172 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



ing late in the season is all right, I think. The in- 

 crease of young bees is in its favoi', and likewise 

 readiness for early spring work." 

 I asked Mr. Duster if he was ever troubled with 



TOO MUCH HONEY 



in any of his hives when he was about to place them 

 in winter-quarters," 



" Troubled! what do you mean?" 



"Well," eaid I, " some writers find too much, and 

 recommend extracting to give the bees more room, 

 etc." 



"As a general thing, I don't like trouble," said Mr. 

 Duster, in his quaint way; "but, I think I would 

 like a litVe of that kind, and I would go a good way 

 to see a hive that had not enough of empty comb 

 by the 20th of Nov. for bees to winter in safely. I 

 think on this matter just about as Mr. Lo! the poor 

 Indian thought of whiskj'— ' Too much of a thing- 

 no good. Too much whisky— just enough!' No: T 

 must say I was never troubled or distressed, nor my 

 bees either, in this way. 



"You can hardly take up a bee journal but you 

 find something in it in regard to 



SPRING DWINDLING." 



Said Mr. Duster, "I have had but little of it, and 

 like all the rest I have my opinion. You know how 

 I prepare my bees for wintering in my cellar; viz., 

 by placing mats made of unbroken rye straw at the 

 sides and on top of the frames, and also filling the 

 upper story with dry leaves, or some other fin© dry 

 substance; leave them in the cellar without any fly 

 until about the 10th of March in this region; put 

 them out-doors in the evening; do not remove 

 or disturb any thing until I put on boxes unless I 

 have to feed. 



"Why, I was reading just now, as you came here, 

 of a man who objected to wintering in cellars, be- 

 cause bees dwindled so badly on being taken out, 

 and — and- etc.; therefore he preferred out -door 

 wintering. Now, whether he thought it made them 

 teyidcr by being kept in a warm cellar, or that it 

 made them touolicr by being exposed to the cold 

 of winter, I can not saj': he evidently meant one or 

 the other. 



"It reminds me of an old gentleman, my nearest 

 neighbor, when I lived in old Massachusetts. I was 

 raising colts; and when storms and cold November 

 came, I put them in a warm bnvn; gave them oats, 

 and the best of care. This neighbor of mine had 

 only one colt, and he thought very highly of it— was 

 raising it for his own especial use. He never gave 

 it shelter from the cold storm or the biting frost. I 

 was curious to know his reasons. He said, in ans- 

 wer to my inquiry, that he was ' toughening it.' I 

 thought at first I had given myself away, and that 

 . he was slily feeding me a little ' taffy ' in a mild way, 

 as he was fond of a joke. But on taking a look at 

 him I saw he was in dead earnest; so I suggested to 

 him, as this was a new idea to me, that he try it on 

 himself; and as the colt couldn't talk, and he could, 

 that he should report as far as he got, and how he 

 liked it, and so on. The old gentleman thought a 

 moment, drew out his snuff-box, tapped it affection- 

 ately two or three times, took a vigorous pinch of 

 snuff, blew his nose with a fearful blast, turned, and 

 went toward his house muttering something about 

 'boys couldn't teach him how to catch suckers,' and 

 he was gone, and the result of my suggestion lost to 

 the world ! 

 "Now," said Mr. Duster, "it seems to me that 



bees managed in this way, viz., with no protection 

 but an ordinary hive, after going through several 

 months of confinement in a cellar, and suddenly 

 put out of doors, is just the surest way to bring on 

 this trouble of spring dwindling. If there is one 

 time more than another when bees want protection 

 and care, it is the two first months of spring, in my 

 opinion. 



" I do not put my mats at the sides and tops of my 

 frames, and fix up my hives warm because I am go- 

 ing to put them in the cellar to winter— not at all; 

 but it is because I want them fully protected against 

 the sudden changes of the weather when I put them 

 out in the spring, and p?case don't forget it. 



" Now, if you ever write for Gleanings," said Mr. 

 Duster, " j^ou just touch up A. I. Root for me upon 

 this point; he'll stand a little punching, and rather 

 like it too, I reckon, and especially if it is a good 

 thing you punch him with, and I think this is; for I 

 don't believe," said Mr. Duster, firmly, "that any 

 one who has a good cellar, and prepares his hives, 

 not for winter only or mainly, but for the chilly, 

 cold, changeable weather of spring, will ever have 

 much of this spring dwindling." 



I here bade Mr. Duster good-by, e\idently shorten- 

 ing up his talk, for he suggested that he had a story 

 to tell, but said it would keep. R. H. Mellen. 



Amboj'-on-Inlet, 111., March 13, 1881. 



Friend M., you tell Mr. Duster next time 

 you see liim, that I agree with him exactly 

 in regard to too much stores being just 

 enough, and also in regard to blanketing the 

 bees clear into May or June. Ours are 

 packed up now just as they were in the win- 

 ter, and so they will stay until— well, I really 

 am not sure but they will stay until June, 

 some of them. 



GOOD-BY, CEIiliARS. 



BY OUR ABC GUILD. 



^r^^ffjAVING experimented three winters with differ- 

 j^l ent modes of cellar wintering, I abandoned it 

 ■ altogether the present winter, for the reason 

 that I found that one-half of all colonies would die 

 outright with dysentery before spring, and those 

 which stood it through would dwindle down and nev- 

 er amount to any thing during the season, while 

 those wintered out would be hardj% and breed up 

 early; the combs and hives of those dying in cellar 

 were hardly fit to use again; and of those that lived, 

 the bottom would be covered with an inch or more of 

 dead bees, mold, and filth, which necessitated their 

 being given clean hives. If a person must winter in 

 cellar, let them take away all combs containing pol- 

 len, giving pure dry sealed honey instead, and put 

 in none but pure Italians, as blacks are almost sure 

 to die with dysentery. I believe darkness has some- 

 thing to do with it. But why go to the trouble of 

 putting bees in cellars when they are so much better 

 off outside? I gave my plan of out-door packing and 

 preparation for winter at the bee-keepers' conven- 

 tion at LaCrosse, Wis., Sept. 11, 1880, which was 

 copied by the A. B. J., Dec. No., p. 573; also copied 

 by A. J. King in Jan. No., and I also saw it in the 

 Western Rural, of Chicago; so I will not repeat it 

 here. But I will now report the effect. First, let 

 me say the winter has been the most severe ever 

 known here. I live perhaps as far to the northwest, 

 or further, than any bee-keeper writing for the pa- 



