1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



773 



to play around 14° below zero at sunrise for 

 nearly two weeks at a time as an exception, 

 and still we have enjoyed a honey-flow from 

 the first of May until now (May 28) that forced 

 me to have cells built in a triple decker ten- 

 frame hive where no bees or brood had been 

 added, and that by the middle of May. 



This is the first season during my experience 

 when I could get more full combs of honey 

 than brood in forming nuclei. Where combs 

 of brood were drawn and empty ones given, 

 they would be filled with honey before the 

 queen could get in her work. 



I carefully noted what Mr. Doolittle said a 

 year or more ago about caging the queen for 

 ten days should the cell-builders swarm out, 

 the cells in the lower story to be destroyed at 

 the beginning and expiration of the time. 

 About the 10th of May I deviated from in- 

 structions by releasing her a day or two too 

 soon, with the result that they poured out 

 again the same day. I returned them to the 

 lower story, the others being set off until the 

 next day. This reconciled them, as it gave 

 them time to get the queen to laying, and 

 there has been no trouble since. 



Creek, N. C. W. H. Pridgen. 



[Of course, if we know that a virgin's 

 mother is pure we may be equally sure that 

 the virgin and her drones are pure, for this is 

 in accordance with the Dzierzon theory, and 

 with actual practice, if I am not mistaken. 

 With regard to getting drones out. of season, 

 we will try your plan, for during the late sum- 

 mer and early fall we never have enough 

 drones, especially from select stock. — Ed.] 



A ROOT-CEI.IvAR FOR WINTERING BEES. 



I watit to ask for some information of you 

 in reg rd to wintering bees. I am just com- 

 menci g in bee culture, and am somewhat so- 

 licitouj about wintering, especially in this 

 northern climate. My bees have done finely 

 this summer, and I have 17 fine colonies. I 

 am now anxious about carrying them through 

 the winter. I have a fine root-cellar that is 

 cemented and walled on all sides, and I desire 

 some information whether bees put into this 

 cellar would go through the winter well. It 

 never freezes in the cellar at all, but goes 

 down to 32° and remains there. The matter 

 I tkink to be feared in wintering bees in the 

 cellar would be dampness, though there would 

 be but little of this, perhaps because there 

 would be no vegetables in the cellar except a 

 few potatoes. Now, what do you think about 

 the bees wintering in this cellar ? and if not 

 desirable to winter them there, vkdll you give 

 me some directions as to the best mode of 

 wintering here ? J. W. SXREVEtL. 



Miles City, Mont., Sept. 18. 



[I see no reason why your cellar would not 

 be all right for wintering those 17 colonies. 

 The matter of dampness would not cut very 

 much of a figure either way ; indeed, bees 

 have been wintered in cellars fairly reeking 

 with dampness, and they wintered all right ; 

 but, of course, we should prefer to have the 

 cellars dry when possible. For the best re- 



sults in wintering, the temperature of the cel- 

 lar should not go much below 40°, nor higher 

 than 50. The closer you can maintain these 

 temperatures the better will be the result. It 

 may be necessary to warm the cellar by means 

 of a lamp or coal-oil stove ; but in such cases 

 there should be a stovepipe in connection with 

 the chimney, by means of which the gases of 

 the lamp or stove may be taken off. If the 

 temperature of the cellar goes down to 82, and 

 stays there for only a day or two, it would 

 hardly pay to warm it artificially ; but if it 

 goes down to 32, and stays there for days at a 

 time, it might be advisable to use artificial 

 heat.— Ed.] 



BISULPHIDE OF CARBON — TWO KINDS OF. 



Some time ago I saw a query in Gleanings, 

 if there were more than one kind of bisul- 

 phide of carbon in the market. I understand 

 that you would like to get all the information 

 you can about that drug. Permit me to copy 

 a part of an article written by Dr. Otto Lugger, 

 State entomologist, in Farm Student's Re- 

 view, Minneapolis, Minn. The article was 

 written about gophers and how to eradicate 

 them. He says : 



One of the simplest and probably, on the whole, the 

 most effective and cheapest methods yet devised for 

 destroying these animals is by the use of bisulphide 

 of carbon. This compound, when pure, forms a color- 

 less, mobile liquid having a peculiar odor, and, when 

 taken internally, is a violent poison. As usually ob- 

 tained it contains impurities in the form of other com- 

 pounds of sulphur which give it a strong and extreme- 

 ly offensive odor, and when inhaled soon causes death. 

 For the purpose of destroying gophers the crude bi- 

 sulphide is better and much cheaper than the pure ar- 

 ticle. Care should be taken in using it, as it is both 

 inflammable and explosive. Its efficacy depends on 

 the fact that its vapor is heavier than air, and. when 

 introduced into burrows, it flows like water into all 

 the recesses. This fact should be borne in mind in 

 using it in sloping ground, as, unless the poison is in- 

 troduced at the highest opening of the burrow, a cer- 

 tain part of the hole will remain free from it where 

 the animal may take refuge. 



As the bisulphide fumes are heavier than 

 air, it is self-evident that, in fumigating combs, 

 it is better to place it above, so the vapor can 

 descend, than to place it under the combs, as 

 by the method described by J. A. Golden in 

 No. 17 of Gleanings. K. O. Solberg. 



Kenyon, Minn., Sept. 11. 



shallow BROOD-CHAMBERS FOR THE PRO- 

 DUCTION OF COMB HONEY. 



I have just been reading Harry Lathrop's 

 plan for getting comb honey, as described 

 in Sept. 1st Gleanings, and will say I have 

 been practicing the same thing here for the 

 last nine or ten years, with Mr. Heddon's 

 hive, and one I make. The latter is a 7 inch 

 hive. Once in a while I find a swarm that 

 does not like to work through the zinc honey- 

 board. Wm. Craig. 



Luce, Mich. 



Our bees averaged 62 lbs., and are starting 

 on fall flowers now. 



Delbert E. Lhommedieu. 

 Colo, Story Co., Iowa. 



