398 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ava. 



WINTERING WITHOUT LOSS, ^TC. 



I believe that I have not reportfjd yet. My bees 

 came through the winter splendidly, as they always 

 do when left on their summer stands. I once wrote 

 yon that I would not give three cents to have my 

 bees insured to cume through winter sound and 

 bright, proviiJid /prepared them for winter. I sup- 

 pose you thought I was either an idiot, or dement- 

 ed. I may say J ne\er lose any, and it is true when 

 I properly Ux them up for wintei-. All I do is to see 

 that breeding is kept up till cold weather; that they 

 have stores enough, but not too much ; then take 

 off the division-Vioard, place a piece of old carpet on 

 the frames, fill in a peck or more of chaff on the 

 carpet; replace the co\er, and leave them alone 

 until warm weather. 



So far this has been the best season for honey that 

 we have had in ten years. Bees have , behaved well 

 during the swarming season, very few having de- 

 camped. Thcj' have fairly heaped up the honey. 

 There has been a succession of honey-yielding flow- 

 ers, from the V)eginning of warm weather until now, 

 there being no " wet spells " to wash the honey out. 

 How long this shall continue, we know not. The 

 wheat crop has failed, and there are hundreds of 

 acres of buckwheat sown. J. W. Johnson. 



Shelby\nlle, Shelby Co., HI., June 22, 1881. 



Friend J., our neighbor Blakeslee used to 

 talk just as you do ; out finally there came a 

 v» inter when the bees did die, after all, even 

 in his beautiful cellar: and since then, they 

 sometimes die and sometimes they do not, 

 just like a .ofood many others of us. (Had to 

 hear the honey is coming so "svell. 



THICK COMBS FOR EXTRACTING. 



I Started this spring with three stands— one in a 

 ohaff hive, and two In single hives. I have receiv- 

 ed two swarms— one from the chaff hive, and one 

 from one of the others. I want only one more 

 swarm; that is, one swarm from each old one. My 

 bees have got their upper stoi'ies filled very nearly 

 full; one swarm, hived about three weeks ago on 

 old comb, has its hive filled. I intend to extract 

 from four hives next week. Are eight frames 

 enough for the upper story? How do j'ou keep the 

 queen from laying in the upper story? 



Elias Berg. 



Cicero, Hamilton Co., Ind., June 18, 1881. 



Eight combs will do very well for the up- 

 per story, if they do not make your arms 

 ache too much in handling sttch heavy 

 weights. We prefer about nine. The thick 

 coml)s will do much to prevent the queen 

 from going into them, but you will likely find 

 some brood occasionally. Carry the comb con- 

 taining the brood to some queenless hive 

 that needs lirood, after you have extracted 

 the honey. 



GOOD FOR THE BLACKS IN CH.AFF HIVES. 



We packed IS colonies In chaff last fall; .3 of them 

 were Italians whose queens we bought from you in 

 August. The fall pasture was so poor that they did 

 not winter through, so we lost all of our Italians, 

 liut took out 1.5 colonies of blacks, which thus far 

 have given us 15 large swarms. We took our first 

 surplus honey on the lath of June. This is unprec- 

 edented success for this section of the country. 

 There is a great deal of white clover here, and red 

 raspberries are in full bloom. U. S. Painter. 



Streator, La Salle Co., 111., June 34, 1881. 



A PLEA FOR BL.\CK BEES. 



I wintered 14 stands of bees last winter on their 

 summer stands without loss. I never had them 

 come through in better condition. They are doing 

 very finely now on white clover, when the weather 

 is warm enough. 1 have kept Italians and native 

 bees side by side for .'•; years, and although 1 would 

 like to keep Italians, I must, in all candor, say that 

 my common bees give me the best returns in box 

 honey. They will begin work in boxes 10 days earli- 

 er, they are not as likely to swarm, the fever is easi- 

 er controlled when the>' do swarm, and as long as I 

 raise comb honey I think I shall buy no more yellow 

 queens. I have bought V queens of the best queen 

 breeders in the V. S., and there was but one of the 

 7 I would raise (jueens from; and her bees were so 

 dark they would hardly pass muster. 



D. O. Sweet. 



llockport, Cuy. Co., Ohio, June 27, If 81. 



DRY BRICK AS AN ABSORBENT IN WINTER. 



Bees are doing splendidl.v here this season. I had 

 100 stands last fall, wintered on their summer stands, 

 single-walled hives, and all the protection they had 

 was gunny sacks placed on top of the frames, and 

 tucked down nicely, and then a layer of new dry 

 brick on top. I ha\e wintered bees this way for the 

 last five years with good success. My loss last win- 

 ter was nine stands, all from starvation. 



Geo. W. Kennedy. 



Carrollton, Carroll Co., Mo., June 28, 1881. 



Although dry brick will absorb a large 

 (juantity of water, I can hardly feel, friend 

 K., that it exercised any especial influence 

 in your succeisfnl wintering. Would not a 

 loiig spell" of wet, damp, rainy Aveather, so 

 charge the brick Avitli moisture that it could 

 not readily take any from the bees? ]\Iay be 

 you are right, and I am wrong, however, 

 friend K. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



Queen arrived all right yesterday, and lintroduced 

 her into a hive last night. I prefer introducing 

 queens by placing them and their escort in a cylin- 

 drical cage of gauze wire, one end permanently closed, 

 the other closed with honey-comb, full of honey. I 

 place this between the combs, and, if the queen is 

 acceptable, I generally find that she has been let out 

 the next morning. I introduced this queen in that 

 way, and when I looked into the hive this morning 

 I found her out, and making herself very much at 

 home. T. Williams. 



Milwaukee, AVis., June 22, 1881. 



But, friend W., are you sure the success of 

 your plan, and a dozen other plans for that 

 matter, was not due to the fact that queens 

 will be received all right, in the majority of 

 instances, when let right out without any 

 caging, in any queenless hive, while honey 

 is coming in? The case mentioned in this 

 number, Avhere I let loose oO in an hour, was 

 certainly not accidental their not being killed . 

 I have actually lost fewer queens this sum- 

 mer, and last, where I have let them right 

 out, than where I have caged them. Of 

 course, if they are attacked, I would cage 

 them, and it is likely that you will once in a 

 while have one stung before you can rescue 

 her, but such cases do not occur very often. 



