1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ul 



bottom of the box. A side door enables you at any 

 time to see the state of the hive so far as dead bees, 

 dry excreta, etc., disclose it. The box is made suHi- 

 ciently larg-e to admit of the hive on top of it having- 

 an outer covering-, or chaff packing, if desired. The 

 outer entrance to the hive is to be left open all win- 

 ter; to what extent, experiment must determine, 

 as also the size of the air-tube connected with the 

 hopper. What we want to get at is the supply of 

 air sufficient to enable the bees, in the use of their 

 ^ own instincts and resources, to hibernate. Experi- 



ment will be needed; and instead of keeping my 

 secret for two or three years, and working- away at 

 it alone, I prefer to take the entire brotherhood and 

 sisterhood of bee-keepers into mj' confidence, and 

 ask their aid iu working out this principle, which, I 

 am well convinced, is the correct one for successful 

 wintering. I respectfully and earnestly request 

 every bee-keeper in the land to prepare one colony 

 on this principle, for the coming winter. Do it at 

 once, so that the bees may get settled down to house- 

 keeping before winter comes, for I believe that dis- 

 turbance of their domestic economy late in the sea- 

 sou is not wise. 



There is a great deal more I want to say on this 

 subject, but this is a pretty long article already, 

 and I must stop. I have said enough to explain my 

 principle, and must leave many points for future 

 development. I will add, however, that I am con- 

 vinced the plan of setting our hives close to the 

 ground is not a good one. It forces the bees to live 

 iu a damp, unwholesome atmosphere, laden with 

 carbonic-acid gas, and exposes them to attacks from 

 toads, etc. I can not see why it would not be better 

 ' to have the hives table high, so that we can manipu- 

 late them without back-bi-eaking stooping, and so 

 that the bees may have better air, and more of it. 



WM. F. CliAHKE. 



Spccdside, Out., Can., June 26, 1884. 



Very good, friend Clarke, and I am with 

 yon on the main points of your hibernating 

 theory ; but I thinl? you start out with aii 

 erroneous assumption. Bees do die in 

 trees, and that, too, when they liave plenty 

 of sealed stores of honey. If 1 mistake not, 

 we can get a flood of testimony to this effect, 

 by calling for it. 1 have seen one or two 

 cases myself, where they seemed to die in 

 the trees, exactly as they died in the box 

 hives scattered around at farm-houses. Your 

 idea of a large amount of lower ventilation 

 is, I believe, a good one, and friend Hill, of 

 the Bce-Kcepcrs' Guide., has l)een a veliement 

 advocate of it for many years. Look over 

 his back vohunes. I have someitimes woit- 

 dered why no more attention is given to this 

 matter of wintering hives without any bot- 

 tom-board ; but, if I mistakenot, leaving the 

 whole under part of the liive open is almost 

 too much, even though the top be closed en- 

 1^ tirely. Your hopper arrangement, so as to 



f leave an opening tlu-ee or four inches square, 



and still drop all dead l)ees and debris out, 

 is no doubt a pretty good idea; but I do not 

 believe we need a sliaft to make a current of 

 air stronger. Leaving our chaff hives with 

 the entrances wide open all winter long has 

 seemed to be all that is needed. But to show 

 you how doctors disagree. I might add that 

 our friend D. A. Jones m-ges (piite stren- 

 uously tliat the entrances be kept nearly 

 closed, not only during winter, l}ut in fall 



and spring. If I am correct, he recom- 

 mends closing it entirely when the Avinter is 

 so severe there is no possibility that any 

 bees miglit want to get out. I have been for 

 a good many years pretty well satisfied tliat 

 bees do, under proper conditions, hibernate, 

 or, at least, live several weeks, or perhaps 

 longer, without taking food. Instances are 

 on record in considerable numbers, Avhere 

 colonies have wintered with almost no con- 

 sumption of stores at all until they com- 

 mence to rear brood. 



Fe^GETTEJ^Y. 



IT' S vre are annoyed more or less all the 

 ^l|i, lime by careless writers, perhaps it is 



PI best to keep a letter or two in this de- 

 '*-'^ partmeut every month. Here are a 

 couple : 



Inclosed find fifty cents, for which send me as soon 

 as possible the following: John Ploughman's Talk 

 and pictures, price 10 cts. ; 3 glass-cutters, with knife- 

 sharpener and corkscrew, etc., 20 cts.; 1 glass-cutter, 

 5 cts. Amount, 3.5 cts. Postage 14 cts. Total, 49 cts. 



Barnes Corners, N. Y., May 19, 1884. 



You will observe that our friend above 

 has pat every tiling in good shape, has called 

 things l)y the names they are called by in our 

 price list, and lias also put in the postage, 

 added the two together, so as to agree with 

 the .50 cents inclosed. There he stops short, 

 does not give h is own name, nor even the coun- 

 i\ and State in which he lives. Thelatterour 

 clerks made out from his envelop, but the 

 name was beyond human skill. After wait- 

 ing 21 days "he concludes to make inquiry, 

 and sends a postal card as below. But even 

 then he spelled his name so badly that it is a 

 wonder we succeeded in making it out ; and 

 had it not been for the iiostmark we should 

 not have been able to tell where he lived. 



I sent you au order for 59 cts. worth of goods 

 about three weeks ago, but have heard nothing of 

 it. Will you please let me know if you received it? 

 H. G. Gregg. 



The next friend who doesn't put his name 

 on lives in California, and he has delayed 

 from .Vpril 12 until his letter, written May 

 21, could reach us. 



Inclosed find postal note for SI. 37 for the follow- 

 ing things: * * * * * * 



Hanford, Cal., April 13, 1884. 



This time he sends stamp for answer: 



I sent you $1.2" the 13th of April, forthe following 

 things: ****** 



I haven't received the things yet. I sent a postal 

 note for Jl.2.5, and a two-cent postage-stami>. I 

 send postage-stamp for answer. .Iohn Thojf.vs. 



May 34, 1884. 



There are no wide frames to hold the sections for 

 surplus honey. I sent for hives complete; every 

 thing is all right but that. I want those. I will send 

 you tile bill you sent nio, so that you can see you 

 have not sent thein. Thomas J. Hyde. 



After our clerks liad traced the whole mat- 

 ter uj), tt> see wliere tlie omission could have 

 conu", and got repiovedby me for saying they 

 didn't believe the man told tiio truth about 

 it, th(! following card was received; 



