820 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 



they did nothing; up to the time of transferring, 

 when I did not find, ou an averag-e, an ounce of 

 honey in their stands. As soon as I discovered this 

 I at once commenced feeding, and fed them fS.OO 

 worth of granulated sugar, and followed instruc- 

 tions to the letter as found in your ABC book, with I 

 i-esult as above given. Now, have I done a bad job 

 hy taking brood-frame> from them at the time of 

 year? W. F. Wright. 



Johnson, Neb., Sept. 6, 1884. 



Friend W., I can not very well answer 

 your question, without knowing your honey 

 resources ; and, in fact, 1 do not know that 

 anybody can answer it until he sees how you 

 turn out. If plenty of honey comes in 'the 

 fall, so as to fill up where you took it out, it 

 is all right enough ; or if you feed with su- 

 gar syrup so as to make up for the honey ta- 

 ken, it will be just as well, or better. I 

 should think covering the hives with a 

 strawstack a little questionable ; but as it 

 turned out all right in your case, perhaps 

 the plan is well enough. I should be afraid 

 the bees that come out through the straw 

 would never get back where they came from, 

 and this would weaken your colonies a good 

 deal. For tliis same reason I do not think 

 it best to move colonies up close together, as 

 you speak of. Unless you put on straw 

 enough so as to shed rain, and fix it so as 

 to shed water, I should be afraid it would 

 only have the eft'ect of keeping the hives 

 cold and damp. But I should by all means 

 have the entrance so they can get out and 

 in when the weather is stiitable. 



sold in Washington Co., there is plenty of it drank, 

 as shown by the number of " full " persons to be 

 seen. Allegheny Co. has plenty of saloons; and as 

 it joins us ou the east, our prohibition does not 

 amount to so much as it should and would do, if it 

 were national instead of sectional. 

 McDonald, Pa., Nov. 22, 1884. J. H. McBlkxev. 



FUOM 25 TO 3.5, AND 2000 LBS. OF COMB HONEY. 



My report for the season is as follows: Com- 

 menced with 25 swarms; increased to c5, and got 

 about 2000 lbs. comb honey, mostly from white clo- 

 ver. I wish to know if there is any way to prevent 

 the hees from storing pollen in section honey above 

 bi'oodchamber. Will bees make as much honey in 

 1-lb. sections asin2-lb.? This is my second season 

 with bees. John Crombie. 



Columbus, Wis., Nov. 21, 1884. 



Friend C, bees seldom store pollen in the 

 sections, when separators are used, and very 

 likely Heddon's arrangement of two bee- 

 spaces and a honey -board would have the 

 same effect in discouraging them from stor- 

 ing pollen above the brood. Bees usually 

 store the pollen quite close to the brood, so 

 they can have it handy to feed the young 

 larvje. Putting a strip of tin between the 

 brood-comb and the sections would make 

 the pollen unhandy. The subject has been 

 pretty fully discussed in our back ntunbers. 



BEES, BUG JUICE, AND PROHIBITION IN W.\SHING- 

 TON COUNTY, PA. 



I may make the same rei)ort in regard to the sea- 

 son of 1884 that Mr. Vankirk, of Washington, docs, 

 as mentioned in Nov. Gleanings. We had some of 

 the nicest honey from locust-bloom I ever saw. It 

 is almost as clear as water. After that, came the 

 "bug juice;" but with us it had not the bad flavor 

 and taste as was reported by some. Some of our 

 folks even prefer it to the white clover. I think it 

 is on account of the locust and white-clover honey 

 that is mixed with it. Toward the last of the season, 

 after the bees had ceased to work on white clover, 

 the honey was not so good. 



Notwithstanding there is no liquor allowed to be 



wintering on candy alone. 



Can a swarm of bees be wintered on candy, pre- 

 pared according to directions on page .50, ABC 

 book, and hung in the hive in a brood fraiueV 

 sub-earth ventilation. 



What are the principles of a sub-earth ventilatory 

 How long should the air-flue be? Must the flue be 

 straight, or may there be one or two elbows in it? 

 The reason I ask about the candy is this: A neigh- 

 bor has a " catch " swarm, and they have not suffi- 

 cient stores, and he said I might have them if I 

 would take them. To be sure, I will, for the comb. 

 But I should like to winter them if it is possible. 



Scipio, N. Y., Nov. 24, 1881. J. B. Fordyce. 



Friend F., I have wintered bees with 

 candy placed over the frames when I could 

 not discover a cell of honey in the hive. 

 They wintered nicely too ; but some others 

 who' have tried to do the same thing have 

 not succeeded so well. The bees swarmed 

 out in the spring, but the candy feed may 

 have had nothing to do with it. It just now 

 occurs to me, that friend Doolittle's remarks 

 about the sugar in the Good candy being of 

 no value will need a little (lualifying when 

 we talk about wintering bees on candy from 

 sugar and nothing else.— The principle of 

 sid>earth ventilation is that, instead of 

 bringing cold air from directly out of doors, 

 it is first carried far enough under ground 

 to take the frost out, or reduce it to the tem- 

 perature of the earth, down below the frost- 

 line. The length of the pipe depends upon 

 the size of it, and also the depth to which it 

 is laid. I suppose that connecting the ven- 

 tilating-pipe with ordinary tile underdrains 

 would answer every purpose. If you are 

 going to lay a pipe, the dimensions and 

 length could not be given until we know 

 how many bees are to be kept in your cellar 

 or frost-proof room. At a random estimate, 

 I sliould say a cellar containing .50 colonies 

 of bees should be v* ntilated by a pipe not 

 less than four inches in diameter, and this 

 pipe ought to be at least three feet under 

 ground, and not less than .500 feet in length. 

 To get a strong draft through the pipe, the 

 outlet ventilator would l)e Ijeltcr connected 

 witli a stovepipe or cliimney in which a fire 

 is kept. This would send" a steady draft 

 through the cellar; and the air, as it comes 

 in, should be above freezing, even if it is 20 

 below zero outside. We need experiments 

 in this matttr. Elbows would probably 

 make little difference, although if they 

 turjied a shnrp corner the current of air 

 would be obstructed. If I were you, I would 

 try wintering those bees on the Good candy, 

 described in our last issue. 



honey flying over the top op the E-XTRACT- 

 or; some good news. 

 At top of second column, page 737, G.TSI. Doolittle 

 says, " It is supplied by going in at the center." 

 That is enough; stop right there, and " catch hold;" 

 ifyoiicut oft' the su))ply of air at the center, the 



