144 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



Heads of Grain 



From Different Fields 



NEARLY HALF OF AN APIARY OF SIXTY COLO- 

 NIES DEAD; WHAT WAS THE CAUSE.? 



About the 15th of October we prepared our six- 

 ty hives of bees in the usual way. Each hive con- 

 tained about six frames of stores, and the colonies 

 seemed to be of the usual strength. Some of the 

 hives were of the dovetailed pattern, and some 

 Wisconsin, all of them being single- walled. A 

 few of the colonies had two hive-bodies, one on 

 top of another, and a very few had one or two 

 supers of sections containing a little honey for 

 the bees to clean out. Some of the hives faced 

 east and some south, and all were set up from the 

 ground on stakes or hive-stands. 



On top of the frames we put a few crooked 

 sticks in order to make a space for the bees to 

 cross over above the top-bars; and over these we 

 put boxes having burlap bottoms, containing lYz 

 to 4 inches of chaff. 



The summer of 1908 was very dry; but we 

 averaged one case of honey to the colony, besides 

 a lot of partly filled sections for the house. Dur- 

 ing the last of November we had a little snow; 

 but during the first of December hard weather 

 came, and from then until Jan. 5 the bees had 

 hardly a flight. Some of the days were rather 

 nice, but still not quite warm enough for the bees 

 to fly. Oh the 5th of January I looked at the 

 colonies and was surprised to find nearly half of 

 them dead. I had one double-walled chaff-pack- 

 ed box hive; but the result in this seemed to be 

 no diflterent, and I was unable to find that the 

 method of packing, whether two stories were pro- 

 vided, etc., aflfected in any way the results. The 

 size of the entrance also seemed to have made no 

 difference. One colony had been robbed; but 

 all the rest of the hives were heavy with stores. 

 A number of the colonies seemed to have had 

 dysentery. The frames were somewhat damp 

 and mildewed, and the honey almost all candied. 

 Bees in the clusters were dead, and there were 

 also many dead bees on the floors of the hives. 



We have wintered bees in this way for a num- 

 ber of years, and we should like to know where 

 we made our mistake this time. Last winter we 

 had about 55 colonies, and we had no loss. 



If we should have another long spell when the 

 bees can not fly, would it be better if we put the 

 hives in a shed, barn, or vegetable-cellar to save 

 the bees.? What can we do with the frames of 

 candied honey.? There are enough dead colo- 

 nies so that we could give every one that is left a 

 second story of full combs if necessary. 



We had an unusually small number of swarms 

 last season, there being in all probably not over 

 five or six. The honey did not candy any worse 

 this year than it has done in other years. I re- 

 member at least one fall when there was candied 

 honey in the middle frames even before cold 

 weather came. Wm. Lansdown. 



Fort Lupton, Colo. 



[We have heard other reports from Colorado, 

 showing a rather heavier loss in bees in wintering 

 than usual. Mr. Frank Rauchfuss, of Denver, 

 believes that the fumes from the big smelters are 



responsible for this loss in some cases; but in the 

 the case of the few colonies it would be our opin- 

 ion that our correspondent has too much useless 

 room over his brood-nests. If he had taken off the 

 upper stories, placed a non-porous cover over the 

 frames that the bees could seal down, and then 

 over this put some warm packing which is kept 

 dry, he will have much better results. When we 

 were in Colorado one winter we observed that the 

 bees generally were confined to a single story 

 with a telescoping cover having burlap or carpet- 

 ing under it. 



As to the colonies not given too much room," 

 the cause of bad wintering might be the stores. 

 Possibly this was the case for all the colonies. 



We would not advise moving the bees, putting 

 them in a shed at this time of the year. — Ed.] 



"polygonum incarnatum" (knot-weed). 



I have been reading with considerable interest, 

 p. 1313, Nov. 1, about the Manley method of ex- 

 tracting wax from the combs out of hives in which 

 colonies had died in the winter because of the 

 aster honey. I am sure that rendering wax from 

 old combs is a long way short of taking off hon- 

 ey. 



Our place is close to the Licking Reservoir, a 

 body of water covering some 7000 acres, built 

 years ago to feed the canal. For miles all around 

 it there grows a weed. Polygonum incarnatum, or 

 knot-weed, which blooms in September, and 

 yields an abundance of fine wholesome honey. 

 The flowers are large spikes of pink blossoms 

 that present a beautiful sight when in full bloom. 

 It grows mostly in low places like old ponds, and 

 in cornfields where the corn is drowned out. It 

 flourishes most in a wet season. I have had ex- 

 perience with it for three years. The first two 

 were wet, and it grew profusely. Last season, 

 on account of the drouth there was not so much 

 of it; but what there was, yielded honey. All 

 the unfinished sections that I left on from June 

 were filled, and extracting was the order until 

 frost came, when I took the covers off to put on 

 cushions for winter. The hives looked as if they 

 were tenantless. The bees were clustered down 

 close to the bottom-bars. All the combs were 

 full. Bees here are all in fine shape up to date, 

 and were flying yesterday. I am looking for- 

 ward to a prosperous season, and am preparing 

 accordingly. Frank McGlade. 



Hebron, O., Jan. 5. 



A BEE bungalow. 



The engraving on the front cover of this issue 

 represents the apiary of Henry W. Britton, of 

 Stoughton, Mass., which consists of a bee-bun 

 galow 14 X 20 ft. , and a shel ter for the bees 8 X 25 

 ft. The walls and roof of the bungalow are 

 shingled, and left unstained. There are ample 

 windows and doors in the building to admit 

 plenty of light, for here Mr. Britton, in his spare 

 moments, works on his bee-hives, putting them 

 together, etc. At the west end is a chimney 7 

 ft. wide, brick-lined, made of stones. A large 

 fireplace of brick, with a Murdock damper and 

 crane, with extensions, heats the bungalow; but 



