238 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



A COLD- BLAST GERMAN SMOKER. 



Smokers seem to form an important fea- 

 ture in America. The smoker I like best 

 of all is the one invented by bee-master 

 Dathe, in Germany. It is something' like 

 a pipe, and must be helii with the teeth. 

 The top part can be opened, and the pipe 

 may be filkd with dry stuff. I always use 

 very cheap tobacco. By blowing- in the mouth- 



piece, and holdinsr a match under the pipe, 

 the stuff begins to burn. The advantage of 

 this pipe is that both the hands are kept free 

 for working-, and a puff of smoke can be g-iv- 

 en just when and where it is needed, without 

 stopping- the work. The pipe is made of 

 brass or tin. C. Kneppelhout. 



Driebergen, Holland, Dec. 30, 1903. 



[This smoker embodies the well-known 

 principle of the atomizers found at the drug- 

 stores, and is, therefore, in effect a cold- 

 blast smoker in that it creates a vacuum 

 near the nozzle, causing the smoke to be 

 sucked from the burning fuel, and to be 

 blown out through the nozzle. These mouth 

 smokers have never been very popular in 

 this country. — Ed.] 



good wintering in a cellar with a 

 furnace; how it was done. 

 I am much interested in wintering bees 

 in a cellar with a furnace. I had a furnace 

 in my cellar for several years until last 

 season. Did I have the courage to try to 

 winter bees in such a place? The main 

 part of my cellar where the furnace is, is 

 20X20; then there is an L 9X14. This I 

 partitioned off by setting 2X4's up on end 

 and siding up on both sides. This left a 

 space of 4 inches which I packed with saw- 

 dust. This is a nn-conductor of heat. I 

 have a door through this partition, connect- 

 ing the two cellars. I have a north win- 

 dow and outside door in this "cold storage," 

 as I call it. In this room I have all my 

 vegetables for winter use. Last winter I 

 placed 22 colonies of bees in this storage 

 place — the lightest I could pick out. I kept 

 this place as near 45 degrees as possible by 

 opening the window. If it got too cold I 

 opened the door, letting in some heat. Now, 

 how did the bees come out? Just perfectly 

 clean, and as sweet as when put in. When 



I set them out they spotted but little. I 

 don't think they consumed over 3 lbs. each 

 while in the cellar. Now, I have over 30 

 in test this winter; and, say — what a fine 

 place to keep vegetables! This could be 

 kept nearly at the freezing-point. 



If any one having a furnace in his cellar 

 will partition it off with a sawdust pack- 

 ing, he will find it all right. I could not 

 see that fresh air from the windows did 

 any hurt so long as it was dark. I darken 

 the window from the outside. 



Jackson, Mich. W. D. Soper. 



[Your arrangement is ideal, providing 

 you can keep the temperature from going 

 too high. The furnace offers one advan- 

 tage in that it enables one to raise the tem- 

 perature when it is too low. — Ed.] 



MAPLE sugar as A BEE-FEED. 



Can you tell me whether it was ever tried 

 to feed bees with maple sugar, and wheth- 

 er this same sugar is good for a stimulant? 



Gilpin, Md. H. S. Krumline. 



[Syrup made of maple sugar or maple 

 molasses has been given the bees a good 

 many times. Unless the sugar is of very 

 poor quality it would be cheaper to use reg- 

 ular granulated sugar, from which a more 

 wholesome syrup could be secured. We 

 have used maple sugar cakes of poor quali- 

 ty, putting the same on top of the frames, 

 to stimulate the bees in the spring, but we 

 do not advise it as a midwinter food, as it 

 would be liable to bring on dysentery be- 

 fore spring. — Ed.] 



shall bees be allowed to have winter 

 Flights whf,n snow is on the 



GROUND? 



I should like to know if it would be nec- 

 essary to block up the entrance of a hive 

 when the ground is covered with snow on a 

 warm day, when the bees fly out on the 

 snow and die. My entrance is about 4X/^ 

 inch. This morning I put a piece of wood 

 half way across the entrance, and this noon 

 they have been flying out and falling on the 

 snow. I have now got the entrance up with 

 wire netting. C. Wuetig. 



Blue Island, 111. 



[It is a little difficult to answer your 

 question as you put it. As a general thing 

 we may say that a midwinter flight for 

 bees is beneficial — especially so if their ab- 

 domens have become distended with fecal 

 matter. There are times when I have been 

 satisfied that it would have been better to 

 have the entrances entirely closed, for some- 

 times the sunlight will induce bees to fly 

 out in an atmosphere just a little too chilly 

 for them to get back. The consequence is, 

 thousands and thousands of them rush out 

 into the sunshine, and, becoming chilled, 

 they alight on the hives, and even in the 

 snow, where they perish. If the entrance 

 is shut at all it had better be closed with 

 snow rather than with wire cloth. I think 



