no 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



?1L£ Ul i,£CTlU.Ni DAMAGED BY THE N ESTb OF A CERTAIN KIND UE W AiP. 

 These insects construct cellular nests on the comb foundation. 



The greatest number of colonies we ever had 

 at any one time was 93; the fewest, 18. During 

 the sixteen years we have received for honey sold, 

 .$3496.99. During this time our expense for the 

 apiary has been $576.66. Upon the whole I 

 tiiinlc that is not so bad for two women, pretty 

 well along in years, to do. During the last few 

 years we have had our brother to help us with the 

 heaviest of the woric, such as taking off honey 

 (we have always worked for comb honey), fixing 

 up the bees for the winter, etc. 



This present year the fore part of the season 

 was so wet and cold the bees could not work. 

 When it did become dry and warm they tried to 

 make up for lost time. We got about 3000 sec- 

 tions of honey and about 600 more this fall. We 

 had 60 colonies, spring count, and we now have 

 72 good strong ones in winter quarters. 



Curran, Illinois. 



COMB HONEY DAMAGED BY WASPS. 



BY E. F. ATWATER. 



The accompanying illustration shows how 

 some of our honey is damaged by the nests of a 

 kind of wasp. These insects will hunt over piles 

 of supers stacked up in shops at the yards; and if 

 they find somewhere a small opening they enter 

 and construct cellular nests of mud, almost al- 

 ways selecting the sheet of foundation upon which 

 to begin work. If the supers are not carefully 

 inspected when put on the hives, we have results 

 as shown. However, with a little care probably 

 only 50 to 100 sections will be damaged in this 

 vvay, out of a crop of 15,000 to 20,000 sections. 



So, certainly this wasp is not a very serious enemy 

 of the comb-honey producer. 

 Meridian, Ida., Dec. 16. 



[This is indeed an interesting exhibit. Prob- 

 ably not many of our subscribers are troubled 

 with any thing of this kind. — Ed.] 



OUTDOOR WINTERING. 



Is it Practical to Close the Outside En- 

 trance to the Hive.^ 



BY E. N. WOODWARD. 



As a learner in the field of bee culture I have 

 been questioning the truth of the oft-repeated 

 statement that bees, when packed or wintered in 

 outdoor cases, will consume more honey than 

 when placed in the cellar or in bee-repositories. 

 My contention is that they will not, if the out- 

 door cases are properly constructed and the bees 

 packed in the right condition. 



To determine this question to my own satisfac- 

 tion I am experimenting with a method which I 

 put into operation a year ago, and which I am 

 trying again this present winter. One of the im- 

 portant features of this method is, that the out- 

 side entrance to the hive is closed entirely. 



In this latitude (Southern Michigan) and all 

 through the zero belt, it is useless to try to win- 

 ter bees without ample protection. For this rea- 

 son I construct my winter boxes large enough for 

 about three inches of packing all around, with 

 six inches on top. I also use old newspapers 

 quite freely. 



