1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



141 



showing on the hairs of the bees. As there 

 was an abundance of room aVjove, why did the 

 bees select the coldest place in the hive ? 

 Those that winter indoors tell us that the bees 

 cluster below the bottom bars. This is not an 

 accident, and I have concluded it is for want 

 of ventilation. The top of the hive is her- 

 metically sealed, the air grows foul, and the 

 bees leave the stores and warmth of the upper 

 part of the hive for the pure air to be found 

 below. I winter my bees on their stands. So 

 far this season the thermometer has stood at 

 40° to 80°, but we are now apt to have it crawl 

 down to " freezo " any night, and remain 

 there for weeks. My hives all have ventilators 

 in the rear of the hive, just below the lid. To 

 leave these open in winter would make the 

 hive too cold in a protracted cold spell. My 

 bees must be allowed to fly. To hit the com- 

 bination I have concluded that a ventilator in 

 the front of the hive, not over ^^ inch in di- 

 ameter, just below the lid, will give the hive 

 the needed ventilation without subjecting the 

 bees to the draft, as the air would circulate 

 from the entrance up the front and out of the 

 ventilator. Gallup pointed the way when he 

 wrote: "The thermometer for sixty daj'S in 

 succession was not above 10° below zero, and 

 for eight of these days the mercury was fro- 

 zen; yet my bees, in box hives, with a two- 

 inch hole in the top, and the bottom plastered 

 up tight, came throiigh in excellent condition. ' ' 

 The italics are mine. Unfortunately, Gallup 

 does not say how he protected that top hole 

 from snow and mice. Gallup's system is siiit- 

 ed only to those sections where the bees do 

 not fly throughout the winter; but it shows, 

 what we have all found in ventilating our 

 rooms, that the ventilation should be at the 

 top. E. H. SCHAEFFLE. 



Murphys, Cal. 



TWO-STORY COLONIES ; DEAD BEES ON THE 

 CEIXAR BOTTOM. 



1. I read that, in working for comb honey, 

 it is a good plan to put an empty hive of comb 

 or foundation under the old hive in the spring, 

 and then take it away at the beginning of the 

 honey- flow. Now, suppose the queen has be- 

 gun to lay in the lower story, and when you 

 take her away at the beginning of the honey- 

 flow what do you do with the brood? 



2. Would this be a good plan in raising 

 queens ? Take a frame of your choice larvae ; 

 put it into an empty hive with a frame of hon- 

 ey and pollen and two frames of hatching 

 brood and the bees that remain on the combs 

 when taken from the hives. Close up the 

 empty space with division-boards, and set the 

 hive on a new stand. 



3. How many bees should be swept up from 

 the cellar bottom each month, the cellar con- 

 taining seven colonies ? 



4. How can you find out whether the bees 

 have dysentery or not by examining those 

 taken from the cellar bottom ? 



Roy O. CIvArk. 

 Lake Crystal, Minn., Jan. 3. 



[1. We have never practiced exactly that 

 method; but brood can be given either to weak 



colonies or be used for rearing nuclei; but my 

 plan would be to let them keep the brood. 

 The two story double-decker colonies are the 

 kind that get honey for us when those in the 

 single story do little or nothing in the spring. 



2. Yes. 



3. This is a hard question to answer. In a 

 cellar containing 75 colonies there miglit be 

 only a pint of bees to sweep up, and there 

 might be a bushel a month. There will be far 

 more dead bees on the cellar bottom in the 

 fore part of the winter than during the latter. 

 It all depends upon how skillful one is in win- 

 tering, and also whether the temperature of 

 the cellar can be properly regulated. If the 

 temperature were too high or the cellar not 

 properly darkened, I should expect a good 

 many more dead bees than when the tempera- 

 ture is somewhere about 45. 



4. If bees have dysentery they will spot the 

 hives up badly with a sort of brown foul-smell- 

 ing drops. If they have the disease you will 

 know it. — Ed.] 



BEES WINTERING WEI.Iv ; A GOOD CROP OF 

 HONEY. 



My 125 colonies in the cellar are wintering 

 nicely so far. My crop of 3 tons of comb 

 honey was fine, and all sold at home for 10 cts. 

 straight, and cases returned. Clover burned 

 out some, but I think we are all right for 1898. 



Sheffield, 111., Jan. 26. A. L. Kildow. 



THIRTY COIvONIES IN A SOLID SNOWDRIFT. 



Thirty of my colonies are in a solid snow- 

 drift, covering them completely, The other 

 three rows are in soft snow two feet deep. 

 They are all packed in sawdust alike. It will 

 be a good test of snow-wintering if I decide 

 to let them remain as they are; but I think I 

 shall open up the entrances in a few days. 



Farwell, Mich., Jan. 28. T. F. Bingham. 



HONEY SNOW CREAM. 



One cup rich sweet cream; '( cup extracted 

 honey of decided flavor; mix and cool thor- 

 oughly, then stir in fresh, light, feathery snow 

 till it crumbles, and serve at once. If I am 

 not mistaken you will say it is better than any 

 ice-cream you ever tasted. The above will be 

 enough for four good dishes. 



C. J. Baldridge. 



Kendaia, N. Y., Jan. 26. 



tarred paper imparting its odor TO HON- 

 EY. 



The question is asked in Gleanings, 

 ' ' Will tarred paper affect bees ? " I will say 

 that I had one crate of 40 lbs. of my best bass- 

 wood hone}^ spoiled for table use by being 

 covered with a small strip of that kind of pa- 

 per; but the bees would steal it just the same. 

 It's no good to-day, for it smells and tastes of 

 the tar. G. H. B.A.BCOCK. 



Brookfield, N. Y., Dec. 30. 



[While the bees do not object to tarred pa- 

 per, it is no doubt true that, when placed over 

 honey, it will impart to it some of its tarry 

 odor. Honey will appropriate to itself odors 



