4H 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



discussed patents so much already, I do not 

 believe it will be worth while to go all over 

 it again ; but that these shallow frames will 

 answer tolerably well, has been proven re- 

 peatedly. T. F. Bingham has used for years 

 a hive with frames only six inches in depth, 

 and lleddon's are only' a little shallower, as 

 you will see. R. Wilkin, when lie used to 

 live in Ohio, also used a shallow - depth 

 frame ; but after a great many years of ex- 



Seriment with them he abandoned them, 

 'he closed-end feature is not new ; the idea 

 of putting screws through the side of the 

 hive to tighten up the frames together is not 

 H patentable idea. The whole arrangement, 

 however, is sufficiently different from any 

 thing heretofore in use. and friend H. is, 

 without question, entitled to a valid patent, 

 if he thinks it best to have one. 



We should like to know how many sea- 

 sons lie has tested this, if more than one. I 

 should like to give illustrations of the whole 

 hive ; but I confess I sliould want some bet- 

 ter engravings than are found in the book. 

 If friend II. will send me a hive just right I 

 will have some good engravings of it made, 

 at my own expense. We can mail the book 

 on receipt of price, 50 cents. 



DISASTROUS AATIWTERING. 



HOW THE BROKEN RANKS WERE KECRUITED. 



N 1884, white clover j'ielded bountifully iu this 

 vicinity. I began the season with 74 colonies, 

 which I increased bj^ natural swarming' to 103, 

 besides receiving' a nice harvest of light honey. 

 There was no fall honey. In the fall I removed 

 sixteen miles to a new home. I found it quite a 

 tasli to remove my bees. I took charge of their 

 removal myself, and did it as carefully as I could; 

 still, 1 lost one colony by the combs melting- down. 



At my new home I arranged my hives south of 

 the house. Tlicy were arranged in six rows, facing- 

 south. The hives were painted, and looked nicelj', 

 standing on the green gi-ass beneath the trees. I 

 remember looking- at them from the window, and 

 thinking- of them as an army placed there to de- 

 fend my home from want. 



As the fall flowers yielded no honey my hives 

 grew light in stores, and less poijulous. I fed, 

 doubled up, and cared for them until they were re- 

 duced to '.13, and at that time I was compelled to 

 leave homo for a time. When winter set in ray 

 wife hired two men who carried the bees into the 

 cellar. On March ^^6 1 carried them out and placed 

 them on their stands. I found many dead, and 

 none seemed more than half alive. That evening I 

 looked out ag-ain at my arm.y, but its ranks were 

 fearfully broken. The spring- in this region was 

 cold and backward; and althoug:h I fed, nursed, and 

 tended, they dwindled, were robbed, and swarmed 

 out, until my army was reduced to 17 colonies. Of 

 these, 5 might be termed fair; the other 12 were 

 little moro than nuclei. When I looked out at those 

 17 colonics, all that remained of my army, I ex- 

 claimed, " How are the mighty fallen !" 



To relate this tale of disaster Avould do no good 

 unless the supposed causes were pointed out. I 

 believe that, on account of the ssarcity of fall hon- 

 ey, there wag but little brood raised in the fall, and 

 therefore winter found my colonies weak in bees, 



and those few mostly old l:)ees. destined by the law 

 of their nature to die before spring. 



Last winter is destined to be remembered on ac- 

 count of its intense and long-continued cold. As I 

 was in a new home the cellar deceived me, not be- 

 ing so frost - proof as it appeared. As mj' hives 

 were not populous, it was impossible for the small 

 cluster to keep up the heat necessary to a healthy 

 condition in that cold cellar. Then to crown the 

 disaster, after they were placed upon their summer 

 stands 1 think the weather was unfavorable for 

 them as it could well '^e, and the result was spring- 

 dwindling. 



From the reasons I have mentioned, the spring of 

 1885 yielded me a bountiful harvest of empty hives 

 and combs. After duly considering the condition 

 of affairs, 1 went out among the farmers to buy 

 bees, and succeeded in picking up 38 colonies in 

 box hives, at an average cost of $3.87 per colony, 

 and therefore began the season with 55 colonies. 

 By what is termed the Heddon method 1 transfer- 

 red those 1 purchased to my own combs and hives. 

 The past summer was not counted a honey year in 

 this vicinity, yet I increased to 75 good colonies, 

 and received enough honey to pay for the colonies 

 purchased. Fearing a repetition of the experience 

 of last spring I prepared my collar with care, bank- 

 ing up the house, and closing up every ci-evice with 

 lime mortar. 1 also placed a stove in it, so that, if 

 the thermometer should fall too low, a fire could be 

 started. Up to the present time my bees seem to 

 be wintering nicely. W. D. Ralston. 



ITopkinton, Iowa, Dec. 31, 1885. 



^EPei^fg ENC0aR^6iN6. 



1.58 LBS. PER COLONY SECURED BY THE DIREC- 

 TIONS GIVEN IN A 15 C. 



{HAVE no bees now, but shall open up an apiary 

 ; in the spring, for it is the best paying business 

 that 1 ever worked at. I am told that bees did 

 not do well here this season. I did some trans- 

 ferring for two parties, and they seemed to 

 have done well enough. The great trouble is, the 

 bees don't get the attention they should. The first 

 four years after I read your A B C 1 made 158^0 lbs. 

 of salable honey p(!r colonj', per annum; the high- 

 est yield, 30J lbs. per colony, two years ago. 

 East Newbern, III., Nov. 8, 1885. II. S. Giberson. 

 But. friend G.. you don't tell how^ many 

 colonic s you had". If only three or four, the 

 report would not be nearly as large as if you 

 made forty or fifty give thiit amoTint. 



$7ii.00 received, and no outlay. 



1 must send in our report, even if it is poorer than 

 ever. We started last sju-ing with 36 poor weak 

 orilonies (as we lost more than half of our bees last 

 M'inter and spiing), and increased to 55; went into 

 winter quarters with .54 nice rich colonies. We did 

 not get much honey this year, as the bees did not 

 make any honey from the first of July to Septem- 

 ber. Then there was s couple of weeks that there 

 was quite a tlow of honey, and they filled up their 

 hives, and made a very little surplus. We sold 

 about 470 lbs. of honey; came to 873.00. Not a very 

 big paying summer's work; but one thing is in our 

 favor, we were at no expense. 



Louisa C. Ke^^nedv, 



Farmjngdale, 111., Dec. 29, 1885. 



