1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



8ol 



FILLING THE TIN BOTTLES TO GO WITH POUNDS OF 

 BEES. 



We use a Davidson "family syringe" to fill the 

 bottles. Submerge the nozzle of the syringe, also 

 the bottle; holding the nozzle a short distance from 

 the openiuo-, the absence of escaping air bubbles 

 shows that the bottle is full. E. M. Hayhurst. 



Kansas City, Mo., May :iO, 1881. 



L. C. ROOT'S REPORT ON WINTERING. 



Too busy to make full report. Our bees are out. 

 AVe lose 10 per cent indoors. All starve. Have con- 

 sumed from one-third to one-half more honej-, than 

 during past winters. We have doubled and lost 10 

 per cent more since putting them out. 



L. C. Root & Bro. 



Mohawk, N. Y., April 39, 1881. 



[In an editorial last month, I gave the loss as 10 

 per cent. As I was unable to find friend Root's 

 card just then it has since turned up, and I give it 

 as above, as I am sure he would wish it correct.] 



1. Who invented foundation? 



[An account of the invention of fdn. wns given in 

 the liec-Kccpcrs' Magazine a few years ago, and it 

 seems it was originally discovered by Mr. J. Mehr- 

 ing, of Germany. Of course, it has come, like other 

 things, by slow steps and the united work of so 

 many people, it is almost impossible to give full 

 credit to all who have had a hand in it.] 



2. Will not water-lime cement do to make fdn. 

 plates, instead of plaster of Paris? 



[Water lime has been used, but I believe does not 

 stand as well as the plaster.] 



3. Can you make your rubber plates to make the 

 thin, flat-bottomed fdn. for sections, if not larger 

 than 4 in. square ? W. W. Bliss. 



Los Angeles, Cal., May 23, 1831. 



[The rubber plates now make beautiful thin fdn. 

 for starters, by simply pouring on a table-spoonful 

 of wax, and no more. If put on the center of the 

 lower plate, and then closed quickly, it spreads out 

 into a beautiful thin sheet, and a single spoonful 

 can be made to cover nearly a square foot of sur- 

 face.] 



J-c 



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•• 



Tills department was sugprested by one of the clerks, as an op- 

 position to the Growlei-y. 1 think 1 shall venture to give names 

 in lull here. 



fIjHATis it; stick to chaff for wintering. I had 

 76 colonies in your chaff hives, and lost only 

 7, and 4 of them were queenless last fall. 

 Geddes, N. Y., May .31, 1881. F. A. Salisbcry. 



That "variety is the spice of life, "but few will 

 controvert. That variety is the "spice" of every 

 paper or journal, whether it be devoted to bee cul- 

 ture, agriculture, horticulture, or any other " cul- 

 ture," is equally obvious. All this may seem irrele- 

 vant to a report on bees; yet these are the very 

 thoughts that have led me to write. 



Your journal has been getting exceedingly monot- 

 onous during last six months (in the matter of re- 

 ports only, I mean), and has been pervaded by a 

 spirit of gloom, cast over it by the misfortunes of 

 the fraternity. I wish to break up this one-sided 

 business, and will give you a few facts in my experi- 

 ence that will, I anticipate, entitle me to a front seat 

 in the Smilery. 



The cartoon of friend Rodney, in the May number, 

 reminding one of the " Knight of the Sorrowful Fig- 

 ure," gave a new impetus to my slumbering gen- 

 ius(?) for drawing, and 1 hastily snatched up a pen- 

 cil and involuntarily drew a picture quite the re- 

 verse of that. Twill not exhibit it to the public; suf- 

 fice it to say, that it showed about six inches of 

 "ivories," which would seem to indicate a very hap- 

 py state of mind. 



In the summer of 1877 I bought a very weak hive 

 of bees, common blacks, and, by dint of great 

 care and watchfulness, built them up to a splendid 

 colony by fall. The next season I purchased an 

 Italian queen, and by that means succeeded in 

 changing my black pets into a hive of very respect- 

 able yellow ones. I had no Increase by swarming 

 the first two years. In 1879 I bought one more col- 

 ony, and got two magnificent swarms. They went 

 on multiplying until last fall, when I went into win- 

 ter-quarters with twelve colonies in prime condition, 

 and one rather weakly one. You know last summ er 

 was a very poor one for honey, but, notwithstanding 

 this, I took 250 lbs. of surplus from them, leaving 

 them ample winter stores. 



My plan of wintering is this: Leave them on the 

 summer stands, and build a rough board roof over 

 the top, packing them well around with corn fodder 

 or straw, and not disturbing them at all during the 

 winter. I have the satisfaction of now reporting 

 twelve apparently strong colonies on hand — the 

 number, you will see, is minus the weak one only. 



Well, excuse this tedious report, friend Root, and, 

 when you drop it into the waste-basket, let this re- 

 flection modify the uprising of your outraged and 

 long-suffering good nature, that I am an amateur in 

 rhetoric as well as in bee-keeping. • 



E. F. Setford. 



Creekton, Ohio, May 9, 1881. 



]adi^^' §^jiarli^mt^ 



M T this late date I think I can submit a correct 

 J^\ report. Had 1 written Feb. 22, 1 could have 



' said, with excusable pride, " My 15 colonies 



arc all alive and in good order," and perhaps, be- 

 ing a woman, gained the praise as Mrs. Harrison did. 

 But the month of March worked a change. April 8th 

 was a fine day, and I discovered one hive (which I 

 had overhauled and given extra wrappings in Feb.), 

 to be very quiet. On examination, every bee was 

 quiet, and great numbers lay on the bottom-board. 

 I brushed all off the combs, and carried hive and 

 combs to the house, picking out the queen, a pretty, 

 yellow one, not without a sigh, and laid her careful- 

 ly to one side. Two hours afterward I passed the 

 place, and the queen and several bees had revived. 



Lesson No. 1. Not to be too hasty in pronounc ing 

 bees dead because they are still; but let sunshine 

 revive them. 



Now for the cause of that colony dying. Before 

 Feb. 22, they had dysentery badly, which destroyed 

 numbers. Then I shoved the frames too closely to- 

 gether, and but few could get between the combs; 

 also, winter passages were not made in the combs of 

 that hive— a neglect which was not noticed when I 

 looked at them in Feb. I think those winter pass- 

 ages are very important; I shall remember that less- 

 on another time. The 1st of May I found a colony of 



