82 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. is 



way. This reinforcing- at this season of 

 the year does not always work. Sometimes 

 the added bees are unmercifully slaughter- 

 ed. If the bees are disposed that way, 

 better not try the experiment a second time. 

 In order to obtain the finest honey I shake 

 on but five frames or a half-story, the lat- 

 ter giving- the best result. Onlv starters 

 are used. The brood-combs obtained are 

 massed together on as few hives as practica- 

 ble; and when the season is over, the swarms 

 that were shaken on half-stories are placed 

 back on to these same combs; those shaken 

 on full-sized frames receive enough of the 

 combs of honey and brood to fill up their 

 hives. When this is done as soon as the 

 hone^'-flow ceases, in this locality about 

 Sept. 7, the colonies so treated will usually 

 be in good shape for winler. If wintered 

 in the cellar they come out just as well in 

 the spring as others that were on a full set 

 of combs all the time. 



When the buckwheat season begins I oft- 

 en find myself with colonies that were tiered 

 up with those sets of brood-combs from the 

 latest shaken swarms. Sometimes there 

 are three or four sets of these combs on one 

 stand piled up, with an immense quantity 

 of bees in them. The colonies with queens 

 of the same year's rearing are simply re- 

 duced to one story about Aug. 6, and the 

 sections are applied (only small starters in 

 them). A large yield of fine buckwheat 

 comb honey may be expected of them. The 

 colonies having old queens are shaken on 

 half stories; starters only both in frames 

 and sections. At this time of the year there 

 is little danger here of pollen being stored 

 in the sections. These colonies will pro- 

 duce the honey that will tickle the palate of 

 the epicure (if it is buckwheat), and take 

 the cake at the fair if the ju^lges know their 

 business, and not give the all-worker comb 

 honey built on comb foundation the pref- 

 erence. F. Grkiner. 



Naples, N. Y., Dec. 22. 



THAT CELLAR WITHIN A CELLAR; THE AD- 

 VANTAGE IN HAVING A FURNACE IN A 

 CELLAR. 



My cellar within a cellar is working fine- 

 ly — see page 1009. I can absolutely control 

 temperature, secure the requisite dryness 

 of atmosphere, and have the air as fresh as 

 it is out of doors any time. Of course, it 

 requires constant attention; so does my fur- 

 nace; and as I attend to the furnace I look 

 after the temperature of the bees. A ther- 

 mometer hanging inside gives the tempera- 

 ture; and if 1 find it too high I open the 

 window sufficiently to adjust the difficulty. 

 If too low I have the door of the bee-cellar 

 open to let in a little of the cellar air. In 

 this way I can keep the temperature within 

 5 degrees all of the time. I do not think I 

 have spent ten minutes a day regulating 

 the affair, and I do it in connection with 

 caring for my furnace. There is no doubt 

 in my mind that in this climate, 44>3° 

 north, a furnace cellar can in this way be 



better regulated than any other cellar. If 

 I had a large number of colonies I would 

 box the furnace in the same inexpensive 

 way I partitioned off a corner for the bees, 

 thus utilizing my whole space for the bees, 

 operating the same regulating procfss 

 which I now use. I can not speak at pres- 

 ent of the ultimate outcome, but I do know 

 that I am controling the temperature, and 

 securing conditions which are in harmony 

 with good results. I offer this bit of expe- 

 rience for what it is worth to some one wha 

 may be as perplexed as I was. 



Gardiner, Me. L. H. Clarke. 



DASYLLIS SACRATOR, OR BEE-HAWK, ANI> 

 HOW TO KILL THEM. 



I notice on page 725 that Mr. Frank Ben- 

 ton doesn't seem to think it practicable ta 

 destroy the bee-hawk. I think that, if he 

 were here trying to raise queens, he would 

 wish that they were all dead. I suppose 

 that, where there are only a few, they are 

 not so much to be dreaded; but there are 

 thousands of them here. One of my neigh- 

 bors told me that he has had quite a 

 little trouble with them. When his young 

 queens go out on their wedding-trip they 

 don't get back. In this locality they are 

 very destructive to bees. I am satisfied 

 that they catch other insects; but they are 

 not apt to bother about hunting them up 

 when they can stay right in our bee-yards 

 and see thousands of bees at one time. 



I was a little surprised one day last sum- 

 mer to see a bee-hawk holding to a good- 

 sized bumble-bee. I hardly ever see many 

 of them before July, and raise my queens 

 in May and June, and they are not here then 

 to catch them. We have a few mosquito- 

 hawks here. I have seen them in the bee- 

 yard. They have four wings, and are 

 larger than the bee-hawk. My advice to 

 friend Stafford is to use a shotgun on them. 

 Get the smallest shot you can find, and put 

 small loads in the gun, and kill them; and 

 my advice to all bee-keepers is to kill every 

 bee-hawk they can. There seems to be more 

 of them each year. W. T. Davidson. 



Velken, Ind. 



A 12-LB. swarm; does it BREAK THE 

 RECORD? 



On page 1041 you express the opinion that 

 a 9-lb. swarm is the biggest we shall ever 

 haveinthenorthernpartof theUnited States. 

 You will have to change that opinion. On 

 July 3 of this year I had a swarm come out 

 of a hive that was on scales. I had bal- 

 anced it about ten minutes before; and 

 when the bees were all out, the scales show- 

 ed a loss of 12 lbs. The hive had two sto- 

 ries (eight frames), with the queen having 

 access to both. Gdstave Gross. 



Lake Mills, Wis., Dec. 19. 



[We shall be glad to get reports from 

 others. Perhaps we can break the record 

 again. Let's see — a 12-lb swarm means 

 from 50,000 to 60,000 bees. Who will beat 

 this?— Ed.] 



