1881 



GLEANIJ^GS lis BEE CULTtTRE. 



141 



would be very safe in labeling yonr white 

 fall honey black-heart, and the other buck- 

 wheat. The instance you cite shows plainly 

 that bees seem rather'to prefer to work on 

 one kind of blossoms at a time. I too have 

 seen one hive storing dark buckwheat honey, 

 while the one next to it stored white honey 

 from red clover. You will find the black- 

 heart mentioned in our price -list of seeds of 

 honey-plants. 



A GOOD REPORT FROM BUCKWHEAT. 



Bees did very well here last summer, through 

 white clover, and went into winter-quarters in very 

 good condition, owing to a good flow of honej' from 

 buckwheat and golicnrod. I think we can thank 

 our neighbors for sowing large fielJs of buckwheat, 

 for hives were very light before this latter yield 

 came. The winter has been very severe and steady, 

 and bees have not had a good fly for about two 

 months, until within a few days, when it has been 

 warmer, and they have had a chance to get out and 

 limber up a little. 



DO BEES FREEZE? 



Quite a good many swarms have frozen to death 

 this winter. 1 know that some believe that bees do 

 not freeze; but it seems to be the case here, for I 

 have seen them dead, frozen to death, fast to the 

 sealed honey. I commenced the winter with six 

 swarms, and have lost only one yet. The rest seem 

 in good condition. They are in the 8-framo story 

 and half Gallup hive; there are no chatT hives used 

 around here. I packed mine in oat straw, leaving 

 the front open. As I am only a beginner in the bee 

 business, I did not have very good success List year. 

 I increased from 2 swarms to 6 by buying 2, and 

 took only about 85 lbs. of comb honey. 



PAPER AKD WOOD SEPARATORS. 



Why will not common pasteboard do for separa- 

 tors as well as any thing in the paper line? or would 

 they warp out of shapo by getting damp in the 

 hive? I used wood separators last year, but the way 

 the bees plastered the propolis on to them was a 

 caution to wood separators, and I shall have some 

 tall scraping to do to clean them for use this season. 



J. C. Hitchcock. 



Hoag's Corners, Hens. Co., N. T., Feb. IT, 1881. 



I do not think a good strong colony of 

 bees, properly protected in old tough combs, 

 will eyer freeze, though the weather be as 

 low as 40' below zero.— You have given the 

 objections to paper separators; but besides 

 that, bees will often set to work and gnaw 

 pasteboard, spoiling the separators, besides 

 wasting their time. Xothing seems to an- 

 swer in place of tin, especially in regard to 

 the propolis accumulations. The bees evi- 

 dently seem to tliink the tin is as smooth as 

 they can make it by varnishing, and so let it 

 alone. 



RAPE for bees. 



Having four acres of fall wheat I hurried it off, 

 and there being lots of rain I plowed and sowed 

 about 3 lbs. per acre, broadcast, at two different 

 times, a week apart. It came up in a hurry, and in 

 about forty days be.jame a perfect sea of yellow 

 bloom; and if Novice had only seen the beautiful 

 Italians going for that rape patch he would have 

 smiled— yes, he would. But although they worked 

 hard and gathered lots of pollen yet they did not in- 

 crease their stores of honey much; yet I have no 



doubt but it helped them a great deal toward mak- 

 ing a living, and kept them out of mischief, and did 

 a great deal toward helping them to increase from 

 8 colonies in the spring to 22 in the fall; and at this 

 time, Feb. 16, they look as if they would live to hum 

 next summer; and taken all together, I am well 

 pleased with it; besides, it kept ihe Canada thistles 

 in subjection. H. Smith. 



New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada. 



FRIEND B.'S DILEMMA. 



In your price list you say, "Don't get in debt." 

 Now, that advice came too late, as I am in debt, and 

 I wish you would give me some advice that will get 

 me out, this very year. This is what I want to 

 know: I want 50 hives this year, and I have not one 

 dollar to buy them with, and have to wait until some 

 honey is sold this year, and then it will be too late 

 in the season for them. Is there any way that I can 

 keep them from leaving, as I have nothing for a 

 house for them? Charles R. Ballow. 



Half Moon Bay, Cal , Feb. 2, 1881. 



All right, friend B. Stop using tobacco, 

 as you have promised to do on page 144 ; stop 

 every thing else that is useless, and hoard up 

 the pennies like a miser. Stop doing every 

 thing that you know is wrong, or even use- 

 less. Tell God you are going to be obedient 

 to him in every thing, just as faithfully as 

 you know how, and that you are going to 

 depend on him for help, right straight 

 through. Work every minute ; work like a 

 tiger ; don't stop to fuss or waste your time, 

 for any thing or anybody. Go to meeting 

 and Sunday-school on Sunday, and work as 

 hard for the Lord as you do for yourself on 

 week days. If there are no churches or Sun- 

 day-schools near you, start one or both. If 

 you can do no more, get a few of your friends 

 around you, and read the Bible to them, and 

 other good books. I will furnish the books 

 if you will undertake it, ZSTow for the bees : 

 You must try to buy or make frames enough, 

 of some cheap kind, to have your combs all 

 built in frames. Well, as it never rains in 

 California in the summer, you can hang 

 these frames on sticks supported by stakes 

 driven in the ground, and cover the whole 

 with some kind of cheap cloth. Make the 

 cover like a sort of bag, and bank dirt or 

 sawdust over the lower edges, to keep rob- 

 bers away, and I think you will get along 

 very well until you sell honey enough to buy 

 some hives, and then all you have to do is to 

 hang your frames in the hives, before win- 

 ter comes. I have used hives with nothing 

 but the ground for a bottom-board, and they 

 did very well during the summer. I have 

 also used only a cloth cover over the frames, 

 in the house apiary. N'ow, mind, you are 

 not to let a swarm go off, and you are to re- 

 port regularly every month, until the end of 

 the season. You see, friend B., if you come 

 out all right, there are hundreds of others 

 who are ready to follow; and. therefore, you 

 must not fail. Xow look out how you spend 

 your Sundays. 



