890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1,5. 



[My good friend, I should call your I'eniedy, 

 in one sense, a surgical treatment: and, by the 

 way, I forgot to notice, in our last issue, that 

 surgeons are enumerated in the list when our 

 friend said that the world would be better off 

 without doctors. Surgeiy very often gives re- 

 lief as surely as the wagonniaker mends a bro- 

 ken wheel. And this reminds me that some- 

 body has invented a machine to cure bee-stings 

 by means of hypodermic injections. I suppose 

 the philosophy of your remedy is. that the 

 needles puncture holes so the medicine can 

 reach the point where the disease is located; 

 and I am very glad to know that your family 

 physician indorses and recommends the reme- 

 dy. I am very glad, also, for the suggestion 

 that plenty of good ripe fruit will often of itself 

 take the place of medicine. This, you know, 

 supports and indorses Terry's suggestion of 

 strawberries taking the place of medicine: and 

 because he recommended it, a whole quart at a 

 meal, the great public came down on him al- 

 most fiercely. Why. whenever I feel a little 

 out of sorts I go and try a real hearty meal of 

 fruit, almost the fii'st thing: and I am so much 

 in the habit of finding relief, as you do, that I 

 can heartily indorse all you have said.] 



A. I. R. 



Our Question - Box, 



WITH REPLIES FROM OUR BEST AUTHORITIES. 



Question 190. Some tluiik it better, in order 

 to have bees winter well, to raise no yonny bees 

 after August, while others think it better'to en- 

 courage the queen to lay as late as possible. 

 What do you think about it f 



I want bees raised late in autumn. 

 Illinois. N. VV. C. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



We prefer to have our colonies strong for 

 winter. 

 Illinois. N. W. Dadant & Son. 



I think it best to have them breed as late as 

 they will. 

 California. S. R. Wilkin. 



I think we better leave it to the bees. They 

 are wise in such matters. 

 Michigan. C. A. J. Cook. 



I think I should prefer the young bees, pro- 

 vided they hatch some little time before really 

 cold weather comes. 



Illinois. N. C. J. A. Green. 



I have had the veiy best success with young 

 bees for wintering, notwithstanding the many 

 plausible theories in regard to the matter. 



Ohio. N. W. H. R. Boardman. 



I like them raised as late as possible, but not 

 so late but they can have plenty of outdoor ex- 

 ercise before going into winter quarters. I have 

 had some experience in that line. 



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



I think it best to let the bees do as they please 

 in the matter: i. e., sufficient is not gained to 

 pay the apiarist for trying to make them do 

 other than what their own inclination prompts 

 them to do. 



New York. C. G. M. Doolittle. 



I have had them winter well when brood- 

 rearing ceased early in the season, and also 

 when it extended late in autumn. I have lost 

 heavily under both above conditions, but pre- 



fer to take my chances when we have a late 



crop of honey, if it is all gathered from flowers. 



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



I think queens usually know their business 

 by instinct better than the bee-keeper by rea- 

 soning. When bees ai-e wearing out fast, or 

 becoming aged, by gathering honey, it seems to 

 be a provision of nature that others should be 

 reared to take their places. I have observed 

 no unpleasant results from young bees in the 

 fall. 



New York. C. P. H. Elwood. 



I think I'd rather have no very young nor 

 very old bees. If we knew just what bees are 

 to die in the hive in the winter, might it not be 

 best to kill them in the fall, and save the honey 

 they would eat, as well as the feelings of their 

 mourning sisters? Or was that Hosmer's 

 theory '? 



Illinois. N. C. C. Miller. 



So many printed it. that I once supposed it 

 was a fact that young bees wintered better 

 than old ones. Experiment on a large scale, 

 and many times repeated, proves to me that it 

 is not so. Old bees are less apt to have diarrhea 

 for physiological reasons which you have all 

 observed, and some of you understood, no doubt. 

 I do not care to have my queens lay eggs at all 

 after the last of August. 



Michigan. S. W. James Heddon. 



□ I don't see as it makes any difference. I have 

 had 8 swarms winter well with very old bees. 

 The only advantage with young bees will per- 

 haps be visible in the spring. If the weather is 

 unfavorable, like the present, the old bees 

 might drop out quicker. As to wintering from 

 November until the 1st of April, it isn't much 

 of a trick to do that successfully: but from 

 April 1st to June 1st is where my losses come in. 

 New York. E. Rambler. 



Before melilot was gi'owing so bountifully 

 around Cincinnati as it does now. which keeps 

 our bees breeding late in the fall, bees would 

 cease breeding in July, and I found often not a 

 sign of brood in August, in some of my hives. 

 In September they would commence again to 

 breed: and in some hives there could be found 

 five or six sheets of brood at the beginning of 

 October. My bees wintered just as safe then as 

 they do now. 



Ohio. S. W. C. F. MiTTH. 



W^e never try to conti'ol the bees about breed- 

 ing late. They do as they please, and I think 

 they will manage that part of the business safer 

 than I can. In fact, we seldom see our out- 

 apiaries from the last of July until the first of 

 November, when we prepare them for winter, 

 and all we have seen of the out-apiaries this 

 spring so far (May 10) was ong visit in April, 

 to count them and just look into five or six in 

 each yard, to see whether there was enough 

 honey. 



Wisconsin. S. W. E. France. 



My experience teaches me that bees hatched 

 the latter part of August and during September 

 are better to winter than bees hatched the last 

 of October or in November. Very young bees 

 are not as hardy as those of middle age. Bees 

 too old or too young are not desirable for win- 

 tering. If our bees could have occasional flights 

 in winter the young bees might winter well; 

 but when they are confined to the hive from 

 November to April they are not as good. So 

 says my experience. 



Vermont. N. W. A. E. Manu.m. 



