1S91 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



383 



saiiif time tliat he removed the miilcli. About 

 half of ours were mulclied and half were not. 

 During such a spring as the i^iast one, the 

 mulched ones were ahead. Very likely, however, 

 the uiimulched will be a little earlier. Before 

 fruiUuQ, however, we mxiM have some sort of 

 mulching. 1 never want any more gritty and 

 sandy berries after seeing friend Terry's. Cut 

 straw is rather expensive with us. but we do 

 not know of any thing else that will answc^r the 

 purpose any cheaper. lam afraid that, if put 

 on just before fruiting, the wind might blow it 

 away. Very likely, however, if you get it on 

 just before a good rain it will stay all right. 



ANOTHEK DEVICE FOJ! BEKRY-PICKEHS. ETC. 



Seeing an illustration of your blackbeiTy- 

 picking machine. I thought of a simple device 

 that I used. To-day I mail you a sample (just 

 as it was made in a hurry), which has been 

 used. The children went ci'azy for them, as 

 they could use both hands when using this lit- 

 tle machine, which any one can make in ten 

 minutes. They are intended for holding a one- 

 quart wooden berry-box. as you will see. The 

 little cleat on the bottom, with a beveled edge 

 inward, holds the bottom of the box in place. 

 The button holds the top. The one I sent was 

 for a child, as I notice the strap to go around 

 the neck (an old suspender) is shoi't foi- a per- 

 son of medium height. Of course, I should pre- 

 fer your d(wice, as the berries are in a safer 

 condition with the covered box. 



I should like to ask how the perforated metal 

 used over the entrances insures certainty of fei'- 

 tilization (see p. 168). 3Sth Ramble. 



Manistee, Mich., March 17. W. Hakmer. 



[Thanks, fi'ieiid H., for your suggestion. I 

 will explain to our readers that it is simply a 

 little board, i)erhaps 10 inches wide, a foot long, 

 and % thick. A cleat is nailed on so as to catch 

 on the l)ottom of the basket. Then a button at 

 the right height turns so as to secure the to]). 

 Put on a stra|) or piece of tape, and hang it over 

 the neck, and the berry-picker is rigged. To 

 prevent it from swinging about so as to spill the 

 berries. I would suggest, also, a belt to go 

 around the waist. 1 



0ni^ 0WN linnW' 



CONBITCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT 



We have had scarcely any losses since the 

 last report. Very fortunately the weather 

 turned of¥ warm, soft maples came out. and the 

 bees have been having several gala days. 

 Brood-rearing is progressing unusually well. 



now THE COLONIES IN THE CELLAR WINTERED. 



Grenerally speaking, oui' bees in the cellar did 

 very much better than those outdoors last win- 

 ter: and the consumption of stores per colony 

 was, as nearly as we could estimate, only about 

 half as much outdoors. It is more notic(^able 

 this s|)ring than last, although even then there 

 was (|uit(i a ditt'erenci'. showing a lesser con- 

 sumption of stores in the cellar. 



We carried out nearly all the bees, until I be- 

 gan to think there was not a colony lost; but 

 of the last few, we found thn'e that were dead. 

 On the cover of on<' of the thi'ee I had marked 

 last fall, with a lead pencil, " Very weak: will 

 probably die." As neai'ly as I can nscollect 

 now, this had only a handful of bees. I pre- 

 sume Mr. Alley would have thrown them out 

 on the gi'ass. But I thought I would see how 

 they would do. The two others that died, we 

 know were not very strong when put into the 



cellar; and the inside of the combs was spotted 

 a little with dysentery. 



THE ADVANTAGE OF FULL BOTTOM VENTIL.\- 

 TION IN THE CELLAR. 



As usual for experimental pui'poses, I had 

 left in the cellar some half a dozen hives with 

 fast bottoms. The combs of these (as was also 

 the case last year) were wet and moldy, and the 

 bees looked a litth^ " poddy," as if they were 

 slightly diseased. On the contrary, the hives 

 that had been tiered ui) « In Hoardman, without 

 Ixittotn-lxxirds, wei'e comparatively dry inside, 

 and the bees wei'e healthy and sti'ong. 



I confess that, on account of the lesser con- 

 sumption of stores, in view of the knowledge thus 

 fai' attained in cellar wintering. I am inclining 

 moi'e and more to the indoor jjlau. The saving 

 of expense of chaff hives compai'ed with win- 

 ter castas over single-walled hives, and the 

 large saving in the consumptiou of stores, are 

 two important factors that rather influence me 

 toward the indoor plan; but nevertheless I 

 suppose that we shall do, year after year, as 

 Doolittle does— not put all our eggs into one 

 basket, but wintej' both ways. 



XI'FARLAND'S HIVE-CARRIER — SEE PAC4E 327. 

 LAST ISSUE. 



^Irs. Root, Jr.. objected very strenuously to 

 our having the cellar- wintered colonies put 

 back of our house; so this spring, when we 

 carried the bees out of the cellar, we were 

 obliged to lug them a couple of hundred yards, 

 to onr regular home apiary. Now. it would not 

 do to have two num, with a pair of hive-car- 

 I'iers, caiTy one hive at a time. So I told Mr. 

 Spafford we would manage some way to have 

 the order reversed: namely, one man to carry 

 two hives. We very soon constructed one of 

 McFarland's hive carriers, as illustrated on 

 page 337. After it was all done I began to feel 

 as if it were a lot of toggery, and would cause 

 more vexation in handling than it was really 

 worth. I- was agreeably siu'prised to find, upon 

 trial, that it worked just as Mr. M. said it 

 would: and not only that, we could load upiuthe 

 bee-cellar, pass through two doorways, through 

 the vegetable-cellar, and finally up the cellar- 

 steps. In going through the doorway we walked a 

 little sidewise: and in passing up the cellar- 

 steps all we had to do was simply to tilt one 

 side down, and the other, as a matter of course, 

 would be brought up. Mr. Sijaft'ord carried 

 over most of the colonies, and I tried a couple 

 of loads to satisfy myself that the thing was all 

 O. K. I was greatly surprised at the load a 

 man can lift, and carry in this way with com- 

 fort. I took up a couple of average colonies, 

 and carried them about 300 yards, over to the 

 factory scales, zigzagging around among boxes 

 and through doorways, and then weighed my- 

 self with the burden, with no inconvenience^ 

 and then went safely to the yard. By sub- 

 tracting my own weight I found that I cai'ried 

 80 lbs.; and I know I could have sustained, 

 without any inconvenience, an even hundred. 

 P(>rhaps 1 should say that the entrances, while 

 carrying the hives, were closed. This made 

 every thing so secure that the carrier could jolt 

 around a good deal without being pestered by 

 angry bees. 



I should not omit to say. in the fall oin- hives 

 were carried in by their bottom-boards. The 

 hives were then piled up without bottom- 

 boards. (( la Boardman. the latter being stack- 

 ed up by themselves in one corner of the cellar. 

 In carrving the hives out. we put the bottom- 

 board down, set the hive on that, and closed 

 the entrances. We put anothtu' one right by 

 the side of it. then, stooping down with the 

 hive-carrier, picked them up and caiTied them 

 to their location. 



