1^46 



GLKAI!^1KGS LN IJEE CULTUllE. 



May 



colonjj was queenless, tried to raise another, raised 

 some drones, and died. The one having combs 

 overloaded with bee-bread perished with diarrhea 

 in its worst form, although it llng-crcd until nearly 

 spring-. This is, perhaps, hardly a fair test, as the 

 combs were selected, and were so full of bee-bread 

 that it didn't seem as though there was room to 

 store the sugar syrup. It was fed early. Others 

 may have succeeded in feeding bees late, and in 

 preparing them for winter late; or, rather, they 

 may. have been successful in wintering bees thus 

 prepared, but I have not usually succeeded. I com- 

 menced last year, the first of September, to prepare 

 bees for winter. Every few days I would prepare a 

 colony or two. All those prepared in September, 

 with the exception of the one that had so much bee- 

 bread, and the one that was (jueenless, came 

 through in good condition, with no distinction be- 

 tween natural stores and sugar; but all those that 

 were fed or prepared for winter in October, either 

 died or were so weak that they were nearly worth- 

 less. Two of them died, and the rest were united 

 until 1 have only 17 colonies left. Those colonies 

 that were prepared late did not seal their syrup. 

 There were slight traces of dysentery in the colonies 

 fed late. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 



Friend II., when we used artificial heat in 

 the house-apiary it was Icept warm by our 

 lamp-nursery, and the heat was used in the 

 spring of the year, during March and April. 

 I do not remember the temperature, but 1 

 think I aimed to keep it about 60 or 70^, that 

 the queens might extend their brood-nest 

 without being in danger of getting chilled. 

 The lamp-nursery answered the purpose of 

 keeping the building warm, even when it 

 was cold and frosty outside. It started 

 moth-worms nicely in empty combs, but it 

 didn't seem to help brood-rearing much. 

 With the experience I have since had in rais- 

 ing plants in the greenhouse, I think I might 

 do better ; but I believe we can raise all the 

 bees we can make use of by cheaper means 

 than the use of artificial heat. 



BETTING THE BEES OUT OF THE 

 CELLAR. 



u 



A DIALOGUE. 



|a| OOD morning, friend Doollttle. I called to 



It see if you had set your bees out of the 



It^ cellar. I heard yesterday that you did 



^^ not practice setting your bees out as 



early as some of us do." 



"No, I have not set the majority of mine out yet, 



friend S., and I don't see any object in getting 



them out before there is any thing for them to do. 



They only waste away in their fruitless attempts 



to get sap from the sap -buckets, water from the 



cold brooks, and by trying to rob from each other. 



By leaving them in, this loss, ve.xation, and robbing 



are avoided, while the colonies are much better for 



the season's work. Have you set yours out ?" 



"Yes: I set them out more than two weeks ago, 

 for I thought I must, as I read in one of my agri- 

 cultural papers that bees should not be left in 

 later than April 1st." 

 " Have you had any trouble with their robbing ?" 

 "Yes, plenty of it; and I called to see what I 

 could do about it. The paper said, that after the 



bees were out they should be fed a little in the 

 middle of the day, so as to stimulate brood-rearing. 

 So I went to feeding, and I have had an awful 

 time." 



"Well, if that is what you have been doing, I 

 don't wonder; for I tried that plan of feeding years 

 ago, and I, too, had an awful time. It seems 

 strange to me that such advice should get into 

 print when all bee-kcopers must know, it seems to 

 me, that such a course is sure to ' raise a row.' If 

 you feed at all, the evening is the time to do it, 

 feeding about sunset on warm evenings, and about 

 dark on cool. The reason for feeding at dark on 

 cool nights is, so that no bees will get lost by flying 

 out, as feeding always excites the bees to activity; 

 but, lest I forget it, I will tell you what I do to stop 

 robbing when the bees get started at this time of 

 the year. As soon as I see that a colony is being 

 robbed I close the entrance so that only one bee 

 can get in or out at a time. This keeps the robbers 

 from getting much honey, and allows the bees 

 from the hive to get in. At the close of the day I 

 set a comb of honey in the robbed hive, if I think 

 they have been robbed short, and set the hive in 

 the cellar, leaving it there until pollen is plentiful 

 from elm and soft maple, at which time there is lit- 

 tle danger from robbing, as the bees now care 

 more for pollen than any thing else. Now return 

 the colony to its stand and all will be well." 

 " When will you set your bees out?" 

 " When the before-mentioned trees get in blos- 

 som, so that the bees can do something to advan- 

 tage, which will be in a few days now, if the weath- 

 er holds warm as it is this morning." 



" One other thing I should like to know, and that 

 is, how you keep the bees from stinging you when 

 you are setting them out. I got stung fearfully 

 while setting mine out. My hives have loose bot- 

 tom-boards, which I do not carry into the cellar; 

 and upon setting the hives out, the bees would be- 

 gin dropping out, when they would get in my cloth- 

 ing, or anywhere they could, and then sing and 

 sting." 



"1 know how this goes, having often had a trial 

 of it; and of all the wicked bees to sting, those 

 which drop from the hives at such times beat any 

 except the Cyprians. Besides, there is quite an 

 item of loss here; for all these bees which drop out, 

 mark their location where they drop, and are lost." 

 " i'es, I noticed that part; for in carrying out one 

 hive 1 came near dropping it close by the en- 

 trance of the cellar, which caused a lot of bees to 

 get out, and they hung around there all day, ready 

 to sting me every time I-went near." 



" Exactly; and now I will tell you how to prevent 

 both loss and stings. Just outside the cellar-door 

 place a wide boai-d, and close by place your smok- 

 er, all ready smoking. As soon as you get to the 

 door of the cellar with the colony, set it on the 

 board and immediately putf some smoke under the 

 bottom. Now close the cellar-door and place the 

 hive on your spring wheelbarrow, pufBng in a little 

 more smoke at the bottom ot the hive. Wheel to 

 the stand, and you will lose no bees nor receive any 

 stings. This also keeps the bees from all rushing 

 out pell-mell, and thus less confusion results." 

 " A spring wheelbarrow 1 What do you mean? " 

 " Do you take Gleanings? " 

 " Yes." 



" Well, I moan just such a one as the latest one 

 pictured in that paper." 



