1881 



GLE^iNlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



593 



was the hardest to stop them from laj-ing in them, 

 and so I find it. I find that there Is not the least 

 trouble in getting the queen to lay in the cups if you 

 keep your stock moderately strong, and have the 

 queen clipped; and you can quiic often find a nice 

 young queen haiching out or ruhulng around on the 

 comb if you don't keep a very close watch ; and I am 

 obliged to say. that the queens so raised have both 

 mated and laid quicker than those raised from 

 brood, other things being equal. This is not from a 

 cell occasionally, but 20 nuclei have been kept run- 

 ning half and half since Ihe spring of '79, and queens 

 have been put into full stocks side by side from 

 these nuclei to try the difference, and there is but a 

 Email per cent of superiority in favor of the natural 

 queens, and that is mostly size and gentleness. If I 

 had not promised to report on the experiments I 

 should never have penned the results, because I am 

 convinced that It is very unsafe for any but experts 

 or those who have had considerable experience with 

 bees, to attempt to get cells in this way, on account 

 of the dangers of swarming out, superseding, or kill- 

 ing off the queen when least expected. But in spite 

 of the objections, cells can be practically obtained 

 with either larvfe or capped over, and the old queen 

 present all the time, and cells can be obtained from 

 the middle of May till September. ABC class, don't 

 run any risks with good queens, or you may lose 

 them. Experimentalist. 



Oct. 23, 1R81. 



May I sugs;est, friend E., that with your 

 Simplicity hive made larser, and packed, it 

 would be a Simplicity hive no longer, for you 

 could not put them one over the other, "nor 

 use them in any way you do the Simplicities. 

 The Simplicity is a summer hive, and I do 

 not believe it will pay to try to ma ke a good 

 winter hive of it. "Your stutfed bottom- 

 boards are no doubt a fine thing, but T think 

 I should prefer having a complete chaff hive 

 while I was about it— If I am correct, the 

 greater part of the testimony is to the effect 

 that queens reared under the'natural-swarm- 

 ing impulse are, as a rule, little if any better 

 than those properly reared in other ways. 

 The difficulty because of the tendency "to 

 natural swarming is quite an obstacle in the 

 way of getting all our queen-cells in that 

 way, as you say. 



■■ g « — 



THE PHIIiO SOPHY OF VENTIL.1TION. 



DYSENTERY CURED IN MID -WINTER. 



f BOUGHT a couple of hives that had dysentery 

 so badly they were over half dead. In January 

 ' I transferred them to the frame hive (they 

 were ia old box hives). I put warm brick in the 

 hive, and got it prettj- warm; heated the side cush- 

 ions as hot as they would bear, and put the bees 

 back (they had been la it three days). Tn the hive 

 I put warm brick over them, and put some cobs in 

 the upper story, and closed the hive so a bee cou' 

 not get out. I went to the hive next day, and the 

 cobs looked as if the hogs had been among them. I 

 did this to those two hives once a week for three 

 weeks; once when it was very cold. These two 

 hives made me a surplus of over 100 lbs. per hive, 

 and are strong yet. So much for a largo upper 

 story, the cube of which is (garret Included) t(H2 

 inches. Last, but not least, the hive should be set 

 In a shed /acing tbe south, as per Qumby. Tlisre Jis 



a great benefit derived from the solar rays in the 

 long winter months. 



My idea about a tight hive is something like this: 

 I took two boxes, one open and the other tight. I 

 put old damp cobs into each box. I went to them 

 ten days after. In the tight box the cobs were all 

 covered with frost, while the cobs in the open box 

 were all dry. In about a week it turned quite warm. 

 In the open box the temperature was 60° F. ; in the 

 tight one it was 30° F., and the cobs still covered with 

 frost. Now, if a bee-hive is too close, and there is 

 not enough air passes through to keep the combs 

 dry, they will be covered with frost, or a cold damp 

 sweat, which is worse on the bees. The draft should 

 not be direct, as some want it; it should be as tight 

 as a jug over the brood-nest. 



I have experimented considerably with bees and 

 hives, and this is some of my practical experience. 

 I would like to tell you a little more about my hives, 

 but I have not room, and must be as brief as pos- 

 sible. Geo. W. Stites. 



Spring Sta., Ind., Oct., 1831. 



I think, in your experiment with a box of 

 cobs, you have hit the point exactly, friend 

 S., and we owe you a vote of thanks for the 

 experiment. If the space over the bees is so 

 ventilated that the packing remains dry and 

 free from frost. I hardly think there will be 

 danger from dysentery, and certainly not 

 with plenty of "stores of good pure whole- 

 some food. 



UPS AND BO^VNS OF AN A BC SCHOLtR; 



AND HOW HE BEAT THE "OLD BEE -MAN " FINALLY, 



fi AM an A B C scholar. This is my second year. 

 Last year I bought 11 swarms in all kinds of 

 hives. I transferred and fixed them up as well 

 as I could, and ran them up to 29 colonies. I did not 

 get much surplus honey. Jlay 1st, 1S81, found rae in 

 possession of 16 swarms that had survived the win^ 

 ter — 10 good ones, 6 poor. All had queens but one. 

 May 10th, a big storm of rain, hail, and wind, tipped 

 over two swarms and killed the queens, and almost 

 all of the bees, perhaps three-quarters of a pound in 

 both hives. I looked through all of the rest and 

 found 3 more queens gone, leaving me 11 with 

 queens, 6 without. June 5th I had queens for all my 

 hives. I had raised them myself. June 10, white 

 clover in blossom. 



Now for the result of the year's work: I extracted 

 1109 lbs.; had 237 lbs. section honey; got 12;ic for ex» 

 tracted, and 15 for section honey, so you can see 

 whether my bees have paid, I might have had more 

 extracted honey, if T had had time to attend to the 

 bees. I had only 150 lbs. of linden honey; that is, 

 out of brood combs, and that was to give the queens 

 a chance to lay. I wanted to be full of good honey 

 for winter. I forgot to tell you that one of my 

 friends, an old bee-man, told me that he was going 

 to choose a colony, but he wanted me to, and he was 

 going to beat me. So I showed him my hive. Now 

 or that one hive: I extracted 49 lbs.; had 635^ lbs. 

 of section honey; divided and made 5 good colonies 

 from it; have got three frames of honey, which I 

 took out and put down for winter use, weighing ISJi 

 lbs. The whole amounts to over $10. How Is that 

 for hla-h, and for an A B C scholar? I did not reckon 

 In what I got from the young ewarms. I got 33 lbs. 

 from one; from two swarms, 44 lbs. extracted ; 

 and some from another, I don't know bow much, 



