830 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUETUKE. 



JULY 



ways, all on siimnicr stands, in a very exposed situ- 

 ation, and lost 11 — most of them by starvation ; but 

 a majority of those that were alive lost from U to -a 

 of the bees — some reduced to less than a quart; 

 but I saved them all, as I know nothing about spring- 

 dwindling. 



In making my spring examination I proposed to : 

 note carefully the condition of each hive, to see if I | 

 could determine under what circumstances they 

 had wintered best. I will confess right here, that i 

 when I got through and compared notes I was as 

 much in the dark as ever, and more bewildered in 

 trying to arrive at the conclusion as to which is the 

 best plan for wintering on summer stands. 



A few hives were packed in chaff ; all others had ■ 

 frames covered, either with cushions of chaff, or i 

 carpeting, without any other protection. The chaff ' 

 hives all wintered fairly, but I was surprised to find , 

 the best-preserved colony in the yard in an old half- 

 rotten L. hive, with only a light cushion of leaves on i 

 the frames, and some loose boards piled on the top to 

 keep out the wet, which they did not do very well. ; 

 The second best was very much like the first. Two i 

 "long-idea" hives, with bees placed in the center, 

 and only a piece of carpet hung over the frames, 

 coming down on each side near the bottom, were 

 among the bost, as were also 2 two-story hives with 

 6 frames in each story, brought to the center, and , 

 carpet hung over them, and cushions on the sides. 



To continue my investigations, I determined to see i 

 every hive in the Island. 1 found only three men 

 who had live bees. One had 14 in the fall, in thick 

 box hives, tops nailed on tight, without any provi- ; 

 sions for surplus boxes or upward ventilation — oii7i/ 

 two alive. Next had three; one in abeautiful hollow 

 section of a tree — dead ; one in a tall box hive, bees ' 

 working out of small hole in top — very few bees, 35 ' 

 or 40 lbs. of honey; one in an old candle-box, sides 

 and top only % in. thick, in very fair condition. 

 These two hives I transferred, and know their con- 

 dition exactly. 



The third man had t» last fall; T of these were alive, 

 and 5 of them were the fullest of bees, brood, and 

 honey, of any colonies I ever saw at that season of 

 the year. They were all in hives with V2 frames, the [ 

 same as my own, but no attention was paid to them 

 after the bees were put in — no protection what- 

 ever; no cover of any hind on the frames; but the 

 shallow covers of the hives, made like the roof of a 

 house, from one to three inches deep, were put over 

 them, and the bees allowed to fill the space above . 

 the frames with comb and honey. Covers fit loosely I 

 over the hive, and the bees were working out from i 

 the tops of several of them. And these are the best 

 out-door wintered bees that I have heard of this : 

 spring. 



A near neighbor found a bee-tree some three 

 years ago; cut off a section of 10 feet, and set it up 

 in his yard. For three years they wintered well, and ' 

 swarmed two or three times every season. This I | 

 thought a perfect model of a natural bee-hive; but j 

 they died. This led me to make inquiries of the 

 wood-choppers and others as to the bees found last 

 winter in the "bush." Heard of 5 bee-trees being 

 cut, not one of which had live bees in them— no live 

 ones found at all, and I think it probable that there 

 are no bees left in the woods. This would argue that 

 the natural home of the bee is not always the best. 



Now, what lessons are we to learn from all this 

 to guide us in the future? I confess mj-self puzzled 



to give an answer. But it does seem to indicate, 

 first, that a great amount of protection, with thick 

 walls, chaff, etc., is not absolutely necessary to suc- 

 cessful wintering, even in such a winter as last, as 

 in the case of the 7 bi'ood hives without protection, 

 and the thin "a candle-box. Second, that some pro- 

 vision for upward ventilation seems essential. 

 Third, that it does not depend entirely upon' the kind 

 of food they have to winter on, as all the bees here 

 must have had the same kind of stores. We all 

 know that good food is essential, and friend Heddoii 

 has a very fine-spun theory of "bacteria in the hon- 

 ey," ariived at by jTasojiinflr from effect to cause ([ 

 believe that no scientist has ever discovered such a 

 thing- in honey with the microscope yet), but here is 

 one fact which is worth half a dozen tlieorics; viz., 

 the best-wintered and the worst-wintered bees were 

 in yards not '^ of a mile apart, and must have had 

 the siime kind of honey, as none had been taken 

 from either ; consequently, the food was not the 

 cause of the differences in losses. 



I have already made this communication too long; 

 yet left out many particulars that I should like to 

 have mentioned; but I wish to give an incident to 

 show the astonishing amount of exposure bees will 

 sometimes stand, and yet live. In March I found 

 one hive had been overlooked last fall, and there 

 was nothing whatever over them or in the upper 

 story, which was a large one, 11x11x18 in.— not even 

 frames, and yet there was a pint or so of live bees in 

 it — as many as in some other hives, and I would 

 have saved it as I saved all the others had it not 

 been for an accident. Thaddeus Smith. 



Pelee Island, Out., June li, 1881. 



FRIEND GAUFF'S SWARITIINU-ISOX, 



AND HOW HE USES IT. 



MSI am one who reads GtiEANiNGS, I thought 

 Jl^_ I would write you a letter and give you a dia- 

 ' gram of a swarming-box that I have used for 

 two years. 



THE "cheese-box" SWAlt.MINU-BOX. 



1 got a cheese-box that was just large pnough for a 

 frame to hang on the inside; then I nailed on two 

 pieces with a notch cut in the upper end to hold the 

 frame in; then I put a handle on one side, with a 

 strap hinge, with a hole bored in the end, so that I 

 could use a long pole or a short one as I wanted; 

 then I bored holes around the bottom, except on the 

 side where the handle is that I lift with, so the bees 

 would not get on that side so bad; now, when a 

 swarm commenced to alight, I would take my box, 

 and put in a frame of comb and shake off the bees in 

 the bo.v, and then, if they were rather slow, I would 

 take a short pole, stick it in the ground, and hang 

 my box on it, and let the bees get settled, and then I 

 would take the frame out of the box and hang it in 

 the hive, and shake the rest of the bees in front of 

 the hive without any more trouble, D, K. Gauff. , 



Milan, Erie Co., O., May 1.5, 1881. 



