788 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



pointed, for she could hardly be distinguished from 

 her attendants. Nevertheless I put her with the 

 hive, and the bees having- accepted her I watched 

 and waited for developments. She has proved hei-- 

 self a very treasure, having- filled every thing with 

 brood, and keeps it up. Now, if she were only a lit- 

 tle different from the rest in size, 1 would not part 

 with her for considerable; but as my frames lit the 

 hives too closely I am almost afraid to open them, 

 fearing that I may kill her majesty while putting 

 the frames back in place. If I could tell her I could 

 guard against any such catastrophe. 



A. R. CO.MSTOCK. 



Sayville, Suffolk Co., N. Y., July 19, 1886. 



AN .\ B C SCHOLAR S EXPERIENCE IN DIVIDING. 



I have your ABC book, and have gained a large 

 amount of information from it, but am now in a 

 puzzle. 



A few days ago I divided a verj^ strong colony, 

 and made two of it. I put h frames in the new 

 hive, about one-half of which was brood, the other 

 half honey. Last night when I opened it to. see 

 how they were coming on I was astonished to find 

 the honey entirely gone, no sign of any, and a large 

 amount of young bees hatched out, and some 

 dead ones in the bottom of the hive. Now, -what 

 became of the honey, and how shall I operate ? 



Philadelphia, Pa. F. W. Taylor. 



Your nucleus luis been robbed, friend T. 

 When you make an artiticial colony, you 

 must be sure that the bees have learned to 

 defend themselves. If you will make the 

 entrance small, the young bees just hatched 

 out will very soon keep out robl)ers. The 

 best way to" feed them to keep them from 

 starving will be by means of a comb of 

 brood, bees, and honey, from the parent 

 hive. Sometimes the bees that are old 

 enough to fly will go back to the parent col- 

 ony, taking all the honey with them. This 

 may be the case with your bees. 



AN UNUSUAL, EFFECT OF ATTACHIXO \ Dl{ONE-E.\.- 

 CLUDER TO THE ENTRANCE. 



Will you kindly give your opinion on the follow- 

 ing case, through Gle.\nings ? Last Sunday, Mr. 

 John Oliver, a neighbor of mine, had a swarm come 

 off. He hived them, but they almost immediately 

 left the new hive and returned to their old home. 

 He then put on a drone-e.xcluder in front of the old 

 hive, and went to church, satisfied in his own mind 

 that he had fixed them this time. In the evening, 

 on examining them, ho found the combs all down 

 and the bees either dead or dying; but there was 

 (luite a lot of bees clustering outside. The hive 

 was under a shade-tree. It had not much honey in- 

 side, but combs were well filled with brood. The 

 frames are 13 inches wide by I.') deep, and not wired. 



Friend Oliver's theory is, that when, finding the 

 drone-excluder on, they became so exasperated 

 that they ripped every thing to bits, and so brought 

 the misfortune on themselves. My oi>inion is, that 

 the hive had become overheated, and that the 

 combs, having no wire to supjiort them, had melted 

 down. 



We have had a very flno show of white clover this 

 season; but owing to the extreme heat and want of 

 rain it did not last long. 



I met with a curiosity a few days ago while driv- 

 ing through the country. I met with a man who 

 has kept bees lor over M years, and had never seen 



a queen until I opened one of his hives and pointed 

 her majesty out to him. J. N. Kendall. 



Ilderton, Ont., Can. 



Friend K., your drone-excluder is what 

 made the trouble. The colony was probably 

 a very strong one, and the drone-excluder 

 so hindered them fro.ni getting out and in 

 that the entrance became blocked, and a 

 stampede ensued, leading tlie bees to so cover 

 every crevice that afforded air that the in- 

 mates of the hive were smothered. In such 

 a case the heat of the hive will nm up uu- 

 til the bees, brood, etc., get almost scalding 

 hot, melting the combs, and letting every 

 thing fall to the bottom in a sticky mush. 

 Where you lind such a condition of affairs 

 in time, you may save the bees by rinsing 

 them in water not too cold, and then drying 

 them in tiie sun, placed on a coarse cloth or 

 sieve, so the water will run off and allow 

 them to get dry. Wlien bees get smothered 

 in this way they disgorge the honey in their 

 sacks, and this is sufficient to make the 

 whole mass about as wet as if thev were 

 drowned in honey. Sometimes a portion of 

 the b(es will escape, and cluster on the out- 

 side of the hive, as you suggest. We have 

 sometimes saved these daubed bees by put- 

 ting them in the upper story of a chaff hive, 

 allowing the inmates to lick them off. By 

 the time they get down to the entrance they 

 will be all right ; but if you let them loose 

 when thus daubed they will crawl out in the 

 dirt and die by the thousands. 



cement FOR BOTTOMS OF HIVES. 



On page .WS, June Gleanings, it is asked, "Will 

 stone do for bottoms?" i'es, but cement ones are 

 cheaper and better. Take cement, same as for 

 cistern work. Make a mold of a size and shape 

 that will take a wood bottom for Simplicity hive; 

 fill with mortar and strike it off. This sets in a few 

 minutes, and can be removed. I .make the most 

 of mine where I want them to i-cmain. I make a 

 little mound of dirt, sand, or sawdust, the height I 

 desire my hive; level off the top a little larger than 

 the bottom; have a frame about one inch thick, 

 and the size I want my bottom inside. Set this on 

 the mound, and fill with mortar, and press in the 

 front, where you desire the entrance, with a suit- 

 able thin board; level with the top of the frame, 

 then strike off' and liftoff your frame. It is cheap 

 and durable— no rot, cracks, nor warp. No patent. 

 They do well here. John Cravcraft. 



Altoona, Orange Co., Fla. 



5^6B^CC0 (30MMN. 



AT work on COTTONWOOD. 



T HAVE been reading in Gleanings where any 

 1^ one who would quit the use of tobacco you 

 ^l would send him a smoker. I have been using 

 "■^ the filthy weed for 14 years, and I determine 

 to quit it. I quit it May 15; and if I ever use 

 the weed agflin I will send you one dollar for your 

 trouble. I have 10 hivos of bees, all in movable 

 comb-frames, and they are at work on the cotton- 

 bloopig. I don't know whether cotton produces 

 much honey or not. The honey-Crop has been 

 very poor iu this section this jcar, but I tbinlc-tbe 



