1881 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



239 



making in all 38 lbs. of surplus iu section boxes; and 

 when it was taken off in the fall, I found the entire 

 lot to be white-clover honey of the most delicious 

 character, while the honey from the remainder of 

 the hives was mixed— some clover and some fall 

 flowers, as proldenrod, thistle, etc. Fall flowers were 

 quite plentiful, and the most of the hives left the 

 white-clover pasture for " other fields and pastures 

 new." ^yhy didn't this colony al?o? Is it possible to 

 breed a race of bees with individual peculiarities so 

 marked? If so, some of your vineyardists' neigh- 

 bors ought to try to develop a race that will not like 

 arafic juice. Etgese Sixor. 



Forest City, Iowa, March 21, ISSl. 



You afe correct, friend S., in your obser- 

 vation in regard to individuality among 

 bees. Similar cases have been known iiere- 

 tofore. This brings out a valual)le point, 

 and we are ghid you ha^■e called attention to 

 it. "Who can say more? 



AMBER CANK. 



The main thing is to get it started; after it once 

 gets a start it grows very rapidly. Have your 

 ground newly plowed, so as togive the cane a chance 

 with the weeds; and to give it a still better chance, 

 have your seed sprouted; dampen the seed with 

 warm water, and keep warm until the sprout makes 

 its appearance. If the weather is favorable, It 

 should be up nicely iu three days after planting. 



In answer to inquiry on p. 86, Jan. No., I would 

 saj', our apiary has been located for two years with- 

 in one mile of a cane-mill, and we have had no 

 trouble with bees bothering the mill. If you will 

 clean your evaporator every morning with sulphur- 

 ic acid and water, in equal quantities, you will find it 

 will improve the color of your syrup, and it beats 

 the old plan of scraping the deposit from the pan, 

 ail to pieces. M. L. Hudson. 



Charles City, la., Feb. 16, 1881. 



BEES DOING WELL OUTSIDE OF THE HIVE IN COLD 

 WEATHER. 



In November, 1879, 1 drove through the c juntry in 

 my one-horse express. I stopped in Stanly ville 

 some time in the afternoon on account of a severe 

 snowstorm and cold wind. I stepped into a shoe- 

 shop; and as I am known as the "Bee-man," the 

 subject of conversation soon turned upon the hon- 

 ej--bees, by some man telling me he had heard I 

 made " bee-kings," and sold them. Another man 

 living near there said that his father's bees had nev- 

 er swarmed in 10 or 13 years, l)ut they build all over 

 their hives on the outside. I expressed my desire 

 to see them, and he kindly accompanied me to the 

 bee-yard, an old-fashioned shed. The only access to 

 the bees was in front. Soon the old gentleman 

 joined us, as he had seen us come across lots; how- 

 ever, he was so hard of hearing that I could not get 

 much satisfactory information concerning this won- 

 derful looking hive. They were box hives, about 1 

 foot square by 18 inches high ; they were suspended 

 in a sort of rack about 15 inches from the ground; 

 no bottom-board; the brood-combs extend within 

 1 inch of the ground; the combs were very black; 

 might have been several years old. Upon close in- 

 spection I found the whole colony packed away in 

 this comb, looking like a big round ball. The top of 

 the ball did not reach the hive proper by about 4 

 inches. I opened my eyes wide. Here was a nice 

 swarm of bees in the open air, so to speak, clean 



and snug, no dead bees lying around. Very little 

 comb was built in front of the hives, but the sides 

 and back of the hives were finely decorated, at least 

 to a bee-keeper's eyes. The combs were built regu- 

 lar and straight from the roof down, from 2 to 10 

 inches wide, and about 3 feet long; nice white comb, 

 both worker and drone comb partly filled with sealed 

 honey. If all the combs had been well filled, they 

 would have weighed 200 lbs. or more per hive on the 

 outside. 1{. Stehle. 



Marietta, Ohio. 



Thanks, friend S. From the reports we 

 have had during past years, I can readily 

 understand how this may be ; but how 

 about robbing, when there comes a season 

 of scarcity? Are all colonies so strong that 

 they defend their honey when out in the 

 open air, with no sort of a hive about it? 

 Friend 8., I will pay your expenses in going 

 to see this same apiary again, just to see 

 how the bees stood this past winter. Who 

 can guess, now, boys, in wnat condition he 

 will lind it? If they have wintered well, will 

 it not help friend Renders idea of ample 

 ventilation ■;' 



WIXTERIXG TWO COLONIES IN ONE CHAFF HIVE. 



Friend Root; — We have experienced the severest 

 winter to our memory. Our bees were confined to 

 the hives 8 weeks, the longest period we ever knew. 

 The cold weather began earlier in the season than 

 usual; but, fortunately, like friend Merrybanks, I 

 had my bees all prepared nicely for winter before 

 the cold weather came. I went into winter-quarters 

 with 11 colonies, 10 in 5 chaff hives, arranged as des- 

 cribed on page 577, Dec. No., and 4in a tenement hive 

 of mj' own make. I have not lost any yet, for which, 

 you may know, I am thankful, when I tell you that 

 about 80 per cent of the bees in this vicinity, tliat 

 were left to take care of themselves, have "gone 

 where the woodbine twineth. " J. P. Moore. 



Morgan, Ky., March 14, 1881. 



The plan alluded to by friend M.. is divid- 

 ing the two colonies by a division-board 

 made of slats similar to our comb-guides, 

 and in this case, at least, it seems to have 

 answered all right. I would warn those try- 

 ing it, however, that if your division-board, 

 by warping or carelessness, should permit a 

 single bee to get through, one of the queens 

 will be sure to be killed. 



It ought to be a crime for anybody to trouble a 

 man who is as busy as you seem to be in the bee 

 line. When a man is in trouble", it is a relief, some- 

 times, to talk with others about it. I have read 

 Gleanings and the ABC you sent me, and I have 

 been blowing and talking A. I. Boot management 

 ever since. My next neighbor is a man 65 years old, 

 and has always kept bees, and his father before him. 

 He says, "■ I don't believe aivnrdof it." Itellhimany 

 man ought to be knocked down on the spot to dis- 

 pute almost any theory upon any subject nowadays. 

 I gave him the A B C to read, and it has " laid him 

 straight," and his exclamation is, "I do not know 

 what this world is coming to." The trouble is, my 

 neighbor had 20 hives, and I had 15, and all of them 

 in splendid condition, and very strong swarms the 

 first of last December. My neighbor took one course 

 with his and I another. He let his stand out (as he 

 says old-fashion), and they have taken the blasts and 

 storms of this uncommon winter, and lost them all 



