100 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



them. We are not able at present to equalize 

 the spaces exactly, without running into a snag 

 still more objectionable. 



S. S., of Wis., asks, "If the weather is warm 

 enough for the bees to fly during winter, would 

 you take the packing from the topof the frames 

 and give them all a chance for a cleansing flight, 

 or let them alone?" Ans.—Let them alone, by 

 all means. If you are sure the bees have stores 

 the previous fall, do not tinker with them till 

 next spring. 



C. cfcC, of N. C, writes that they left their 

 supplies on the hives during winter because 

 they feared that, if they took off the supers, 

 the bees would not have enough to winter on. 

 They ask If they should be removed next spring. 

 Jins. — Yes; otherwise the bees will soil the 

 sections; and, besides, the brood-nest should be 

 reduced to the smallest capacity during the 

 brooding season, so as to conserve the warmth. 



J. P. B. wants to know, 1, whether a hive 31 x 

 13 X 11 is too large to secure good results; 2, To 

 obtain a big supply of bees early, should they 

 be stimulated by feeding? 3, Do bees gather 

 any stores from corn-blossoms? Ansi. — 1. No; 

 but it is usually best to have the dimensions 

 standfard, so as to correspond with regular 

 goods. 2. Yt s, it is desirable to feed the bees a 

 little every day, if they require it in the spring, 

 or when the weather is settled enough so that 

 they can fly almostevery day. Feeding too early 

 to stimulate is bad. 3. This is a disputed ques- 

 tion. They do gather pollen from corn-blossoms, 

 but it is doubtful whether they get any honey 

 generally from them. 



R. F. R., of Va., asks, 1, Is it a good time to 

 introduce to or change the queen of a colony 

 when the bees swarm? 2. When both honey 

 and increase are wanted, is it a good plan, after 

 swarming, to divide the old colony into nuclei? 

 3. He would like to have us give a good plan to 

 manage seven hives in spring for comb honey. 

 uins. — 1. Yes. 2. Yes, if you are willing to 

 spend a little money in feeding up your nuclei, 

 you may divide to advantage; but if honey is 

 your object, and you wish to proceed as eco- 

 nomically as possible, we would advise you to 

 let nature take its own course. 3. It would take 

 too much space to give even an outline in this 

 department, and we shall have to refer. you to 

 the text-books. 



W. T. H. wants to know. 1, whether our foun- 

 dation-machines will make both bi-ood and sur- 

 plus foundation; 2, If bees are put in the cellar, 

 a few yards from their old stands, and then al- 

 lowed a flight occasionally during warm days, 

 will they go back to their old stands? Ans.—\. 

 Our standard lO-inch mill is made so as to make 

 both brood and surplus foundation, a change 

 from light to heavy being made by adjusting 

 the screws, about as you squeeze wringer-rolls 

 down to dry the clothes out more. 2. When 

 bees are put in the cellar they should be kept 



there, and not allowed a flight until they are 

 set out permanently next spring. Experience 

 has shown that it is bad policy to move bees in 

 and out of the cellar every warm day. 



F. L. S., of Minn., wants to know what is the 

 net profit per hive of bees in California. Ans. 

 — We can make only a very poor guess. In a 

 fair season a fair colony under good manage- 

 ment, in a fair locality, ought to yield 7.5 or JOO 

 lbs. of extracted honey, and .50 or 75 of comb, 

 although these are conservative figures. Ex- 

 tracted in large lots will net the bee-keeper 

 from 4 to 5 cts.. or .?3.50 per colony. The comli 

 would net him about 10 or 12 cts., or .fS.OO jxr 

 colony. From this must be subtracted the cost 

 of managing the bees, ccst of foundation, cosi 

 of cartage to the nearest railroad station or ,j 

 market, cost of square cans for the extracted 

 honey, or shipping-cases for the comb honey — 

 cost of sections, interest on the money, losses 

 from absconding swarms, etc. This answer, at 

 best, is unsatisfactory, and we therefore call 

 upon Rambler to help us out. 



F. M. McC, of Ark., desires to move 80 colo- 

 nies in Dovetailed hives to Southern Ohio. 

 Ans. — We would fasten the bottom -boards and 

 close up the entrances. We would then, in 

 place of the covers, tack on rims, made out of 

 X stuff, of the same width and length as the 

 hive, outside measure, and 2 inches deep. 

 These rims should be covered with wire cloth 

 or cheese-capping. If you are going to move 

 your household effects also to Ohio, you had 

 better put the hives in one end of the car, and 

 your goods in the other end; it will be safer for 

 you to accompany the car, as the jostling and 

 bumping will disarrange the hives. To partial- 

 ly remove the jar, it is a good plan to strew the 

 bottom of the car, where the hives are to be 

 placed, with four or five inches of straw. We 

 omitted to say any thing about fastening the 

 frames, for we assume that your bees are on the 

 Hoffman frames, which require no fastening. 

 If not. we would use the spacing-sticks illus- 

 trated in our catalogue. 



E.J.C.,QfO., asks how many bees it will 

 take to gather a pound of honey per day. 

 Ans. — It all depends upon the source from 

 which honey is coming — that is, the amount of 

 flow. From basswood. yielding at its best, a 

 single colony will gather from 3 to 30 lbs. of nec- 

 tar per day— probably 3 to 7 would be a fair 

 average. A good fair working colony— that is, 

 the bees themselves— weighs from 5 to 8 lbs.; 

 and as we know from careful experiment that 

 there are about 4.500 bees in a pound, there will 

 be anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 bees. This 

 number should be reduced anywhere from a 

 third to a half, so as to include only the work- 

 ing force, or that force that brings in the honey. 

 We may assume, then, that it takes, on this ba- 

 sis, any where from 15,000 to 25,000 field-bees to 

 gather 3 to 5 lbs. of nectar from basswood; or. 



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