GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



January, 1919 



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^^TT is Dec. 12, 



J_ a n d we 

 have had 

 six inches of 

 rain and spring 

 is here. Out- 

 doors is a carpet 

 of green and 

 bees are work- 

 ing on blue gum 



(eucalyptus) and some other plants."— J. 

 G. Harman, San Diego County, Calif. 



"How is this for a story! My next-door 

 neighbor, a man of veracity and keen dis- 

 cernment, informed me that his great Ehode 

 Island Eed rooster, a proud handsome bird 

 of two summers, had swallowed one of my 

 honeybees and had gone crazy. For three 

 long days my neighbor could distinctly hear 

 the bee buzzing in the crop of the noble 

 bird. At last he could stand it no longer; 

 so, on a Sunday morning when the family 

 was away at church, this good neighbor 

 decided to end the misery of the rooster and 

 also to liberate the unfortunate prisoner. 

 First, this gallant but now crazy bird was 

 made unconscious by decapitation; then his 

 crop was cut open, but before the operator 

 had time to decide what should be done to 

 the inmate, the honeybee, overjoyed by its 

 freedom, made a bee line for the hive. This 

 is surely a new, tough specimen of a honey- 

 bee. Think of it! Three days in the crop 

 of a rooster without losing consciousness, 

 and when liberated returning at once to its 

 old job of making the world a little sweeter! 

 If this stunt is repeated I shall call this 

 strain my Jonah bees."— H. W. Watjen, 

 Bristol County, E. I. (Watjen is a preacher, 

 too. — Mng. Editor.) 



"Last year we sold honey to grocers in 

 pint Mason jars. This year on account of 

 the increase in the cost of jars and higher 

 price of honey we desired a container hold- 

 ing less than one and one-half pounds and 

 cheaper than the glass jars. In the water- 

 proof fiber cartons we found a container that 

 has proved perfectly satisfactory. At first, 

 the grocers did not know whether the honey 

 would sell as readily as in glass jars and 

 ordered only a small quantity. Filled with 

 white-clover honey the demand has been 

 very good, and not one complaint hasi been 

 made. The grocers like these, for they do 

 not leak and will not break. They do not 

 have to be washed before filling and so re- 

 quire less work than the glass jars. * * * 

 Forty-three of my hives were packed for 

 wintering and fence posts, with wire stretch- 

 ed, seit on all four sides and fodder leaned 

 against the wire to make a wind-break. "^ — ■ 

 D. F. Eankin, Jackson County, Ind. 



"I started in winter quarters last season 

 with 40 ten-frame hives, and lost only one. 

 The temperature was below zero for weeks 

 at a time. I used no packing whatever. I 

 think my success was due largely to leaving 

 the bottom-boards with the large entrance 

 open the full width of the hive so that mois- 



BEES, MEN AND THINGS 



(You may find it here) 



3 



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ture c u 1 d es- 

 cape. I had 

 boards 10 inches 

 wide and a little 

 longer than the 

 width of hive 

 laid against the 

 hive over the en- 

 trance so that 

 no wind could 

 blow in. I have some hives with metal 

 covers and some with exselsior covers and 

 did not use any supers above filled with 

 leaves. I think if the entrance is reduced 

 the supers filled with some absorbent above 

 are necessary to take care of the moisture- 

 Why should I change when I am very suc- 

 cessful ill wintering as above described?" 

 — Earl B. Waggoner, Madison County, Ills. 



"The Chinese consider 6 to 10 pounds of 

 surplus honey a good catch. They are very 

 careless about their bees and let them come 

 and go according to the 'good luck' of the 

 family. You find them in dirty old tubs, un- 

 der the eaves of the houses, hanging over a 

 pigsty, in a hole in the mud wall — here, 

 there, and everywhere. The last colony I 

 purchased cost me 30 cents in gold. I took 

 it out of the kitchen cupboard; bees on one 

 side of the shelf and the basins, etc., on the 

 other side. Next day I was taken to see an- 

 other colony. I found it in an old box under 

 the bed, but the people were unwilling to sell 

 thinking that to disturb the bees would in- 

 terfere with the 'luck' of the place. The 

 bees had been under the family bed for 

 seven years, and the neighbors came round 

 to protest when I thought of removing them. 

 It is not at all unusual to find two queens 

 in one tub. They seem to work on merrily 

 together. Chinese bees are usually quiet 

 and easily managed. I lift them about in 

 handfuls and rarely need to use smoke." — 

 Edward J. Blandford, North-West Kiangsi 

 Mission, Wucheng Ki, China. 



' ' On the evening of Nov. 19 I put my 22 

 stands of bees in the cellar, very heavy with 

 stores of about 100 pounds each. The un- 

 usual weight unfortunately toppled over their 

 base and all fell forward on their fronts 

 with tops and bottoms off, and the cellar 

 was so full of bees that the electric light 

 and kerosene lamp could hardly be distin- 

 guished. With the help of a neighbor I had 

 them all back by 1 o 'clock in the morning. 

 We walked in bees and mashed them, put- 

 ting back the covers and bottom-boards, and 

 I swept up about two quarts of dead bees. 

 How they ever got back and were satisfied 

 I am unable to tell, but two days later the 

 cellar was as quiet as tho nothing had hap- 

 pened; and hardly a hum is now percepti- 

 iDle in the cellar, with the temperature rang- 

 ing from 47 to 53 degrees." — Hamlin B. 

 Miller, Marshall County, Iowa. 



' ' My rather carefully kept record ghows 

 this to have been the poorest year for bees 

 since 1884 — 82 per cent winter loss — actual, 

 not estimated. With 20 scattered apiaries 



