266 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Al'R. 1. 



hives you use, I see you have them all luimbei'- 

 ed on the front side with large figures, wliich I 

 considei' a good plan on several accounts. One 

 is, if you wish to refer to any one hive you can 

 do so by its number." 



"Wall, I will tell you what I had it done for. 

 It was so the bees could tell theii' own hives.'" 



" I don't know, deacon, that I fully understand 

 you. Now, thei'e is 22 and 23 side by side; do 

 you think your bees can tell 23 from 2.3?" 



"Well, I don't know about yoi(r bees or athcr 

 folkses; but rnlne can tell 22 from 2.3 every tline. 

 My bees know more than yon may think they 

 do. They know me when 1 come around, every 

 time. Sometimes I lay down on the grass, 

 watchin' for them to swarm, and sometimes a 

 bee will come and buzz all around me. They 

 will look in my eyes and in my ears, and look 

 me all over; then they goes away. Sometimes 

 wlien I am comin' fi'om town they will come 

 and meet me. and fly all around me." 



" Well, I shall have to bid yon good-by; but 

 I want you to read Gi.kaninos; and when I 

 call again I hope you will like it well enough to 

 subscribe for it." " W. S. Wright. 



Battle Creek, Mich., March 18. 



[Friend W.. will you please make the deacon 

 a present of Gleanings for a year, and tell him 

 that "friend Rute" sends it willingly as a re- 

 turn for his very candid and outspoken opinion? 

 By the way, that last expression of the deacon's 

 is a gem. I can imagine every irader of Glkan- 

 iNGs. who has had a few summers' experience, 

 leaning back in his chair and taking a good 

 hearty laugh about those "'knowin' b(!es." 

 Sometimes they meet us on our way home, and 

 look into our eyes and enrs with more inquisi- 

 tiveness than is really comfortable; but if the 

 deacon enjoys it, we are very glad.] 



NOTES ON RECENT DISCUSSIONS. 



coarsp: wire ci.oth over entrance in win- 

 ter, BY REV. T. C. rotter. 



A recent question propounded to the Solonsof 

 the apiai'ian fraternity, was as to whether it is 

 advisable to use wire cloth over the entrance, 

 when wintering in the cellar. After an experi- 

 ence of ten years with a small number of colo- 

 nies each year (I can handle only a few and be 

 faithful to my regular duties). I am led to the 

 belief that IJees winter nicely in a dry cellar 

 when coarse wire cloth is used over the en- 

 trance. About putting it across the bottom 

 and top, I can not say; but in my own case I 

 have never taken either bottom-board or cover 

 off. Simply put a good, dry absorbent cushion 

 over the frames, lay the honey-board over it to 

 keep it smoothly down, adjust the cover, bend 

 a length of wire screening to tit the entrance all 

 along, and it is done. At any time if you wish 

 to feed at the entrance, as spring approaches, 

 slip the screening away and lay your feeder 

 there. I have found (uily a little feed necessary 

 in spring, to start the queen to laying. For 

 two weeks before the date of this writing, our 

 thermometer has lieeti about zero every night: 

 and yet upon examination I And that I am well 

 stocked with brood. I have never lost a single 

 colony, nor observed any but good results. 

 Fixed thus, they have plenty of air. do not 

 ramble out and die on the cellar floor, and the 

 mouse-pest question is settled. Extensive api- 

 arists may And a removal of the bottom-board 

 necessary to crate the hives rightly in the cel- 

 lar; but for those having only tive to twenty 

 colonies, like myself, it is not necessary. If 

 there are some dead bees on tlie bottom-board. 

 as there usually are. I simply keep a bent iiook 



of wire, and, removing the screen occasionally, 

 draw them out. 



ARE CEI.LAR-WINTERED BEES MORE SENSITIVE 



TO THE COLD WHEN SET OUT IN THE 



Sl'ItlNG ? 



I believe it to be a little more than a notion, 

 that bees wintered in the cellar wliere the 

 thermometer ranges from forty to fifty will be 

 more sensitive to cold and changes when taken 

 out in the spring. Apiarists must remember 

 that bees are not like human beings in tliis re- 

 spect, and so \vq can not judge them by our- 

 selves. The good Lord, who has made every 

 tiling right for its own conditions, has provided 

 our bees with an instinct as well as aptness for 

 hibernation; and when a cold spell comes they 

 pass into stupor such as renders them largely 

 insensible to the cold or cliauges. A good hive, 

 plenty of stores, and care upon tluvs part of the 

 keeper, are all the specifications necessary, 

 provided the queen is fruitful and the bees or- 

 dinarily numerous. 



A PECULIAR EXPERreNCE WHILE WORKING 

 AMONG THE BEES. 



For some years I have been studying my own 

 physique as it has been affected for • better or 

 worse by my woi'k among my bees. I have 

 found that breathing the strong, acrid odor 

 that comes from a newly opened hive in sum- 

 mer, when there is unripened honey in abun- 

 dance, gives me a catarrhal cold every time. I 

 call it this, although I can check it at once by 

 snufting tepid salt water up the nostiils. With- 

 out this treatment I should have a " cold in the 

 head " for two or t liree days. Some one may 

 fancy it is due to getting into a ixTspiration 

 and then cooling oft' too quickly. That occurred 

 to me at first: but with experience I have 

 lound that it is not due to any thing except the 

 acrid fumes from the bees and hive. Has any 

 other bee man or woman ever observed this 

 ett'ect? It is very quickly and invariably done- 

 in my own case, even if I inhale much of the 

 odor from an observing-hivo in the house. 

 ammonia for getting propolis off the 

 fingp:rs. 



A lady recently spoke of the necessity for 

 gloves, because of getting propolis on her fin- 

 gers and under the nails, and having difficulty 

 in removing it. If she will take her bottle of 

 good strong ammonia, and a cloth, and rub 

 gently over the soiled finger, getting some of 

 the liquid under the nail, she will find that this 

 aikali will turn the propolis stain a sunflower 

 yellow in a moment after it is put on. After 

 this treatment, don't be in a hurry, or frighten- 

 ed at that worse stain. Let the ammonia act a 

 moment or two: then wash well with soap and 

 water, using a nail-brush if necessary, and all 

 will come off nicely. 



A CAUTION AGAINST CATCHING COI>I) BY US- 

 ING THE WATER TREATMENT. 



Is it not well to caution your readers about 

 taking cold, after making use of the warm- 

 water treatment, of which you addressed us at 

 length in Gleanings for March 1st, particular- 

 ly if it occurs in the ordinary place out of 

 doors? When hot water is used, perspiration 

 ensues — esijecially if more than one injection is 

 taken, and absorption through the kidneys and 

 internal memliranes is occurring. T. C. P. 



Cedar Falls, Iowa, ^Nlar. 14. 



[Thank you. Bro. P. I knew all the while 

 when our big guns (begging their pardon) were 

 telling us that wire cloth over the entrance 

 would not do, that they were not quite ortho- 

 dox. Tlianks for your suggestion In regard to 

 propolis, and also for your caution. I have tak- 

 en cold once in the way you suggest, but since 

 then I have been more careful.] 



