1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



' 34!) 



ter on the outside of the hive, yet seem very little 

 disturbed when entering the cellar with a light, 

 which is my custom to do quite often. To avoid 

 running too much risk in any one place I have been 

 in the habit of dividing my bees in two or three lots 

 of nearly the same number of colonies, and pack- 

 ing the strongest lot in chaff, and putting the oth- 

 ers in cellar and clami); but after four years' ex- 

 perience in burying in clamps 1 have discarded that 

 method entirely, as I find (with me) it is not only 

 uncertain but very untidy as well. The last three 

 years I have not lost a single colony out of 115 win- 

 tered in the cellar, while I lost about 5 per cent of 

 those packed in chatf. 



Lost' winter, to give a fair test, I reduced the 

 temperature to 48°. At 53° the bees, wintered nicely, 

 but were somewhat uneasy in the spring, and wei-c 

 set on their summer stands two weeks earlier than 

 the two years previous, and the result was spring- 

 dwindling: and although wo did not lose any, yet 

 all were weakened to a greater or less extent. I 

 had in January 117 colonies in the cellar, with the 

 thermometer marking 65° during the cold wave, 

 while it was 16° below, outside. Now, the principal 

 advantage I receive from a high temperature is, 

 less honey consumed, which is quite an item with 

 me. I can leave my bees in the cellar very much 

 later in the spi-ing than I could at 40°, thereby in a 

 great measure avoiding spring dwindling. Whj' 

 they do not dwindle seems evident enough to me; 

 but my theory may not be correct; therefore I will 

 leave others to draw their own conclusions. From 

 these facts I also find that nearly all will breed in the 

 after part of the winter, and thus some of the weak- 

 er colonies actually come out stronger than they 

 were when they went into winter quarters. Friend 

 Miller asks, "Should our cellar gradually become 

 warmer toward spring?" From my past expci'ience 

 I should answer no, but keep the temperature as 

 even as we can. I never care how much pollen 

 there is in a hive, as I never had a case of dysentery 

 when the temperature did not get below 50 during 

 the winter. Now, Bro. Root, I learn by the bee- 

 journals that this question was pretty well discuss- 

 ed at the Detroit ponvention, but it seems to me we 

 are keeping the temperature of our cellars too low; 

 also, I fear, we are too cautious about putting too 

 great a number of colonies in one cellar; and it is 

 my belief that bees need but very little air in win- 

 ter; and I would modestly ask if we are not inclined 

 to give them too much draft during their winter 

 repose. I have given my experience, hoping that 

 some who have not been as successful in wintering 

 as myself, may be benefited thereby; and if such 

 should be the case I shall feel amply rewarded. 



A. E. WOODWAHD. 



Groom's Corners, N. Y., Jan., 18^6. 



Friend W., this matter of wintering bees 

 at a temperature of from (iO to Go degrees 

 was a good deal discussed in Detroit, and it 

 is one of the puzzling things about bee cul- 

 ture. After we had got itlaid down in the 

 books as beyond question or controversy, al- 

 most, that the temperature of the cellar 

 should not be much if any above 50 degrees, 

 here we have, at this late day, quite a num- 

 ber who practice and recommend a tempera- 

 ture of 65 degrees, or even higher. If the 

 bees can be kept quiet, and be made to stay 

 in their hives, or even on the outside of their 

 hives, no doubt it will be a saving of feed. 



SOME NEW-OLD MATTERS. 



KED-CI.OVER queens; JUGGING BUMBLE-BEES. 



§OME new old matters are being discussed over 

 again, I see. Noticing advertisements as 

 well as reading matter, I could not but smile 

 when reading red-clover queens and red-clover 

 bees for sale by two or more dealers. Visit- 

 ing the blooms ol i-ed clover belongs to all the yel- 

 low races of Ai>U mdlifica. 



Is not Dr. Arwin, page 587, 1885, mistaken about 

 queens being produced in 8 days from starting, of 

 cell ■? I think Dr. Gallup, when living in Iowa, sev- 

 eral years since, made the same mistake. I have 

 reared thousands of queens, at all seasons, from 

 early spring to late autumn, and have never yet 

 had a queen emerge from the cell in 8 days from 

 the starting of the cell. 



I agree Avith Mr. Searcy, of Griffin, Ga., in all he 

 says concerning the "Mt. Lebanon" strain of Syrian 

 bees. He could have said more in their favor, and 

 some non-desirable qualities. A cross with the 

 Italians takes most of the ill temper out of them, 

 and adds to their size and beauty. They have some 

 good qualities not possessed by the Italians. 1 

 like them. 



And Bro. Wm. F. Clarke is about to become al- 

 most converted to clipping queens' wings, and says 

 that one argument he has used is, it disfigures the 

 queen. Without reference to back volumes of the 

 bee-journals, if I remember correctly, he argues 

 that the continual clipping of queens' wings would 

 ultimately result i;i a feeble or wing-deformed 

 progeny— that it was barbarous, and in keeping 

 with the same ignorance as plucking geese, etc. 

 His arguments were from wrong premises. I have 

 not yet discovered that it interfered in the least 

 with the fjucen's value, (u- that of her progeny, to 

 clip off the wing. In fact, in performing the opera- 

 tion, just as I would give the scissors the clip, the 

 queen would, in turning round and round, get one 

 foot, or one foot and part of the leg, between the 

 scissors, and off it would come too. I have kept 

 such for more than one season, without seeing any 

 ill effects from the amputation. 



And you, Mr. Editor, say in foot-notes on the arti- 

 cle on jugging bumble-bees, you never had any 

 faiih in it, because it seems so unreasonable. In 

 Moon's Bcc-World, Vol. 3, p. 175, you may find the 

 same method for trapping them. A brown or blue 

 jug is as good as a black one, Mr. Hoot, and will 

 capture them. After one or two get in and get to 

 buzzing, they pour in like sheep going through a 

 gateway. In my boyhood days, one of the amuse- 

 ments of the schoolboys at recess, or after dismissal 

 in the evening, was fighting bumble-bees and break- 

 ing up their nests. From ill usage our old wool 

 hats had "gone to seed," so to speak, elongated, 

 with a hole in the top. With the face well protect- 

 ed and neck tied up with handkerchiefs, the en- 

 raged bumble-bees were sure to plunge into the 

 hole in the top of the hat, and were not in a hurry 

 to get out. 



From your report, and that of others, I was not a 

 little surprised at the large trade there is still in the 

 (jueen-supply business. Eight or ten years ago one 

 would have thought that by this time everybody 

 and everywhere would be supplied with the new 

 races of bees; but it seems the business is enlarg- 

 ing and increasing. One of the boys last winter 

 got mc shifted on a side track in business, ajnd I 



