1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



193 



FRIEND HOOPS WIXTEK-PROTECTOR BEE-HIVE. 



I have read Gleanings with interest during the 

 year past, especially the experiences of the various 

 members of the ABC class. I have never publicly 

 announced myself a member of that class, although 

 I became one last May. I then bought 2 colonies of 

 Hiram Roop, Carson City, 5Iich., in bis " Winter- 

 Protector" hive. I brought them home all right; 

 doubled them during the season; took from them 

 100 lbs. extracted honey, 35 lbs. crate honey, and kept 

 a plenty for bees during winter. I was sick from 

 Sept. 10th till Dec. 6, and bees received very little 

 care during that time. I filled side and rear cham- 

 bers full of good dry sawdust about Christmas, and 

 left them, I feared, with not enough honey. During 

 my sickness, one colony became queenless and re- 

 mained so for some time, owing to a failure to rear 

 a queen, and my losing the one I bought of you, by 

 the cold. 



The winter has been very cold, and constantly so- 

 only three warm spells. To-day, with some misgiv- 

 ings I opened the hives. Result, as follows: Three 

 hives with brood in each. Bees on all the frames. 

 Dead bees on each bottom-board, which I cleaned off. 

 As many live bees now in each hive as any time last 

 fall. The fourth colony is the one mentioned as 

 queenless, but will live through, I think, without 

 trouble if the next 60 days are not too hard on them. 

 I gave each colony more honey, and kept some for 

 April and May. My account with apiary Is as fol- 

 lows:— 



? colonies at SIO.CO each (minus hives) §23.00 



Cr. by i colonies (Dec. 31, 1881), at §8.00 



each $32.00 



By 100 lbs. extracted honey, sold atl2!4c.. 12.50 

 By 35 lbs. crate honey, sold at 20c 7.00 



Total ."$51.50 



Deduct cost of bees $20.00 



Balance S31 50 



Now, isn't 150 per cent on cash outlay a pretty 

 good investment? 



If bees are all right next May I shall feel much en- 

 couraged, and shall try Roop's hives another year. 

 McBrides, Mich., Mar. 7, 1881. F. A. Palmer. 



My bees are in fine condition, storing both honey 

 and pollen from peach, plum, and wild prairie flow- 

 ers. All wintered finely in Simplicity hives on sum- 

 mer stands without protection, and this is the sever- 

 est winter in Texas for 30 years. The Italians you 

 sent me last year are ahead too plain to question. I 

 will Italianize this season. Dr. J. E. Lay. 



Hallettsvjlle, Texas, Feb. 28, 1881. 



Bees are all right yet; they all had a good flight 

 yesterday. Last season was one of the best seasons 

 that we have had for five years— one continnal flow 

 of honey from the first of June till the 20th of Octo- 

 ber; first, white clover; then smartweed the re- 

 mainder of the season. Aaron Deardorff. 



Palmer, Christian Co., 111., Feb. 28, 1881. 



I cut fdn. in small strips, and don't care if they 

 don't reach across the frame. My bees are all alive 

 but one hive. I received 40 lbs. of honey to each 

 hive last year, and an increase of two hives to each 

 old one. Steward Francis. 



Dunbar Station, Neb., March 8, 1881. 



I was very much afraid 1 should have to go into 

 Blasted Hopes, but matters have turned out a good 

 deal better than I expected. Some time In January 

 I noticed my bees getting restless, and were bound 



to come out, and I lost a great many in that way; 

 but when I got the March Gleanings I found out it 

 was dysentery; and now we have had a few fine 

 days, though we have yet a foot of snow. They 

 have had a good fly, and I made some candy out of 

 coffee A sugar, and gave it to them, and they seem 

 all right now. I could not get the candy to suit me, 

 but did the best I could, though I could not get it to 

 break off my finger like an egg-shell. I went into 

 winter-quarters with 19, and came out with the 

 same, but some were greatly depopulated, and some 

 were first class. Thomas Purdy. 



Westover, Ont., Can., March 10, 1881. 



Sd^*} and flu^vie^. 



^ HAVE now in my house apiary 82, which seem 

 M all right; had 1C4 last fall; have about 16 in 

 apiary 2 miles out; expect to lose some yet; 

 nearly all the small colonies, and those in the old 

 box hives have died, and some in my double chaff 

 hives; but I think these were disturbed, and made 

 restless and uneasy by the mice when the weather 

 was cold. N. N. Shepard. 



Cochranton, Pa., March 16, 1881. 



THE STIKGLESS BEES OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



[Our friends will remember that we said we had 

 written to one of our South American subscribers in 

 regard to the matter. Here is his acknowledg- 

 ment of the receipt of our letter]:- 



I received your letter and prospectus for Dec. 8th, 

 1880. I shall send you letter and orders next, and 

 hope to be able to give you some information about 

 the bees in question. I wrote to Paraguay for it, 

 and offered good prices for hives with native bees. 

 To introduce queens to black bees or Italians seems 

 to me a funny idea. Mr. Noise is book-handler. I 

 receive the Gleanings by him. Your subscriber 

 and obedient servant is J. Noelting. 



312 Calle Cangall, Buenos Ayres, S. A., Feb. 14, 1881. 



BLACKS AND HYBRIDS WANTED. 



Will you have any black or hybrid queens for sale 

 this spring? My bees are nearly all gone, and I have 

 lots of nice frames of comb, and would like to stock 

 them up, but can't buy bees here for any reasonable 

 price, as but few are left, and those are very weak. 



D. W. Fletcher. 



Lansingville, N. Y-, March 21, 1881. 



[We have no blacks nor hybiads, and it would hard- 

 ly pay us to buy them to send out again. Will those 

 who have such make it known? We will advertise 

 them without charge, for the present, for accommo- 

 dati on. Take care of j'our combs, friend F., and you 

 will find use for them all.] 



My bees have wintered finely, and without loss, in 

 my new chaff hive. The contrast between them and 

 my former single-walled hive is very marked in the 

 matter of wintering, and I am more and more con- 

 vinced that chaff' hives are the hives. I make all my 

 own hives now. P. R. Russell, Jr. 



Lynn, Mass., March 6, 1881. 



Bees are wintering very well so far in the cellar. 

 They had a good fly the 8th of this month. Those 

 left on the summer stands with no protection have 

 died rapidly. One beekeeper reports, "Out of 140, 

 I can not save 10." C. M. Crandall. 



Independence, Mo., Feb. 17, 1881. 



