88 



GLEAl^mGS IN J3EE CULTURE. 



Ebb. 



pose must have carried honey enough from the orig- 

 inal hives to live on till they commenced work out 

 of doors. They carried in honey and pollen enough 

 topartly fill 5 Gallup frames. They lived that way 

 for a month, when I introduced an Italian queen. 

 She was accepted in good faith, and still lives, and 

 they are a thriving colony. There are no bees near 

 that could have come from any other yard. Some of 

 your readers here would like to know how it was 

 done. George E. Northrop. 



Southport, Fairfleld Co., Ct., Jan. 13, 1881. 



It is all very plain, friend oST., except on 

 one point, and this is, the difficulty of ex- 

 plaining where the honey came from to sus- 

 tain them, until it could be had from the 

 fields. Unless you know positively to the 

 contrary, I would suggest that the Italians 

 swarmed out, before they were quite out of 

 lioney, as they often do in early spring, when 

 weak. The blacks came back to their old 

 stand as a matter of course, and, finding no 

 hives, both went into the only hive remaining, 

 and finding at least a small patch of brood, 

 went to work to take care of it. The stocks 

 moved were probably quite strong, and so the 

 two together make a very fair new swarm. As 

 they were all fiying bees (the whole force of 

 two colonies), they gathered and stored hon- 

 ey from the first bloom out; and, having 

 little brood to feed, filled the frames, as you 

 state, very quickly. Either they failed in 

 raising a queen, or your fertile one killed her, 

 and then they were a fair colony. 1 have 

 once known bees to carry all tlieir stores 

 over to another hive, where there was a 

 queen, and it is therefore not impossible 

 that the bees you mention did not carry hon- 

 ey back to the'ir old locality, if you are posi- 

 tive the Italians, when they decamped, left 

 none. The plan was, in fact, almost exact- 

 ly the one I give in the A B C for making 

 artificial swarms, only it was done rather 

 early in the season. 



BEES UNDER THE SNOW. 



In reply to Charles B. Ellis, on page 5'J2, you say 

 that bees are better off covered with snow, etc. Now, 

 I think you are mistaken, as my grandfather lost 100 

 swarms of bees, 40 years ago. They were standing 

 In a bee-house, four feet from the ground. There 

 was a board one foot wide that was hung on hinges 

 In front of them. He neglected to shut it down that 

 night, and the snow drifted in and closed the en- 

 trance of the hives and smothered them. 



W. w. Bliss. 



Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., Cal., Jan. 10, 1881. 



I must think you are mistaken, friend 13., 

 about the snow killing the bees. Thousands 

 of colonies are now covered entirely with 

 snow, and I never heard of its doing any 

 harm, unless the snow became so wet as to 

 settle down so the water from it ran into the 

 hives, or closed the only openings. In all 

 modern hives, there is abundant ventilation 

 up through the chaff coverings, even though 

 the entrance be closed hermetically. It is 

 possible the hives you mention were made 

 so tight, and waxed above, that the snow 

 smothered them ; but I can hardly see how 

 it could be. Prof. Cook once poured water 

 all over a hive, and let it freeze on ; but it 

 did not harm the bees. Under a snowbank 

 is almost as good as buried in the ground. 



THE BEES AND GRAPES; AND HOW TO SAVE EX- 

 PENSE OF GOING TO LAW, ETC. 



I to-day have been reading about the troubles be- 

 tween friends Kroek and Klasen, which I very much 

 regret. No doubt friend Krock has been very much 

 annoyed, and perhaps damaged, by friend Klasen's 

 bees, and also by his don't-care and saucy manner; 

 but I fear that friend Krock put it rather " thin " 

 where ho admits the " accidental " poisoning. I hope 

 he will not set any more Paris green and mashed 

 peaches and grapes where bees will find them. I am 

 sorry friend Klasen went into the vineyard with 

 that pistol, and hope he will throw it away. I am 

 opposed to going to law if it can be avoided, and it 

 can usually be done if meu will only wait to cool off 

 and reflect. I never advise men to go to law, but 

 advise them to each select a man, and these two men 

 select the third man, and they shall hear both sides 

 of the matter in dispute, and shall render a verdict 

 accordingly, which shall be final,— first having the 

 parties enter into a written agreement to abide by 

 such decision; and I think that would be the better 

 plan in this case. 



I fear I shall lose all my boes. Nov. 18th the ther- 

 mometer ran suddenly down to 20° below zero, and 

 caught them scattered all through the hives, freez- 

 ing thousands of them, and it still continues cold. 

 This morning the thermometer went down to 17° be- 

 low. H. H. Fox. 



Tribulation, McDonald Co., Mo., Jan. 10, 1881. 



BEES AKD GRAPES. 



I have the very best opportunity for making ob- 

 sei-vations in regard to bees eating grapes. I am lo- 

 cated in the immediate vicinity of quite a number 

 of vineyards; have kept bees a good many years. I 

 had, during the grape season of last year, something 

 over 200 swarms. I have two small vineyards ad- 

 joining my apiaries (about 1 acre each.) I raised a 

 fine crop of grapes last year, a part remaining on 

 the vines until frost. Tho most experienced grape- 

 growers in this vicinity, whose opinions upon this 

 subject are highly credib'.c, are settled in their con- 

 victions that bees eat only such grapes as have had 

 their skins punctured or broken. 



There is one other thing, also, about which there 

 is no disagreement: they arc oftentimes quite an- 

 noying about the packing-house and in the vineyard, 

 for they are ready in an instant to appropriate every 

 grape that becomes broken, no matter how small 

 the break or puncture. I consider this question of 

 no little importance to both bee-keepers and grape- 

 growers, as some very grave charges have been 

 made in this matter against the bees. 



H. R. BOARDM VN. 



East Townsend, O., Jan. 17, 1881. 



BEES AND GRAPES. 



I have had, for the past year, 75 colonies near and 

 among a quarter of an acre of old bearing vines; 

 and, although last year, and especially the fall, was 

 a poor season for honey-gathering, I considered the 

 grapes damaged very little by them. One of my 

 men says they never break optn a grape, but only 

 suck the juice where they are already open; but he 

 has observed the yellow-jackets, and thinks they do 

 open the grapes. Now, if they are so destructive, 

 why did not so many bees destroy mine? I think, as 

 you say, a little Christian charity for each other 

 would have got along with the matter without diffi- 

 culty. A. D. Benh.vm. 



Olivet, Eaton Co., Mich., Jan. 18, 1881. 



