1010 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



more or less from earache and chronic colds. 

 I thoroughly believe that Dr. Salisbury sav- 

 ed me a world of discomfort, for it is an 

 aivful thing to see people talking in an ani- 

 mated conversation, see the lighting-up of 

 the countenances, and occasional laughter, 

 and yet know nothing of what has been go- 

 ing on. The world laughs and talks. You 

 see it, but hear it not. I have been there; 

 and now, thanks to my old friend who has 

 left this world, but who, fortunately, left 

 his teachings, I am able to enjoy the use 

 of my ears as well as other people. 



Dr. Salisbury's treatment was nothing 

 more nor less than to drink copious amounts 

 of hot water before each meal and just aft- 

 er getting up, eating a little cereal and lots 

 of beefsteak. Every mother knows that a 

 growing boy needs strong nourishing food, 

 and that is precisely what I got. I had 

 plenty to eat before, of course, but it was 

 not of the kind to develop strength and mus- 

 cle to supply the constant drain due to colds 

 and chronic catarrh. 



Some of our older readers know how in 

 later years nervous prostration came on; 

 and the same treatment, administered by 

 Dr. J. M. Lewis, Rose Building, Cleveland, 

 Ohio, restored me to health. 



SPECIES AND VARIETY. 



In Mr. Doolittle's department in this issue 

 he makes some statements in regard to "va- 

 rieties," "pure stock," and "thorough- 

 breds," that, unless understood, may lead to 

 confusion of terms. Species includes a large 

 class of varieties of bees. Apis mellifica, 

 or Apis mellifera, as now seems to be pre- 

 ferred, is a species that takes in varieties 

 like Italians, Cyprians, blacks, Carniolans, 

 Caucasians— in fact, all the races of bees 

 that so far have very much commercial val- 

 ue. Apis dorsata belongs to an entirely 

 different species. Mr. Doolittle speaks of 

 Itahans as being a "variety," or a "thor- 

 oughbred," and the inference is that black 

 bees are not a variety. In one place he 

 says Italians "are not a fixed type," and 

 yet in another place he calls them ' ' thor- 

 oughbreds." Under the'^vord thoroughbred 

 (as you will see in the Standard Dictionary) 

 we find * ' a breed kept pure for many gen- 

 erations." According to this, Italians can 

 hardly be "thoroughbreds" and "not a fixed 

 type." Either our correspondent is unfor- 

 tunate in the use of his terms or I do not 

 understand him. I do not bring this up to 

 criticise, but to make sure we do not get 

 mixed up in our terms. 



Regarding the five-banders, I agree with 

 Mr. Doolittle that there is a strong demand 

 for them; but the bees of this type that 

 we have had any experience with were very 

 cross. Our north yard had many of these 

 bees ; and our boys often remarked that this 

 was the "hardest and meanest yard" to 

 handle that we have. The imported Ital- 

 ians that we have had any experience with 

 have been decidedly of a fixed type, of a 

 leather- colored order, showing three yellow 



bands; always gentle, fairly good workers, 

 and hardy. We found by experience that it 

 is easy to get extra-yellow bees out of Cyp- 

 rians or Syrians, but very difficult to get 

 any sport in color out of the typical import- 

 ed from Italy. 



WINTERING BEES OUTDOORS UNDER A DEEP 

 SHALLOW CAP OR COVER. 



Mr. Vernon Burt wintered very success- 

 fully last winter his 300 colonies outdoors. 

 The arrangement seemed so simple and so 

 cheap that, if I did not positively know Mr. 

 Burt's veracity, I would not give the matter 

 even a single thought. The plan is, in 

 brief, this: 



Early in the fall he sees that his colonies 

 are well supplied with sealed stores. He 

 uses the Danzenbaker hive; and if the clus- 

 ter can be crowded into one section, one 

 section is given. If they require two, of 

 course they are allowed to have them. The 

 same super-cover that is used to cover the 

 super for comb honey is put on top of the 

 brood-nest. This the bees seal down her- 

 metically. On top of this cover are placed 

 several thicknesses of newspaper laid out 

 flat. On top of the paper is placed a shal- 

 low chaff-tray containing chaff or any other 

 equally good packing material, to the depth 

 of three or four inches. The paper sticking 

 out in all directions is neatly folded down 

 around the sides of the hive. Over the 

 chaff tray, and fittmg snugly against the 

 paper folded against the inner hive, is crowd- 

 ed a deep telescoping cap made of § lumber, 

 with a tin roof. The actual packing materi- 

 al on top is some four or five inches thick. 

 The sides of the hive are protected by the 

 folds of paper and the outer case. This 

 outer case comes down to within about one 

 inch or so of the bottom-board. As the 

 heat naturally rises inside of the hive, there 

 is no need of making a double-wall bottom- 

 board, nor of protecting the bottom edges of 

 the hive. 



Undoubtedly the several thickness of pa- 

 per are a good deal more than equivalent to 

 the same thickness of chaff or any other 

 loose packing material. The air in the folds 

 of the paper is shut in almost air-tight, and 

 therefore it does not find means to escape, 

 causing a too rapid radiation of heat. 



We have used here for years outside win- 

 ter cases, but there is a space of an inch or 

 more between the outer and inner walls, 

 this space being packed with chaff or plan- 

 er-shavings. Of course, it is necessary, with 

 an arrangement of this kind, to have a cov- 

 er that will telescope over the winter case, 

 otherwise it would be impossible to get the 

 packing material around the sides of the 

 hive and on top of the inner cover. But it 

 always made a big litter every spring when 

 we proceeded to "unpack." If the paper 

 packing used by Mr. Burt is equally good it 

 will save some expense, save litter in the 

 spring in unpacking, and, what is more, the 

 telescope case will be worth its entire cost 

 one Feps'^n. Mr. Burt estimates, to protect 

 the comb-honey supers cool nights in the 



