18S1 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



231 



for business. My Alsike clover, now in its second 

 j'car, is looking fine, ami may supplement some of 

 the bloom which has been cut off by frost. It 

 blooms new in May. 



By the way, friend Root, one of those tested qvieens 

 which I bought of you last fall has now a hive full of 

 the most beautiful bees I ever saw, and they are 

 working just as well as they look too. I wish I 

 could get 20 queens reared from the same mother. 



WHAT TO DO WITH LIVE DRONES. 



I suppose you will say that I should rear from this 

 queen what I want; but during that long cold wet 

 spell of weather, thousands of drones hatched out in 

 some old box hives which 1 had bought, and I don't 

 know how to get rid of them. How will It do to make 

 the entrance small, so that when they get out thoy 

 can't get back? Also, how would you destroy them 

 after shutting them out? A word about bottom- 

 boards. 



BOTTOM-BOAHDS OF ARTIFICIAL STONE. 



Last fall a man came to my house with a load of 

 Portland cement, and wanted to make some hearth- 

 stones. I saw his samples of work, and concluded to 

 let him make me one bottom-board, just to try. I 

 gave him a pattern of Cook's bottom-board, and in a 

 few monienis he had made the best one I ever saw. 

 It is perfectly true, will never warp, and is hard as 

 granite. He molded it as we would lead. It cost 40 

 cents; entrance, alighting-board, and all, is one solid 

 rock. He had a patent on his mixture, but I sup- 

 pose any good worker in cement could make up tiie 

 mixture with the same result. 'VN'hat do you think 

 of it? F.N. Wilder. 



Forsyth, Ga., April 5, 1881. 



Fastening drones out of the hives does not 

 seem to work well ; but shaking all the bees, 

 drones and all, into a box, and then cover- 

 ing it with wire cloth, or perforated metal, 

 that will just let the workers crawl out, is a 

 practical way of getting rid of all the live 

 drones in a hive. After the workers are all 

 out, kill the drones with hot Avater, and feed 

 them to the chickens. — ^Bottom-boards made 

 as you relate have often been suggested, and, 

 if i am correct, tried to some extent; but 

 the objection I should have would be the 

 coldness of the stone in cool weather. This 

 may not, however, be a very great objection 

 in your climate, friend W. 



m m ^ 



REPORT FROilI DR. C. C. mililiGR. 



OVERSTOCKING. 



f STARTED in the spring of 1879 with 154 colonies, 

 and increased to 250; but, about July i, the bees 

 — ' stopped storing, and, the swarms made latest 

 remaining weak, I united down to 230, and got the 

 last in the cellar Nov. 25th, having taken 4263 lbs. box 

 honey. I lost not quite 4 per cent in wintering, and 

 finished taking them out of the cellar April od, 188i), 

 in fair order. Sickness and death in the family pre- 

 vented proper attention, and I am ashamed to say 

 that, by apple-bloom time, 21 more had perished 

 through queenlessness or starvation, so that I com- 

 menced 1880 with 200 colonies. The season was a 

 poor one, and my bees did not seen* to do as well as 

 did those of farmers 2 or 3 miles distant on either 

 side of me. In fact, most of mine seemed to lose 

 rather than gain, and I am stronsly inclined to the 



opinion that they would have dune much better if 

 there had been only half as many. At the begin- 

 ning of buckwheat bloom, I moved some 80 colonics 

 3 miles away, putting most of them on the edge of a 

 large field of buckwheat. These gained considera- 

 bly, and those left at home did better than they had 

 done. Was it not because there were less of them? 

 For the last few years I have been watching very 

 closely this matter of overstocking, and I think it is 

 bound to come to the front as a point of vital inter- 

 est; but it is a point in regard to which it is exceed- 

 ingly difHcult to come to any definite conclusion. I 

 would give considerable to know just how many 

 colonies I can keep in my home apiary with the 

 greatest amount of f of o? profit. Looking at my ex- 

 perience of 18T9, I should think perhaps from 100 to 

 150. In that season the 151 colonies seemed to do 

 well the first part of the season, storing- 4263 lbs. 

 honey, and increasing (artificially) to 250 culonies. 

 When the bees ceased storing, July 4, f he clover was 

 apparently in good condition, plenty of blossoms, 

 and weather all right, and up to this time the force 

 of bees had been increasing very rapidly. Was not 

 the sudden stoppage of storing caused by the great 

 increase of brood and flying bees to bo fed? Still, 

 climatic influences, of which I understood nothing, 

 may have been at work; and I confess myself very 

 much in the dark on the whole subject. I should 

 like very raKch that those who have had experience, 

 or who have been making close observations, would 

 give us the benefit thereof. The man whom I have 

 been watching with most interest in this direction is 

 D. D. Palmer, who has kept a large number in one 

 apiary, and, if I mistake not, said that he expected 

 to keep 400 in the same place. Will he kindly In- 

 form us whether he has had any reason to change 

 his views? 



THE PAST WINTER. 



It is not time yet (April .5) to make a full report; 

 for with the thermometer at 5^ this morning, apples 

 will not bloom for some time. But as my report is a 

 bad one, and perhaps something may be learned 

 from it, I give it now. Commenced Mny, 1880, with 

 200 colonies ; decreased to 162, and took 58 lbs. sec- 

 tion honey (not 58 lbs. per colony, but the grand 

 total from all my apiary was 53 pounds.) Nov. 20 to 

 24 I put 149 in cellar, and packed 1-3 in chaff outdoors. 

 April 2d there were in the cellar 40 dead and 109 liv- 

 ing; outdoors, 7 dead and 6 living. How many 

 more will go I can not tell. As my average loss in 

 wintering during the previous 4 winters was less 

 than 2 per cent, there must be some reason for so 

 great a change, having already lost nearly 2" per 

 cent of those in cellar. On the whole subject of 

 wintering, I don't feel that I clearly understand any 

 thing for certain; but by talking over what we do 

 know of failures, we may gain some lesson for tho 

 future. Last fall (as, indeed, all last season), forage 

 was scarce, and my bees were within half a mile of 

 two sorghum-mills and a cider-mill, with others at 

 greater range. Nov. 15th the ground froze up and 

 remained frozen; and after waiting till Nov. 20th 

 tho bees were taken into the cellar in this frozen 

 weather. Nov. 29th I closed tho house and went to 

 Pennsylvania, not opening it again till March 24th, 

 tho thermometer having stood as low as 30° below 

 zero, and I have no doubt it froze in the cellar. On 

 attempting to make a Arc in the stove in the cellar, I 

 found there was in one chimney no draft, soot and 

 ashes having stopped it. It seems as if here were 



