GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



combs; and the labor, if performed during 

 the winter months when nothing else can be 

 done, is practically nothing. A few broken- 

 down combs that have not been previovisly 

 stayed by wires will pay for the cost of the 

 work many times over. 



J. R. S., of l7id.. has a weak colony, and he 

 inquires how to strengthen it up for the coming 

 summer. Aiis. — Contract their brood-nest to 

 as small a space or to as few combs as they can 

 possibly cover, having made sure that they 

 have plenty of stores. When the weather is 

 warm enough so they fly a little every day, 

 give them a little stimulative feeding, with half 

 a pint of warm sugar syrup. We omitted to say 

 that such weak stocks should be, if not already, 

 put into double-walled hives with some good 

 soft warm packing around them. For that 

 matter, this will apply equally well to strong 

 colonies; for no stocks do as well in the single- 

 walled hives in early spring as those having 

 adequate protection. 



R. M. C, of Cal., has just extracted some 

 honey from unfinished sections of last season, 

 and desires to know whether it will start rob- 

 bing to set these out where the bees can clean 

 them up. ^ns.— Instead of putting them out- 

 doors where the bees can have a regular jubi- 

 lee over them, said jubilee finally ending up in 

 a row, put the sections in crates and stack them 

 over the brood-nest of a strong colony. If the 

 hives are made so that they may tier up one 

 above another, this can be very easily done. 

 Sections might also be put in stacked-up hives, 

 without the full colony under, providing the 

 entrance is contracted to the space of one bee, 

 so the bees could clear them out slowly, on the 

 plan of gentle robbing, spoken of in these col- 

 umns during the last year or so. R. M. C. asks 

 again whether it would be prudent to transfer 

 now. We do not see any reason why in your 

 locality you could not doit almost any month 

 in the year. The short method spoken of in 

 our catalog is the one that we recommend. 



N. A., of Wis., would like to know, 1, how to 

 make a swarm cluster upon something from 

 which they can be easily taken. 2. He requires 

 a mold for beeswax, upon which his name may 

 always appear in raised or depressed letters. 3. 

 He asks also whether Norway spruce would 

 stand the climate of his State, ^ns.— The 

 spray-pump recommended under " Swarming," 

 in the ABC of Bee Culture, if properly used, 

 will drive a swarm of bees in the air like a 

 flock of sheep; and we have not only made the 

 bees not cluster on places of their own choice, 

 but in some instances have been successful 

 enough to cause them to alight on some low- 

 growing tree. It is always best to have low- 

 growing shrubbery, or, better still, grapevines, 

 growing around and among the hives. Bees 

 are pretty apt to cluster upon any thing access- 

 ible after entering the air. 2. A mold for wax 



would be very expensive. You might be able 

 to get a wood-carver to scoop out a block of 

 wood with your name in the bottom of it, so 

 that the impression would be left on the wax 

 when it is cold. A tin receptacle with your 

 name stamped upon the bottom in raised or de- 

 pressed letters would be the best; but a special 

 die, costing perhaps $30.00, will be required; 

 but when this die is once made, thousands of 

 the tins could be turned out from it. 3. We 

 could not advise you regarding the Norway 

 spruce in your locality. 



^^ogd^^nli^ 



BEES IN ST. ]'ETER 8 CATHEDRAL, ROME. 



One very often meets with bees in this great 

 church, but not, of course, living ones. They 

 are molten, chiseled, and artistically painted. 

 This arises from the fact that this great edifice 

 was completed under Pope Urban VIII. This 

 pope was from the noble family of the Berber- 

 ini, of Florence; and the insignia of this family, 

 on their shield, was three bees. When the 

 decorative work of this art-loving pope appear- 

 ed in nearly every feature of this editice, his 

 coat of arms, the three bees, was caused to ap- 

 pear also, and so we have the spectacle of these 

 busy workers in St. Peter's church. 



Medina, O., Feb. 30. Karl R. Mathey. 



SPREADING brood; IS IT ADVISABLE FOR BE- 

 GINNERS? 



I see the ABC says nothing in regard to 

 spreading the brood in the spring, and I should 

 like to know if I should be spreading it too fast 

 if I did it as follows: 



My hives are the 8-frame Laugstroth, and I 

 should want to commence about the 1st of Apr. 

 in this locality; and if they have 2 frames of 

 brood at that time, spread it to 3; in just 10 

 days, spread it to 4; in 9 days more, spread it to 

 5; 8 days more, spread it to 6; 7 days more, 

 spread it to 7; (i days more, spread it to 8. If 

 they had 3 frames of brood at first, instead 

 of 3, I would spread it to 4, and then com- 

 mence again in 9 days instead of 10. Do 

 you think that, if this plan is all right, it would 

 do to spread it any faster? R. S. Chapin. 



Marion, Mich., Mar. I. 



[No, we do not say very much in the ABC 

 about spreading brood, because we believe that 

 beginners, as a general rule, will do more harm 

 than good by it. The plan that you propose is 

 a little too severe for the average colony; but 

 with moderate weather, or such weather as the 

 bees can fly every day. with the nights not too 

 cold, you might be able to spread the brood as 

 fast as you say, providing the bees are packed 

 in a good warm chaff hive. But we would ad- 

 vise you to go slow, even then. If you want to 

 get a little experience, all well and good: but 

 as a general thing, only veterans should at- 



