1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



o33 



the idea of having things ready in our apia- 

 ries. If we get behind, and no hives are in 

 readiness for the next demand, somebody is 

 sure to bring some bees after dark, or some- 

 thing of that kind.— We )';;ve repeatedly 

 made bees rear brood every montli in the 

 year, by flour feeding, and with no bad re- 

 sults that we could discover, until last win- 

 ter. — Your plan of using the telephone is 

 indeed a bright thought, and just as soon as 

 you mentioned it I wondered I had been so 

 short-sighted as to have never thought of it 

 before. Our neighbor F. R. Shaw, of Chat- 

 ham, is engaged in making telephones, and 

 when I visited him a couple of years ago, he 

 had several tele]ihones coming into the room. 

 While we were listening to the neighbors a 

 mile away, in different directions, I heard a 

 sound as if something struck the wire, and 

 suggested a bird had flown against it. 



" It was not a bird, but onlv a bee," said 

 he. 



" Why ! " exclaimed I, " is it possible the 

 weight of a bee could make a sound like 

 that V ^' 



" Just that, exactly,'" said he ; but even 

 after this, and during the talks we have had 

 about a telephone to tell when the bees were 

 swarming, it never before occurred to me 

 that a single wire would do it. I have writ- 

 ten Perry Mason & Co. for a sample of their 

 dollar telephones, and we will see what can 

 be done to furnish bee-men with a telephone 

 that will be a tell-tale on the bees when they 

 attempt to iflay truant. Many thanks, friend 

 P., for the bright siiggestion. By the way, 

 does it not seem a little sad to think of so 

 many young bees bumping their ])recious 

 little heads against that wire when they are 

 starting out for a jubilee V — Any kind of a 

 barrel will answer for honey, so far as I 

 know, if it is perfectly covered with wax. 

 The wood, however, will not hold the wax, 

 unless it is perfectly dry, and warm enough 

 for the wax to soak into it, partially, as it 

 were, and so using water would, of course, 

 be out of the question. If the honey comes 

 in contact with wax and nothing else, it can 

 not well be injured ; Ijut any such barrels as 

 you mention must be vrnj carefully coated. 

 I think, on the whole, I would rather risk 

 the honey in tin ; it is quite apt to taste of 

 any sort of wooden package. — A dollar queen 

 that is black herself, and produces black 

 workers, would be a rather suspicious per- 

 sonage — something like a -'white black- 

 bird." We often have ([uite dark (or even 

 black) dollar queens ; but if they do not 

 produce yellow^ bees, make a fuss about it, 

 by all means, and by no means hesitate be- 

 cause the queen came from ».s, if such was 

 the case. 



FRIEND WHITE'S REPORT OF HIS 

 LOSSES LAST AVINTER. 



ONLY 13 SAVED OUT OF 1.30. 



AST fall I had 130 stands of bees all in good con- 

 dition as to honey and bees; in fact, I never 

 went into winter-quarters with better condi- 

 tions for a success the coming' spring. I have kept 

 bees over 25 years, and never lost any during' winter 

 or spring, except by sheer neglect; but I must con- 



fess that the past winter has taken all the conceit 

 out of me, as I thought I had the winter process 

 down to a fine point in this section. My bees are 

 hybrids and blacks; have used nothing but the 

 Langstroth hive since 1850, except when a friend 

 sends me a new kind of hive to try its merits. But 

 of all that 1 have used, the Langstroth is superior to 

 any. 



I would not like to say positively what was the 

 cause of the mortality among my bees, " for I might 

 be wrong." But my opinion is, that last fall I had 

 in my section a great many fall flowers, and as they 

 did not seem to produce much honey, the bees, eager 

 to store something, filled the hives with pollen. 

 They had no place to store it, except in proximity to 

 the brood-nest, as the hives were well stocked with 

 honey. The cold spell lasting so long, they could not 

 leave the cluster to procure honey at any distance 

 from them, and that which was near them, being 

 consumed early in the winter, they devoured the 

 pollen, and, not being able to discharge their fasces, 

 dysentery was the result, and grew worse as the cold 

 lasted, death being the result. 



The last fly my bees had in 1880 was Dec. IGth, and 

 not again until Feb. 28th, 1881. At times during the 

 winter the weather would moderate some, and the 

 bees would crawl to the entrance and die. Very 

 few hives seemed to die in clusters, but were scat- 

 tered all through it and in the honey-boxes, which 

 they left in a fearful condition. 



SIZE OF EXTRANCES FOR WINTER. 



I had the entrances to the hives all contracted to 

 3 in. by ^ in., by simply taking a piece of ?2-inch 

 lumber, 2 in. wide and 14' 3 long, cutting a notch in 

 the edge 3 in. long and V2 in. deep, and then screw- 

 ing it over the regular entrance. This I take away 

 during the summer or honey season, replacing it 

 again during the winter. 



Now for the results:— 



Thirty were in double-cased hives, with dead-air 

 space all around; only one survived of 20 that 

 had the honey-boxes on with honey-board. The one 

 that survived had the dysentery very badly, but 

 made me 80 lbs. surplus honey this season in boxes. 

 The other 10 of the double-cased hives had no boxes 

 on, but a double thickness of old sacknig tacked over 

 on the top edge of the l)rood-chamber, the honey- 

 boards being left off; 4 of these survived, but had 

 dysenterj'. One stand in a double-cased hive with 

 the honej'-board screwed down tight, with no top 

 ventilation whatever, entrance 3 in. by 'i in., came 

 through all right, and cast a swarm this season, and 

 had no dysentery. One "National" bee-hive, with 

 boxes left on, died with dysentu-y. Two box hives, 

 no upward ventilation, died with dysentery. Four 

 swarms in bee palace, boxes on top and one side, all 

 died with dysentery. Two in the large Langstroth 

 Observatory hive, with boxes on, both died with dys- 

 entery. Eight in hives made of "a in. lumber, with 

 super on top, same size of brood-chamber, 9 frames 

 above and 10 below, with honey-board on, holes left 

 open, 5 of these came through, and none had the 

 dysentery, and the 3 that died seemed to have gotten 

 their cluster divided, and neither half able to stand 

 the cold alone. Eighty-two in hives 78 in. thick, 

 with top or cap on, to protect the honey-boxes; one- 

 half of these had the boxes on, and the other half 

 had the holes in the honey-boards fastened up, with 

 no upward ventilation; saved only 3 of this lot, and 

 they had the boxes left on, and had no dysentery. 



