1881 



GLEa^JN'INGS I:N' BEE CULTUUE. 



217 



rooms durinj? the severest part of the 

 weather. Their bees do not fly, either. 

 In L. C. Hoot's Quinhi/s Xeio Bcc-Keep- 

 inq j-ou will notice that great stxess is 

 laid upon the necessity of artificial heat 

 where bees are wintered in cellars during 

 veiy severe winters ; and (Jninby's point, 

 that the most successful cellar wintering is 

 in cellars directly under the kitchen stove, 

 during severe winters, is one M'ell worthy of 

 being looked up now, since the past winter's 

 losses. 



April 19.— To-day our few stocks are (the 

 strongest of them) biinging in natural pol- 

 len. They seem to have very little ambition 

 to start brood-readng. as yet. but the new 

 pollen will doul)tless give them ambition. I 

 am inclined to agree with the brother in the 

 South, who said that even feeding would 

 not work this sining. Neighbor Clark has 

 wintered 9 without losing any, and neigh- 

 bor H. has over a hundred yet^ and some of 

 them quite strong. I have purchased, of 

 neighbor Kice, 89 colonies, to be delivered 

 any time I think best. These will be at once 

 divided, as they will bear it, and we shall 

 soon have our apiary alive again, with the 

 aid of abundance of combs aiid stores. The 

 following is from friend Doolittle, so it 

 would seem that the queen-rearing apiaries 

 are not the only sad ones after all. 



Bees are dying fearfully here at present. My loss 

 will exceed 40 per cent. Snowing hard to-day from 

 the N. E., with ground frozen nearly solid. No par- 

 ticular plan of wintering seems to be exempt, as 

 losses are reported with all modes. Cellar winter- 

 ing and chaff packing prove the best, yet much los3 

 has occurred with these. Yours in haste,— 



Borodino, N. Y., April 12, '81. G. M. Doolittle. 



I 



April 22.— We are having beautiful weath- 

 er now, and the soft-maples are in bloom, 

 but the bees refuse to be comforted, and the 

 weaker will not repel robbers in spite of any 

 thing we can do. Our number is now down 

 to 12, but friend Rice is to bring us ten col- 

 onies this afternoon, that we may save some 

 of our valuable queens. We have perhaps 

 five colonies that will pull through without 

 help. Here is another letter from Doolittle. 

 I am thinking about building a bee-cellar, to 

 put half of our stock in next winter. 



Bees are suffering badly now% as we have had a 

 week of snug winter weather, which is hard on 

 weak swarms. Had not some of those fellows who 

 shouted "bees all right" the fore part of March, 

 better waited till the first of May? We aren't 

 through the woods before May 15th in this locality. 

 If this weather keeps on long I shall lose half of my 

 bees that were wintered on summer stands packed 

 in chaff. Those in cellar are doing much better. 

 Reports of losses come in thicker and faster from 

 all through the North, and the end is not yet. Tell 

 W. Z. Hutchinson that he has defended his position 

 on late queen-rearing admirably, and as any thing 

 further would be uninteresting to your readers, we 

 will let it drop. G. ^I. Doolittle, 



Borodino, N. Y., April 8, 1881. 



2G//i.— We have had a week of glorious 

 weather, and the 12 remaining colonies are 

 every one of them coming up. although some 

 pf tljepj slowly, The 10 colomes purchased 



of neighbor Rice are doing beautifully, and, 

 j what is queerest, are storing new honey and 

 I building new combs from the soft-maples. 

 I do really believe that, if this weather con- 

 tinues, the bee-keepers of our land, as a 

 whole. Avill make a very creditable season of 

 it after all. One point' begins to impress it- 

 self strongly on my mind : God in his wis- 

 dom is throwing the Xorthern brethren on 

 the mercies, as it were, of our friends in the 

 South. They, and they alone, can help us 

 out of our stVails. by furnishing bees by the 

 pound to replenish the destitute hives in the 

 Xorth. Gird up your loins, ye men and wo- 

 men of the South", and lielp iis. To further 

 this new industry, I will give, gratis, for the 

 month of June, the names of all who will 

 fiu'nisli bees at our list prices. Xow, be not 

 backward or faint-hearted, but turn in and 

 give it a trial, even if you do fear you won't 

 pay expenses. Here is a card from friend 

 Gates, that tells the kind of a story we want 

 to hear:— 



I will try furnishing bees to your customers, and 

 gmrantee safe delivery, to the amount of five 

 pounds per day, and am willing, in fact prefer, for 

 you to fix the price. I have forty-seven stands, but 

 part of them are blacks and hybrids. We have had 

 only one day so far that the index has shown a gain, 

 and then one pound; raining now. Please send me 

 word how much weight of Viallon's candy to use per 

 pound of bees per day to destination. I will try 

 some bees to you early next week. I want an im- 

 ported queen, if able. G. W. Gates. 



Bartlett, Tenu., April 23, 1881. 



As nearly as I can make out, 1 lb. of bees 

 will need fib. of candy about every 10 days. 

 I rather think you will have to give them 

 water in the tin A^'ater-bottles I described to 

 you last season. Perhaps you would do bet- 

 ter to have us send you by mail one of our 

 cages all fixed for a pound of bees, and then 

 you will know just how to go to work to 

 inake them. If you want me to set the price 

 of bees, mixed Italians, blacks, and hybrids, 

 I would say $1.60 per lb. for this month of 

 May.— you' to guarantee safe delivery of a 

 full pound of live bees, but your customers 

 to pay all express charges. Xow, friend G., 

 if you do not rnake some money, and do a 

 great deal of good besides, it will be your 

 own fault. Boys, send him your orders. 



•♦••^ 



GEO. GRIMM'S REPORT. 



^rajUREKA! The danger is over. I again breathe 

 J*^] | freely, now that I know the result. And 

 what do you think it is? Good, beyond my ex- 

 pectations. I can speak now with certainty, for I 

 have this day completed my round ti'ip of examina- 

 tion. My bees were wintered in three different cel- 

 lars; 221 in my home cellar, and 105 each in two 

 other cellars, situated five and ten miles from home; 

 a sum total of 431 colonics. Those in my homo cel- 

 lar were placed on their summer stands April 16th, 

 and those in the outside cellars April 19th. Of those 

 at home, 14 were dead when I removed them from 

 the cellar; of the other tw^o lots, 10 and 11 were 

 dead respectively, making a total loss of 35 colonies 

 j out of 431 wintered in, or about 8J3 per cent; since 

 I then I have lost one and doubled up three, whicb 

 i makes the loss about 9^? per cent. It will not reach 



