GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



agine that beekeeping is attended by terri- 

 ble obstacles, we may say that probably the 

 majority starting with bees, if they make 

 something of a study of one or more text- 

 books on the subject, the chance for costly 

 mistakes is reduced to a minimum. As we 

 have pointed out on another page, if this 

 were not true there would be few begin- 

 ners who would not become disgusted and 

 go out of the business at once. 



Quite a number of our friends responded 

 too late to our call for material to be used 

 in this beginners' number. It is now be- 

 coming necessary for us to have in our 

 hands the manuscript to be used, at least 

 three weeks before date of publication, for 

 our plans have to be laid considerably in 

 advance. 



WINTERING DOUBLE-WALLED HIVES IN THE 

 CELLAR. 



We are ti-ying the experiment of putting 

 some of our colonies, even though in dou- 

 ble-walled hives, in the cellar during the 

 coldest part of the winter. Two days ago 

 we put in 100 colonies, taking those from our 

 apiary that were the weakest and the most 

 likely to suffer when severely cold weather 

 should come on. We expect to keep these 

 in the cellar until about March 1; for the 

 stronger colonies will be left outdoors as 

 usual. A year ago we put in the cellar 

 something like 60 or 75 colonies that were 

 somewhat weak, leaving the strongest ones 

 outdoors. The winter, as every one knows, 

 proved to be an extraordinarily severe one. 

 The colonies in the cellar wintered by all 

 odds the best of any we had. We made up 

 our minds that, if another severe winter 

 like the one we had a year ago should come 

 again, we would put nearly all of the bees 

 in the cellar. Fortunately these cold win- 

 ters come only about once in tliirty years. 



As a general rule, fair-sized colonies in 

 our locality winter better out of doors than 

 in ; hence we shall continue to winter main- 

 ly in double-walled liives. In our locality 

 bees have an opportunity io9 flight on an 

 average of about three or four times in 

 winter. 



THAT WINTER NEST AGAIN; A RAP AT DR. 

 MILLER. 



On page 6 of this issue our correspon- 

 dent Mr. J. L. Byer takes a rap at Dr. 

 Miller. We are not sure whether the "rap" 

 was intended for Dr. Miller or for us. If 

 for us we will try to paiTy the blow. Mr. 

 Byer describes a colony that has combs sol- 

 id with stores without any winter nest ; and 

 he offers the implied challenge that this 

 will not die during winter. We are inclined 

 to agree with him, because if a colony (es- 



pecially if a strong one) has combs solid 

 with stores by Nov. 7 they will have a suf- 

 ficient winter nest by the middle of Janu- 

 aiy, or about the time settled cold weather 

 comes on. We do not remember what Dr. 

 Miller may have claimed; but our conten- 

 tion is that every colony of bees, if given 

 an opportunity, will form a winter nest or 

 have one before severe cold sets in. This 

 seems to be in accordance with their natural 

 instinct ; for when severe weather comes on 

 it is better for one cluster of bees to be 

 separated by only the thin midribs of the 

 combs than by a solid wall of stores one 

 inch thick. In the former case the cluster 

 is practically homogeneous. In the latter it 

 is broken up by cold slabs of stores one 

 inch thick. They can't warm up these 

 slabs because they project beyond the clus- 

 ter where it is cold. These cold projections 

 convey the cold back to the cluster. Now, 

 Dr. Miller, it is up to you to give Mr. Byer 

 another jab if you think he needs it. 



BEES TRAIL HONEY-THIEVES. 



The follo^ving clipping from the Satur- 

 day Blade, of Cliicago, was called to our 

 attention by one of our subscribers, G. F. 

 Jones, Galax, Ya. 



Steeling, Col., Oct. 24. — When J. M. Cornelius, 

 a honey-producer near Sterling, awoke the other 

 morning he found that in the night fifteen beehives 

 had been looted of fifty pounds of honey. He fol- 

 lowed the dispossessed bees to the home of two 

 brothers, living a mile away. There he found the 

 bees swarming about the house, while the brothers, 

 besieged, had shut the door and windows and were 

 afraid to go out. Cornelius swore out warrants for 

 the arrest of the men. They admitted the theft. 



When bees show traces of sentiment the 

 tendency can generally be explained in an- 

 other way. For instance, recalling the old 

 belief that bees would follow the coffin of 

 their owner to the grave, we know that, in 

 the rare instances where they did so, it was 

 because the odor of the fresh varnish used 

 on the newly made coffin attracted the bees 

 by its resemblance to propolis. And in the 

 above case, while the bees apparently exhib- 

 ited some of the detective ability of Sher- 

 lock Holmes, it is plain that the thieves, 

 not laiowing that bees during a time of 

 honey dearth are also keen for robbing, 

 did not take the necessary pains to prevent 

 dropping some honey from the broken 

 combs along the way. The bees, of course, 

 immediately found this, and were busy in 

 carrying it back to their hives. 



Bees are truly wonderful creatures, but 

 they get a great deal of credit that does not 

 rightly belong to them. We often hear of 

 their affectionate natures — how they mourn 

 when their owner dies, or how they know 

 tlie one handling them so that they do not 

 sting him, etc.; but there are enough won- 



