1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



91 



•about f) inches in length, with 200 young, about 

 ■.' inches in length, were also landed. Those six 

 perch. I think, found their way to the pond by 

 accident. They weri' only about 1 inch long in 

 October. 18S8. It is these in company witli the 

 carp that no doubt ate all the eggs or young 

 carp if any hatched. But why did the 2(X)"perch 

 survive ? I think they are somewhat more spry, 

 and dodge the larger lish, and thus escape from 

 the cannibals. Not feeding the breeders, and 

 the chilly weather during May. may also have 

 caused the shortage of eggs. You will notice 

 that the growth of the carp does not approach 

 that of luany other breeders who take extra 

 pains in feeding them and weeding out other 

 tish. 



The neighbor's ponds were very low during 

 the latter part of ISIK). Dec. 24 we seined one 

 pond, which was too shallow to risk any fish in, 

 and transferred them to another: and we find 

 that the year's growth with all the different 

 sizes is even smallei' than it was with me. 

 Along witii the carp\\(' found Imndreds of jjerch 

 and cat-Hsh. but could not tind a single carp of 

 this year's hatch. I believe if tiiey had been 

 undisturbed for yeai'stocome. with 270 breeders, 

 no young carp would svn-vive. even though some 

 might hatch. Another ni'ighbor introduced 30 

 cai'p 7 inches in length. In 1887 the pond was 

 flooded. Later, and when we seined it in No- 

 vember. 18SI0. we found only 4 left. They 

 weighed 7 lbs. each. Also sevei'al thousand 

 oommon fish were found, hut not a siugle young 

 carp. No doubt these four cai'p lived on the 

 wild fish, which accounts for theii' weight. 



Mr. Root, I do wish you could have seen 

 these four fish. They were as fat as hogs. 

 After these careful observations I have come to 

 the conclusion that the safest way for an ordi- 

 nary farmer is to make a pond deep (7 feet or 

 more), and proof against overflows. Then stock 

 the pond with young fry in September. I think 

 thisbyfar thesafest way to go into cai'p culture. 

 I shotild be glad to hear fi'om others who have 

 •experimented with carp. L. F. Dixtelmaxx. 



Belleville, 111., Jan., 1891. 



[Friend D.. we should also be glad to hear 

 from others: but inasmuch as tluuv is a jouiiuil 

 devoted to carp cult inc. we think it best not to 

 give very much space to it here. You biing out 

 in your communication a fact of great interest 

 to me: nanu'ly. that if the eggs be removed 

 from the pond, and [ilaced in a glass jai- out in 

 the sun, young carp nuiy be hatched out by the 

 million, perfectly secun^ from their voracious 

 foes. My impression is. that the principal diffl- 

 oulty with carp-ponds in general is that com- 

 mon fish get in and eat the eggs and young fry. 

 Our own pond lias no communication with any 

 other body of water; and yet common fish make 

 their appearance as fast as we can get them 

 out. They ai'e probably brought in by the eggs 

 adhei'ing to the feet of wild water-fowl. Of 

 course, di'awing the pond off and soi'ting them 

 out from time to time will keep these enemies in 

 check. But it needs stimebody with a good deal 

 of enthusiasm in the l)usin<'ss to follow it up.] 



ERNEST'S NOTES OF TRAVEL. 



AT DK. MII-I>EK S, COXTIXUED; liEVEKSIBI.E BOT- 

 TO.M-B()ARDS; MICE IX BEE-CELLARS, ETC. 



The next morning. Monday. I arose, fully re- 

 freshed. The doctor wanted me to stop another 

 day: but I told him I must take the train at 

 noon. 



■■ Well, then, we can not afford to waste any 

 time,"' said the doctoi'. 



I had a curiosity to know more about those 



deep bottom-boards he is using, and so down 

 into the cellar we went. He had already put in 

 some 2.5 or 30 colonies, and tiie rest were still 

 out. The doctor had told me, if he could only 

 get me into his cellar he could convince me 

 that his revei'sible bottom -boards were a good 

 thing, and when there I had to assent that they 

 were: although, of course, I insisted that 

 Boardman's plan of leaving bottom-boards off 

 entirely was just as good, and cheaper. 



"But,"' said the doctor, " / can not caiTy 

 hives of bees into the cellar with no bottora- 

 boai-ds. without the bees dropping out and fly- 

 ing all over."' 



" If you select a rather cool day, I do not 

 think you will have vny much trouble: at 

 least. Tdo not liave. Still, I admit that there is 

 a little trouble, occasionally, esiiecially with 

 the hybrids. Latterly we have cairied tiu' bees 

 into the cellar with tiu^ bottom-boards on the 

 hives. Our carrying - bail catches under the 

 bottom-board, and hive and all is carried in. 

 When there tiie hive is lift(>d off its bottom, 

 and placed in i)Osition. and so we bring in each 

 hive. The bottom-boards are piled up in one 

 corner of the cellar, and the bodies of the hives 

 are stacked uj). (( la Boardman. So you see, 

 doctor, we liave no trouble about bees flying 

 out.'" 



•• Yes." said he. " but don"t you have trouble 

 by a lot of bees clinging to the bottom-board '? " 



•• We should have,"" I replied, " if we carried 

 the bees in on a warm day. We wait till the 

 temperature goes down to 20 or 2.5. and then 

 the clnsterwill have contracted enough so that, 

 when the hive is lifted off its bottom, there will 

 be no bees adhering. I will make an exception 

 for hybrids. The least disturbance will make 

 them expand their cluster, and boil all over the 

 bottom-board. As we do not keep hybrids to any 

 great extent, and do not propose to. tliis trouble 

 does not figure veiy largely with us. I admit, 

 doctor."" I said, •• that the reverisble boards are 

 a splendid thing. As you do sometimes have a 

 few hyluid colonies, your plan would have that 

 advantage."" 



•• But it won"t do for me." said the doctor, '"to 

 pile the hives up a hi Boardman. You may 

 say it is not necessary to have mice in the cellar; 

 but I have them, and can't very well keep them 

 out. As I explained to you, I use this coarse- 

 mesh wire cloth to close the entrance to all 

 such vermin. It has a coarse mesh, you see, so 

 the bees can easily pass out."' 



"• Y"es."' I said, ■■ circumstances do sometimes 

 alter cases. My cellar is made entirely mouse- 

 proof. .Still, there was one little chap that 

 crept in last winter. One Sunday evening while 

 Mrs. Root and I were sitting before the grate 

 fire, over the bee-cellar, we heaid a peculiar 

 sort of noise. The cat picked up her ears, and 

 seemed interested, and cautiously crept to the 

 point whence the noise proceeded. I said that 

 would never do to have a mouse in the bee- 

 cellar, so down I went with the lantern. I ex- 

 amined a number of bees on the floor, and 

 found that the mouse had been eating at them. 

 It was pretty dark in the cellai'. but I ran my 

 hand up. as well as I could, where I had heard 

 the mouse. By holding the lantern up I dis- 

 covered a sort of black hole. I thrust my hand 

 into it. and was somewhat horrified to find that 

 there had been a fire there at sonu? time or oth- 

 er, though it was. evidently, from no fault of the 

 I'odent. This hole was directly under the grate 

 tiling, and it was evident that the heut had 

 been at sonu' time so intense as to burn out the 

 woodwork. I did not care any thing about the 

 mouse; but I made up my mind that our com- 

 foi'table gi'ate should not run any more that 

 winter. Although I was deeply grateful to the 

 mouse for causing me to investigate the prem- 



