388 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



FRIEND BUIT TON'S BEE-KEEPING. 



AS NAKRATEU BY HIS BOY. 



FAPA took the boe fever last year, and ia July 

 bought a colony <>f hylirids, which we divided, 

 — Then pa and I each bought a hive of Mr. Tom- 

 kins, who has mighty nice Italian bees. He also 

 made papa a present of an Italian queen, which we 

 put into one of our hybrid colonies. 



MOVING BEES IN THE SAME YARD. 



We had to move the two hybrid colonies to an- 

 other part of the yard, to g'et them ready for win- 

 ter. We moved both hives at the same time, moving 

 them about a foot and a half to two feet every night. 

 Was that right? or tell us, please, just how far to 

 move at one time, and how often. We noticed when 

 we moved the bees, that those in the last hive were 

 lighting all the time. We first thought they were 

 robbing; but it at last struck us that it was the bees 

 from the first stand, trying to get into the second. 

 We just let them alone, for we didn't know what to 

 do. What ought we to have done? Consequently, 

 when we got them where we wanted them, they 

 were very weak. So we went into the winter with 

 two weak hybrid hives and two strong Italian hives. 

 I forgot to say, that papa and I went into partner- 

 ship — I as one-fourth partner. We built a house 

 all around the stands, flUing ia tightly with straw, 

 and putting chaff bags on top. How far apart ought 

 you put your hives for wintering? 



When we opened thorn this spring, both hybrids 

 were dead. One had plenty of stores, the other had 

 none. Papa then bought two stands of black bees 

 in place of those that died. We immediately got 

 queen-celh from a friend whom we knew had pure 

 bees; took the heads off the black queens, and put 

 the cells in there, and also started a nucleus, right 

 Jn the midst of the honey season. That was not 

 right, was it? We got no honey from the black 

 bees, but got about 130 lbs. of extracted honey from 

 the two hi^•es we got of Mr. Tomkins. The nucleus 

 fills up nine frames now; the queen in it is the poor- 

 est of the three we raised. The other two filled up 

 their hi^•es with brood nicely. The brood is just 

 hatching this last week, and they are just as pure 

 as they can be. 



I will tell you a few funny things now. When we 

 first began looking at the bees, I thought I saw some 

 capped brood, and told papa so; he said not, for he 

 had just looked at them and it was capped honey. 

 I said it was, and was told not to contradict my 

 father — he Imcw. Well, one day wo were looking at 

 the hive together, and I said, " There! that is what I 

 call capped brood." 



He looked at it, and said no. I said I'd bet it was. 

 He said he Inicw, and there was no use to say any 

 thing more about it. Well, I took a pin and un- 

 capped one and showed it to him, and sure enough, 

 it H'rts brood. He didn't say any thing, but I'll bet 

 he felt cheap. 



When we made our nucleus, we just put in a 

 couple of frames from our strongest hive, and shook 

 the bees off a couple more from the cfthcr hives, but 

 never thought to look for the queen. Well, the next 

 day we went to look into it, when we saw the queen- 

 cell torn down. We looked around, and there was 



the queen. Oh, we felt cheap! 



R. D. Bbitton. 



Wyoming, Ham. Co., O., July 10, 1881, 



Well, I declare, friend B., you have writ- 



ten a pretty good article. I hope you and 

 your pa will always be •' partners,'' not only 

 in the bee business, but in every thing else ; 

 but I hope you will remember to speak to 

 him and of him in a respectful way (because 

 he is your father), even if he should be wrong 

 and you right. — Moving bees one foot a day, 

 or about that, is very apt to bring about just 

 such differences as you describe; and. in 

 fact, it is a pretty bad plan to move bees 

 about in the same apiary, any Avay you can 

 fix it. Put them where you want them, and 

 there let them stay.— l' presume you both 

 know capped brood from capped honey now, 

 without resorting to picking it open with a 

 pin. — You probably know, too, by experi- 

 ence, that it is best to find the old queens be- 

 fore you take bees from a hi\'e to make a 



nucleus. 



• ♦ > 



BEE CULTURE IN TEXAS. 



CHAl'F PACKING IN THE SOUTH, AGAIN. 



W' CLAIM to be the first man to introduce the mov- 

 Jt|[ able-frame hive in this part of Texas, ye ars ago, 

 — ' and have had the care of bees twenty-two 

 years; yet lam only anABC scholarin thebee"biz." 

 As formerly stated, I wintered 23 colonies; one died 

 - starved. I had two black colonies which I did not 

 count with the rest, unprotected during the winter, 

 they dwindled badly, but have been built up to half- 

 colonies, and heads are now off the queens; the Cy- 

 prian queens have been in the hives just 2S days to- 

 day, and things are quite different with hive full of 

 young bees. Let us go back and say, we live 200 

 miles nearer the north pole than our Austin brother. 

 We had several zero spells; snow-storms, eight or 

 ten; ice five inches thick. I had a nice swarm the 

 25th of 3Iarch, and bees were doing well; but about 

 1st of April they began slaying their drones, and in 

 five days not a drone was left, inside or outside, in 

 cell or anywhere else. Capped queen-cells were 

 torn down, queens stopped laying, not a drop of 

 honey to be had in the fields, with every hive full to 

 overflowing with bees; honey rapidly disappears 

 from the hives, and I am compelled to feed a little 

 to keep out of Blasted Hopes. About the 10th of 

 April the willows bloomed; on the 13th, in full bloom. 

 The joj'ous hum was again heard, and the bees fairly 

 poured out and in; farmers are busy plowing corn 

 and planting cotton. What is that yonder in the 

 north? A cold " blizzard." It comes at the rate of 

 35 miles per hour, ice cold. I walk down to the wil- 

 low pond iind find at least 15 lbs. or more of bees 

 hanging to the willows, stiff with cold. These pass 

 awaj' like my peaches, apples, and other fruit, to en- 

 rich mother earth. For the next ten days I thought I 

 would give it up; but $3.00 worth of sugar brings 

 them up to prickly ash and ratan bloom. April 24th 

 to first week in May I had to use the extractor to 

 give the queen room. I sold 3 colonies for $37.50, 

 and had just twenty, all told, left, including the 

 March swarm to begin. May 1st I commenced to 

 raise my queens, and had good luck. I now have 40 

 full colonies, six nuclei with queens; sold 8 queens, 

 two tested (raised 1880), and have on hand 1000 lbs. of 

 mint honey, and still the flow continues. I attribute 

 my success to my winter protection, as I did not re- 

 move the packing until the middle of April, and 

 some hives until May. I kept my hives full of bees 

 all the time. I have one colony which I have divid- 



