5M 



GLEAiJINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Xov. 



I saved only 13 from the 130 I had, and 3 swarms 

 since, making 16 to commence the winter with. All 

 are blacks, and I don't believe I have one trace of 

 Italian blood left. I shall ^o iato the winter the 

 same as last; but rest assured that I will not 

 have any pollen near the brood-nest. I shall go 

 upon the principle, that if it's too cold to go after it 

 in the side of the hive, they have no business with 

 it. H. W. White. 



Broad Kun Station, Fauquier Co., Va., Sept. 23. 



Many thanks, friend W. You strike on 

 one point that troubles me a great deal. 

 It is the bees going up into the honey- 

 boxes, up under the cap, or off to some re- 

 mote part of the hive to die. Last winter, if 

 a single cranny was left around the cushion, 

 they were sure to leave the combs and crawl 

 up around the wire cloth over the holes in 

 the gable ends of the chaff hives, and be 

 found there dead. Well, I have stopped this 

 in seasons heretofore by sprinkling loose 

 chaff around the corners. I did the same 

 last winter, but they then died down in the 

 combs. Well, when our friends speak of 

 leaving the sections on all winter, I fall to 

 wondering why the bees do not go up into 

 them and die, as mine have done. You see, 

 in friend W.'s case they did. I have winter- 

 ed in the cellar, and in our sawdust-packed 

 house, without any thing over the hive at i 

 all, and they wintered lirst rate. They did j 

 not get out and fly around the room, either. 

 The next winter, however, they got out on 

 the floor so badly I covered the tops of the 

 hives with wire cloth. This kept the floor' 

 clean, and I believe they did tolerably well, j 

 Why do they stay on the combs at one time, j 

 and at another get off into the upper part of 

 the hive, out on the floor, etc. ? Is it that 

 healthy bet's stay in a compact cluster any 

 way, and sick ones don't any way ? I hope 

 it is only pollen and nothing else that makes 

 them sick ; but I very much doubt that com- 

 plete success is any thing that can be so 

 easily reached. — In regard to the size of en- 

 trances : I do not think I shall again take 

 Eains to contract the entrances to the chaff 

 ives. Those left full width last winter did 

 as well, any way, and, I am inclined to 

 think, a little better. I am pretty well satis- 

 fied our bees were blanketed a little too 

 closely for such a winter. This may sound 

 strange to some, but our reports are point- 

 ing strongly that way. I would give a good 

 wide entrance for winter. I think friend 

 W. would have done better had he left all 

 his entrances the same as in summer. He 

 surely could not have done very much worse. 



The above report would point quite strong- 

 ly in favor of upward ventilation, were it 

 not for that one colony that came through 

 all sound with the honey -board screwed 

 down, and no holes in it at all. I confess 

 this unsettles me. Friend W., were there 

 no holes or crevices in that hive at all V Are 

 you sure the honey-board was waxed down 

 tight all around? Was there not an open 

 crack in the hive somewhere? and did the 

 hive stand right out with the rest ? I pre- 

 sume of course there was no chaff cushions, 

 cloths, or any thing of the kind over the 

 honey-board at all V 



HOW TO INCREASE 12 COLONIES TO 81, 



AND GET 1200 liBS. OF HONEY 



IN A SEASON. 



PEE STATEMENT IN REPORTS ENCOURAGING. 



si^S^OU ask if I managed those 12 stocks so as to iii- 

 W crease them from 12 to 81 myself, or if Mr. 

 Wilson did it. Mr. AAMlson is an iutelligent 

 old Scotch farmer, but don't know half as much 

 about bees as I do, and had no hand in the manage- 

 ment of the apiary, barring the fact that he fur- 

 nished me many a good meal, for which he had no 

 adequate recompense. I have done the entire work 

 of both apiaries myself ; during swarming time go- 

 ing over to the Wilson apiary each day after it was 

 too late for swarms to come out at home, and keep- 

 ing the Wilson apiary in shape so there was no dan- 

 ger of swarming there. 



My colonies were very weak in the spring, but I 

 had abundance of empty combs, and the season was 

 exceptionally good. The increase was entirely by 

 artificial swarming, and the plan was mainly as fol- 

 lows: From the hive containing my best queen, 

 say June 1, 1 took away most of the brood, and gave, 

 in place, empty combs. In thi-ee days I could take 

 away one or more combs filled with eggs, ready for 

 qucen-reariug. June 1st or 2d I unqueened one of 

 my strongest stocks; June 4, I took away all its 

 brood, leaving all the bees, and gave to it the frame 

 or frames of eges already mentioned, noting care- 

 fully on the top-bar of the frame the time of giving 

 the empty comb to the best queen, and the time of 

 taking away. From this stock I obtained mj' queen- 

 cells. June 13th I unqueened another of my sti'ong- 

 est stocks, and June Itrth, in each comb containing 

 brood, I inserted a queen-cell, and fastened in the 

 bees at night. June 15th I took this hive over to the 

 Wilson apiary, and for each frame of brood I started 

 a new colony by simply placing in an empty hive the 

 frame of brood with its queen-cell between two 

 empty combs, and then. closing up with a division- 

 board. Of course, each frame of brood had Its bees 

 adhering to it, and these, being three miles from 

 their old home, would stay wherever put. In the 

 Wilson apiary I had 3 full colonies to start with, and 

 from these I could draw, from time to time, frames 

 of eggs without crippling them. So in a week after 

 forming my little colony of one frame, a frame of 

 eggs was added, or brood if it was to spare any- 

 whei-e, for I made it a rule, in general, to take noth- 

 ing but eggs from any colony, unless it was neces- 

 sary to keep it from danger of swarming. In a few 

 days, more combs could be added, and soon the new 

 colony could in its turn f urnisn aid to later-made 

 colonies. Having two apiaries is an advantage in 

 making new colonies, and if I had only one apiary I 

 am not sure but I should take one or more colonies 

 2 or 3 miles away, leave them 2 or 3 weeks, then 

 bring them home, and divide up for new colonies. 

 In that way you get about the right proportion of 

 old and young bees in each nucleus. 



I had no idea of taking any honey from the Wilson 

 apiary; but by starting my last colonies in the lat- 

 ter part of June, I thought I could easily, by feed- 

 ing, get them ready for winter. But as the season 

 was so good there was no need of feeding, and as 

 one after another of the hives became too full, I 

 took from them frames of brood or honey, and gave 

 to the weaker ones, until all had 9 or 10 Langstroth 

 frames full; then, as the harvest continued, from 



