1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



157 



'Mr 



GLEANINGS. 

 Geo. Grimm reports having 



" lost 35 colonies out of 431." Includ- 

 ing the dwindling in spring he docs not 

 think it will reach 10 per cent, of loss. 

 He then adds : " In my chaff-hive 

 apiary (consisting of one colony) I lost 

 100 percent. 



He is Greatly Puzzled.— Novice says : 

 —Neighbor Shane, with an apiary of 

 about 100 colonies, has not lost to exceed 

 10 per cent., and wintered out-doors at 

 that. The hives were ordinary Lang- 

 stroth hives with chaff cushions over 

 the frames. He borrowed one chaff 

 hive from us, which wintered without a 

 loss of over 2 dozen bees, and consumed 

 much less stores than those in his other 

 hives. Although he always wintered in 

 cellars until of late,he now thinks he will 

 winter out-of-doors next winter. I con- 

 fess I am greatly puzzled. 



splendidly ; later they were somewhat 

 uneasy. Observation shows that the 

 colonies worked for surplus honey have 

 wintered well, while those used for 

 queen rearing were the fated ones, the 

 "tinkering" in fall being the probable 

 cause of their failure. Pollen is now 

 being gathered, and at this writing, 

 April 25, the weather is warm and very 

 dry. We earnestly hope that contrary 

 to the past few seasons, we may get a 

 damp, rainy spell in May, and dry, 

 sunny weather in June, when the great 

 white clover harvest comes. 



BEE-KEEPERS' EXCHANGE. 



Profit by Experience.— As the weak 

 of all kinds, whether of men, animals 

 or plants, are the first to succumb to 

 disease and death, may we not console 

 ourselves that the bees remaining after 

 the recent severe winter are a hardy 

 race, capable of wintering with less per- 

 centage of loss in future seasons, and 

 are in addition a class of bees that will 

 multiply rapidly and thus, very soon 

 again " fill the earth?" The proverb 

 says, " there is no great loss without 

 some small gain." This we think is 

 true. Undoubtedly many a shiftless 

 bee-keeper will drop the business ; oth- 

 ers having lost all their bees will throw 

 away their old appliances, and begin- 

 ning anew will adopt a better class of 

 hives and management; while others, 

 having gained knowledge from the suc- 

 cess of their neighbors in wintering, 

 will more effectually protect their bees 

 in winters to come. Like philosophers, 

 we must profit by experience, hope for 

 the best and prepare for the worst. 



Increase Rapidly.— Owing to the 

 great loss of bees this past winter there 

 will be put forth an extra amount of en- 

 ergy in the direction of rapid increase 

 of the apiary. Already inquiries pour 

 in asking how best to restock the de- 

 populated colonies. The requisites are, 

 a few strong colonies, a lot of clean, 

 dry, empty combs, or, better still, a lib- 

 eral supply of Dunham foundation, 

 hives so arranged that close-fitting di- 

 vision boards can be inserted, and time, 

 knowledge and energy enough to per- 

 form all the needful operations at the 

 right time and properly. To this should 

 be added a bountiful yield of honey, 

 after which we might reasonably expect 

 5 colonies to be increased to 50 good 

 ones by fall. 



Report of the Nellis Apiary.— Our 



own bees were removed from winter 

 quarters on April 8. The loss at that 

 time was about 15 per cent., and after a 

 period of 2 weeks,. from uniting and 

 dwindling, the loss amounted to about 

 25 per cent. We think 2 or 3 colonies 

 starved, not that they were so short of 

 stores, but for some unaccountable rea- 

 son, some colonies consume nearly 

 twice as much as others, when the con- 

 ditions and treatment are equal. The 

 mice had evidently secreted themselves 

 in the hives during the fall, and had 

 made havoc in a few hives despite our 

 efforts (partially successful) to trap 

 them. We were diligent to contract 

 the entrances in autumn. butthe warmth 

 of the hive and the cosy chaff cushions 

 were a great temptation. Providence 

 permitting, we will effectually exclude 

 the little rascals another fall by the 

 timely application of perforated tin to 

 the entrances, that will allow the bees 

 to pass freely, while the mice can only 

 smell in. 



Up to the middle of March the bees 

 were very quiet and seemed to winter 



BEE-KEEPERS' INSTRUCTOR. 



Future Prospect.— The Editor says: 

 —We have been using every effort pos- 

 sible to get at the mortality, and have, 

 we think, arrived at a pretty fair ap- 

 proximation of the losses of the winter. 

 We are able to make our estimates 

 from reports of nearly 15,000 colonies 

 reported to us and other bee journals. 

 These reports are mostly from the 

 Northern States, and show when taken 

 in the aggregate a mortality of 55 per 

 cent. We are satisfied however that 

 the mortality is even greater than this, 

 in the northern portion of the United 

 States and Canada. We base our opin- 

 ion on the ground of hundreds of small 

 bee-keepers of whom we hear, but of 

 whom we have no report, naving lost 

 all they had. Our conclusion is, there- 

 fore, after a full survey and investiga- 

 tion of the situation, that the losses 

 north of the 38th parallel will be about 

 65 per cent, of the colonies placed in 

 winter quarters, while many of those 

 that survive come through very weak. 

