1892 



GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 



327 



wliat b(M>s may do under siu-h oiirumstancos is 

 iiitcrcsiini:. yet wliat Ik-cs (Id ifhilc in d nor- 

 null cniKlitioii is wliat iiitcifsts iis tin- most. 

 That yoiinji liccs do this " iioii.s('\vorl< "" when 

 tlu> (.'oioiiy isiii a normal rondition is very easily 

 proven, lefjai'dless of what l?ro. V. believes. 

 CJive a hlaek colony of bees an Italian (jneen 

 about the tcMith of .hme. and the tirst Italian 

 bee will have hatched in that colony about 

 July 1st. Now watch the entrance of that hive 

 and see when tlu' tirst yellow bees are sch'U at 

 the entrance on the wing. and. unless all of my 

 watchiniis have becMi in vain, none will l)e seen 

 before the aftci-noon of .Inly lUli or 7th: but put 

 only hatching brood in a hive, anti young bees 

 will be seen on the wing on the third day. thus 

 showing that, when a colony of bees is in a 

 normal condition, young l)ees do not go out •" as 

 soon as they are able."" Next, look through the 

 glass part of tlii' hive, and you will see these 

 young yellow chaps poking theii' heads in and 

 out of the cells, showing that they are doing 

 housework by way of fe(Mling the brood. Now 

 watch this hive every forenoon for nine days 

 more; and, if I have made no mistake, no yel- 

 low bees will be seen going and coming with 

 loads, but all black bees. Next, look in the 

 sections where comb is l)(>ing built and honey 

 stored, and the most of the bees there at work 

 are Italians, "doing honstnvork " — building 

 combs, don't you see? If this is not sufficient 

 proof for I?ro. F. that he is " wrong,'" let him 

 make this one of his experiments also. 

 liorodino. N. Y.. Apr. 20. G. M. Dooijttle. 



UP-WARD VENTILATION. 



AND IN FA VU1{ OF AllSOIiBlXG CUSHIONS. 



I should like to add my testimoiiy in favor of 

 upward ventilation. We have followed the 

 practice many years, and have been so general- 

 ly successful in wintering our bees that we con- 

 sider it a very necessary feature. We winter 

 out of doors, the hives packed in chaff. The 

 propolis-covered sheets are replaced by woolen; 

 and the rough cap which takes the place of the 

 summer one is filled with chafTinot loo full) 

 held in place by cloth tacked over it. A piece 

 some six inches square is cut out of the center 

 of the cap cover, and over this is tacked wire 

 cloth to keep out mice. This certainly gives 

 every advantage for the escape of moisture. 

 Perhaps I should mention that, over the whole, 

 there hangs an A roof to ju'otect from rain and 

 snow. It is necessary to remove th(! woolen 

 sheets in the spring as soon as the bees become 

 active, or they will themselves begin the work 

 of removing them. 



"There is a great deal in location," said a 

 bee-keeper who made us a call a few weeks 

 since. •• Now I know why you are so success- 

 ful in wintering your bees."' said another a doz- 

 en years ago as he stood in our ai)iary and 

 threw out his arms to the encircling forest. 

 But location, it seems to me. is not every thing. 

 At the close of the season some years ago our 

 apiary consisted of (il colonies, and every colony 

 in the spring was in tine condition. A bee- 

 keeper a mile distant had W colonies in the fall, 

 but had not a single one in the spring. I do 

 not know all the leasons for failure in this case, 

 but I am sure that, if oiu" bees had. like his, 

 been left unprotected till extremely cold weath- 

 er, and the hives were full of frost, and then 

 subjected to the disturbance of packing in 

 chafT, I should have needed but that reason for 

 failure. 



I suppose the old " Wiley lie " is responsible 

 for a part of this serious statement which may 

 be found in the February ,^t(nnftc, in an article 



entitled "The Nearness of Animals to Man:" 

 "Tame honey-bees hav<^ ceased to make comb 

 since the apiaiist has begun to furnish them 

 with a good manul'actui'ed article."" I'.ut where, 

 1 wcHider. did t 111' iiiilhoi' lind bis authority for 

 the rest of it, and for certain ot.her allirmations 

 quite as startling".' For instance, speaking of 

 the rearing of (lueens, " In order to provide for 

 (•mergencies, several hirvie are I'eared in a sin- 

 gle cell, which the old queen is never p(!rmitted 

 to approach, sinc<' she is as jealous of th(!se 

 royal scions as was ever Persian padishah of 

 his nextof kin. For this reason they ar<H<ept 

 in closi^ confinement until they are needed." 



The article is (>xtremely interesting, but it 

 must be confessed that th(! author's bee-lore 

 slightly impairs one's confidence. One can not 

 but wonder what proportion of the whole is 

 truth, Nellie Linswik, 



[You have liad most excellent results in win- 

 tering; but is it not possible that you might 

 have done a little better by having a larger 

 entrance and a sealed cover? We hope that, 

 for the sake of experiment, you will try two or 

 three colonies next winter. So far our observa- 

 tion leads us to believe that sealed covers offer 

 special advantages during the springing of the 

 bees. 



We become almost discouraged sometimes 

 when we note how the Wiley lie still bobs up its 

 head here and there in standard periodicals; aiid 

 how such nonsense about bees as appeared in 

 the February AtlanUc could be inserted is be- 

 yond our comprehension. We know that it is 

 almost impossible for an editor to compass all 

 knowledge, and therefore to judge in regard to 

 the accuracy of all statements made in sundry 

 articles that pass through his hands ; but why 

 in the world can they not sometimes submit 

 some of their so-called " science " to specialists? 

 We hope that bee-keepers all over the land will 

 send in a protest to the editor of the Atlantic 

 Monthly, published in Boston, Mass. We shall 

 certainly do so. The more bee-keepers there 

 are who will take the pains to do so, the more 

 effect it will have. We must not let such ab- 

 surdities go unchallenged; and letters of earn- 

 est respectful protest from three or four hun- 

 dred bee-keepers will have more effect than the 

 protests of a dozen editors of bee-journals. 



THE D. CASE— SEE GLEANINGS, PAGE 248. 



Thanks for your naming the single ease for 

 me. Allow me to say that I now use a tin fold- 

 ed like this, L, put on the outside of the case, 

 nailed at each end with a single 

 3^-inch nail, with a string or 

 wire around the middle of the 

 case, which holds the tins snug 

 in place to the sides, and the 

 sides solid to the sections. 

 When a string is used, better 

 wax it where the bees can get 

 at it, or they may gnaw it off, 



SE.VLED COVEHS PREFEKRED. 



Tell Dr. Miller I have been using tight sealed 

 covers 20 years; in that time, T have tried 

 porous covering 8 years on a part of my bees, by 

 which I lost hundreds of dollars. Sealed covers 

 as the bees prefer it is my way. 



F. Danzenbakek. 



Washington, D, C, April 16, 



ABSOIU5ENTS VS. SEALED COVER. 



As you have been advocating sealed covers I 

 thought I would tell how my bees have win- 

 tered with absorbents. I put an even ICK) col- 

 onies into winter quarters last fall in the home 

 yard. They had a good flight early in March, 

 and began breeding rapidly. To-day there are 



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