446 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



pi-eciating- then, as I do now, the importance of a 

 good windbreak to an apiarj', we selected ground 

 whicli slopes to the east and north-east; and where 

 both the north and so^ith winds have an unimped- 

 ed sweep. Winter before last we lost one quarter 

 of our bees in this apiary, while most of the others 

 came through mere wrecks. The past winter, one- 

 sixth were lost, while many of the rest are in poor 

 condition. Furthermore, the upper row of hives 

 in this apiary is placed along'a brush-grown fence 

 ■which affords it very material shelter from the 

 north-west wind. And it is a fact that this row of 

 hives came through both winters in much better 

 condition than any other. 



Now, if it is true, as I believe it is, that success- 

 ful wintering is dependent very largely on the pro- 

 tection which the location affords, we have one e.\- 

 planation of the diverse results which often come 

 from otherwise similar methods. So long as my ex- 

 perience was confined to my home apiary I did not 

 realize how much my successful wintering was de- 

 pendent on my sheltered location; and had I writ- 

 ten an article on the wintering problem I would 

 have dwelt almost entirely upon mj' method of 

 feeding, preparing, and packing mj^ bees for their 

 winter repose, while the chief element, as I now be- 

 lieve, in my success— the mere accident of a shel- 

 tered loc:.tion— would probably not have been men- 

 tioned. 



This has been the best spring for giving the bets 

 an early boom that we have had since I have kept 

 bees. For ten days in April we had summer weath- 

 er which forced fruit-bloom along at least two 

 weeks ahead of its usual time. It is already on the 

 ■wane, while iu other years it has usually been on- 

 ly fairly begun at this date. Last year, hard ma- 

 ples were fairly opened for honey-gathering on the 

 9th of May; this year, the bees were roaring 

 among them on the 32d of April. .Tas. McNeilt^. 



Hudson, N. Y., May 10, 1S86. 



BEE-STINGS TOR RHEUMATISM. 



AN EXPEDITIOUS WAY OF APPLYING THE MEDICINE. 



f^ HE following article was written by my friend 

 ^" Wm. Vennamore, for the Maxwell Tribune. I 

 > had advised liiin to use the bee-sting cure for 

 his rheumatism; but I didn't suppose he 

 would put a "small paper sack well filled" 

 up his pants leg. It has caused ever so much laugh- 

 ter and merriment here among*the neighbors; but 

 his rheumatism has disappeared. 



D. E. Brub.^kek. 

 Maxwell, Storey Co., la.. May 1.5, 188f). 

 Mr. Editor:— I have been afflicted with rheuma- 

 tism for some time, and have tried most of the 

 remedies said to bo good for such disease, but re- 

 ceived little benetit. One day last wtek I thought 

 the good Samaritan had come, in the person of Mr. 

 D. E. Brubaker: perhaps you are acquainted with 

 him; he has a bee-ranch south of town; a clever fel- 

 low, too, he is. He told me bee stings were the best 

 thing in the world for rheumatism, and if he should 

 ever have it he would try the t)ee remedy sure. 

 Thinks I, ■we've got the medicine right here at 

 home, and it won't cost any thing, and 1 will just try 

 a few: I think people as a rule take too much med- 

 icine any way; better try morfe home remedies. So. 

 provided with a small paper sack and some courage 

 (for I must confess I was always a little careful not 

 to disturb bees, for it hinders them from gathering 

 honey, you knowi, I held the open sack at their en- 

 trance and soon had it well tilled with the buzzing 

 creatures. I then made straight for the house 

 and gave sack and bees to wife and held open my 



pants leg and said, "Now start 'em uji." She 

 pushed sack and all up arm's length, and laughed a 

 little, and asked, " Are they going ? " Says I, " You 

 bet !" Just then one administered, and I grabbed 

 for him (as is natural on such occasions), and from 

 that every last one laid to, and four doctors with 

 eight resurrecters couldn't do business so lively as 

 those bees did. I, in a rather commanding manner 

 and tone, screamed for wife to take 'em out, but 

 she seemed to be slow about it, so I got out, and 

 left breeches and bees in the same room, and I 

 went to bed in untold misery, and two times as 

 mad to think I would try everybody's remedies. 

 After this, others can try bee-cures and bee-meu's 

 remedies, and I will try Hostetter's or McLlain's 

 remedies. Hay Seed B. 



Friend B., the principal point to me in 

 the above little sketch is, that the rheuma- 

 tism has disappeared. I am inclined to 

 think, however, a smaller dose would have 

 answered every purpose. Many of our read- 

 ers will remember the facts that have been 

 brought forward iu our back volumes. I 

 think that it is pretty well settled that poi- 

 son from bee-stings is many times a cure 

 for rheumatism. 



SMALL COLONIES, AND MOTH WORMS. 



THE UEASON WHY A SMALL COLONY CAN NOT 



Sl'OHE .\S MUCH HONEY PRO R.\TA AS A 



LARGE ONE. 



J; T is said by some, that a weak or small colony 

 t will store as much honey, pro rata to the num- 

 l berof bce-i, as will a large one; but I think 

 ■ this has not been clearly proven. To substan- 

 tiate the theory, it is argued that a colony 

 having two combs of brood, and bees enough to 

 cover them, being placed in a full hive of combs, 

 will store as much extracted honey in proportion 

 to their numbers as will a full colony having eight 

 frames of brood in the lower storj% the same being 

 tiered three or four stories high. The argument 

 holds good in all except one particular, and in this 

 it is very deficient. Let us look into their workings 

 a little. The full hive has brood to the capacity of 

 the queen, so that the tiering-up of the other stories 

 on top does not increase the amount of brood any, 

 especially when a honey-board is used so as to pre- 

 vent the queen going " up stairs." Thus the bees 

 have only so much brood to feed as the storing ad- 

 vances, and the colony has a large force of bees in 

 excess of their brood. 



Well, how about the small colony? The queen 

 has brood to only Jibout one-fourth of her capacity, 

 while the brood is in excess of the bees— so much 

 so that I have often seen ,500 bees keeping from 

 31)00 to .5000 of brood; and as in the small colony 

 the queen is not restricted as to egg-laying only by 

 the n limber of bees, her brood advances in excess 

 of the mature bees all the while until the limit of 

 the hive or her capacity is reached. Then we find 

 these few bees struggling hard to supply the wants 

 of the brood all through the honey-harvest, so that, 

 when said harvest is as short as it is here, the re- 

 sult proves to be, at the end, little or no honey, 

 with a host of useless consumers raised from this 

 brood to eat the little honey the small colony have 

 succeeded in laying up. I think I have made the 

 matter so plain without further enlargement, that 

 all will see the force of the argument, and have all 

 strong colonies by unitirg the weak ones, or other- 

 wise building them up early. If the (lueen could 

 be restricted to only the two combs, then the pro- 



