1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



223 



queens, and introduce them, following the di- 

 rections given on the cages. You might be 

 able to look over the frames of your colonies 

 during this winter when the bees fly ; but we 

 would not open the hives unless the tempera- 

 ture was at least as high as 65 degrees Fahren- 

 heit. Bees fly on quite chilly days ; but at 

 such times it would be very unwise to open 

 the hives. 



H.L., B. C. — When running for comb honey 

 it is hard to prevent swarming, although many 

 of the inconveniences attending it can be very 

 greatly reduced. I would by all means have 

 the queens' wings clipped ; then I would hive 

 the new swarms, if first swarms, in an empty 

 hive on frames of foundation, or empty comb, 

 on the old stand, and place the super on the 

 new hive now on the old stand. The other col- 

 ony I would place in an entirely new location, 

 which transfer will have the effect of reducing 

 the parent colony so much in strength that 

 there will be no further swarms from that one. 

 If }-ou can not get around to clip all the queens' 

 wings in spring, put perforated entrance-guards 

 over all colonies haying undipped queens. It 

 is a good time to requeen during swarming 

 time, and all colonies with young mothers 

 will be less liable to swarm. The best bee- 

 keepers do not keep queens, ordinarily, more 

 than two years for service, and some go so far 

 as to requeen all colonies vdth young ones 

 where the queens are more than one year old. 

 But the giving a colony a young queen will by 

 no r"eans prevent swarming, although it may 

 have a tendency to discourage it. 



E. L., Victoria, B. C. — I would refer you for 

 answers to your questions regarding the ocelli 

 to Cheshire's works, " Bees and Bee-keeping," 

 two volumes. The first named is scientific, and 

 the other practical. The prices of these are $2.50 

 for Vol. I., and $3.00 for Vol. II., postpaid. I 

 would also refer you to book entitled "The 

 Honey-bee," price $1.00 per copy postpaid. 

 The last named is by Thos. W. Cowan, editor 

 of the British Bee Journal. I could not give 

 you any idea of the amount of pollen used by 

 a colony during the year. Conditions would 

 vary so, and so much would be used before it 

 was stored, that it would be difficult to give 

 even a rough guess. You can procure a set of 

 large illustrations of the bee, such as could be 

 held up before an audience, at the office of the 

 British Bee Journal, 17 King William Street, 

 Strand, London, England. Yes, we have any 

 number of the glass dodecahedron paper- 

 weights, and can supply them to you at 15 cts. 

 each postpaid. With regard to the A B C of 

 Bee Culture, I would say that it is a cyclopedia, 

 and from the very nature of the case it can not 

 be arranged so that one subject leads up to 

 another. Any one who buys a cj'clopedia is 

 not expected to sit down and read it from be- 

 ginning to end. It is arranged in alphabetical 

 order for the purpose of reference. Beginners 

 who desire the ABC should first commence 

 with "Bees;" then take up in their order 

 Hives, Hive-making, Swarming, Absconding 

 Swarms, Comb Honey, Extracted Honey, Rob- 

 bing, and Wintering. The other subjects may 

 be taken up in the order that they suggest 

 themselves. 



Eight extra pages this issue. 



The manufacturing interests under the 

 name of E. Kretchmer, of Red Oak, Iowa, 

 have recently been made over into a capital 

 stock company of |25,000, $18,000 already 

 having been paid in. Their line of business 

 will be the manufacture of steel and wooden 

 tanks, hives, and other bee-keepers' supplies, 

 the same as heretofore carried on by Mr. 

 Kretchmer. We offer the new company our 

 best wishes and congratulations. 



HOW THE BEES ARE WINTERING OVER THE 

 COUNTRY. 



March this spring" came in like a lion," but 

 on the 8th and 9th it warmed up so we had a 

 chance to go through our bees. We have 

 something like 250 colonies on their summer 

 stand,'!, packed in double-walled hives. So far 

 there has not been a single one lost; and, what 

 is of more importance, our apiarist says they 

 are stronger and more vigorous than he ever 

 saw them before, for he says he doesn't think 

 there is, on the average, to exceed a loss of 100 

 bees to the colony. Reports over the country 

 so far indicate similar good wintering, and 

 bee-keepers have great reason to feel rejoiced. 

 A year ago at this time, heavy losses were re- 

 ported everywhere, and our own bees suffered 

 more severely than at any time since the se- 

 vere winter of 1881-'82. 



THICK ALFAI^FA HONEY. 



Talking about thick honey, the following 

 domestic scene is a case in point. We were 

 seated at the table when Mrs. R., looking at 

 me, said : 



" Please pass me some of that alfalfa sweet- 

 clover honey which you say is so nice." 



" Certainly," I said ; and with that I elevat- 

 ed the dish, honey and all, by the handle of 

 the spoon. Of course, Mrs. R. looked horri- 

 fied, and ejaculated : 



" Oh ! please be dignified. You are setting 

 a bad example to our son." 



" Fudge ! " said I. "I wanted to show you 

 both how thick and nice that honey was. If I 

 can take up the dish, honey and all, by taking 

 hold of only the spoon that is dipped in the 

 honey, pass it across the table, the honey must 

 be thick. See? " 



Mrs. R. didn't see. I find you can't make 

 a woman see if she is not so inclined. In this 

 case my better half saw in her mind's eye a 

 vision of an overturned dish and her "nice 

 clean table-cloth " all daubed with honey. 



After I had made a few more gyrations of the 

 aforesaid spoon with its honey and dish, much 

 to the merriment of the boy and the mortifi- 

 cation of his mother, I set the whole thing 



