1884 



GLEA]^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



315 



In your price list you say: " If the chafif hives are 

 well supplied with stores, we hope they will need no 

 attention whatever, from the time honey ceases un- 

 til it comes again the next season." Now, I would 

 like to know if it is or is not an established fact, that 

 bees are as safe in chaff hives as any other way in 

 winter, ana summer also. I see you speak of chaff- 

 hive apiaries, in A B C book. Do they use the chafif 

 hive? if so, do they remove the chafif? In winter do 

 you have the upper story full of frames, or not? and 

 which story do the bees occupy? 



Brock, Neb., Mar. 23. Mus. Addie I. Johnston. 



We think bees are about as safe in chaff 

 hives, all things considered, as anywhere 

 else, though I suppose during very severe 

 winters they might be saved where kept in 

 the cellar, where they would perish outside 

 in chaff hives. The chaff is always to re- 

 main in the hive, of course, for we need it in 

 summer almost as much as in the winter, to 

 protect the walls of the hives from the in- 

 tense heat of a July sun. Taking the chaff 

 out and putting it back would be altogether 

 too much trouble. The bees are always 

 wintered in the lower story. If wintered in 

 the upper story, we could not protect them 

 as we do where they are below. The upper 

 story is for surplus honey in summer, and 

 to hold the chaff' cushion in winter. 



HAVING LETTERS OR FIGURES BUILT IN COMB HONEY. 



I want to give the bee-folks some hints in re- 

 gard to having bees make the letters on comb 

 honey. Now, so far as I have experimented, I 

 am satisfied that it is a very simple thing to have 

 the bees make nice raised letters on comb honey, 

 and I have had some raised nearly one-half inch, 

 and they can be seen 100 feet ctf very plainly. Mine 

 are made in Langstroth frames, and are about four 

 inches in size. I can't give my mode of experiment 

 for it would be too long, and I don't thiak of much 

 use. The principle is what I wish to let them know, 

 and here it is: Take a piece of tin, and cut the let- 

 ters out, the same as for a brand. Now place the 

 tin close up to a card of unfinished comb, and let 

 the bees do the rest; and if you do your part with a 

 little skill and science, you will be rewarded with as 

 fine delicately finished letters as you could wish. 

 Now, Mr. Root, if you think this would help friend 

 Lawson, or any one, put it in Gleanings. 



C. B. Barber. 



Langford, Boulder Co., Col., Jan. 24, 1884. 



Or IiettSrs from Those "Who have Made 

 Bee Culture a Failure. 



BROOD-COMBS BUILT ON THIN FOUNDATION. 



Will comb honey built on your thin fda. have a 

 tough center? Do you have any complaints from 

 customers? What kind of lubricator do you use? 

 How do you prepare it? W. H. Kerb. 



Waynestown, Ind., Mar. 3, 1884. 



We have had no complaint of the tough 

 center in comb honey built on our fdn. for 

 several years. The only lubricator we use is 

 starch, made just as it is used for starching 

 clothes. We get a cheap quality of starch 

 by the barrel, that answers just as well as 

 any. To make fdn. with the base nearly as 

 thin as that of natural comb, we are obliged 

 to screw the mill down very close, and roll 

 narrow strips, say just wide enough for the 

 section box. It is a pretty diflicult matter to 

 make sheets wide enougii for brood-combs, 

 with the bases as thin as they should be for 

 section boxes. 



^nifi SEE no "bee talk" in Gleanings from Ken- 

 J|[ tucky, and feel that this section should have at 

 ^ least one representative. I will, with your per- 

 mission, submit the following for Blasted Hopes. 

 Out of the 10 strong colonies packed in excellent 

 winter quarters, but 3 are now alive (just alive, and 

 queenless). Two near neighbors, one who had 35, 

 lost all, and the other, with 33, has but one colony 

 living. Seven miles south of us, on the Cumberland 

 River, bees fared better, although several parties 

 report severe losses, and all believe it to be a regu- 

 lar case of " freeze out," as many colonies had stores 

 enough to winter them through. The only party I 

 can hear from who lost none had five colonies in the 

 old-style gum, and reports all strong and in good 

 condition, which seems to be one point in favor of 

 the log gum. However, with all our losses, we are 

 not completety discouraged. As for myself, I don't 

 think I could feel thoroughly in the business with- 

 out one or two failures. A. T. Shotwell. 

 Somerset, Ky., March 18, 1884. 



If you want reports of blasted hopes, I will send 

 you mine, although my hopes are not really blasted, 

 for I have got one colony left out of 6, which is bet- 

 ter than some bee-keepers have done in this vicini- 

 ty. About the first of last November I packed my 6 

 colonies with straw, after Cook's plan, putting 3 in 

 one box by moving them a foot or so at a time, un- 

 til they stood side by side. Feb. 19th they had a fly; 

 5 were all right, and one was dead. March 31st they 

 had another Hy, when all were dead but two, one of 

 which was queenless and very weak; the other had 

 brood and a queen, but was rather weak, so 1 united 

 them without any quarreling whatever, and they 

 now appear to be all right. 1 have kept bees almost 

 a year, and I have come to this conclusion: Bee- 

 keeping is a goo* business, but it would be a great 

 deal better if we only knew just how to fix our bees 

 in the fall so that we could be sure they would come 

 out in healthy condition in the spring. 



Howard L. Hutchinson, 0—1. 



May, Tuscola Co., Mich., Apr. 11, 1884. 



BLASTED HOPES — BUDDING AGAIN. 



Six years ago I caught the bee fever. A friend 

 came to see me with the I X L hive, and gave me a 

 few lessons in transferring, and how to care for 

 them. We bought 15 or 20 colonies in box hives; 

 transferred all but one; divided, spaced off our 

 apiary, and took a look at them once a week; got 

 about 100 lbs. of honey in the fall ; packed them away 

 for winter — 50 colonies. In the spring we had 55 

 empty hives, and one (the box hive* colony of black 

 bees. Our ardor had considerably abated. From 

 that one box hive we have 12 good strong colonies 

 tnis spring. When a child, mother toid me if I lost 

 my knife, to go and look for it as near as I could 

 recollect where I had it last; and so after reading 

 Gleanings one year, which a friend had kindly sent 

 me, I ordered your ABC book, and from that I 

 learned that beekeeping, to be successful, must bo 

 followed as any other business — must be made a 

 specialty, and looked after more frequently than 

 " once a week." L. F. Stoddard. 



