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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jnue 1. 



bees in the way of my forefathers before I heard 

 of the movable-comb hive. If the kind reader 

 will take this into consideration, then I hope he 

 will understand that I prefei- a hive that has 

 all the good qualities of the old straw skep in 

 combination with the best qualities of the mov- 

 able-comb hive. C. J. H. Gravenhokst. 

 Wilsnack, Germany. 



[Most of the readers of the bee-journals of 

 this country have been educated in the use of 

 the movable-frame hive; and the idea that a 

 colony in straw skeps can be divided, doubled 

 up, queened and unqueened, as you have so well 

 explained, seems well nigh an impossibility if 

 not an absurdity. Even if we do not propose 

 for a moment to go back to straw skeps, and 

 manage as your people do in North Germany, 

 it is exceedingly interesting to read how they 

 manage to pei'form the necessary alterations in 

 the internal economy of the straw skep. Our 

 older readers will remember how well father 

 Quinby managed without movable combs, and 

 how the mere reading of his first book on bees 

 gives one a fever to do as he did. 



There is also a practical side to us In this 

 whole matter; and it is the same that we re- 

 ferred to in our footnote to the former article; 

 and that is, that, even though we do have mov- 

 able frames, it does not hinder us in the least 

 from diagnosing colonies or changing their in- 

 ternal anatomy without handling the frames 

 whenever we can do so profitably. Let us by 

 all means have movable frames; but let us not 

 abuse their use. The beginner and enthusiast 

 can afford to handle frames over and over 

 again, just for the fun of it and for the knowl- 

 edge thereby gained; but the practical honey- 

 producer can not afford to do so. 



Now, because we have so expressed ourselves, 

 don't jump to the conclusion that we are going 

 back to old box hives. Far be it. We would 

 cull out the useful in all things.! 



LADIES' Conversazione. 



A REPORT FROM MRS. AXTELL. 



BLASTED hopes; ARTIFICIAL HEAT, ETC. 



Mr. i?oot;— We are nearly fit subjects to fill 

 the column of Blasted Hopes, so far as the pro- 

 duction of honey is concerned this season. But 

 we are truly thankful that so many of our little 

 pets are alive, and hopeful that we can save 

 enough to stock up again, as probably we shall 

 not live to see another twelve months that will 

 be so disastrous to bee culture. One year ago 

 this spring our bees came out of winter quarters 

 In good condition in both apiaries, except being 

 short of stores. We fed granulated-sugar syr- 

 up, what they needed, to bring them through 

 until they could gather a living themselves, 

 which was the second week in June. There 

 seemed to be scarcely any honey in white clo- 

 ver, which blossomed very scantily; but on all 

 hickory-trees was honey-dew, some trees fairly 

 dripping with it. 



The bees at Timber Apiary increased very 

 rapidly, and nearly all colonies became strong 

 enough to swarm, but they did not; but the 

 bees in the home apiary began to dwindle about 

 the time we sprayed our apple-trees, which was 

 after all the flowers had fallen, and they still 

 dwindled all through May and June. There 

 was plenty of brood in the hives all the time; 

 but as soon as the young bees could fly they 

 would disappear, leaving only about enough to 



take care of the brood. During July the best 

 colonies built up and became fair in point of 

 strength, and gathered honey-dew enough to 

 winte;-on. This was apparently all the honey 

 the bees gathered last year, though probably 

 they did gather some from catnip and other fall 

 flowers, for immediate use. Timber Apiary 

 gave about .500 lbs. of surplus in sections, and 

 we had perhaps .50 lbs. at the home apiary. The 

 bees at Timber Apiary, being so populous, used 

 up much of their honey, and about half of them 

 had to be fed sugar syrup for winter. When we 

 found they were not going to fill up for winter 

 we sent to Chicago for sugar, which, through a 

 mistake, was sent to Rossville, in the eastern 

 part of the State. By the time we traced it up 

 and had more sugar sent us it was very late to 

 feed. 



THE RESULT. 



When we took the bees out of the cellar on 

 the first of April, about a third of them were 

 dead. Many more were so near dead that they 

 were united; but they were so diseased that the 

 united colony died also, in a few days. Those 

 wintered at Timber Apiary fared no better. By 

 the first of April more than a third were dead, 

 and many so weak that they soon died. We 

 tried putting a few of the weak colonies into 

 nucleus boxes and placing them in a warm 

 room at night, and setting them out of doors in 

 the daytime when warm enough to fly; but 

 they, too, all died. We put some of them on 

 sugar-fed combs, and fed warm thin sugar syr- 

 up, but it did no good. Even the colonies whose 

 stores were wholly sugar syrup fared but little 

 better than those with honey-dew. For some 

 reason they would not feed up their brood. It 

 looked dry, and soon died. Only a few scatter- 

 ing cells were sealed over. This was the case 

 with all colonies until about the last week in 

 April, when the remaining colonies began to 

 get solid patches of brood. This was about the 

 time they took flour freely. Before that they 

 would not notice the flour although we set it 

 out for them. The combs contained plenty of 

 eggs all through March and April, but the bees 

 would not feed the larvte, except a cell here and 

 there. 



May 11th finds all our bees brought home 

 from the out-apiary. Last fall we had 236 colo- 

 nies; now we have 90 with bees in. Some are 

 but mere handfuls; 50, I think, will build up by 

 the middle of June; the I'est will barely save 

 their queens, and some will yet die. But they 

 all have the most brood I ever saw in hives with 

 so few bees, and this brood is now beginning to 

 hatch out. We had two queens sent us by Mr. 

 Doolittle the last of July, which we introduced 

 on hatching brood, and built up into good colo- 

 nies by feeding granulated-sugar syrup. By 

 the way, their progeny are beauties — yellow, 

 clear to the tips of their bodies. Those colo- 

 nies were fed sufficient to build them up, and 

 for winter stores, in August and September; but 

 they were given a very little in October, to 

 make sure they had plenty. They wintered 

 well and came out with plenty of bees, but no 

 brood except eggs. 



ARTIFICIAL HEAT. 



Into those two Doolittle colonies, and into 

 about fifty others of the weakest taken from the 

 cellar, we put the bees from two to four combs, 

 and set them to one side of the hive with two 

 division-boards between the bees and the side 

 of the hive, and on the other side we put a di- 

 vision-board and set in a jug or jar of hot wa- 

 ter, and filled up the hive with dry ehafl". Eve- 

 ry day for nearly a month we changed the wa- 

 ter, filling the jars with boiling water each 

 time. I think it prolonged the lives of the ma- 

 ture bees, but I could not see that it caused the 



