GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



159 



In the world's broad field of battle, 

 In the bivouac of life. 



Be not like dumb driven cattle- 

 Be a hero in the strife. 



STORES FOR WINTERIXG. 



Question.— in some of your writings I see that 

 you think it does not require as much stores for 

 wintering bees in the South as it does in ex- 

 treme northern iocalites. What do you mean 

 by this? Don't you think the bees will consume 

 as much honey in the South from the middle of 

 October to the middle of April as they would at 

 the extreme North ? 



^?isu^er.— Answering the last question first, I 

 would say that 1 should estimate it would take 

 more stores to carry bees from the middle of Oc- 

 tober to the middle of April, in the South, than 

 it would at the North; but, if I remember right- 

 ly about what I wrote in this matter, I said it 

 would take more stores to lointer a colony whore 

 winter hfld as above than where we have win- 

 ter for only two months, as they do at the 

 South. After about the first of March, I under- 

 stand it Is spring in the South, while we often 

 have six weeks of winter weather after that 

 time. When bees begin to breed to any extent, 

 then is when a great consumption of honey oc- 

 curs; and if no honey is to be had from the 

 fields at such times of rapid breeding, the stores 

 in the hive are drawn upon so rapidly that 

 starvation often occurs, when the apiarist 

 thought his bees had sufficient stores to last for 

 months, he judging from the consumption need- 

 ed for the fall and winter months. Hence the 

 wise apiarist has "an eye out" in this matter, 

 from now on till the flowers give honey in the 

 spring, unless his hives were very heavy in 

 honey the preceding fall. 



Some seem to think that mild weather, with 

 no honey-flow, is a trying ordeal on the stores 

 in the hive ; but it depends very much on when 

 this mild weather occurs. If in October, No- 

 vember, December, and January, and the bees 

 are on their summer stands, I have found that, 

 here in Central New York, they consume far 

 less stores than they do in cold weather, as at 

 this time there is no disposition toward brood- 

 rearing, and the mild weather does not call for 

 so much honey being used as " fuel" as does the 

 cold. At such times, colonies outdoors consume 

 but little more than do those in the cellar, or 

 about a pound a month, while with cold weath- 

 er the colony outdoors requires from a half more 

 to double that amount, and this with perfect 

 wintering. But let any colony become uneasy 

 from any cause (go to eating voraciously) which 

 always results in brood-rearing, and the con- 

 sumption will increase, from the average, one 

 to two pounds a month, to from five to eight 

 pounds a month, resulting in that colony dying 

 before spring, or its vitality becoming exhaust- 

 ed so that spring dwindling will be the result. 

 When any colony becomes uneasy we call it 



"sick," and many think it can not be helped. 

 But the colony at its side remains quiet all the 

 time, and the two were as nearly alike as two 

 peas the preceding fall. If it is necessary that 

 the first shall become uneasy or sick, why not 

 in the case of the other? Who will tell us 

 something definite about the matter? 



[I am glad you have no bee-paralysis now in 

 your apiary; but I infer if you had you would 

 not destroy or remove it. While you would 

 not, of course, send a queen from a diseased 

 stock, you seem to think there is no harm in 

 shipping queens from apparently healthy col- 

 onies, even though there may be a case of bee- 

 paralysis in the same apiary. 



1 can not help feeling, friend D., that, with 

 the best of intentions, your position is wrong. 

 Before me is a letter from a bee-keeper in the 

 South, whose whole apiary of 70 colonies is dis- 

 eased with bee-paralysis. It is practically a 

 dead loss to him, and he has invested over $400. 

 He has tried every thing in the way of a cure, 

 and yet the disease rages. This man claims he 

 got the disease from a queen sent him by a 

 queen-breeder, or at least that the disease de- 

 veloped in the colony soon after this queen was 

 introduced. There are also others, whose names 

 I do not feel at liberty to mention, who feel pos- 

 itive it is very contagious, and that it is almost 

 criminal for any queen breeder to keep, know- 

 ingly, a colony in the apiary, affected with bee- 

 paralysis. If there is any bne- keeper in this 

 land, friend Doolittle, who would proceed with 

 caution, and who would be the least likely to 

 transmit the disease from his apiary, it is your- 

 self. But you will not forget that you have a 

 very great influence among the bee-keeping 

 fraternity; and perhaps some of them, less cau- 

 tious than yourself, would say, "If Doolittle 

 can do it, I can." You no doubt believe that 

 the disease is not carried through the queen. 

 Perhaps you are right; but?/ you are ?iot right, 

 and other queen-breeders who look up to you 

 should take your position, fearful results would 

 follow. I do not think any harm would result 

 if you wished to experiment, provided you iso- 

 lated such colonies as might have the disease; 

 but to keep them in your general apiary, out of 

 which you may ship bees or queens, is, to say 

 the least, unwise. 



I grant that bee-paralysis in the North occa- 

 sions no alarm to the practical bee-keeper; but 

 in the South, evidences are coming up continu- 

 ally, showing that it is even worse than foul 

 brood.-— Ed. 1 



THE DANZENBAKER SECTION; A STRONG POINT 

 IN FAVOR OF THE TALI. SECTION. 



I find the Danzenbaker section a great acqui- 

 sition to my apiary. The tall handsome sec- 

 tions, nicely glazed, weighing a pound, sell 

 readily by the case at 20 cents each, while the 

 434 bring only 15 cents, and sell only when the 

 tall ones are not in sight. 



I find that, the nearer we come to the thick- 

 ness of the brood-comb, the better they fill the 

 sections, and the more readily they enter them. 



