734 



GL7i:/VNmGS TN JBEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



the chang'o of weather, only aS it ehanjjes very 

 slowly in the course of the winter, and that through 

 but a small number of degrees, growing a little 

 colder as the winter advances. 



4. I put the thermometer in the tube and then 

 closed the tube. After remaining closed several 

 hours, the thermometer showed the same tempera- 

 ture, substantially, as when entirely open. Of 

 course, a longer tube could raise the air no higher 

 than it would be when standing still in the pipe; 

 and as 100 ft. raised it to that temperature, a longer 

 tube could raise it no higher. 



5. My stoves are in the same apartment as the 

 bees, the nearest hives being about four feet from 

 the stoves. When I used wood-stoves I put a board 

 covered with zinc between the stove and the hives. 

 Since using coal-stoves I use no such precaution, 

 and I think the colonies nearest the stoves winter 

 as well as others. 



6. I just used flres occasionally to warm the cellar 

 when the bees began to be uneasy in a cold spell, 

 but concluded aftei'ward that they did more good 

 by increasing ventilation. I am now uncertain 

 whether the heating or ventilating is more impor- 

 tant, but believe both essential to best results. 



7. Because, without stoves, the best cellars in this 

 locality hardly keep above the freezing-point in the 

 coldest spells. Possibly, some time I may succeed 

 in warming by a sub-earth tube. 



8. 1 try to keep it from 43° to 45°. 



I shall be thankful for the severest criticism from 

 friend Hutchinson, or some of our sharp-eyed Can- 

 adian friends; in fact, from any one; for in the 

 matter of warming and ventilating 1 am as yet a 

 novice. C.C.Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Sept., 18SG. 



NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIARY. 



THE LAST NUMBER OF GLE.ANINGS. 



TT seems to me that it was an especially ijixxl 

 |nP number. I should like to notice a few points. 



^l THE WAX QUESTION, AGAIN. 



"*■ Is not the only way in which this question can 

 be settled— i. e., so as to be of anj' practical 

 benefit to bee-keepers— to do as I have been doing 

 the past four years; viz., hive part of the swarms 

 on fdn., and part on empty frames? What do we 

 care how many pourula of honey^re consumed in 

 the production of a pound of wa.x, if we do know 

 that it is profitable to allow the bees to build their 

 combs at certain times and in certain places, and 

 at others it is better to furnish them fdn.? I feel 

 that we have been using fdn. too indiscriminately; 

 that to know exactly when and where, to me is a 

 great question. I know that for mc to use it in the 

 brood-chamber when hiving swarms, is to lose 

 money, and I see by this last issue of Gleanings 

 that others are arriving at the same conclusion. 



implements AND LABOR. 



It is a pleasure to see an article once more in 

 Gleanings, signed "J. M. Shuck." His articles 

 are always timely, valuable, and well written. 

 When he says, "The time required to manipulate 

 the invertible hive for the production of honey is 

 not one-fourth the time required for a non-inverti- 

 ble hive. Tlicir is the (jaije, come who may," he 

 very tersolj- covers nearly the whole question. 



This question of iniplcments and labor is an im- 

 portant one, and I feel that Bro. Doolittle does not 

 take the correct view of it. The quotation that he 

 gives from somebody's letter; viz., " The use of my 

 hives and surplus-cases will give you more honey 

 than you now produce, with one-half the labor," 

 ought not to be construed to mean that the use of 

 certain hives would enable the bees to gather any 

 more hones', any more than the use of the mow- 

 ing-machine, horse rake and fork, would enable us 

 to secure more 7iay per acre; but the use of these 

 improved implements enables us to secure the 

 same results with (ess labor. 



black bees; are they equal to or better 

 than italians for comb honey? 



The point that you make, Mr. Editor, in your 

 foot-note to Mr. Coleman's article, in regard to his 

 having all black bees, hence could not make a just 

 comparison, is a reasonable one. 1 think, too, 

 that the majority of bee-keepers favor the Italians; 

 but for the production of comhltoticy I doubt if 

 there is a better bee than the black bee; possibly 

 a cross between them and the Italian is better; 

 but were I to choose a pure variety 1 would un- 

 hesitatingly choose the blacks. When handling 

 combs, looking for queens, and the like, Italians are 

 more pleasant to handle; but in raising comb honey 

 thi.^ is something- we seldom have to do. Ever 

 since I began the pi'oduction of comb honey I have 

 had from five to twenty colonies of blacks (con- 

 tiolling, of course, the production of drones), and 

 these black colonies have stored as m\ich honey up- 

 on an ai^craye as hai^e the Italians, while the honey 

 is of finer appearance. This very propensity of 

 the Vilacks, to run off the combs when being han- 

 dled, is really valuable when we manage bees by 

 handling hives instead of combs, as the hive is 

 more easily cleared of bees, just the same as I 

 can clear a case of sections from black bees twice 

 as quickly as I can when the bees are Italians. 

 I (til think the blacks are more inclined to rob and 

 to suffer from the attacks of the moth; but as 1 

 have yet to lose my first dollar from either source, 

 1 consider these minor points. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Kogersville, Genesee Co., Mich., Sept., 1880. 



FOUL BROOD. 



"ALMOST SCARED." 



fRIEND KOOT:-^I can not but feel sorry for 

 you when I think of "the dire calamity" 

 which has befallen you; but, are you sure you 

 liave foul brood/ I consider myself an old 

 veteran in the foul-brood business, and you 

 just look on page 388 of the Canadian Bee Journal, 

 and see how near I came to being "almost scared" 

 about foul brood here in our apiary, where every 

 thing is nice and new, and every precaution had 

 been taken to not have the disease in our new apia- 

 ry. If you have the "real stuff," then you are do- 

 ing right to burn up the combs. But, be it whatev- 

 er it may, turn on the steam and give it a warming- 

 up, anyhow. A. W. Osburn. 

 Havana, Cuba, W. I., Aug. 35, 1888. 



Yes, t'liend O., we feel sure we have the 

 " real stuff." In spite of all we can do, it 

 continues to exist in our apiary. See Our 

 Own Apiary, this issue. 



