3S4 



GLEANINGS IN I3EE CULTURE. 



Atfo, 



spring; new life: spring is here!" And we clasped 

 hands in congratulations. "Well, you want to 

 know how my bees have wintered? I got them out 

 the ICth of April; had no tly for KiO odd days; have 

 lost one hive by starvation; the others, as you see, 

 are all in good condition, and many of them quite 

 strong. I gave them rj'e meal for two days, and 

 then they commenced to bring in pollen — the soft- 

 maple first. It lasted about three days. Next the 

 bi)x-elders were roaring with them for four or live 

 days, and then the willows took their turn. I tell 

 you," said Mr. Duster, "everything is just 'boom- 

 ing,' and the very trees are bound to take a hand in; 

 and if we bee-keepers only take time by the forelock 

 — keep pace with this rush of things, we shall reap 

 our reward. Spring has been a little tardy, and, to 

 meet Summer at the appointed time and place, dress- 

 ed in all her beautiful garments, and bringing her 

 usual and matchless gifts with her, she is hurrying 

 and will hurry on to the tryst ; will be on time, and 

 he who heeds the unmistakable signs — gets his hive- 

 boxes and cans ready— will reap a satisfactory har- 

 vest. 



"I see you are in a hurry," said Mr. Duster; "but 

 before you go I wish to express my sympathy 

 through you to friend Novice jn his loss, not in bees 

 only, but it will unsettle him so in regard to the 

 way of wintering them. He's got lots of pluck and 

 perseverance; tell him to put in a chunk of faith- 

 enough to stiffen the batch (and I confess it wants 

 to be made pretty stiff after the experience of last 

 winter), and all will be well yet. One thing more, 

 and I'm done. Tell him to lay aside ne.xt fall his 

 enamel-cloth covers, and put on straw mats directly 

 over the bees (and sides too it he likes), then cover 

 with chaff or fine dry leaves, and, my word for it, he 

 will see next spring brighter combs generally than 

 he ever saw before. And, please, don't forget it." 



K. H. Melt.en. 

 Anibny-on-Inlet, 111., June 18, 1881. 



SECTIONS ON IN AVINTER, AGAIN. 



ARE WE AT FAULT TN THE M.4.TTER OF VENTILATION? 



fHERE seems to be quite an inquiry as to the 

 propriety of leaving sections or boxes on the 

 ' hives all winter. I have never had any e.xpe- 

 rienco in my own apiary, but have seen it tried in 

 others year after year with apparently good results. 

 An uncle of mine, Mr. J. S. Phillips, an old bee-keep- 

 er of 30 years' experience, has practiced it for some 

 time; and as he lives just "across the corner" from 

 us, we have had an opportunity to note how the 

 thing works. Until within a few years he has been 

 a bee-keeper of the old school, and kept his bees in 

 box hives, getting his surplus in boxes holding 10 or 

 13 lbs., placed over holes in top of the hive. At the 

 close of the honey season, the boxes were taken and 

 emptied, and returned again to their place on top of 

 the hive, and there left all winter, being held in 

 place by a large stone or heavy piece of iron. This 

 has been his practice for a considerable period, and 

 I have observed that (with but one or two excep- 

 tions) he has iiever lost a colony that had plenty of 

 honey to carry them through. Later, he became a 

 convert to the new system of bee-keeping, using 

 movable-frame hives, and obtained his surplus hon- 

 ey in four small boxes placed over slats in the hon- 

 ey-board. In the fall thej' were emptied and re^ 

 turned to their places, and the bees were left alone. 



to live or die as they chose. As before, all win- 

 tered well (that were not short of stores) for several 

 years; but i;i the fall of 1879 he came to the conclu- 

 sion, that if it paid others to protect their bees it 

 would him; and so, suiting the act to the thought, 

 he moved them together and covered them with 

 corn-stalks. As you will remember, the winter was 

 an unusually mild one; the bees became very rest- 

 less, and what did not die outright came out very 

 weak in the spring of 1880; and as the season was a 

 very poor one they did not cast any swarms, but 

 were generally strong, and had plenty of stores last 

 fall. This time he thought he would try chaff. 

 Well, the upshot of it all was, that he found himself 

 minus bees when Shawondasse (the south wind) paid 

 us his accustomed visit. Now, I do not pretend to 

 say that the empty boxes saved them, or the pack- 

 ing killed them ; but we would say it had some thing 

 to do with it. I have given you the facts just as 

 they are; but, as I said before, I never tried it in 

 my own apiary. It did not seem reasonable, so 1 

 dared not try it: but, Providence permitting, I shall 

 try the plan with a part of my bees this next winter, 

 and will report results. F. L. Wkight. 



Plainliold, Liv. Co., Mich., June 28, 1881. 



IIAYHURST'S TEA-PARTV. 



ALSO SOME THING ABOUT CYPRIAN BEES. 



^I^D. GLEANINGS:-Availiug myself of friend 

 1^1 Hayhurst's invitation, I recently found my- 

 self at his hospitable mansion. After paying 

 proper respects to his lady and late winter " queen" 

 who still keeps on piping, I repaired to his apiary. I 

 almost believe he has got "Root on the brain," for 

 he tries almost everything recommended in Glean- 

 ings. I might except sawdust for bottom-boards, 

 but scarcely any thing else. At one time he had a 

 grapevine on the west side of each hive, but he 

 found it easier to raise grapes in some other locali- 

 ty, and up came the vines. He thought he would 

 increase the natural size of his bees by using found- 

 ation with only twenty cells to the inch, and secured 

 a puff in Gleanings for purchasing, at one time, 100 

 lbs. of foundation. The bees hatched in the cells 

 were indeed somewhat increased in size, but they all 

 happened to be drones, and he speedily had nearly 

 100 lbs. of beeswax to sell. He adopted the chaff hive 

 exactly as recommended in Gleanings, and certain- 

 ly has a fine lot of them well filled with bees and 

 honey. As he lost no bees to speak of last winter, 

 he throws up his hat for the chaff hive, although 

 every one of them cost him nearly four dollars. 



But what do you think I f()und him doing? Actu- 

 ally killing drones, and from his imported Cyprian 

 queen too— from the identical queen that he paid 

 Jones .«I6.00 for last fall ! 



" What are you doing that for?" said I. 



"The rascals sting so," said he. "I shall deslroy 

 every Cyprian drone in my apiary to-morrow." 



CYPRIAN bees. 



Very beautiful are Hayhurst's Cyprian bees. The 

 queens are immensely prolific, and the bees great 

 honey-gatherers. Remove the queen from the hive, 

 and the bees start a great number of queen-cells. 

 We counted upward of 70 in a single hive. Then the 

 queens are very warlike, and will tight each other to 

 the death in less than two minutes after hatching. 

 This necessitates a separate cage for each cell, and 

 then the nucleus from which a laying queen has just 



