslin and 

 an empty hive-body to shade them, and left them 

 to subside. The light frames I put away to give 

 them, if I find they need more honey. The other 

 six I will winter in the cellar. They have probably 

 20 lbs. or so, and I have some unfinished sections 

 that were left from last year. that I shall give them 

 if they need more in the spring. These unfinished 

 sections wei-e on the hives all summer; and. when I 

 took them off they were just about as full as when 

 I put them on. The outside ones were empty, so 

 that, when looking in through the glass, they look- 

 ed to be all empty, but some of them are half full. 



Now, this honey that my bees are to winter on is 

 black and thick— very thick. I think there is not 

 much grape-juice among it, because it is so thick; 

 but I know that the bees worked for two weeks, 

 just before frost, on plant-lice honey. The ever- 

 greens, cabbages, grass, and weeds, were covered 

 with them; the limbs and bodies of the evergreens, 



