428 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



should have been asking ?ii»i; for he had kept bees 

 all his life. Well, as winter came near, I began to 

 think how I was going to winter my little pets so as 

 to have them all alive in spring, for I <k)u1 1 not bear 

 to think of losing any of them. I was not much 

 posted in bee culture, for I had had no instructions 

 except what I had got from the one copy of Glean- 

 ings, and I was too poor to be a subscriber and re- 

 ceive it every month; and as for any other book or 

 paper pertaining to liee culture. I was as yet igno- 

 rant of it as a new-born babe: so when winter sat in 

 I carried my bees all upstairs into an unoccupied 

 part of the house — a room about 10 feet square, 

 lathed and plastered. Although I wintered them all 

 safely, I would never recommend any one to try to 

 winter bees upstairs in a building of any kind. They 

 seemed to do well until the warm days toward spring 

 began to come, and then the room would warm up 

 so as to make them uneasy; but, however, I win- 

 tered them all through, and commenced that spring 

 keeping bees as a business. I rented a small house 

 and about half an acre of land, and took up Ijee- 

 keepiug in earnest. Well, what is the result? To- 

 day it is this: With just the purchase of '2 more col- 

 onies that spring, I have supported mj- family, 

 which consists now of 6, one little girl 7 years old ; 

 one little boy 3, and a pair of twins, b'aby boys 8 

 months old. The little l>oy of ;j we have named 

 Novice, and I send you his picture. In the fall of 

 1H80 I had 00 full colonics and a few nuclei. With 

 the e.\eeption of the nuclei, I wintered all safely, and 

 think that I would have wintered lliem had I not 

 been prevented, by sickness in mj- family, from get- 

 ting them in shape lor winter. As it was, I had to 

 leave them out until cold weather, and then pack 

 them up and move them about four miles, when the 

 weather was so cold that I could put up only '2 colo- 

 nies, and my fingers would be so cold and numb that 

 I would have to go and warm them. As it is, I have 

 yet to lose the first lull colony of bees. I wintered 

 one nucleus on its summer stand with only three 

 frames of bees, without the loss of 50 bees. This I 

 can prove. They were closed tight in Iheir hive; 

 for 150 days, not a bee saw daylight. 



I can not tell you just how many colonies I 

 have at present, for I am 300 miles from home in 

 the State of Vermont, runiug an apiary and queen- 

 yard for A. E. Manum, the man who makes the 

 white-poplar sections. I have been here since the 

 13th of May. My wife has charge of my apiary at 

 home, and, besides, takes care of four children; so 

 you see she has some thing to do — a family to look 

 after, and about lOO colonies of bees. The last letter 

 that she wrote she informed me that she had often 

 got swarms out of the highest apple-trees by piling 

 bee-hive caps on top of each other, and then setting 

 the ladder on top of those. You see, I am trying to 

 make bee-keeping pay in two ways, for I am anxious 

 to buy and pay for a small home. 



As to wintering bees, I have no fear. 1 givo them 

 water every day in winter, and am not afraid to take 

 any one into my cellar at any time, and lift out the 

 frame and show you the bees. I am not afraid of 

 disturbing them in the least, for I can give you ex- 

 amples of fetching colonies from the back part of 

 my cellar out into the light, and showing the bees to 

 visitors in mid-winter; and further, let me tell you 

 that I can show you lots of young hatching bees in 

 my hives all through the winter. My bees have 

 water in winter as regularly as my family have their 

 meals. My bees came out so strong this last spring 



that theycame very near cleaning out my neighbors' 

 bees that were in good condition; and, in fact, did 

 clean out a good many stocks of bees in the neigh- 

 borhood. I wintered my bees in 1879 and 1880 in a 

 ground depository that I built on purpose, with one 

 end of the building exposed to the weather; and 

 when one was inside, and the door shut, every hive 

 could be counted; in fact, I could see to read coarse 

 print; and from 50 colonies, not a four-quart meas- 

 ure full of bees were on the floor. la the spring 

 they came out strong, and in fine order. 



I see a great deiil of writing in regard to wintering 

 bees, and the greater part of it docs not amount to 

 the paper it is written on. Some say that bees must 

 not breed in winter, as it will cause them to consume 

 more food, and it will result in dysentery. The past 

 winter, about the first of January I took out 8 col- . 

 onics from different parts of the cellar. Every one 

 of the 8 had two and three frames or sealed brood 

 and young bees hatching. In March, about the first, 

 I examined other stocks; tbe.\- were breeding largely. 

 Now this is no guess work, for I carried them out 

 of the cellar, and took out the frames. I am not 

 afraid to examine my bees, for I am one of the most 

 inquisitive fellows you ev«r saw. Perhaps other 

 bee-keepers have ditferont bees from those I have. 

 I am aware that bees want to be handled with judg- 

 ment and care, and I am also aware that a great 

 deal of bosh and trash is written in regard to them 

 by men who know but little about them, but who 

 think they know it all; for I have proof that some 

 of our most scientific and practical bee-men who 

 have the most to say (at least they claim to be scien- 

 tific and practical) have the pooi'est luck in winter- 

 ing, and are constantly losing their bees, and have 

 no better luck than those who do not claim to be so 

 scientific. Is it not so? 



One thing I believe; that is, the destruction of 

 hundreds of colonies in winter is because the owners 

 did not know how to use the extractor, or else they 

 knew how to use it too much, and did not know 

 enough to stop. Let me give an illustration: A bee- 

 keeper of my acquaintance extracted the honey 

 from the center frames of his hives. As it was late 

 in the season, thej' did not have a chaucc to fill up. 

 There were two frames of honey at each side of the 

 hives; in the center the combs were empty, but the 

 owner supposed that the bees were all right; but 

 every one that was In this condition perished, while 

 those that were not extracted from came out all 

 alive. This is only one of many similar cases. 



I think I have been quite successful so far with 

 bees, but I have done some hard work, and have lain 

 awake a good many nights planning and studying- 

 how to manage them, and the best way to do. Last 

 year I sent and got the ABC book, and got some 

 good information from it. I am now a regular sub- 

 scriber to Gleanings, and am very much interested 

 in it. I love to read the Home Pnpcrs, and only find 

 fault because you do not print them longer. Tell 

 W. Z. Hutchinson that he is not the only bee-keeper 

 who has a pair of twins to take care of; but I do not 

 think ours are so much trouble as his, for my wife 

 has taken care of them this summer, and a hundred 

 colonics of bees to boot. I hope to be with my fami- 

 ly soon, and takf some of the cares off my wife. I 

 expect to remain here in Vermont until the last of 

 September. My Tjees are doing well at home, so my 

 wife writes me, and I am glad to hear it. Is there 

 any other bee-keeper who takes Gle.a.nis(;s who has 

 loft his wife ^it)i tV'O little twins, and a hundred col- 



