888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov 



cents less than our comb honey in sections. 

 You remember that friend Chapman (of the 

 Chapman honey-plant celebrity) has always 

 sold his honey in the same way. He puts a 

 dollar's worth in a pan, and sells it, pan and 

 all, for a dollar.— I agree with your closing 

 remarks in regard to the " best girls."' If 

 there are any better girls in the world than 

 those we have in our establishment, there is 

 an encouraging future before the world just 

 now ; and I believe that it is pretty gener- 

 ally agreed that the girls who belong to 

 ■• liooCs factory," for general worth and in- 

 telligence, are welcomed in any society in or 

 round about Medina. They are foremost in 

 all good enterprises ; they are conversant 

 with the current literature" of the day ; they 

 not ojily attend our best lectures, but they 

 are able to follow our brightest and best 

 thinkers ; they are foremost in our prayer- 

 meetings, churches, and Sunday-schools, 

 and they are able and willing and ready to 

 take hold of the great problems of the day. 



SHADING HIVES IN WINTER. 



FRIEND DOOLITTLE'S VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT. 



« CORRESPONDENT wishes to know if it will 

 do any g-ood to shade hives, by way of pre- 

 venting bees from coming- out and dying on 

 the snow. To which I reply, Yes; and I 

 would also say that a shade of the right kind 

 is very beneficial in other ways. Some seem to 

 think that the sun does not warm up the interior of 

 a hive to any extent so as to disturb a healthy colo- 

 ny of bees; but from years of experience I am con- 

 vinced that such are mistaken. Even chaff hives 

 are warmed clear through their thick walls so as 

 to make the bees break their cluster and run about 

 the south side of the hive, along the warm material, 

 to such an extent that it often results in disease. 

 Especially is this true if the hive is painted any col- 

 or other than white; for the darker the color, the 

 more heat there is absorbed. I have repeatedly 

 looked into hives at about 3 p. m., on days when the 

 sun had been shining brightly; and although the 

 mei'cury then stood below the freezing-point in the 

 shade, the bees were lively and active across the 

 whole length of the front, or south side of the hive, 

 while the north side of the interior of the hive had 

 no bees about it, and that sidtvof the cluster was 

 unbroken. Besides this, many liecs would come to 

 the entrance, and, finding it warm and nice there in 

 the bright sunshine, out of the wind, would take 

 wing, only to be chilled as soon as they left that 

 comfortable nook, made so nice by the warm rays 

 of the sun. As night came on, the cluster was again 

 formed, only to be broken the next day, and so on, 

 until disease was contracted, or the colony materi- 

 ally injured from the loss of bees. 



After watching proceedings for some time I be- 

 gan experimenting by shading the front of a part 

 of the hives, while others were left as before. All 

 those shaded were found (juiet, with an unbroken 

 cluster, at 3 p. m., while those not shaded continued 

 to parade along the south side of the intei-ior of the 

 hive, and fly out and get lost. I now shaded all of 

 the hives, since which I have been far more suc- 

 cessful in wintering. For a .shade I use a board 

 about one inch shorter than the front side of the 

 hive (hives face south), and a little wider than the 



hive is deep. This board is set on the bottom-board 

 of the hive or the alighting-board, out about six 

 inches from the hive, when the tojj is leaned over 

 against the front of the hive. In this way there is 

 an average space of three inches all along the front 

 of the hive, so that a free circulation of air is allow- 

 ed, thus keeping the front of the hive as cool as the 

 back side. When snow falls, the entrance is not 

 clogged with it, and it also keeps strong winds from 

 disturbing the cluster and cooling the interior of 

 the hive by l)lowing in at the entrance. Again, it 

 allows all the old bees to come out of the hive to 

 die, as they always will do if they can, so that the 

 entrance is not so liable to get clogged with dead 

 bees. When it is really warm enough for bees to fly, 

 this board is no hindrances to them, but, on the con- 

 trary, it keeps the entrance in such a condition that 

 they can fly at any time when it is warm enough, 

 without any assistance from the apiarist by waj- ol 

 shoveling snow, etc. Inthe summer these boards 

 are left turned down right in front of the hive, so 

 as to give a large even surface for the bees to alight 

 upon, as well as to help in keejiing weeds and grass 

 down. I am so well pleased with them that I could 

 not think now of getting along without them. As 

 they will soon be needed, I give this in time so all can 

 try a few and see whether T am correct in my con- 

 clusion or not. G. M. Uoolittle. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



Friend D., I at one time thought a good 

 deal as you do ; but I have so many times 

 had, as 1 thought, abundant reason to think 

 that hives that stood in the sun did much 

 better than those that were on the north 

 side of the building, I concluded the sun 

 was a decided advantage in the end. Shad- 

 ing only the fyont of the hive in the way 

 you suggest, "may make quite a difference, 

 however. But, don't these broad shading- 

 boards warp up so as to get unsightly, when 

 one side is against the ground, and the oth- 

 er right under the blazing sun of summer? 

 1 know such a board keeps down weeds, but 

 it makes such a lurking-place for spiders, 

 toads, and other vermin, that we have sev- 

 eral times rejected them. May be you clamp 

 your shade-boards to prevent warping ; and 

 if so. we should be glad to know just how 

 you do it. We have never found the sun a 

 a detriment in our localitv. 



THE SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT THE USE OF KEKOSENE 

 FOU LIGHTING FIRES. 



EAR MR. EDITOR:— I promised last summer 

 to report, at the end of the season, as to the 

 value of the solar wax-extractor which you 

 so kindly donated to our college. We like it 

 so well that hereafter we shall use no others, 

 except in a very limited way, just to show our stu- 

 de.its how they work. First, this extractor is so 

 convenient. It is ever ready, and we have only to 

 throw in our old combs, fragments, or cappings, 

 when, in a few hours, we have them all rendered 

 into the ver3^ nicest wax— no firing up, no possible 

 litter or muss, all clean and fresh, out in the pure 

 air, where room is unstinted. 



Again, there is no danger of overheating and in- 

 juring the wax. Without the least watching or 

 cai'c, we arc sure of the very nicest of wax. 



