GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



so sad! because last tall I had 37 good swarms of 

 bees, and I built up such good hopes for this sum- 

 mer, aud now they are all blasted. 



I thought last fall that I would make sure of some 

 of my bees, so I packed 11 swarms on their summer 

 stands in 6 inches of good line oat chaff, leaving the 

 entrance so they could fly out and in when they 

 pleased; then on the 19th of Dec, 1883,1 buried .5 

 swarms in sandy soil in a trench 3 feet deep, 2 inches 

 of chaff in the bottom, and hives raised from bottom 

 board a little; covered the trench with boards; put 

 a 6-inch pipe in center for ventilation, and piled all 

 the dirt on the boards that I dug out of the trench ; 

 then I put 21 swarms in my cellar, which is dry, and 

 in sandy soil, and under my house. I had the cellar 

 as dark as could be, and ventilated so that, when 

 the mercurj' stood at 22° below zero outdoors, it was 

 just 4 below freezing in the cellar— a difference of 

 41°. I had those hives raised two inches f rom bot- 

 tom-boai'd, no upwai'd ventilation, aiid in February 

 I commenced giving them water by filling pieces of 

 empty comb and putting them under the hives, and 

 raising them up against the frames; but the bees 

 seemed restless, and would come out and crawl 

 about until they were chilled. I swept them up and 

 measured them at different times, and found that I 

 had two bushels of dead bees from 21 hives. 



April 1st, the bees on their summer stands were 

 all dead. I dug the five swarms out of the trench ; 

 they were damp and moldy, and all dead except 

 one swarm, which dwindled out in a few days. I 

 took 16 live swarms out of the cellar; let them have 

 a good fly, then put them back, as the nights were 

 frostJ^ I repeated this sevei-al times, until I thought 

 it was warm enough so they would prosper outdoors, 

 and now I have only five hives containing live bees. 

 Each of those hives has a good queen; they are 

 showing their good will by laying three and four 

 eggs in a cell; but all the bees put together, lam 

 sure, would not make a pint. 



What shall I do? what do I want- what will be- 

 come of me as a bee-keeper? Why did the bees 

 come out so in the cellar? They all had plenty of 

 honey, and their combs were not moldy. 



L. W. Itzenhouser. 



Coral, Montcalm Co., Mich., May 13, 1884. 



Friend I., I confess tliat I do not quite see 

 why your bees should all die, unless it was 

 that they had gathered stores from some- 

 thing that was unwholesome for wintering. 

 The temperature of your cellar was too cold, 

 as you will see by l)()olittle"s article in this 

 number, and I fear you did not have fresh 

 air enough in the cellar, and with those that 

 were buried ; in fact, I am inclined to think 

 it was the trouble all around. It may be yoti 

 killed your l)ees by lixing them up too care- 

 fully. Since we have practiced wintering 

 with the entrance open wide full length, and 

 coarse burlap over the frames, witli loose 

 chaff on top of it, we have had \ery much 

 better success. You know our repoiis liave 

 shown that l)ees winter a great m<uiy times 

 where a curi-ent of air passes right through 

 the hive all winter, when the I'est of the col- 

 onies in good tight hives all die. Wliat shall 

 you do V Why, build up again, of course, 

 and in a year or two you will get the harg of 

 wintering your colonies so you will win- 

 ter every time without any loss, just as your 

 old friend Novice does— or, at least, has for 

 one winter, any way. 



E set out our bees yesterday, and have been 

 [|1|||1|'' thinking of speaking for a small corner of 



the "Laughery," as it makes me feel like 

 smiling " out loud " to see 100 swarms of 

 ItaUans just as bright and nice as a new 

 cent, every one of the 100 too. 



D. E. L'HOMMEDIEU. 



Colo, Iowa, March 27, 1884. 



I have come to look upon bees with some interest 

 and satisfaction. He who is never idle is always 

 happy. W. L. Sharkey. 



Omega, Madison Parish, La., May 11, 1884. 



I commenced the last season with 16 colonies; in- 

 creased to 45, and took about 600 lbs. of honey, most- 

 ly extracted. I have at present .3;) good colonies and 

 4 weak ones. S. H. Eby. 



North Robinson, O., May 20, 1884. 



MRS. COTTON S CONTROLLABLE HIVE. 



I indorse every word you say in April Gleanings 

 in regard to the Cotton drawings and hive. I bought 

 them. It would cost about $8.00 per hive to make 

 them. E. H. Fox. 



Danville, Ky., May 12, 1884. 



DEVELOPING THE HONEY MARKET. 



Two years ago I had hard work to sell a small 

 crop of honey, and now I can not supply the demand 

 of my neighbors. They bring cans and buckets, and 

 often take from 100 to 200 lbs. at 12U cts. Give 

 your customers good honey, and they will buy 

 again. Alexander Floyd. 



Guilford, Mo., March 19, 1884. 



basswood and linden, or linn. 



To settle a dispute, please tell me, is basswood not 

 commonly called linn? If not, what kind of a tree is 

 basswood? C. M. 



Catlin, Ind., May .5, 1884. 



[They are all three only different names for the 

 same thing, friend M.] 



A NEW USE for DRONE-GUAHDS. 



Please send me one comb-brush to brush bees 

 from comb, and the rest of inclosed dollar in guards 

 for Simplicity hives, to keep drones out. They are 

 eating up all of my honey, and swarming every day. 

 I had one hive that swarmed three times in four 

 days. W. N. Parish. 



Little Rock, Ark., May 14, 1884. 



AN IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTED FOR FASTENING 

 foundation TO FRAMES. 



I find that a piece of rubber tubing stretched on 

 over the wooden rollers you sell for fastening foun- 

 dation to the frames is a great improvement. I sold 

 a swarm last spring that threw off 4 large swarms, 

 and all wintered nicely. Chas. H. Kohlrausch. 



North Billerica, Mass., March 26, 1884. 



REPCJUT FROM THE GRAY STARTEr.-MACIIINE. 



The new machine for putting in section starters is 

 the boss. I made one but it required one whole day 

 bj' your description, but I have one perfect. It has 

 to be worked quickly to do the work pi-operly. No 

 man can afford to build one at the flgui-es you give, 

 7.5 cts., but the freight is so much I thought I would 

 try my hand at it. Bees wintered well; strong this 

 spring. Geo. A. Mathews. 



Katonah, N. Y., May 20, 1884. 



