130 



GLEAN IKGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



barren climate of Italy compared with our 

 own, and we wish to know wliether this ac- 

 cords with the general experience of those 

 who piirchase queens to stock their apiaries. 

 To get at all the influence of a cross of the 

 blood, we want, also, to watch the progeny of 

 the queen herself, and see if that progeny has 

 as much vim for honey-gathering as suc- 

 ceeding generations. 



A REPORT ON WINTERING, FROM 

 MRS. AXTELL. 



Something in Regard to the Best Temperature 

 for Successful Wintering. 



A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT. 



TN our bee-cellar is a sight I feel tempted to look 

 (M[ at raoi-e than a second thought would tell me 

 ^ll was best— that is, best for the bees. It is the 

 ■^ nice large cluster of golden beauties, clustered 

 nearly down to the bottom-board of the hives. 

 Some are on the bottom-board, while others have, 

 as winter progresses, gone up higher. One feels 

 tempted, almost, to thrust in his hand and pat the 

 little fellows. The small colonies seem to go up 

 higher among the combs, and more dead bees are on 

 the bottom. The large colonies that go nearly or 

 quite to the bottom have no dead bees, but there is 

 half a teaspoonful or more of very fine pellets scat- 

 tered very evenly over the bottom-board. 



The front boards of the hives in the cellar were 

 raised from one to two inches to give larger entranc- 

 es, so the bees could better throw out their dead 

 bees; the brood-combs are also raised about one 

 inch higher from the bottom-board of both the col- 

 onies in cellar, 74, and those outdoors, 61, as we had 

 so many colonies last winter when taken from the 

 cellar that the whole bottom was filled with dead 

 bees, and sometimes up between the combs. Our 

 hives, you know, are clamped at the corners, not 

 nailed. 



It is a real satisfaction to thus look right into the 

 hives and see [, them look clean and well; for one 

 can tell almost as easily whether a bee is sick or 

 well as he can tell whether a person is well or not. 

 I have an idea, that when a bee gets sick he crawls 

 out of the hive to die, generally, as in the summer 

 time, does it not? If the most of the bees that are 

 dead upon the floor were healthy bees, then it seems 

 to me it would be well to devise some plan to pre- 

 vent their getting out upon the floor. Broad alight- 

 ing-boards, with strips of tinaround the outer edges, 

 might do; or perhaps a better way would be as 

 mentioned in Mr. Barber's plan— pile the hives up 

 in one solid bodj'; but, what would they do with the 

 dead bees? It seems to me it must be very annoj'- 

 ing and unhealthy for the bees to have a lot of dead 

 ones in their hives. 



\Ve have kept the temperature in our cellar high- 

 er than ever before— from 40 to 45, and the bees 

 crowded down to three and four combs, and on the 

 sides of the combs, and on top, closely covered with 

 oat or buckwheat chaff. We are surprised at the 

 bees being so quiet at that temperature. I am sat- 

 isfied we have kept them too cool before— about 36. 



Since the last cold weather, we have had a fire in 

 one end of the cellar, with quilts hung up against 

 the ends of the hives, to keep the light from strik- 

 ing them, and to throw the heat over the top, so the 

 nearest hives may not feel much the warmest. The 



weakest hives were packed nearest to where the 

 stove is. The thermometer was sometimes in the 

 center, and sometimes in the further end of the 

 cellar. To-day it rose to 48, and yet the bees are 

 quiet, occasionally a bee flitting out; but we have 

 kept the sub-earth ventilator closed, and all other 

 ventilation cut off. The heat from the stove makes 

 the cellar feel comfortable, and the sides of the 

 wall are not covered with frost, but are dry, which 

 would not be the ease with no fire. 



My husband will report when he has made a more 

 thorough test of temperature in the cellar and sub- 

 earth ventilation. Mrs. L. C. Axtef,!,. 



Koseville, 111. 



1 feel sure, my good friend Mrs. A., that a 

 temperature above 40 will be better if you 

 can keep the bees quiet ; and I am quite sure 

 I prefer 48, if not higher, unless a low^er tem- 

 perature seemed to keep the bees more quiet. 

 When we wintered in the cellar, I thought 

 more bees got out upon the floor when the 

 temperature got u]) to 50 or .5r), than w^hen it 

 was a little above 40. Your plan of giving 

 abundant ventilation below, is something in 

 the line of friend (ireen's article, if you will 

 remember. We shall be very glad indeed to 

 have further reports. 



PEW OR MANY COLONIES : WHICH? 



RKD-CI.OVER QUEENS, ETC. 



J WAS much interested in Mr. Doolittle's article 

 ■ with the above heading on page 13 of Glean- 

 ings; but there are some points in his i-eason- 

 ing with which I can not agree. If he really 

 advocates that the apiarist shall keep but !iO 

 colonies in one apiary, and devote his entire time 

 to the effort to produce large yields of honey, I 

 would not agree with him; but if he means that the 

 apiarist shall have several apiaries of 50 colonies 

 each, I would agree with him. 



Taking the first view of his argument, it has a 

 tendency to make us believe that one swarm of 

 hees, if only lar(je enough, and expertly managed, 

 would produce all of the honey the apiarist could 

 dispose of! But, let us take 50 swarms, his lowest 

 number, and see if the man who makes the raising 

 of honey his only source of income, can make a sat- 

 isfactory financial success of it. 



We will take it for granted, that the person under- 

 stands the secret of having his bees all in the best 

 possible shape to secure the honey when it is secret- 

 ed in the flowers. As I run my bees for extracted 

 honey, and as my locality is perhaps not so good as 

 Mr. D.'s, I will put my average yield, year in and 

 year out, at 200 lbs. This would give me a yearly yield 

 of 10,000 lbs. This amount, at the rate extracted hon- 

 ey is now selling at wholesale, would net me $.500 per 

 year. Now, an economical family could probably live 

 upon this amount; but it has been said, that a per- 

 son capable of successfully caring for 100 swarms of 

 bees, or, if you please, 50 swarms, is capable of earn- 

 ing 11000 in some other pursuit; and 1 think every 

 bee-keeper making it a specialty would not be satis- 

 fled with a smaller income. 



Now, Bro. D. may clear much more than that 

 amount rom his small apiary of 50 or 60 swarms, 

 because* he has a large queen- trattic, and there is 

 no need of his establishing another apiary; but if 



