18S1 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



289 



Silver-maple, poplar, willow, etc , ia bloom for some 

 days back. Breeding is well under way. 



Please don't write to me for bees or queens this 

 j'ear. I keep bees for the fun of it, and not to sell. 



Edgene Secor. 



Forest City, Iowa, May 5. 18S1. 



CHAFF PACKING CONTRASTED WITH 

 OTHEK MODES OF AVINTEKI.NG. 



A FEW FACTS FROM "REAL, LIFE." 



SWILL send you my report how I wintered my 

 bees. We have had a very cold and severe win- 

 ~~" ter. It was 35 to 30° below zero when it was the 

 coldest, and the bees had no fly from the middle of 

 Nov. to the middle of Feb., and then only a few 

 days that they could lly till the middle of April. I 

 use the Langstroth frame. In the fall I had 50 col- 

 onies; 33 were full colonies, and 17 were nuclei; 

 these I built up through August and September 

 to about half-full colonics. The full colonies I put 

 on 6 frames for winter, and the nuclei on 4 frames. 

 I then put a box o\er the hive that gave 4 in. space 

 around the hive, which I tilled with wheat chaff, and 

 packed it right well down. I then made holes 

 through the combs, and put a sheet of duck on the 

 frames, and then a chaff cushion in thick, and 

 then a good roof on the box. This I did in October; 

 then I did not disturb them till spring. Now for the 

 result: All are alive, and are breeding fast; they 

 are as good as can be expected for such a backward 

 season. I think packing in chaff the best method of 

 wintering bees for this latitude. 



On the inclosed sheet you can see how the bees 

 wintered in this locality, in what kind of hive, and 

 how prepared. 



. HOW THE BEES WINTERED IN OUR VICINITY. 



No. of colonies packed for winter, 198, of which 37 

 died, or 19 per cent. No. of colonies without protec- 

 tion, 90, of which 71 died, or 79 per cent, and 5 were 

 put in a cellar, fell of which died. I. G. Martin. 



Reidenbach's Store, Lan. Co., Pa., May 9, 1881. 



I must confess that the above, and similar 

 reports, goes a great way toward making me 

 hesitate in deciding that even cellar winter- 

 ing is a safer plan to advise than outdoor 

 wintering, with good chaff packing. One 

 point should be borne in mind, and that is, 

 that those who are so thorough as to give 

 their bees good packing, would be likely to 

 give thorough care in other respects, that 



those who entirely neglect their bees would 

 not. It is not altogether whether old hands, 

 with their hundreds of colonies, winter in 

 cellars or otherwise, that we wish to get at; 

 but how will the great masses of A 13 C 

 scholars, — those who can ill afford these 

 wintering losses, do the best? Our neigh- 

 bors Harrington and Shane have wintered 

 fully as well as those of our neighbors who 

 used cellars. Many thanks, friend Martin, 

 for your full report. Such a summing-up as 

 your report gives, can not be accidental. 



FEKRY'S SEED-GARDEN AS A HONEV- 

 FAKITI. 



HOW THE BEES WINTERED. 



* PROMISED you last fall to report how my bees 

 wintered at Ferry's seed-garden. You will no- 

 tice in my letter last fall (see p. 879) I mentioned 

 one of my swarms they had the dysentery very bad- 

 ly. That one died, and another this spring; the rest 

 have wintered finely. I packed the upper story with 

 planer shavings. No more chaff cushions forme; 

 they don't fill the corners right. My bees at home 

 are three-fourths gone. One of my neighbors had 

 100 colonies last fall, mostly in box hives; only live 

 survived the winter, and three of them were in chaff 

 hives I let him have. In your remarks on my letter 

 last fall you expressed a desire to see an apiary 

 near a seed-garden, and I am going to tell you how 

 you can do it. This will probably be a dull season 

 for the supply business, so just start some morning 

 in June and I will meet you in Detroit with a good 

 carriage and fnst horse, drive to the garden and 

 apiary (the latter is situated just over the fence 

 from the garden, on a beautiful lawn.) Then we 

 will drive to Bell Branch to tea, and, if you will 

 come so as to stay over Sunday, I will go to church 

 and Sunday-school with you, which, by the way, 

 would be quite an undertaking for me, as I have not 

 been for five years, excepting once. There are two 

 churches within forty rods of our home. I don't 

 speak of this to boast of my heathenism; will ex- 

 plain it to you, should you come. As another in- 

 ducement, I will show you the best and handiest 

 chaff hive in existence (no patent.) I expected to 

 give you an order this spring for 10,000 sections, 

 honey-extractor, 15 smokers, etc. ; but, alas for hu- 

 man calculation! man proposes, but, but, but, the 

 hard winter disposed of all the bees nearly. 



M. H. Hunt. 

 Bell Branch, Wayne Co., Mich., May 5, 1881. 



Friend II., 1 rather think I will accept 

 that invitation ; but as June is a very crowd- 

 ing month with us, suppose we say July or 

 August. Neighbor II. ttdnks he would like 

 to see the seed-gardens too, and perhaps if 

 we fix a day, some of the bee friends near 

 you might like to meet' us there. Please 

 bear in mind, we are all to go to church and 

 Sundaj-scliool, and leave the bee-talk, all of 

 it, for week days. This may be rather hard 

 on neighbor II., for if he couldn't talk bees 

 on every day in the week, Sunday along 

 with the rest, I do not know but that he 

 would almost suffocate. During what month 

 will we tind the most plants in bloom that 

 bears honeyV I have been looking over 

 Ferry's catalogue, and I am considerably 

 impressed with the magnitude of his grounds 

 and business. 



