18 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



[I solicit questions for this department; but they miist be 

 put ' n heparate slips of paper, and marked " Gleanings De- 

 partment." If you desire an immediate answer, say so at 

 the time of writing, and a private reply will be .•-ent you In 

 advance before your qie^tion with answer appears In these 

 columns; but questions that are mi.\ed up with business mat- 

 ters, will not only be subject to con-iiierable delay but pos- 

 sibly will receive no answer at all.— Editor.] 



PROSPECTS ENCOURAGING FOR NEXT YEAR. 



November was very warm and pleasant, and 

 bees carried water until the last day of the 

 month. Dandelions and strawberries bloom- 

 ed. If late rearing of bees is indicative of suc- 

 cessful wintering, we may have no fears for 

 the future. 



The crop of surplus honey was light, but the 

 lower stories were heavy with well-ripened 

 stores and plenty of bees. There was a very 

 small amount of white-clover honey secured 

 in this locHlity — mostly Spanish needle and 

 other fall flowers. Comb honey retails for 20 

 cents per section. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111., Dec. 14. 



FOLIvOWERS IN TEN-FRAME HIVES. 



In the use of your ten-frame Dovetailed 

 hives, is it the general practice or intent to 

 use the follower in addition to the ten frames ? 

 Seems to me the follower would cause too 

 tight a fit. If the follower is not used, I pre- 

 sume the two outside frames are spaced equal- 

 ly from their respective sides. 



Ashland, Or., Dec. 6. E. A. Hildreth. 



[As the ten-frame hives are made, they are 

 wide enough to hold 10 Hoffman frames spaced 

 lys in. from center to center, but not a follower 

 at the same time. But the latter is sent along 

 so that, when less than the regulation ten 

 frames are used, the follower may be used to 

 reduce the capacity of the hive. — Ed.] 



HONEY FROM PINE-NEEDLES THE MOST SAL- 

 ABLE. 



The most salable honey I ever tried to sell 

 was some gathered from pine-needles in May, 

 1898. Some of my best colonies began work 

 in the third super at that time. When bass- 

 wood and colton-blossom honey was offered, 

 later in the season, some of my customers re- 

 fused to buy unless I could supply them with 

 " May honey. " 



Let us have the reform in spelling, then the 

 metric system of measures and weights. 



J. T. EtherEdge. 



Delray, Tex., Dec. 9. 



POOR COMB HONEY ON A PAR WITH THE FAN- 

 CY ARTICLE. 



If E. R. Root could see some of my sections 

 I suppose he would class me with the " farmer- 

 bee-keeper. " Now, I don't think that E. R. 

 is sitting at his desk polishing his finger-nails, 

 waiting to hear from me, so I wi'l just say, 

 that, in this part of the country, we are paid 9 



or 10 cents per section, no matter whether the 

 wood is white as snow or black as ebony. I 

 have tried snow-white sections, and colored 

 cartons, to make an attractive package easily 

 handled by the merchant, but 1 could get no 

 more for it than the man who brought his hon- 

 ey in an old tin can. J. A. RUFF. 

 Fort McKavett, Tex., Nov. 30. 



SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS CLEAN PROFIT FROM 

 THE BEES. 



I was in the bee business eight years, and 

 received much valuable information from 

 Gleanings that helped make my business a 

 success. I commenced the business without 

 knowing any thing about bees, and was in the 

 business eight years, and cleared $6000 in that 

 time, after paying for the bees and all the sup- 

 plies and labor hired. I liked the business, 

 and it paid well ; but I got to be 6.5 years old, 

 and two years ago I sold my bees, as I had 

 1000 acres of land in cultivation, and 500 head 

 of cattle, and am a director in the Poudre Val- 

 liy Bank. I did not allow my bees to swarm. 

 I took out the queens in June. I ran about 

 260 stands the most of the lime. 



N. C. Alford. 



Fort Collins, Colo., Nov. 20. 



[This illustrates the fact that, if one can 

 make money keeping bees, he can make money 

 at other things. The Coggshalls make bees 

 pay as well as everything else that they have 

 a hand in. This is a better record than many 

 are able to show who run bees as a sort of side 

 issue, as I take it our friend above did. — Ed.] 



WINTERING BEES IN THE TEMPERATURE OF 

 A LIVING-ROOM. 



1. Is it possible to raise bees in a tempera- 

 ture of 70° throughout the winter, with a small 

 enclosure on front of hive, 2 feet long? 



2. Can I raise young bees by doing .so ? And 

 if I can, what can I substitute for pollen in the 

 hive .'' This is an experiment on my part, partly 

 because I haven't a full swarm. 



Chas. E. Selchou. 

 Port Chester, N. Y., December 6. 



[1. It is possible to winter bees in a tempera- 

 ture of 70° throughout the winter, but it is not 

 practicable, and losses from bees flying out are 

 very considerable. Much better results can be 

 secured by putting bees in the cellar, where 

 they will get into that semi-dormant state 

 when they will consume very little stores. 



2. Yes, you ran raise young bees, but this 

 also is not practicable. If you wish to carry 

 on experiments for the purpose of observation 

 and study, put a colony in a greenhouse, 

 where the bees can get natural pollen ; but 

 even then many of them will die by bumping 

 against the glass ; but in time some of them 

 begin to learn that they can not get through 

 the glass, and make their way back and forth 

 to the hive. The whole trouble with winter- 

 ing bees in a temperature of 70 degrees, and 

 yet giving them an entrance to the outside, is 

 that too many of them fly out and die ; but if 

 it is cold, and they have to hug up to the 

 combs, they will not then fly out. — Ed.] 



