ISSl 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



529 



ed, lest, in their haste to replace her, they might 

 build cells on hatched larvirC, but no such thing 

 happened; on examination I found all the cells 

 were built on egg-s, and capped over on the same 

 day. I am now looking- forward to the 15th of July, 

 when I shall be able to cut them all out, and place 

 them in their respective hives just in time to be 

 hatched. I always keep ray bees voi-y busy; when- 

 ever there is any cleaninor or mending- of frames to 

 bo done, the job is set apart for late evening, or, 

 again, for a rainy day, not to lose any of the pre- 

 cious moments God allows them to bring in the 

 honey. A Bee-Friend from Canada. 



Quebec, July 10, 1884. 



My friend, your test is not quite a fair one. 

 If you kept the colony supplied with unsealed 

 brood they were almost equivalent to a colo- 

 ny with a queen. There" is a difference in 

 this respect, for most Italians will go on gatli- 

 ering honey for some time after the queen is 

 taken away, while a colony of blacks or even 

 hybrids would almost stop business at the 

 loss of their queen. While i have known a 

 few colonies that would store honey rapidly 

 after their queen Avas taken away, it has 

 with me been the exception rather than the 

 rule. 



ADVANTAGE OF TIMELY i'EEDINO. 



1 commenced in the spring of 1883 with 8 stands; 

 increased to 2i by natural s-.varniing; one went to 

 parts unknown. All the fore part'of the season was 

 wet and cold, so they did not do much good. I got 

 100 lbs. extracted and 30 lbs. comb; the hitter part of 

 the season was so dry that buckwheat did no good. 

 Had it not boon for a flow of honey from a little pod 

 on black-oak and black-jack, I should have lost all my 

 bees, as I was sick in the fall, and my better half 

 had not time to attend to them alone. 



HOW I AVINTERED. 



I doubled up six of the weakest, giving one colony 

 all the honey of both. I went into winter quarters 

 with 23 stands; I put nine in a root-house, made in 

 a south hill-side; 13 I wintered on summer stands. 

 I came out this spring- with the loss of five. Three 

 were very weak. I do not see any difference in 

 those I wintered outdoors. The ones in the root- 

 house, I commenced to feed sugar syrup with a 

 little honey mixed, as soon as it was warm enough 

 for them to tly. By so doing I have got the most of 

 them built up strong, and they are booming on 

 white and alsike clover. I have had four swarms 

 up to date; have extracted over 100 lbs. honey from 

 the sti-ongcst colonies. I am not quite through; 

 think I can go through them again next week. 

 Nearly all the bees died last winter; and had I not 

 fed mine every warm day, 1 should have lost most 

 of them. It has been so wet and cold all spring, 

 bees have not dope.as well as they ought to. 



Now, Brother Root, may the good Lord bless you 

 and yours. I consider Our Homes worth five times 

 the cost, if I had never seen a bee. 



Chahles L. Gour.ii. 



Rock Spring, Mo., June 'I, 1884. 



WINTEIIING WITH THE SPACES BETWEEN THE 

 FUAMES Cr.OSED. 



I have noticed the bees in their own natural plan 

 of wintering, where they fasten their comb to the 

 top and sides of their home, and have thought, in 

 f!]ct have proved, that the ;■« in. we give around 



combs is fraught with winter danger. A few open- 

 ings that the bees can close Avith their bodies at 

 leisure are useful in allowing- them to change their 

 position according to their honey stock; but further 

 than this, all openings around the combs arc objec- 

 tionable, on account of the too free circulation of 

 air, which extracts heat fromthem. My plan is to 

 have the frames built full by reversing, and, at the 

 approach of winter, turn the frames up endwise, 

 most honey up, and place division-boards close 

 against them, and chaff cushions all around and 

 over them. As I use a frame that is reversible in 

 every shape, this is easily done. AV. M. Egan. 



Salt Lake City, Utah. 



I have often thought of what you say, 

 friend E., and in some respects yoii may be 

 right. I have tried wintering a strong col- 

 ony with no ])rot(H'lion over them except 

 wliat they received by iilling the space be- 

 tween the coml)s \vi 111 their own bodies. The 

 colony died from exposure— at hnist , I thinlv 

 they did. AVitli abiuKhmtventilatioii below, 

 perhaps it would do to have the ujiper i)art 

 of the hive a solid box with the combs at- 

 tached to it. I have jvist been wondering 

 whether a small cheap wooden bowl would 

 not be aliout as good as the llill device, or 

 better, providing there were plenty of lower 

 ventilation. 



HONEY THAT CANDIES IN THE COMIIS. 



About a week ago I saw in front of one of my 

 hives on the alighting-board and on the ground, 

 what I supposed to bo granulated sugar. On in- 

 quiry, no one had used sugar near the hives. On 

 opening the hive I found some comb nearly flUed 

 with the sugar. In cutting out a piece the sugar 

 would fall ou.t in lumps the size and shape of a cell. 

 On making further search I found this sugar in 

 most of the hives. Can you explain it? What can 

 be done with it? No one here knows. A. Lower. 



Griflin, Ga., July 10, 1881. 



Friend L., I can give no explanation, more 

 than to say we have a report from some lo- 

 cality or other almost every year, of this 

 kind of honey. I suppose the solid substance 

 is a sort of grajte sugar formed by nature, 

 and it contracts in solidifying, so as to loosen 

 it enough to drop otit of the'cells. It seems 

 to injure the sale of comb honey whenever it 

 is found. No one has ever yet decided what 

 plant it is that bees gather it from, so far as 

 I know. 



FRIEND I'OND S OPINION OF THE DIFFEUENT 

 HONEY-KNIVES. 



The Bingham knife was received all right, and 

 proves to be just the thing. I have two Novice 

 honey-knives, but they are rather slender for un- 

 capping— at least, I find them so; but for general 

 purposes otherwise they are just the thing. I got 

 one of your 10-cent troAvols, but the steel in that did 

 not prove first rate, and it did not grind well, so I 

 gave it up. 1 have used the Bingham, and nothing 

 could work better. Joseph E. Pond, Jr. 



Foxboro, Masg., June 3.T, 1884. 



Very likely the; cheap trowels are not very 

 finely tempered, i'or the price is too low. 

 Many of the friends, however, find them to 

 answer a very good purpose ; and if they 

 should be discarded as a honey-knife, they 

 are worth the cost to use in tjie garden. 