 South of this parallel we think 25 per 

 cent, will cover the losses. Discourag- 

 ing as this state of affairs appears, we 

 are daily in receipt of information that 

 beekeepers are generally looking for- 

 ward hopefully, with the full determi- 

 nation to make the most of their pres- 

 ent resources, and to build up again as 

 rapidly as possible. There appears to 

 be a general feeling that we are going 

 to have a good honey season, and while 

 the amount of honey produced may 

 not be as large as usual, better prices 

 are expected. Many will no doubt run 

 their apiaries more for increase than 

 for honey. . . .By close attention and ju- 

 dicious management the severe disas- 

 ters of the past winter may be greatly 

 overcome, and for the future turned to 

 advantage, if the lessons we have 

 learned from the past are not too easily 

 forgotten. 



.. — m i 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



King Birds and Bees.— The Rural New 

 Yorker says : 



We are of the opinion that the king 

 bird catches not only drones but workers 

 and queens also. Examination of the 

 king Dird's crop scarcely ever reveals 

 the presence of bees except in such a 

 condition as to be quite beyond iden- 

 tification. A gentleman once noticed a 

 king bird catching bees and, on close 

 observation saw small particles drop to 

 the ground which proved to be both 

 the bees' extremities, and he concluded 

 that the bees were caught in such a 

 manner as to secure the honey-sac only. 

 If this be true, search for bees in the 

 king bird's crop would be in vain. 



Cellars for Wintering.— About % of 



the bees in this locality are dead ; in 

 fact all who did not winter in a gooil 

 cellar have now no bees worth mention- 

 ing. The winter here is too severe for 

 any kind of packing on the summer 

 stands to be a safe manner of wintering 

 bees. Dysentery and long confinement 

 have caused the loss. 



A. A. Decker. 

 Granger, Wis., May 5, 1881. 



Bees Successfully Wintered.— I have 

 47 colonies left out of 49; I wintered on 

 the summer stands, with chaff cushions 

 in upper story. Those now left are in 

 splendid condition, being stronger than 

 they were one year ago, and are now 

 building up on fruit bloom. I think 

 there has been a loss of about % of the 

 bees in this county. 



Jas. A. Nelson. 



Wyandott, Kan., May 7, 1881. 



ind every one on the south end of a row 

 and every one of several scattered over 

 the yard and fully exposed to the sun 

 ire in good condition. Those in the 

 rows starved with an abundance of 

 honey in their hives. 



Geo. M. Piper. 

 Chillicothe, 111., May 2, 1881. 



Well Done.— I have lost but 2 colo- 

 nies out of 75 ; this is my first loss in 

 wintering for 5 years. One starved and 

 one had the dysentery. About % of the 

 bees in this locality are dead. I will 

 send you a small crate of my founda- 

 tion, which I want you to test by the 

 side of the Dunham ; I have no fear of 

 the result. D. S. Given. 



Hoopeston, 111., May 9, 1881. 



[As soon as convenient after it conies 

 we will give it a fair trial and report 

 the results in the Bee Journal.— Ed.] 



No Loss in Winter.— This has been a 

 very hard winter on bees ; about % are 

 dead in this vicinity. 1 wintered 10 col- 

 onies in the yard and 30 in the cellar, 

 and only lost one, which was caused by 

 my closing the entrance of the hive and 

 neglecting to open it when removing 

 from the cellar. Thomas Heaton. 



Moore's Hill, Ind., May 3, 1881. 



Wintered Successfully.— I put 23 colo- 

 nies of bees in my cellar on Nov. 11 and 

 took them out April is, all in good con- 

 dition. You could not have told that 

 they had been confined at all; all had 

 either eggs or brood ; they have not 

 dwindled any other than those which 

 die a natural death, which in some hives 

 has apparently not exceeded the num- 

 ber hatched. As 1 have wintered suc- 

 cessfully I wish to summer as well ; 

 please tell me how to prepare them to 

 move them 4 miles over a rough, hilly 

 road, to a small belt of basswood. The 

 hives are 2-story simplicity, Langstroth 

 frame, and both stories as full of bees 

 as I can get them ? In looking over 

 my bees to-day I found capped drone 

 brood in 3 or 4 colonies. I have been 

 around among the farmers lately, buy- 

 ing combs to melt into wax for founda- 

 tion, and find the mortality of bees as 

 follows: Visited and heard direct from 

 15 bee-keepers with a total of about 114 

 colonies that they attempted to winter, 

 of which number only is or 19 are now 

 living, and several of those are weak. 

 I have also heard from several expe- 

 rienced apiarists, who have lost from \i 

 to %. James Nipk. 



Spring Prairie, Wis., May 7, 1881. 



[In early morning, while cool, put a 

 bottom strip in the hive with notches 

 for bottoms of frames, or slip down 

 strips to prevent frames from shaking ; 

 then tack down ends of frames. In 

 the evening put wire cloth or mosquito 

 netting over the portico, and move them 

 at night, so as to keep them confined as 

 short a time as possible. Care must be 

 taken that that they do not get excited 

 and melt down the combs.— Ed.] 



