GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



know that iny birchbark eauoe was di'ifting 

 , clown the sti'eani instead of up. 



The summer of 1911 here was poor, as it 

 was in so many other localities. In Sep- 

 tembei' the bees almost starved, and no hon- 

 ey, although I had two supers on one hive 

 all summer. I fed enough sugar to last 

 them over winter. When winter began I 

 had tine colonies; and Avhen spring came I 

 had none. 



Not dismayed, however, I purchased an- 

 other, and, profiting by my experience of 

 the past, 1 was able to increase from one 

 colony to six by buying some queens and a 

 nucleus. 1 now have six, and secured about 

 40 lbs. of honey. This amount has cost me 

 no small outlay of money, and a greater 

 amount of time, and a few stings; but the 

 experience that I have gained, and the 

 pleasure I have had in working with them 

 have amply repaid any deficit on that score. 

 I shall try again. 



Henrietta, Pa. 



SOME EXPERIENCES IN LEARNING TO KEEP 

 BEES 



Reading Necessary as well as Practice ; Clipping a 

 Leg as well as a Wing 



BY W. M. SHIELDS 



My first experience with bees was with 

 a colony of blacks which some one had ad- 

 A'ised me to winter in a hole in the ground. 

 The hole Avas lined with boards in order to 

 avoid dampness. The hive was put in and 

 covered over with boards and earth, all 

 being done according to directions given 

 by my neighbor. When opened in the 

 spring the hive was floating in water, and 

 the bees Avere dead. 



The same neighbor, by Avay of encourage- 

 ment, offered me another colony at half 

 price. I bought it, wintered it in the same 

 hole, first taking care to put in a drain. 

 This hive, when taken out in the spring, 

 Avas covered Avith Avhile mold, but it con- 

 tained liA'e bees. 



For some years, through lack of know- 

 ledge of bees and their ways I never got 

 beyond three or four colonies. I read much 

 about bees in various papers, but the arti- 

 cles happened to be Avritten for those who 

 already kneAv something about them, and 

 generally left me in a rather muddled men- 

 tal state. Later I bought the A B C of 

 Bee Culture, Langstroth on the Honeybee, 

 and subscribed to Gleanings. Tt Avas after 

 looking into these books that my interest 

 in bees took a start. Tlien a two Aveeks' 

 course in apiculture at Guelph kindled my 

 interest into a flame. 



My original colony Avas in a home-made 

 unpainted box Avith fixed frames. I had, 

 however, gTadually changed to the eight- 

 frame Langstroth hive, and last spring I 

 changed to the ten-frame Langstroth. With 

 these standard hives I purpose to stay. 



I read and reread bee literature during 

 the winter; and Avhen sirring came I very 

 naturally felt that I kneAv all about bees. I 

 kneAv just what I should do and Avhat I 

 Avantecl to do. My three colonies had been 

 Avintered in the house cellar, each one in 

 a box by itself. When taking them out in 

 the spring, one hive slipped and slid about 

 on its bottom-board, and the bees came out 

 in thousands. That was the first event. 



Then I discovered that one colony sti'ong 

 in bees had no honey. What should I do? 

 My reading came to hel}) me in a jumble 

 of " avoid spring feeding," " Boarclman 

 feeds freely in the spring," " better not to 

 have to feed at all." I had to feed — no 

 doubt about that ; but how much or how 

 little I could not remember, so I had to go 

 back to my ABC book. 



I kneAv, or at least I thought I did, all 

 about clipping queens' wings, and knew 

 hoAv to find a black queen; for hadn't I 

 read Doolittle on the subject until I could 

 say every Avord? The colonies had been 

 out of the cellar a day or Iavo Avhen a grow- 

 ing anxiety about these wings led me to 

 try things a la Doolittle. My AAdfe thought 

 she Avould like to help me. The day was 

 cold and Avindy, so Ave took a folding screen 

 from the liouse to shelter the hive and our- 

 selves, and then began the hunt. We had 

 transferred the frames, and hunted the hive 

 several times, when my Avife ventured the 

 remark that perhaps Mr. Doolittle was 

 joking (I had been quoting parts of his 

 article to her). It Avas no joke, I thought. 

 At last my wife said, " Look ! I believe 

 that is the queen." In the excitement of 

 trying to see a queen for the first time, our 

 heads bumped. Our straw hats Avere knock- 

 ed awry, and we lost sight of her. After a 

 Avhile she Avas found, and Ave clipped her 

 Avings. It will be well, perhaps, not to 

 dAvell on the furious bees Ave had that day, 

 and', in spite of veil and gauntlets, on the 

 stings Ave both got. I knoAv noAv, of course, 

 that, although it is a A^ery good practice to 

 clip the queen's wings, we had no business 

 poking about a hive on such a cold day nor 

 so early in the season on such an errand; 

 but when a fellow is sure he knows all 

 about it he is apt to overlook some details 

 and forget to put two and two together. 



Then a bulletin on foul brood, and the 

 need for Italianizing, came to hand. I had 

 read about foul brood; but Italianizing 



