382 



GLEANINGS IN I3EE CULTURE. 



AL'G. 



ladk§' §q]^ar'hgmt' 



AM not a Quaker, but the spirit moves me to 

 write you how I wintered my bees, or, rather, 

 how I winter them, as I have practiced the 

 same method for three winters si((Tfs;</H?/.i/, and have 

 not lost one. I tirst make two division-cushions 

 for each hive by taking a brood frame (mine have 

 the heavy top-bar), and making- a sack for it out of 

 " Indian Head " muslin, enough larger than the 

 frame so that, when stuffed with chaff, it will en- 

 tirely fill the space between the frame and hive. In 

 tilling- it I am very careful to stuff it evenly outside 

 of the frame, at the bottom and ends. It is tacked 

 to the top-bar, and then quilted through a few times 

 to keep it from bulging- out. I then put one of these 

 on each side of the bees, giving them only what 

 room they need and a piece of muslin or piece of an 

 old quilt over the tops of the frames. Now I am 

 ready for packing; so I take all the old rags after 

 the carpet-rags are cut, and fill, or partly till, the 

 space between the cushion and outside of the hive, 

 and put a sack of them on top at Jrast three inches 

 thick. Now they have a porous material on three 

 sides that will allow the moisture to pass off, but re- 

 tain the heat, just as our woolen clothes do. This is 

 the best use for old rags I ever found. 



My bees came through the winter strong, and I 

 just ciui't keep some of them from swarming. One 

 swarm has filled G six-pound boxes, and have the 

 second six almost filled with combs, and they keep 

 the lower story crammed, the queen having brood 

 on 8 frames, and I have taken two frames full of 

 brood, honey, and bees, from that hive; but they 

 have not swarmed. We read of "non-swarming 

 hives;" but are there any "non-swarming" bees? 

 If there are, mine must belong to them. Is this 

 more than an ordinarily good queen? Busy Bee. 



The above is by a lady who says we mustn't 

 publish her name. 1 "should much prefer 

 full names and addresses, but i suppose I 

 must obey orders. We formerly made all our 

 division-boards as above, but every little 

 while the bees would eat through and let the 

 chaff out, and if they didn't do that, the 

 combs built next to them would be waved 

 to match the quilting. This determined me 

 to have nothing hereafter next to the combs, 

 unless it was hat and straight, like the sides 

 of the hive, even if it is some work to make 

 it.— "\Ve think your queen, my friend, about 

 a fair average one, from the description you 

 give. 



I am an interested reader of Gleanings, and a 

 member of the ABC class. Fully two-thirds of the 

 bees in this vicinity died. One of our neighbors 

 lost his entire lot of eleven stands. Another one 

 saved 4 out of 17, and another s out of about 30. As 

 regards my own, I saved ~ colonies out of 5. They 

 were left on summer stands, 4 of them in iSiinplicity 

 hives, with chaff cushions on top. The other in a 

 box hive. The 2 have increased to 6 by natural 

 swarming. They are all in splendid condition, and I 

 have ancthergood swarm that I bought of my boy- 

 one that he found. 



ANOTHER NOVEL MEE-HIVE. 



Well, you need not try to guess where he found 

 them, for 1 don't believe you could guess in a week. 

 He foun'l them in the barn loft, under the hay, fully 



20 feet from the ground. There they were, as busy 

 as you please, flying in and out at a crevice at the 

 rear end of the barn. I suppose they had iteen there 

 but a few days when found, as they had stored but a 

 small amount of honey. 



Bee culture is a branch of industry that is greatly 

 neglected in this locality; true, there are a good 

 many who have bees, and some have quite a lot of 

 them; but thej' are generally neglected, or attended 

 to in a kind of hit-and-miss fashion. I do not know 

 of a man in the range of my acquaintance who takes 

 a bee journal of any kind. 



THE SI.MPLICITY HIVE. 



Box hives are mostly used, although there arc 

 some who use patent hives of various kinds; but 

 the Simplicity is my choice. It is far ahead of any 

 patent hi\e that I have ever seen; and if there is 

 anj' thing nicer than a Simplicity section box well 

 filled with honey, I would like to see it. Mine were 

 nice enough to take lirst premitim at oin* district 

 fair last September, anyhow. I suppose you will 

 think this a rather lengthy letter from an A B C 

 scholar, especially one who has the care of a fam ilj', 

 to say nothing of the hundred and one things devoh- 

 iug upon a farmer's wife in the midst of a boimti- 

 ful harvest, for which I thank God in my heart. 

 May he bless j'ou in your good work, is the sincere 

 prayer of Sarah E. Duncan. 



Lineville, Wayne Co., Iowa, July 18, 1S81. 



Or liCtters from TliO!>e AVlio liavo stride 

 Bee Culture a. Failure. 



LOSS OF 800 BV ONE M.\N. 



^iJyjOURFIFTHS Of the bee-men here usethe Mitoh- 

 j8n^ ell hive, and fully four-fifths of their bees are 

 — ' dead. We have heard here that Overmyer, 

 the big bee-man of Sandusky Co., Ohio, lost over 

 e/j/Zit /M(n(Zrf(/ — all he had. He uses the Mitchell 

 hive. Thej' have "sung" Mitchell till the hum of 

 the "busy bee" is heard no more (in the Mitchell 

 hive;) gone to Blasted Hopes — some for the second 

 time in three years. The old box hive is victorious 

 again. C. W. Doren and Frederick Baker have each 

 a colony that has stood the test for 25 winters. How 

 is that for the old box-hives? .-V few yeai-s ago. Dor- 

 en told me that the least that old colony brought 

 him in any year was $G.t'0. Those colonies arc 

 blacks. I saA-ed both of the queens you sent me last 

 fall. I lost only one colony last winter; bees are do- 

 ing splendidly, with good prospect of a big basswocd 

 harvest. Isaac Feasel. 



Bettsville, Seneca Co., Ohio, .June 6, 1881. 



The above may be only a report ; and if so, 

 we liope friend Overmyer will correct it. 1 

 should hardly think the Mitchell hive would 

 be better or worse than the box hive ; it is 

 not the hive we object to, but ^Mitchell's way 

 of defrauding his fellow-men, year after 

 year. See report in Humbugs and Swindles. 



You need not send me the Gle.\nings this year, 

 for my beesare starving; for the drought hps killed 

 every thing. G. H. Seavev. 



Hallowell, Maine. 



I had bad luck with my bees last winter. I had 24 

 swarms last fall, and have one very weak one now, 



I. C. PETER.S. 



Greenleaf, Meeker Co., Minn., June 7, 1881. 



