238 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUIIE. 



MAY 



From Different Fields. 



CHAFF HIVES VERSUS SIMPLICITY, EVEN IN SOUTH 

 CAKOLINA. 



fi SEND you my experience with chaff hives vice 

 Simplicity, to show you the difference in this 

 — ' climate. In the fall of 1879 I had two colonies 

 of Italian bees that tallied the same amount of sur- 

 plus that season, the amount heinf? 03 lbs. comb 

 honey per colony. Wishing to try chaff hives in this 

 mild climate, I made one according to directions 

 given in your ABC, and transferred one of the 

 above-named colonies to it in November, first weigh- 

 ing the frames and honey of each hive, so as to give 

 them the same amount of honey. Each colony came 

 out in the spring of 1880 in good condition, but the 

 chaff hive did not consume as much of their honey 

 as the one in the Simplicity. The consequence was 

 the colony in the chaff hive commenced brood-rear- 

 ing much earlier in the spring than the one in the 

 Simplicity; however, the one in the Simplicity was 

 strong in bees before the first honey in the field was 

 ready to gather. Now, those two colonies were run 

 for extracted hooey, and below you will find the re- 

 sult. 



The colony in the chaff hive gave mc 133 lbs., and 

 cast two swarms; the one in the Simplicity, 87 lbs., 

 and cast one swarm— a difference of 45 lbs. and one 

 swarm. As extracted honey is worth I'ZVi cents per 

 lb. here, and a swarm of Italian bees $5.00 without 

 the hive, we have a difference of $10.63- a pretty 

 good sum I think. 



Now, Mr. Root, I would like to have you or some 

 one else explain why bees, unprotected from the 

 sudden changes of temperature, consume so much 

 more of their stores than when they are packed up 

 so as to prevent sudden changes. W. S. Cauthen. 



Pleasant Hill, Lan. Co., S. C, Jan. 25, 1881. 

 It is very simple, friend C, is it not? The 

 honey in cold weather acts as fuel, and there- 

 fore the better the protection, the less fuel 

 will be needed to keep up the temperature. 

 Is not such the case with all other stock? 



THE CARE OF SURPLUS COMBS, ETC. 



Mr. G. M. Doolittle said, in one of his letters to 

 Gleanings, that all straight worker combs are the 

 sheet anchor of bee-kcepiug. Will he please inform 

 us through Gleanings how he cares for his empty 

 combs and keeps them from being destroyed by 

 moth worms in warm weather? Will tarred paper 

 answer to cover the lloor of a honey-room? Will the 

 smell of the tar affect the honey? AVill bees clean 

 combs in which swarms have died with dysentery? 

 and is it safe to piit new swarms In such combs? 

 Can you inform me how to put sweet corn in tin 

 cans so it will keep? E. D. Howell. 



New Hampton, Orange Co., N. Y., March 19, 1881. 



If I am correct, friend D. always has bees 

 enou^^i to cover his empty combs by the 

 time the moth is liable to injure them, say 

 in ]SIay and June.— I should be a little afraid 

 of the tarred paper. Use the nntarrcd 

 sheathing.— Your question about combs from 

 bees that have died has been asked and ans- 

 wered so many times I begin to almost fear 

 some of the older ones will begin to com- 

 plain at so much repetition. The combs are 



just as good as they ever were, to put new- 

 swarms on, no matter if they are soiled and 

 lilled with bees. Give a new swarm a chance 

 at them, and see. All experiments that have 

 been made seem to determine, also, that, aft- 

 er being thus worked over by the bees, they 

 are just as good for another year.— Canning 

 corn is a trade of itself, and is pretty sure tu 

 be a failure in the nands of a novice. Better 

 evaporate it or dry it. 



DOES IT PAY TO PACK BEES IN CHAFF OR COTTON 

 SEED IN TEXAS? 



I answer, it docs. I packed my bees in cotton 

 seed, and 1 had the pleasure to-day (March 28) of 

 hiving the first swarm of bees around-a full peck or 

 more of bees— over 50 nice queen-cells, and thou- 

 sands of drones. I have kept bees about 15 years, 

 and never had a swarm come out before the lUth of 

 April before. I havcmy handsfuUnow; remember, 

 every tenth swarm is the Lord's and will be so 

 marked. The Judas-tree gave us a fine yield of 

 honey from Feb. 20th to March 30th. The apple is 

 now in full bloom. All other fruits have shed their 

 bloom. The dewberry is beginning to bloom, and 

 soon we will reap a rich harvest from this, as it af- 

 fords plenty of nectar. The Cyprians, although first 

 to commence brood-rearing, are making no prepara- 

 tions to swarm. The December-mated queens (Cyp- 

 rians) are doing good service; from small 3-framc 

 nuclei they have 6 frames of brood and 4 frames of 

 honey, all made since Feb. 3d, the daj' they began 

 bringing in pollen from the elm. Apiculture is re- 

 ceiving more and more attention every year. All 

 bee-keepers ought to be teuipc ranee men. Our bees 

 would not sting us half so hard if we were. I threw 

 the old pipe ivhirlliw, but you need not send me a 

 smoker. 1 have quit the pipe for good, just as I did 

 whisky ten years ago. B. F. Carroll. 



Dresden, Texas. 



Nevertheless, friend ('., you shall have a 

 smoker too, and maN i^iod ue praised for the 

 stand you have taken. 



TEA AS A honey-plant, ETC. 



Many in this State and Georgia raise tea for home 

 consumption. I can not say as to its honey-produc- 

 ing qualities ^as mentioned in March No.), but should 

 think it might be a good honej'-producer. The 

 flower looks very much like that of the strawberry. 

 I will also state that a lady in this State is growing 

 coffee successfully. Some of the berries were sent 

 to the Department of Agriculture at Washington, 

 and there tested and pronounced good. The pre- 

 mium offered by the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 for the first pound of coffee raised in the U. S. was 

 then paid to her. I see no reason why we can not 

 raise most of the tea used in this country, after we 

 have once invented a process for curing it by machin- 

 ery instead of by hand, as they do in China. 



New Smyrna, Fla., Mar. 38, 1881. W. S. Hart. 



INDIVIDUALITY IN BEES. 



During the last season I had a little experience 

 which was new to me, and as I don't remember to 

 have seen any thing in the books about it, I give it 

 for the purpose of drawing out the experience and 

 observation of others in the same direction. One 

 swann—hybrids 1 call them (possibly they are pure 

 Italians),— hived July fi, 1880, after filling their hive 

 below, they went up into section boxes, and contin- 

 ued to work in them more or loss all the season, 



