242 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. J. 



or extra thin, and cut them full size and fasten 

 top and bottom, so as to have them drawn out 

 more perfectly and quicker. J. E. Fowler. 

 Newfields, N. H., Dec. 21. 



FROM 77 TO 123, AND 3 TONS OF HONEY- 



I have 123 colonies in the cellar, and 100 are 

 in dovetailed hives. Had about 3 tons of honey- 

 last year, comb and extracted together; about 

 5000 lbs. comb honey. I commenced the sea- 

 son with 77 colonies, spring count; increased to 

 123. I have lost but two colonies in my cellar in 

 three years in wintering them. I have a side 

 draft in my cellar all winter, and part of the 

 time it is cold enough so that icicles form on 

 the drip of the cistern. J. L. Roberts. 



Bridgeport, N. Y. 



BEES BUILDING COMBS ON WIRES, A LA BOARD - 

 MAN. 



I read a letter in Gleanings of Mar. 1, from 

 H. R. Boardman, page 160. Two years ago I 

 wired SO frames as an exp riment, and I found 

 that it worked just splendidly. I put a starter 

 in each frame one inch wide, and I have some 

 as perfect combs in those frames as you ever 

 saw. You see, we can not all afford to use full 

 sheets, and I for one don't want to. As an ex- 

 periment I put one full sheet of foundation in 

 one of those 80 frames, and that same frame 

 was the most out of shape, and had the worst- 

 looking comb in the whole lot. 



Panama, N- Y. J. R. Casselman. 



[One swallow doesn't make a summer; one 

 frame of foundation proves nothing. Founda- 

 tion properly wired almost invariably gives 

 good worker combs.— Ed J 



Hawkeye, and he does not want the name of his 

 State assailed. According to that table, Cali- 

 fornia comes in fifth. You can secure one of 

 those almanacs by sending to the Orange Judd 

 Co, These figures are for the decade from 1879 

 to 1889, compiled from census reports. 



Albia, la., Jan. 23. C. H. Clark. 



[The Avierlcan AgricuimristAJmnvac prob- 

 ably gets its ligures frum the government re- 

 ports, that are very unreliable so far as they 

 relate to ihe production of honey in the various 

 States. These statistics are gathered from as- 

 sessors' reports, and are by no means accurate. 



A HIVE IN A GREENHOUSE, WITH ENTRANCE 

 OUTSIDE. 



Could you tell me if it would hurt bees to be 

 taken from where the hive stood on the ground, 

 and put on the south side of a greenhouse, 

 where the opening of the hive is outside, and 

 communicates with the outside air all the time? 



York, Pa., Jan. 11. Geo. H. Buck. 



[The only danger would be that the extra 

 warmth inside the greenhouse would cause the 

 bees to fly out; and, once out, they would chill 

 before they could get back. A better way would 

 be to turn the entrance around to the inside. 

 Some bees will bump themselves to death on 

 the glass; but it is said by florists that they get 

 over this.— Ed.] 



A COLONY OF BEES IN A STEER S CARCASS. 



The following interesting item appeared in 

 the Galveston Dailu News of Dec. 19, 1896. It 

 may or may not be true: 



BIBLE RECITAL RECALLED. 



Waco, Tex ,Dec. 18.— Jerry Friend, a hunters' Ruide 

 and trapper, came down tlie iJrazos Kiver to day in 

 a skiff, part of his load belns- the carcass of a steer 

 full of honey. The steer appears 1o liave perished 

 from some cause, and dried up in the sun after be- 

 ing- hollowed out by mice and insects. The ribs sup- 

 ported the hide in almost lif .^-like size and sliape, and 

 the cavity formed a hive for a colony of bees. The 

 combs were fixed to the ribs and the backbone, and 

 were full of excellent honey. Mr. Friend says the 

 mention in the Bible of tiie bees maliinfr tlieir liive 

 in the carcass of a lion attracted Ids attention more 

 than any otlier story in tlie Scriptures, and was re- 

 called wlien he saw the carcass yielding twenty-two 

 pounds of honey and comb. It was sold as a curias- 

 ity to a Philadelphian. 



HONEY STATISTICS. 



I see you quote California as probably giving 

 the largest yield of honey— see page 42, Jan. 1.5. 

 I have the American Agriculturist Almanac 

 for 1896 page 326, honey product, which reads: 

 Iowa, 0,813,412 lbs.; Illinois. 4,602,941: Missouri, 

 4,492,178; New York, 4,281.964; California. 3 929- 

 889; Wisconsin, 3,.515.761; Texas, 3,286,386. I 

 should have thought that California would 

 head the list, but Iowa does; and you take a 



HOUSE-APIARIES. 



Dr. C. C. Miller:— In the spring of 1895 my 

 bees nearly all died. I wrote to you, and you 

 answered my questions. I got very little honey 

 this season. I have 50 colonies, I think, in good 

 condition, and I have been thinking of building 

 a house for some of my bees. I should like to 

 get some plans for a cheap house. 

 Markle, Pa., Jan. 11. F. Bair. 



[As this is of general interest. Dr. Miller sent 

 it to us. — Ed.] 



A good many have tried house-apiaries, and 

 given them up, while a few still think highly 

 of them. As it is somewhat uncertain whether 

 you would like any thing of the kind after trial, 

 it might be well for you to try it first on a small 

 scale, say a house for 12 or 16 colonies. The 

 simplest kind of building will do— just wide 

 enough for the hives and what space you think 

 you need between them— perhaps 7 feet in all. 

 If 12 colonies are to be housed then make the 

 house long enough for 3 hives; if 16 are to be 

 housed, make the house long enough for 4. The 

 lower tier of hives will stand on the floor, and 

 provision must in some way be made for sup- 

 porting the second tier of hives above the first. 

 A shelf may do this; and in order to avoid hav- 

 ing any thing in the way of the lower hives, 

 this shelf may be supported from above, some- 

 what after the fashion of a swinging shelf in a 

 cellar. At the entrance of each hive must be 

 cut a hole in the wall of the house, and a pass- 

 age must be made from this to the entrance so 

 that no bee can get from the hive into the house. 

 After you have tried a small house first, you will 

 know whether you want to build a larger one. 



