3S(i 



GLEANINGS IN J3EE CULTURE. 



Ar(i. 



The ililTerciicc is this: We overhaul our lices too 

 late ill the season, and it comes on cold, and they 

 don't have a chance to plaster up with propolis and 

 make it tight, wbile another, perhaps fixed up one 

 or two days before, had an opportunity to work a 

 day or two and patch up. I've noticed, in opening 

 hives the first time in spring, where the duck or 

 enameled cloth was stuck down so firm I could hard- 

 ly pull if off, there were no signs of dysentery, but 

 every thing clean and bright — bees lively and 

 strong; but where the cloth was not stuck down to 

 the top of frames they would be all blacked up, and 

 smell badlj'. Now, I think when they have it tight, 

 as nature teaches them to do, they don't consume as 

 nmch honey to keep warm, and will go a much lon- 

 ger time without a fly than in the other case. I lost 

 ;> swarms out of 14 the past winter; one of them 1 

 neglected to make passages for through the comb, 

 and they starved with plenty of honey on the other 

 side of the hive. One had dysentery, one spring 

 dwindling. The rest are doing finely. I extracted 

 50 lbs. of apple-blossom honey last week, which was 

 very nice. They just commenced on red raspberry, 

 of which we have -t acres of the Brandywine. Now, 

 Mr. Editor, please call for proof of my idea, and see 

 if those who wintered successfully with sections on 

 were not those who did not touch them after the 

 honey season was over; while those who lost them 

 fixed them up late, and broke the propolis all up, 

 which they failed to repair, and consequently lived 

 in a draft of cold air as long as their bee nature 

 could stand it, and then gave rip the ghost. 



W.D. Hinds. 



Townsend, Middlesex Co., Mass., June 16, 1881. 



jVIy ex])enence has been very much like 

 yours, friend II., and I can not remember 

 having a liive well waxed up with propolis, 

 and filled with honey clear down to the 

 corners of the combs, but that wintered well. 

 Since you speak of it, I recall that our bees 

 had such good care last winter that we 

 opened and examined each hive at every mild 

 spell during the winter. ^Vt the lirst exam- 

 ination, about Christmas we were congratu- 

 lating ourselves that they were keeping 

 splendidly; but from that time on they 

 seemed to go down. AVho can tell us more 

 about making them wax up every thing sol- 

 id, and then letting them be until Mav? 



THE BEES OF INDIA. 



BY ONE OK OUR MISSIONARY BROTHERS. 



^l^jRO. ROOT:— You have spoken of wanting to 

 fH}^ know about bees in India, so I am going to 

 tell you what I know, which will not take 

 long, as I am not well posted in " Beeology." I have 

 seen three varieties of bees here. The most com- 

 mon is the smallest variety, a specimen of which I 

 Inclose. I do not know in what condition he will 

 reach you, bul his size was that of the figure marked 

 when he started on his journey. This variety hang 

 their combs on trees and bushes in the open air. In 

 <me walk the other night I came across two swarms 

 of these bees. There is a common-sized variety 

 which are not so common, but which are sometimes 

 domesticated. Then there is a very large variety 

 which are quite common, whose acquaintance I have 

 no wish to form. They live in the rocks and trees 

 in these hills. A year ago a swarm alighted on a 



tree five or six rods from the street, and woe to man 

 or beast who ventured along the road. The antics 

 which they caused the natives to cut were amusing to 

 us who sat secure in our bungalow. Indian honey 

 is not of a pleasant flavor. What it could be made 

 through proper culture I do not know. The bee 

 which I inclose is a young one of its kind. I do 

 not know that this small variety sting, although 

 the natives say they do. But I have never seen 

 them manifest any such disposition. The natives 

 will declare that every snake is poisonous, when 

 the fact is, onlj- four or five varieties are poisonous 

 out of about twelve found in India; and so it is, 

 I suppose, with the bees. 



Some time I may be able to get specimens of the 

 different varieties of bees, and I will preserve them 

 in alcohol and send them to you in a box. But I 

 have little time for any thought but upon the one 

 great object that calls us here. There are many 

 very interesting things in the natural world about 

 us, al)Out which I should like to write; but we have 

 to see so much undone in the way of spreading the 

 gospel among these perishing people, that we are 

 forced to leave other things alone, that we may tell 

 the "old, old story." It is the same precious word 

 here as in our own country; "the power of God un- 

 to salvation to all that believe." Many thanks for 

 Gleanings. We cut out the Home Papers, and 

 sew them together, and have quite a little book. 

 Our work seems prospering. There is a little com- 

 munity of Christians gathering about us, which we 

 trust is the little leaven which is to leaven the wh.ile 

 lump. But, oh the awful moral darkness ! Pray 

 much for us. We are quite well, and very happy in 

 the Lord. The Christians which we baptized lately, 

 a man and wife and child and a blind boy, give good 

 evidence that thej' have been born again, and by 

 well-ordered lives glorify God among their people. 

 Mrs. Sibley unites in much Christian love to you. 

 May God bless and prosper you is the prayer of 



J. W. Sibley. 



Chikalda, India, May 34, 1881. 



]Many thanks, fdend S. I should enjoy 

 hugely an encounter with that swarm 

 that frightened the natives so much. 

 I presume it could not have been the far- 

 famed Apis dorsata, that we have heard so 

 much about of late. I should enjoy, too, be- 

 ing with you a little while in your work for 

 the ]\Iaster. We often think of you, and 

 shall always have a warm corner in our 

 hearts for you and yours, away off there in 

 your foreign home. May the Lord bless your 

 work I 



FRIEND PETERS ON UPWARD VENTI- 

 LATION. 



ALSO SOME TniNO ABOUT LEAVING SECTION BOXES 

 ON ALL WINTER. 



MID. GLEANINGS:-The present advanced con- 

 I dition of apiculture is due not only to the 



thinking men who observe facts, but also to 



the long years of accumulating data by the unscien- 

 tific mass of bee-keepers in times gone by. Practice 

 and patient observation by this latter class laid the 

 ground work of a new industry, which, though long 

 delayed, has 'culminated into one of the useful 

 liranches of rural economy. Being based upon e.x- 

 pDrience and facts, the progress of apiculture should 

 be protnoted by all who feel an interest in it, by 



