1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



sn 



put them on the hives to shade them; and when I 

 ran out of boards I used a few chicken-coops that 

 had a blind side to them. Then it came to me that 

 Mr. Heddon used shade-boards on his hives, and I 

 thought most likely he had a patent on them, and 

 would sue me, and put me in the penitentiary for 

 imitating: them. But the shading- did not seem to 

 do any good. As fast as the other swarms (after 

 the first si.x) came out I carried them to the deep 

 shade of the Eurovean larches and gave them 

 plenty of air, and they behaved. One of the bad si.\ 



WENT TO THE WOODS WITHOUT ALIGHTING, 



Leaving the queen under- the goblet. You ask why 

 I did not divide the swarms. 1 answer, " Because 

 that is not my method." 1 don't like bees; T keep 

 them for the money that is in them, and I won't 

 have a lot of semi-good colonies sitting- around, 

 nursing young bees that I care nothing for when 

 the white-clover season is over. My bees have got 

 to be booming colonies, and do business worth 

 while, or I won't keep them at all. 



Ernest says, on page .501, that it is because the 

 child is unconscious of danger that it does not get 

 stung, and that nervous people are apt to get stung, 

 or words to that effect. Yesterday, when I opened 

 a hive from which a swarm had just issued, to take 

 out a frame of brood, two bees flew up and stung 

 me, one on the eye, the other on the jugular vein. 

 1 thought I could get used to doing without a bee- 

 hat and smoker. I had on a sun-bonnet, and I shut 

 the fronts of it together, and walked to the kitchen, 

 with dozens of angry bees Hying around me, fired 

 up the smoker, and made those bees dance. I 

 smoked them for all that smoker is worth, and not 

 another bee stung me. My arms were bare to the 

 elbows, and I was mad. I am now going to treat my 

 bees just as I used to treat "Jenny " the mule— al- 

 ways keep the upper hand— no patting, no favors. 



I do not like those crates with glass in the side 

 that ] got of you. I do not like the closed-top sec- 

 tions; it makes the bees uncomfortably warm. I 

 want crates that I can tier up five deep. 1 like Mr. 

 Foster's section, with openings on every side. That 

 is, I like the idea, and I am going to try them when 

 I buy again. Mahai,.\ B. Chaddock. 



Vermont, 111., June 19, 1886. 



I am glad to know, Mrs. C, that you like 

 the open-top sections. I presume the reason 

 why so many object to them is because of 

 the trouble of closing the openings. The 

 closed-top sections, 1 presume you know, 

 are already closed. I suppose the latter are 

 more convenient for a colony that is not 

 strong enough to need tiering up. — Haven't 

 you got some hybrids among' your bees, my 

 good friend? aiid isn't this why they are so 

 cross? 



ANOTHEK GOOD REPORT FROM AL- 

 SIKE CLOVER. 



■WHAT FIVE ACRES WILL DO. 



gOQe, fighting and robbing all through t\i6 month_ 

 Alsike bridges a very had place, besides the hay 

 and pasturage we get from it. Nearly 100 colonies 

 had access to our alsike, and our own 30 colonies 

 increased to (16 by natural swarming. From one 

 colony that did not swarm, we extracted a com- 

 mon water-pail full. Several others nearly finished 

 their sections. All first swarms, and some after- 

 swarms, have the hives full of brood and honey 

 —not a Swarm lost by absconding; gave all a frame 

 of brood. The only swarm that tried to leave was 

 a rousing big first swarm. It came right out Of the 

 hive, and, without clustering, " lit out." I follow- 

 ed them a mile and a half, waded a creek, climbed 

 a tree, g^ot 'em iiUo the light swarming-box 1 hap- 

 pened to have when they " lit out ; " brought them 

 back, and they are hdw all right. Don't say it 

 wasn't n flrxt swarm, fol- it was, sure. Hurrah fof 

 alsike! M. F. Tatman. 



Rossville, Kansas, June 2!l, 1886. 



fRlEND ROOT:— We have just had a good 

 chance to test the merits of alsike clover^ 

 and it has done nobly. Our 5 acres, sown 

 last season, for the past 5 weeks has been 

 roaring with bees, and they are still working 

 on it to some extent. The month of June, in the 

 past five seasons, has been our discontent, and the 

 hardest on bees of any month in the year— no 

 white clover, no basswood, the spring- bloom all 



HOW LATE SHALL WE KEEP WINTElt 

 PACKING ON THE HIVES P 



M.\KING CHAFF CUSHIONS FROM EMPTV PHOS- 

 PHATE-SACKS. 



XN GLEANINGS for June 15, Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson 

 11? speaks of the good eft'ect of keeping bees pack- 

 er ed on their summer stands till warm weather. 

 "^ Here, whei-e we Winter on summer stands, eve- 

 ry ftvrmer uses more or less bone meal, bone 

 phosphate, or other fertilizers, and the empty bags 

 of strong burlap are washed, and, before cold weath- 

 er, wheat chatt', say one-half bushel, is put in, and 

 it is spiead evenly and closely over the top of the 

 quilt for winter. They are easily removed for ex' 

 amination, and a use of these for years has proved 

 very satisfactory. They are left on till I get ready 

 to put on cases, and the protection is a decided ad- 

 vantage during the cold nights and wet days of 

 spring. 



One season I tried the experiment of packing 

 hives with chaff all around the hive, and left them 

 so packed during the summer, with a free entrance. 

 They performed no better and no worse than others 

 not protected, excepting top chaff' packing. 



One of the objections formerly raised by me to 

 friend Heddon's "innovations" of thin sides for 

 hives and cases, with no other joints than a planed 

 surface gives, was the exposure to sudden changes 

 of temperature. We know a high degree of heat is 

 essential to comb-building; and we also know that, 

 if that heat has to be supplied as it is by the con- 

 sumption of honey, that it pays us to economize in 

 the costly fuel, and protect, to save the waste. 



It is to be hoped that experimental work this sea- 

 son will determine the value of the narrow L. hive. 



If, as is now claimed, the contraction of brood- 

 chamber to five or six frames during the honey- 

 flow will prevent the accumulation of pollen, it 

 will be a boon to many who are over-burdened 

 with its accumulation in the brood-chamber. But 

 here, when at times we have sheets of comb two- 

 thirds filled with pollen, it disappears rapidly in 

 the spring, to be replaced later by new pollen. 



This shows its importance in the internal econo- 

 my of the bee-hive. But at times it is a nuisance, 

 and valuable brood-space is sure to be preoccupied, 

 if, from any cause, the queen is not fecund and act- 

 ive. 



