IS!*: 



(iijvANixcs IN Ri-;i-: cri.TrRi- 



rJlh of July lasl. \'crv tew iloail hcfs wciv in 

 front of the hives. The weather was very 

 wann about that time, or some or most of tlie 

 brood mi-rht have become chilled, for there 

 were not enough bees left to cover the combs. 

 Que^Mis, larvie. and brood .seemed to be per- 

 fectly healthy. 



Bees in a circle of two miles seem to be 

 aflFected, some more and some less. 



.\t present writing bees are still reduced in 

 numbers. Out of ")0 stands there is not one 

 pound of surplus honey in the vard. 



On page 5.V) Mr. Whitcomb tries to make 

 us believe that too much cold water is the 

 cause of all our troubles. Now, did j-ou ever 

 hear of such a thing as pure water hurting bees 

 in the month of July? He says, further on, 

 that the water from the mountains in Colorado 

 is cold, and that the bees drank, and were 

 chilled. Now, it is facts that we want — no 

 guesswork about it. 



There is something wrong with the bees 

 here now ; that is one fact. I am not going 

 to tell you what is the matter. I am like Dr. 

 Miller — I "don't know." Jas. Rae. 



Petersburg, Xeb., Aug. 12. 



[I talked A\nth "Sir. Whitcomb in regard to 

 this very matter, at Buffalo. He stated that 

 the water coming from the mountains, as it 

 does, is very cold, and his experience has 

 shown that ice-cold water is very injurious to 

 bees. I do not know that I am competent to 

 speak for him on this question, and therefore 

 will ask him to write further as he mav see 

 fit.— Ed.] 



OBJECTIONS TO SOLDERING FRUIT-CAXS FOR 

 HONEY PURPOSES. 



I have been reading Mr. Aikin's articles and 

 your comments on pages -107-409, and 443, '4, 

 in regard to honey-packages. It seems to me 

 the fruit-can idea will be the cheapest; but 

 the soldering of the top strikes me as incon- 

 venient, both for the producer and the con- 

 sumer. Fruit is generally used up at once 

 after being opened; but honey will in most 

 cases last for some time, and consequently the 

 can will have to l)e tied up in some way to 

 keep out impurities. This is impractical. 



The grocers here sell an article called " but- 

 ter oil," put up in quart fruit-cans. These 

 cans have a small tube soldered on the top, 

 through which this oil can be emptied. The 

 tube on top is about }4 inch high and 1 X to 

 1% inches in diameter. It has a cork about 

 }i inch thick, and above the cork the tube is 

 fillerl with wliat seems to me to be plaster 

 Paris. From 12 to 24 cans are in a box that 

 is just high enough to hold can and tube on 

 top. If the hole in the top of the can is 

 punched ouhvard, \ / and the tube sol- 

 dered around this -~ii c^ beard, then the 

 can may be perfectly drained of its contents. 

 Besides the tiibe on top of the can there is a 

 wire ring, by which the can may be carried. 

 It seems to me a can of this description ought 

 not to be much higher in price than the com- 

 mon fruit-<:an, and may be of some use till 

 something better makes its appearance. At 

 anv rate, I believe it will not hurt, and mav 



be of some bcMulit if you consider this kind of 

 can before vou go into manufacturing any 

 kind. II. Kai.sch. 



\'nielan(l, N. J., June 19. 



[The difficulty of soldering up cans is not as 

 great as you think, friend R. The very cheap 

 soldering-kits now on the market, with direc- 

 tions accompanying them, make the operation 

 of soldering the top on to the can a compara- 

 tively simple one. 



The idea of u.sing a tin neck on a can, with 

 a cork, is very good; but the objection to any 

 such thing as that is that it sticks up above 

 the top of the can, and it is not practicable to 

 tier one layer of such cans on top of another 

 in one box. Cans that are soldered, however, 

 are flat on top and bottom, and can be very 

 easily packed in boxes, with little or no dan- 

 ger of leakage. — Ed.] 



POOR SEASON. 



Noting the large crops of honey all over the 

 land, I can say that w-e are not in it. Out of 

 35 colonies, spring count, I had 8 new swarms, 

 and 5 starved to death at this date. I took 

 from one to ten sections from eleven hives, 

 and that is all dark and bitter. I have not 

 opened the 1000 sections sent me last spring. 

 Honey-flow ends here June 1st. No sale for 

 the little I have on hand. As I must feed, the 

 little will come in handy. J. H. Ali^en. 



Box Elder, Va., Aug. 5. 



BEES CLUSTERING OUT ; TILTING UP THE 

 HIVE-COVER. 



I see from a note in Gleanings that you 

 are somewhat troubled about your working 

 bees clustering on the outside of the hives in 

 very warm or hot weather. Now, for your 

 benefit, and it may be for other bee-keepers', 

 I will state that I solved this question several 

 years ago here in the South, and I see no 

 reason why my remedy will not work equally 

 well in the North. You could visit my apiary 

 the hottest days that we ever have here (and 

 many of my 200 colonies stand in the sun), 

 and you could at any time find but few bees 

 outside. 



I work for extracted honey, and use the ten- 

 frame standard Dovetailed hive, two stories 

 high. If at any time bees begin to cluster 

 outside I know the cause is heat and want of 

 ventilation. I raise the rear end of the hive- 

 cover one inch or less, according to the in- 

 tensity of the heat, with a small block or a 

 wedge-shaped stick. This will start a current 

 of air through the whole hive, and the bees 

 will soon proceed to business. 



J. W. Winder. 



New Orleans, La., Aug. 11. 



[The tilting-up of the hive-cover is quite an 

 old idea. vSometimes it work.s and sometimes 

 it does not — at least that has been my experi- 

 ence. But, friend Winder, don't you think 

 that the tilting-up of the cover, while it may 

 cause the bees to quit clustering out, may be 

 letting too much heat escape? The super 

 should be very warm — the warmest part of the 

 hive. The method I advocated for making 



