804 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Nov. 1 



bits of this get stuck to the cappings; and heat 

 and bees crawling over it, the surface soon 

 becomes discolored all over, and the heat 

 causes the soft waxy propolis to penetrate the 

 cappings the same as indelible ink will pen- 

 etrate ivory. 



Honey is a complete failure in this locality. 

 I have had to buy sugar to feed my bees this 

 year, the first time since I've been in the 

 business. J. K. Hill. 



Uvalde, Texas. 



ROYAL JELLY NOT AN ESSENTIAL FOR DRONE- 

 CELL CUPS OR THE DOOLITTLE CUPS. 



On page 602 Dr. Miller, in speaking of get- 

 ting bees to accept drone-cells the same as the 

 artificial cups, thinks the royal jelly and not 

 the size of cup makes the difference. I have 

 made many experiments, giving royal jelly to 

 one batch of cells and another batch beside 

 them without any; and if there is any thing I 

 am sure of about bee-keeping it is that it does 

 not make one particle of difference whether 

 you put in the royal jelly or not, either in ar- 

 tificial cups or drone cells. Any one who 

 wishes to prove this can go and examine the 

 cell-cups, as I have often done, two or three 

 hours after putting in the royal jelly and the 

 larvse, and they will find the royal jelly licked 

 out clean. I have examined them thus doz- 

 ens of times, and never have found a single 

 instance where the bees would leave the feed 

 which I put into the cell. Even when every 

 cell was accepted they have always removed 

 the feed which I had put in, and then com- 

 menced to feed the larvae to suit themselves. 



About getting them accepted in colonies 

 having a laying queen, I have had them ac- 

 cepted in upper stories, but it is very uncer- 

 tain about the number they accept— generally 

 very few; sometimes only one; so to make 

 sure of getting enough I have them started in 

 queenless hives. I can do this and still not 

 have any queenless hives in the apiary. A 

 few hours to half a day before giving the cells 

 I remove the upper story from my cell- 

 building colony, and place it on a bottom- 

 board, then put a cover on the brood-chamber, 

 and set it aside with entrance turned around; 

 then the upper story is placed on the stand. 

 Thus you see I have a colony made queenless 

 ready to start the cells ; then when the cells 

 are well started, which will be in a few hours, 

 the brood chamber is put back on the stand; 

 and the upper story, having the cells, is lifted 

 off its bottom-board and placed back' on the 

 brood-chamber, having, of course, a queen- 

 excluder between. I am surprised that Dr. 

 Miller got them to accept worker cells. I 

 never tried it. W. C. GathrighT. 



Dona Ana, New Mexico. 



R. S. H., Ala.— The greatest problem the 

 bee-keepers of the South have to contend with 

 is robbing and starvation. It is an actual fact 

 that where bees can fly nearly every day 

 through winter they require much more stores 

 than in the North where it is very cold. 



C. L. IV., Iowa. — After the bees are once 

 packed outdoors, better let them alone until 

 along in the spring. Tinkering with them 

 everlastingly through the winter will do more 

 harm than good. 



C. M. F., Pa. — Cakes of candy may be used 

 as a winter fcod when nothing better can be 

 had; but I should greatly prefer combs of seal- 

 ed stores that have been reserved during sum- 

 mer and set aside for just such uses as this. 



A. B. R., Mass. — As between sealed covers 

 and absorbing cushions I do not know that I 

 know which is the better. We have tried both 

 for a period of several years. Some winters 

 bees will do better under sealed covers, and in 

 others the mortality will be less under absorb- 

 ing cushions. Taking it all in all, I should 

 prefer to have the cover sealed down by the 

 bees, and then over it put some packing ma- 

 terial, and then another cover to protect the 

 packing. 



J. G. AI, Minn. — I would not try to winter 

 indoors or in the cellar unless the temperature 

 outside ranges near the zero-mark for six or 

 eight weeks at a time. Where the winters are 

 somewhat open, changing from a thaw to a 

 week of cold weather, then back again to 

 warm or stormy weather, during which the 

 temperature ranges at freezing or above, I 

 would by all means winter outdoors. When 

 the temperature outdoors is above freezing it 

 is very difficult to keep bees inside quiet. 



E. W. P., III. — With the best winter reposi- 

 tory that has ever been constructed, bees will 

 fly out and die on the floor, and if they are 

 not swept up, 75 or 100 colonies in a cellar 10 

 X10 may furnish dead bees, before spring, 

 sufficient to cover the floor an inch or two in 

 depth. These are probably the superannuated 

 bees ; and if they were in hives on their sum- 

 mer stands they would fly out just the same; 

 but as the)' would scatter over all outdoors 

 they could not be found. For this reason 

 some have thought that bees die more in cel- 

 lars than outdoors. 



C. F. F., Wis. — For small horse powers 

 suitable for running a light buzz-saw for hive- 

 making, there is probably nothing better than 

 a small gasoline-engine of one or two horse 

 size. The one advertised in this issue by the 

 Pierce Engine Co. is well adapted to the pur- 

 pose. Gasoline - engines are comparatively 

 cheap now, and do not require an experienced 

 engineer to run them. Indted, they have practi- 

 callydisplaced nearly all the small-horse-power 

 s learn -engines. For larger powers the steam- 

 engine is both cheaper and more economical 

 to run, because it can utilize any kind of fuel 

 — wood, coal, and rubbish. Where there is 

 enough bee-hive work to be done, the refuse 

 under the boiler will furnish sufficient fuel to 

 run the machinery. 



