1444 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



Some time ago I heard of Prof. Benton's 

 intended visit to your New Colony (and we 

 were hoping to catch him here en route), but 

 have not heard of any results. 



Within the past few years the Society has 

 been interesting itself in bee-keeping in Cey- 

 lon, and the success of the West Indies has 

 been a great incentive to us. So far, how- 

 ever, only half a dozen enthusiasts are per- 

 sisting in their efforts to master the art of 

 apiculture. The bee favored by us is the 

 Italian — a great improvement on the excit- 

 able little Apis Indica; but under the new 

 conditions of seasons, food, etc., its naturali- 

 zation must, of course, take considerable 

 time. 



The question of suitable bee pasture is one 

 which has yet to be settled. Our native bees 

 depend chiefly on forest trees (e. g., Termin- 

 alia belerica), while among cultivated plants 

 the cocoanut palm supplies abundant food 

 material. I see your journal, and find much 

 in it to interest me. 



Colombo, Ceylon. 



or to put it another way was stung to death. 

 The bees, unable to remove the carcass, em- 

 balmed it — that is, covered it over with pro- 

 polis. The hide of the average snake is so 

 tough that it will resist stings of bees. Some 

 years ago we "experimented" with some 

 snakes in connection with Mr. J. M. Jen- 

 kins. The serpents were found in a yard. 

 We drove them up to the hives. Although the 

 bees attacked them with fury we could not 

 see that the stings penetrated the horny hide. 

 The specimen here shown must have had a 

 vulnerable skin. — Ed.] 



CELLAR WINTERING. 



Colonies Consume More Stores than Those 

 Wintered Outside. 



BY A. F. EILENBERGEN. 



A SNAKE EMBALMED BY THE BEES. 



BY WM. A. SELSER. 



In opening up a colony of bees we found 

 a bottom- board wit a snake fastened to it. 

 evidently glued there by the bees. I laid 

 it aside in 

 my hurry, 

 and did not 

 pay much 

 attention to 

 it, but a pho- 

 tograph was 

 taken later, 

 as shown in 

 the engrav- 

 ing. The 

 snake must 

 have enter- 

 ed the hive 

 while it was 

 inhabited by 

 the bees, and 

 they killed it 

 in some way 

 and the n 

 glued it 

 down to the 

 bottom. The 

 view should 

 have shown 

 the body 

 raised above 

 the board at 

 some of the 

 points, espe- 

 cially at Fig. 1, indicating that the snake 

 was still writhing when it was fastened 

 down. 



Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 29. 



[The unwritten history of this must have 

 been somewhat interesting, not to say tragic. 

 His snakeship probably crawled into the en- 

 trance and there met a "warm reception;" 



In wintering my bees last year I lost one 

 out of 52, and that was my fault by not put- 

 ting in a young queen. I knew the queen 

 was old, but thought I would chance it. I 

 shall requeen every year, and not keep any 

 over two years. I put nine colonies in my 

 cellar to try it. I have as good a cellar as 

 can be found for the business. The temper- 

 ature did not get lower than 40 nor over 48 

 degrees, with good fresh air all the time. As 

 for results, the ones in the cellar ate the 



A FROPOLIZED SNAKE FOUND ON THE BOTTOM-BOARD OF A HIVE. 



most. Not one of them came out as strong 

 as those outdoors. The only benefit I can 

 see is that if there are any light colonies in 

 the fall they may be fed a little early if they 

 are in a cellar; whereas, if they are outside 

 they stand a chance of spring dwindling and 

 breaking their cluster oftener. But I will 

 not put any more in the cellar. If there is 

 an outside case, plenty of room for late 