Bees that are Stingless.— Will bees 

 puncture grapes, is a question that has 

 been discussed considerably of late. 

 Now, as regards my 25 colonies of bees, 

 I can put that question at rest— they 

 will not puncture grapes, neither will 

 they sting. In the language of Jim 

 risk," they are gone wtiere the wood- 

 bine twineth." The majority of the 

 bees that have passed through the win- 

 ter in this vicinity are in the old box 

 hives. 1 will make it as light as possi- 

 ble by averaging it. Last season was 

 a poor year and I had plenty of bees ; 

 this year I have no bees and there is a 

 good prospect for honey. 



E. F. Cassell. 



Illinois City, 111., May 2, 1881. 



My Bees in Good Condition.— I put 17 



colonies into the cellar last fall and had 

 2 die, they were queenless. I have 15 

 good strong colonies left, for which I 

 am satisfied. They were confined 148 

 days. I use the Doolittle hive and pack 

 as he does. It has been a very hard 

 winter for bees ; I think about % that 

 were in this county have died ; those 

 that were put in cellars wintered best. 

 l r ou can put me down for a life subscri- 

 ber for the Bee Journal. 



Charlie W. Bradish. 

 Glensdale, N. Y., April 30, 1881. 



Peach Trees Killed.— The New Y'ork 

 Express says : 



There is no hope any longer enter- 

 tained by the fruit-growers of Dela- 

 ware of any profit from peaches in that 

 State this season. It is said that not in 

 25 years has there been a worse show- 

 ing, and the belief is that a great ma- 

 jority of the peach trees have been 

 killed, while all the rest have been so 

 severely injured as to make, them use- 

 less. If this be indeed true the loss 

 will be very serious, for no less than 

 $5,000,000 are invested in peach cultiva- 

 tion on the peninsula, ot which more 

 than half is invested in Delaware. 



Bee-keepers will have lots of com 

 pany in disasters this year, among 

 fruit-growers, cattle-raisers, and far- 

 mers whose wheat winter-killed. But 

 none who are progressive in any of 

 these branches will talk of giving up. 



Out of the Woods.— My bees have 

 wintered well. I put 106 colonies in 

 the cellar last fall and now have 147 in 

 good condition, and am out of the 

 woods, for the fruit blossoms are just 

 coming out. I use the 8-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive. J. F. Spaulding. 



Charles City, Iowa, May 10, 1881. 



No loss without some small Gain. — My 



loss the past winter has been 42 out of 

 93 colonies and about % of those remain- 

 ing are very weak in numbers ; but I 

 am not discouraged, for although my 

 loss is severe and the prospect for a 

 honey crop almost none at all, I am 

 not alone in my misfortunes, and 1 have 

 the satisfaction of knowing that the 

 scores of colonies of black bees which 

 surrounded my apiary and made it al- 

 most impossible for me to get an Ital- 

 ian queen purely fertilized, are now al- 

 most a thing of the past. I shall now 

 take measures to have all the bees in 

 reach of my apiary Italianized if I have 

 to doit for nothing, and there are other 

 considerations which contribute to 

 lighten the load of my woes. I winter 

 on the summer stands packed in chaff. 

 My hives face the east and stand in 

 rows so close to each other that none 

 but those on tfie south end of the rows 

 are exposed to the sun during mid-day, 



How I Packed in Chaff.— I put into 

 winter colonies 72 colonies, and lost one 

 by dysentery and 5 starved. I doubled 

 up some weak ones and now have 58. 

 I have a separate stand for each hive 

 made by taking a 2x4 scantling 2 feet 2 

 inches in length, and 4x8 the same 

 length, nailing on boards 3 feet long, 

 putting the wide piece behind, elevates 

 the stand 4 inches, on which 1 place 

 the hive for the summer ; I use the 

 Langstroth hive. In the fall, as soon 

 as the honey flow ceases, and be- 

 fore it gets cold, I take a box 2 feet 

 high that will tit the stand ; it is with- 

 out bottom or top, the foundation an- 

 swering for a bottom; I place it over 

 the hive, leaving 4 inches space for 

 chaff. 1 then put a 6 inch block under 

 the back of the hive ; that leaves a 

 chance for packing under the hive. 

 Taking off the hone? boards I put on 

 a box that will fit the hive ; the box is 4 

 inches deep witli wire cloth on the bot- 

 tom, putting in burlaps to keep the lit- 

 ter from the bees, then filling with cut 

 straw. The cap above the box is tilled 

 with straw. I have a hole through the 

 cap on each side covered with wire 

 cloth to keep out the mice and let the 

 foul air pass off. In the front I have a 

 spout 10 inches long, made by nailing 4 

 pieces of 1 inch board, 4 inches wide, 

 leaving an entrance 2x4 for the bees to 

 pass to the hive ; on the end of the 

 spout I have a door, hung with one 

 hinge, that I can close in cold weather. 

 By running a block in the spout up to 

 the hive, you can give them as small an 



