288 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



lieve that we ought to prepare our bees for winter 

 in September, which gives them a chance to close 

 up every crack, and the boxes on top allow the per- 

 spiration to rise in the boxes. We can see the sweat 

 on the glass in them. They are not as apt to have 

 dysentery. Most of my surplus boxes are made so 

 that six cover the whole top of an L. hive, and take 

 an 8x10 glass cut in two pieces Icnglhwise. 



I have lost 10 out of 80 this winter. To feed, I fill 

 one side of a comb with honey or syrup in the shop; 

 take out one and put it in so they can get it; if it is 

 cold your candy bricks would be better; have had a 

 cake of grape sugar on the frames of one since 

 March 1. They have eaten nearly all of it, and are 

 in good condition. 



When a bee won't get out of the way I catch it by 

 the shoulders and put it where I want it. Just try 

 it, A B C class; you will soon learn it. 1 learned it 

 in Gleanings. You can all laugh if you feel like 

 It. I use small rocks on top of hives instead of 

 slates. One rock indicates one thing, two some thing 

 else, and so on. Dates I keep in a book in a pocket 

 back of the comb-carrier; long knife and feathers 

 in front; pockets at the ends for cages; it is made 

 of thin basswood lumber, with leather handles like 

 your tin ones; that is, the box is like j'our tin ones 

 carrying three and four combs. The wire-cloth 

 queen nursery in second story will do when honey 

 is plentiful, but not if the season is over. The 

 queens I raised last year cost mo more in honey 

 than I sold them for. I will raise for myself and a 

 few friends only this season. 



The springs in my Simplicitj' smoker kept break- 

 ing until all wei-e broken. I then took the coiled 

 bell-wire of an old clock, pulled it out and set it in 

 with screws, and it works first rate (no patent.) 



M. L. Williams. 



Vanceburg, Ky., April 10, 1881. 



Your idea of using clock-bells for smoker- 

 springs is novel, friend W., and I have sent 

 to the factory to see what they cost per 

 thousand. — I often move bees in the way 

 you mention ; but if they are hybrids, I am 

 pretty sure to get stung. We like slates on 

 the hives better than any book, and we find 

 it takes less time to read or write on them. 

 My experience with queen nurseries over 

 hives is about like your own. 



I have just been reading what you say about bees 

 that have been wintering well with the section box- 

 es on top, and you say, "Now has anybody else been 

 guilty of leaving the sections on top all winter?" 

 Well, I did not leave any sections on during the win- 

 ter, but I will tell you what I did do. My neighbor, 

 friend, and brother bee-keeper, Mr. John V. Clark, 

 came to see me some time in February. He often 

 comes to see me, and we always have a good bee 

 talk, "you bet." Now, just listen to what he said: 



" We bee-keepers, with all our nice bce-flxtures, 

 have not yet learned how to winter bees successful- 

 ly." (He lost about half of his bees this winter; he 

 has a patent moth-proof hive, and also other kinds.) 

 Then he told me to take that nice cushion out of one 

 of the chaff hives, just to see if the bees would not 

 winter without so much stuff on top of them. He 

 says we keep our bees too warm. Well, I took the 

 cushion out of two of the chaff hives, and just put a 

 few pieces of old cloths on top of the mats, and 

 after that we had some of our coldest weather here 

 (about 18° below zero.) I did think that the bees 



without the cushion would all be frozen up to a sol- 

 id mass; but they are to-day just as lively as bees 

 can be, and so I think that friend Clark might bo 

 partly right, that we have too much on top. I will 

 try some next winter with a very little on top. 



Otto Kleinow. 

 Detroit, Micb., April 20, 1881. 



It may be that very strong colonies some- 

 times have insufficient ventilation, witli so 

 much chalf packing ; but I am sure, friend 

 K., that using a single cloth over the clus- 

 ters will not, as a general thing, work well. 

 In the A B C I told you how I tried it in 

 the house apiary, and of other experiments 

 I made with thin-walled and unprotected 

 hives. At the same time, these reports 

 seem to indicate that there are some queer 

 things about wintering bees that yet remain 

 unexplained. 



A neighbor of mine always neglects taking sec- 

 tions off some of his hives. He has lost none of his 

 bees, and a year ago the wind whistled unhindered 

 all winter right through the sections; but I would 

 not advise this method. I believe this neighbor has 

 the strongest colonics in this section now, but he 

 takes onl.v about 30 lbs. of honey per colony, while 1 

 average 60. He leaves the brood-combs crammed 

 full of houey, while many of mine are light, and too 

 quickly exhausted for protracted cold weather. 



Oxford, Pa., May 7, 1881. S. W. Morrison. 



UPS ANI> I)O^V\S. 



WHAT SHALL WE DO WHEN WINTER COMES AGAIN ? 



m NEIGHBOR of mine ; ell a colony of bees to 

 J^\ another neighbor— a tjwede — and in a day 



' or two after they were delivered, the Swede 



wanted the seller to take them back, saying that he 

 had been cheated in the purchase, as there were 

 "live dead bees in the hive." Most of the beo men 

 inthls locality would have felt eucourtiged if they 

 had found five live- ones in each CJlony this spring. 

 When inquiry was first made as to losses (about 

 April 1), I thought 80 per ct^nt of all colonies in this 

 vicinity had perished. I now think 90. per cent loss 

 would not be too large an estimate. Seven of my 

 neighbors lost all. 1 have lost to date, 33 per cent. 

 The remaining ones are apparently in good condi- 

 tion. I do not expect to lose more. No one around 

 here has wintered with so little loss, so far as I 

 know. Nearly everybody winters in cellars, but not 

 under proper conditions. I have before observed 

 that, if a cellar is too cold to ke?p potatoes, it is too 

 cold to keep bees. Every winter confirms the theo- 

 ry that a damp cold is fatal. I think that in this 

 latitude, 43° north, and aUiludc some ICJU feet above 

 the Gulf, cellar wintering is the only safe plan. 

 That so many have failed the past winter does not 

 prove the contiaryto be true, when we learn just 

 what kind of a depository they were in, and in just 

 what condition they were when put away. I have 

 taken some pains to get at the facts, and I am dis- 

 posed to lay the blame, not to indoor wintering, but 

 to ignorance and carelessness. Some people have 

 to " tail up "their cows in the spring, although sta- 

 bled all winter. Is that an argument against barns? 

 It is a plea for better barns and hctlcr care. 



Bees began to bring in pollen April 20. The 

 weather has been pleasant most of the time since, 

 and the "music of the hive" has been delightful. 



