138 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



think tliat Gleanings (or either of the other 

 leading journals) would suppress evidence on 

 the honey-wax question, or wantonly falsify to 

 bolster the foundation trade. If my ai'ticle 

 which is complained of amounted to such a 

 charge, I retract it to that extent. I think, 

 however, that a public joiiinal can do more 

 mischief by keeping silence and letting a prof- 

 itable error have full swing, when it has gained 

 that advantage once, than it can by t he grosser 

 forms of ill doing. Kut, hold on! if I keep on 

 saying what I think, this will be another ket- 

 tle of hasty-pudding, and not a humble pie at 

 all. E. E. Hasty. 



Richards, O., Jan. .5. 



All right, fi'iend H. There will not be any 

 trouble with the " pudding " so long as you talk 

 or write in the above spirit. And, by the way, 

 the best remedy I have (>ver known foi' unchar- 

 itableness is a good bee-keepers' convention. 

 Those who were present at the recent Detroit 

 convention will, I am sure, bear me out in this; 

 for each and every one felt as if we were under 

 bonds not to judge hastily nor uncharitably of 

 any absent brethren, especially if such have 

 been unfortunate. 



0a^ QaE33Fi0N-B6^, 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



Question 178. Is it a good plan to fasten 

 bees in their hives by mea^is of wire cloth, while 

 in the cellar f 



No. 



Illinois. N. C. 



I think not. 

 California. S. 



J. A. Green. 

 R. Wilkin. 



I don't think it a safe jjlan. 



Ohio. N. W. IL R. Uoaiidman. 



No. It is worse than useless. 



Ohio. N. W. A. B. Mason. 



No, sii'. It is done at great risk. 



New Yoik. C. P. H. Elwood. 



No, and there is no need of it in a dark cellar. 

 Vermont. N. W. A. E. Manum. 



No, never, according to the opinion of I)oo- 

 llttle. 

 New York. C. G. M. Doolittle. 



It is not necessary unless you have too much 

 light in your cellar. P. L. Viallon. 



Ivouisiana. E. C. 



No. The old must die. and it is their nature 

 to leave the hive when the end draws near. 

 Illinois. N. W. C. Mus. L. Harkison. 



No, not if they find it out. If you can fasten 

 them in, and not let them find it out, it may 

 work all right. 



Wisconsin. 8. W. S. I. Freeborn. 



It is not, unless the fastcming is in the shape 

 of a cage of, say, two quarts' capacity. Close 

 coiitinemeut with wire cloth causes uneasiness. 



New York. E. Rambler. 



I do not know. Under some conditions I 

 think it might be, although I never practiced it. 

 Michigan. S. W. Jamp:s Heddon. 



Now, that's one of the things I think I know. 

 It's not a good plan. I'd a good deal rather 

 have them on the cellar bottom than on the 

 bottom -board. 



Illinois. N. C. C. Miller. 



I should say no. When bees find that they 

 are prisoners they want to get out, and will' 

 worry and work to do so. Bees should be quiet, 

 to do well. 



Wisconsin. S. W. E. France. 



I do not like to do this. If the cellar gets a 

 little warmed up. the bees become active; and 

 if shut in they will be much injured if not de- 

 stroyed. 



Michigan. C. A. J. Cook. 



No, emphatically. Keep them in the dark: 

 but if any bees become so restless that they will 

 not stay in the hive it would only cause them ta 

 disturb the others if they were shut in. 



Illinois. N. W. ' Dadant & Son. 



Bees should never be fastened in their hives 

 by wire cloth or other means, excepting on a 

 journey. The knowledge of their captivity 

 creates a great alarm among bees, and is a dan- 

 gerous experiment at any time of year. 



Ohio. S. W. C. F. MuTH. 



I should say botii yes and no. Sometimes, 

 yes; usually, no. If you choose to cover the 

 whole front of the hive with a big wire-cloth 

 ante-room, in which uneasy bees can come out 

 and promi'uade, I think there would seldom be 

 any ill results. 



Ohio. N. W. E. E. Hasty. 



[ I admit, friends, that it looks a little 

 "cheeky" in me to disagree with such a re- 

 spectable body of men when they say " no, no.'' 

 with such emphasis. I think a good many of 

 you, however, say no, because you have got 

 that idea in your heads without having ever 

 tried it very much. In moving bees, or in ship- 

 ping them, we always shut them in a hive by 

 means of a wire cloth, and sometimes they are 

 weeks shut u]) in this way, withotit very much 

 deti'iment: and it is certainly much .worse to 

 confine bees to their hives when they are bun- 

 dled oflf in warm weather than it would be to 

 thus confine them in a cool, quiet cellar. While 

 I would not advise the average beginnc^r to fas- 

 ten his bees in the hives with wire cloth, I want 

 to tell you that I wintered tifly or sixty colonii'S 

 very successfully, and had them all fastened in 

 their hives. The cover was removed, however, 

 and the whole top of the hive covered with wire 

 cloth. They were in a sawdust-packed bee- 

 house. Pai-t of them, instead of having wire 

 cloth over the whole top, had it over the whole 

 bottom. It was low enough down so the dead 

 bees could be a couple of inches below the 

 combs. In some of them there were no dead 

 bees of any account on the wire cloth when 

 they were set out toward the last of March. I 

 do not know of any reason why my experience 

 should have been so much ditferent from that 

 of others, unless it was at a i)eiiod when I kept 

 most of my stocks rather weak in numbers. A 

 nucleus would get along much better when fas- 

 tened in a hive than will a rousing colony. I 

 rather think I hadn't a real good rousing colony 

 in the whole lot.] 



