GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Delegates in attendauce at the meeting of the National Beekeepers' Association, St. Louis, Mo., 



Feb. 17, 18, 19, 1914. 



combs of bees and brood right along to 

 make it just as strong as any colony in the 

 yard. We have started new colonies this 

 way quite early in the season, even when 

 the weather was fairly cold. But when the 

 nights are cold we cover the hives up until 

 they are well protected, and we have never 

 lost a comb of brood from chilling. We 

 have some quick changes, too, here in Man- 



itoba, in the spring, and some very cold 

 windy days that are hard on the bees. 



Last season none of our old colonies 

 wanted to swarm, in spite of the very hot 

 weather that we had. We like to keep all 

 colonies good and strong right along, for 

 the hives that contain lots of bees are the 

 ones from which we get most of the honey. 



Gladstone, Man., Can. 



BEEKEEPING BY A FARMER'S WIFE AMONG THE MOUNTAINS OF 



NORTH CAROLINA 



BY MRS. J. T. REEVES 



I have thought that our experience with 

 bees might interest the readers of Glean- 

 ings, especially the women, as I am the 

 " beeman " at our place. My husband is a 

 great lover of honey, and wanted to get 

 some bees. We tried to buy sotne, but 

 failed to find any for sale, as almost every 

 one wanted more bees than he had. Then, 

 too, some think it is bad luck to sell bees. 

 Finally, however, when a neighbor offered 

 us some black bees in box hives on shares 

 we took two stands and kept them two 

 years. Both colonies swarmed. We lost 

 one of the swarms, and the parent colony 

 from which the other one had issued we lost 

 because the bees robbed it out before it 

 grew strong enough. 



Soon after this, one of my husband's 

 friends from the other side of the mountain 



said his mother had five colonies that she 

 would sell for three dollars apiece. I thought 

 we should not get so many at the start, as I 

 did not expect any thing except enough 

 honey for the table. However, my husband 

 brought them across the mountain late in 

 tlie fall, and these bees have been a constant 

 source of surprise and delight ever since. 

 We have made many mistakes, but I think 

 we have profited by them — at least, enough 

 not to make the same mistakes again. 



The first season (1912) was a fine one for 

 bees. We did not put on supers until after 

 swarming time, and what a time we did 

 haye ! We ran out of movable-comb hives 

 and had to use all kinds of boxes. The first 

 colony swarmed four times, and in all we 

 had fourteen swarms. Some of these we 

 doubled, and some we returned (o the old 



