18S1 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



297 



young man did who lived near Mr. Merrybanks. 

 Don't you think you had better have a few bees just 

 for old associations' sake?] 



RAISING BEES. 



What is the best way to raise /j^cs —by dividing 

 them and giving them good queens, or by leaving 

 them In strong colonies? J. H. Bdrrage. 



Concord, N. C, May 4, 18S1. 



[[ think, if not carried to too great an extreme, 

 you can raise more bees by having ail strong colo- 

 nies; that is, one good prolific queen, with a good 

 hive full of bees, will raise more brood than the 

 same quantity of bees woull with two good queens. 

 During very warm weather, of course not as many 

 bees are needed to care for the same quantity of 

 brood.] 



Bees are doing well, and there is a good prospect 

 for a flrst-rate season. First swarm of bees March 

 22d. I have had a tussel with foul brood. I think 

 that it is tirst started by chilled brood. 



Los Angeles, Cal., April 9, 1881. W. W. BLI^s. 



BOX hives versus simplicity for wintering. 



I went into winter-quarters with 16 bo.v hives and 

 14 Simplicity. I have now 8 box hives left and one 

 Simplicity. A. L. Clark. 



Buffalo Plains, N. Y., April 11, 1881. 



[This report might at first seem to indicate the 

 box hives the better for wintering, and I should not 

 be much surprised if such were the case; but if I 

 am not mistaken, the former were old and well 

 gummed up, and the bees on old tough combi*, while 

 the Simplicities had new swarms, or artificial colo- 

 nies, mostly, if not all, on new combs. This alone 

 makes a vastdifiference. I do not think I would risk 

 either kind of hive outdoors without protection.] 



Please send me a five-cent paper of Vilmorin's im- 

 proved dandelion ssed. I want them for greens, and 

 to remind "me of the " long ago.' ' I have not seen a 

 dandelion since I left my native State, New York. 

 None grow in this part of California. 



Mrs. May C. Stowell. 



San Rafael, Marin Co., Cal„ May 9, 1881. 



[Our VilmoriDS, at this date, May 17, are a s-ght, I 

 tell you, but the bees are so busily at work on apple- 

 bloom they do not notice them much now. If a 

 dandelion blossom were not such a very common 

 sight, these great vellow blossoms might rank fairlj' 

 with our dahlias and yellotv roses. We hope the 

 greens and blossoms may flourish abundantly in 

 your land of gold, my friend.] 



imcuragmQi 



^ IKE friend Martin, I have been visiting some of 

 J»(|j| | my brother bee-keepers. The first call that I 



made was on W. 11. Bohannon. I found his 



bees all alive (19 cols.), and in good trim, and himself 

 a good subject for the Spiilery. He says, " Tell R. H. 

 Mellen, of page 24, Jan. No., that I am a near rela- 

 tive of Merrybanks', but I am not so robust as 

 friend M., because I have not been a bee-keeper so 

 long," but, like friend M., he uses very large boxes 

 and abundance of chaff in packing his bees, and that 

 he has never lost a colony, and thinks that he will 

 not so long as he follows that plan of paciiing. I 

 think myself that friend Mellen was a little hard on 

 Mr. Merrybanks and his connection in his article on 



wintering bees, and that he gave only one side of the 

 subject, and not a very good display at that. I will 

 admit, that bees would winter in a dark cellar (if at 

 all) on less honey than they would above ground; 

 but how is it about depriving them of the benefit of 

 God's glorious light for four long months ? Don't 

 you think that it would be an act of mercy to winter 

 them where they could have the benefit of a prome- 

 nade on those mild sunny days that we sometimes 

 have in winter, and that it would pay well for the 

 extra honey that they would consume? In regard 

 to the beauty of the bee-yard, it does not look so nice 

 when prepared for winter as it does in June, when 

 he has it all spruced up; but it has at least a look of 

 comfort in place of the desolation when bees have 

 all been removed to the cellar. S. H. Lane. 



Whitestown, Boone Co., Ind., Apr. 2J, 1881. 



The L'Hommedicu Bros, have had their usual suc- 

 cess in wintering their bees. Cellared Nov. 9; set 

 them out April 13 and 16; 4 dead, 1 queenless; sold 2, 

 which loaves us 71 colonies to date. 



D. E. & F. J. L'Hommedieu. 



Colo, Story Co., Iowa, May 4, 1881. 



I wintered 16 colonies in chaff hives of my own get 

 up, without any loss; I now have from 5 to 8 cards 

 of brood in my hives. I never saw bees build up so 

 fast. I should like to exchange some bees by the 

 pound for good queens. A part of my bees are 

 Italians and part hybrids. A. H. Squire. 



Nicholville, N. Y., May 12, 1881. 



I went into winter-quarters with four strong colo- 

 nies, and they are all — no, not dead, but just the 

 livest colonies in all the country round; and I think 

 it is all owing to watchful care last fall, all through 

 winter, this spring, and all of the time. You see, I 

 am a new hand, and have not got careless yet. 



M. M. Fay. 



Council BUiETs, Potta. Co., Iowa, April 16, 1881. 



The average loss among the bees, I should judge, 

 in Southern Minnesota is 50 per cent. I am one of 

 the lucky ones; wintered 23 hives of Italians in cel- 

 lar under my living-room, without a single loss. 

 Confined 5 months lacking 2 days; add to this time 

 10 days without a fly before placing in cellar, and 

 you have 5 months and 8 days without a fly. All 

 came through finely, and are now breeding well. 



F. A. TiCKNOR. 



Austin, Minn., April 29, 1881. 



REPORT FOR 1881. 



Went into winter with 84 colonies; come out with 

 82; some of them were weak in the fall. Prepared, 

 or, rather, unprepared, as follows; I took the sec- 

 tion boxes off in October; left the honey-boards on; 

 they are }s of an inch thick, with 18 l^i-inch holes in 

 them. I spread a clnth over the honey-board, and 

 set a box of chaff on top. The brood-chamber was 

 left just as I ran them for honey. I would have con- 

 tracted the brood-chamber, but the cold crossed me 

 out. I had 4 colonies queenless. I wintered 88 

 queens; that gave me 4 quesns to supply the 4 colo- 

 nies with. The 4 hives that Ihadthequeensinlgave 

 in this as 4 hives. They contained 8 queens. I took 

 out 4 queens and united them. They were wintered 

 on summer stands, with no protection but chaff on 

 top. I will start this spring, if I lose no more, with 

 79 colonies. My report is 82, but I have sold three 

 colonies. RuFus Robinson. 



lola. Clay Co., 111., May 7, 1881. 



