1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



597 



outside ones halt an inch from the sides of the hive, 

 and the other 4, l^i inches apart; strips 3 inches 

 apart on the top of the frames for passages for the 

 bees; over these should be placed a quilt, or other 

 cover which will keep in the heat from the bees, 

 and let out all dampness. This is best secured,— 



Thirdly, by ample ventilation. 



Let the entrance be as large in winter as in sum- 

 mer, without any chaff cushion over the bees in the 

 second story. 



Fourth. Shade the entrance of the hive from the 

 rays of the sun, so that the inside of the hive shall 

 be as dark as possible. In a word, the conditions of 

 successful wintering are, I think, complete dryness, 

 total darkness, or as near it as possible, and ample 

 ventilation, with room between the combs for a 

 good swarm to cluster; for live bees are warmer 

 than chaff. Thus arranged, they can, I think, breed 

 easily and safely in the winter, and be strong in the 

 spring; but only with the blessing of God. 



Joseph Smith. 



Hickory Hill, Pa., Oct. 29, 1681. 



It seems to me, friend S., that you and 

 some others are falling into an error, in 

 thinking grape sugar contains starch. A 

 recent newspaper item, in giving tests for 

 the adulteration of sugar, said that, if dis- 

 solved in a little water in a glass, the pres- 

 ence of grape sugar would be seen by cloud- 

 iness of the starch contained in the grape 

 sugar. This is utter nonsense. Pure grape 

 sugar contains no starch whatever, and dis- 

 solves in water as perfectly as cane sugar. 

 True, it is made from corn starch; but it 

 does not necessarily contain starch, any 

 more than whisky contains corn. — I can not 

 quite agree that it is so very necessary for 

 bees to rear brood very late in the fall, nor 

 very early in the spring. We have had 

 stocks without brood from Nov. 1st until 

 April 1st, and they did very well. 



1^ I ^ 



GETTING BEES OUT OF A TUEE, ETC. 



lY red-clover nucleus (three frame) I got of 

 JIWFll you last year came through the winter out- 

 — ^*' doors In one of the Root chaff hives, but in 

 a weak condition; they did not have any honey after 

 the first of January. I fed them granulated-sugar 

 candy. This season they have filled 6 frames with 

 honey; filled the hive with bees, and about 20 lbs. 

 box honey. I found a bee-tree the 28th of July 

 when I was coming homo from Sherburne. A friend 

 gave me the line of a swarm of bees that went off; 

 and, it being in the direction of our house, or nearly 

 so, I took the line and found the tree about 60 rods 

 from our house. The bees went about a mile. They 

 wentin the tree about 8 feet from the ground. The 

 30th of July, toward night, I bored a hole above and 

 below the bees; fastefjcd a box over the hole where 

 the bees entered the tree, and tried to smoke them 

 out, but it was no go; not a bee would go in the 

 box. Then I sawed into the tree, just below the 

 bees, and then again 18 or 20 inches above; split the 

 chunk out, then another above about 3 feet in 

 length, and had a good chance to get the hones'. I 

 think I got about 50 lbs. I took the brood comb, in- 

 serted it in your metal-cornered frames with all of 

 the honey-comb that I could make stay, and put 

 them into a chaff hive that night. The next morn- 

 ing, as soon as light, I went to the tree and found 

 about two-thirds of the bees in a bunch on the 



ground; the rest in the upper part of the hollow of 

 the tree. I placed the box over those on the ground; 

 smoked them up in the box; took them home and 

 put them in the hive; carried the box back, and 

 tried to hive the rest, but " no go." I had to saw 

 the tree down, and left them until evening, when I 

 found them in the box hive there with the others. 

 They proved to be queenless, so I sent to G. M. Doo- 

 litile and got one of his choice queens; received her 

 last Thursday night at 9 o'clock; placed the cage on 

 the frames Friday morning, and left them until 

 night. I let the queen out, and up she went. My 

 little girl Lutie said, '"Pa, she is gone." I told her 

 she would come back, and she did. I caught her 

 and put her on the frames. The bees (a few) met 

 her; they passed their salutations, and then went 

 down. 1 looked for her Saturday evening, and she 

 was all right. That was my first experience in intro- 

 ducing queens. I shall have to feed the honey I 

 got out of the tree, back to the swarm, as bees have 

 got through making honey this season, for there is 

 no honey in the buckwheat, as it is so dry. There is 

 no red clover; cause, grasshoppers and dry spell. 



Wm. Tkacv. 



Sherburne, Chenango Co., N. Y., Aug. 22, 18SI. 



P. S.-C. F. Smith, of Smyrna, has taken 103 lbs. of 

 section honey from one of the Root chaff hives this 

 season. We call that pretty good. W. T. 

 ^ 



A BOOIVI I'KO.TI AVISCONSIN. 



OVER 500 LBS. FROM A SINGLE COLONY, AND ONLY 

 A NUCLEUS AT THAT. 



f RECEIVED the glass which I ordered from you, 

 two days ago, after six weeks from the time I 

 — ' ordered it. Still, I am satisfied. I saved on the 

 two boxes of glass exactly three dollars. 



Bees have done very well here. I had 25 colonies 

 in the spring for honey. I put 8 for extracting, and 

 7 for box honey. I received 1893 lbs. light extracted 

 honey, and 1214 lbs. dark extracted; 202V lbs. light 

 comb honey, and 893 lbs. dark comb honej'— a total of 

 6027 lbs. My average was 211 lbs. per colony. A 

 neighboring bee-keeper averaged, from 24 colonies 

 in the spring, 234 lbs., all extracted but 400 lbs. I 

 have now 92 colonies in good condition for winter. 



One colony with its increase (one swarm) brought 

 me 506 lbs. box honey, and 10 solid Langstroth frames 

 of honey, besides plenty of winter stores. The old 

 hive brought me 308 lbs., and the swarm 198 lbs., and 

 the 10 frames of honey. 



I had one colony which was very weak— not more 

 than a2-frame nucleus; it was astonishing how that 

 colony picked up. I added fi-ame after frame, till 

 the hive was full; then I put it on the scales; put 

 on an upper story, and after a while another story. 

 This colony brought me, as shown by the scales, 565 

 lbs. of honey. Many days during clover bloom it 

 brought 12, 13, and 14 lbs., and on July 6th, 18'/2, and 

 the next day, ITVi lbs. During fall bloom, the most 

 they brought in one day was 9 lbs. Buckwheat did 

 not yield well this year. H. Neuhaus. 



Burlington, Wis., Oct. 17, 1881. 



What do you think of that, boys V I have 

 not a doubt but that friend N. has been 

 through discouragements and troubles, like 

 many of the rest of you who have lately been 

 thinking of giving up bee-keeping because 

 it "don't pay.'i Have all your neighbors 

 had large yields this year, friend N.V 



