1564 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



It is not my purpose in writing this article 

 to persuade others to adopt ruy methods of 

 wintering, but, rather, to show that out-of- 

 door wintering need not be expensive so far 

 as winter stores are concerned. In my case 

 I can not say that I should save enough and 

 more in stores by cellaring my bees to pay 

 for the labor of setting them in and out of 

 the cellar. 



It is obvious to me that I save by leaving 

 the bees out; and I absolutely know that I 

 save in bee-mortality by my method of win- 

 tering. My out colonies get through the 

 spring with less dwindling than do the cel- 

 lar colonies. I am not yet sure that this 

 strength of my bees is due to the plentiful 

 supply of air or to some other cause. I use 

 large entrances more to save moldiness and 

 dampness in the hive, thus ensuring rapid 

 building-up in spring, than I do for the 

 health of the bees. Still I have a strong im- 

 pression that bees wintered with a plentiful 

 supply of fresh air (not exposed to drafts) 

 are more vigorous than are those wintered 

 in the damp close atmosphere of a hive with 

 a small entrance. The small entrance with 

 ample space under the frames, thus ensuring 

 a free circulation, goes far to prodiice the 

 same effect as a large entrance. It is the 

 small entrance combined with frames com- 

 ing down close to the bottom-boai'd which 

 causes winter losses. 



Another lesson the experiment taught was 

 this: Quiet colonies consume less stores in 

 winter (and, we might add as a corollary, 

 that they do the same all the time) than do 

 restless colonies. It pays, therefore, to keep 

 quiet bees — bees which store honey all right, 

 but which do not waste it in riotous living. 

 No. 2 in the list above was a restless colony 

 right through the winter, and owed its large 

 consumption of stores to this fact rather 

 than to early breeding. Numbers 12, 29, and 

 30 were especially good early breeders, fill- 

 ing the hives with brood before the close of 

 April. No. 12 filled about 130 sections that 

 season. If No. 2 did good work in the sec- 

 tions it has wholly escaped my memory. 



Norwich, Conn., Nov. 5. 



[By consulting the map we find that Nor- 

 wich is only some twelve or fifteen miles from 

 Long Island Sound. Long Island and this 

 region generally has the reputation of being 

 comparatively mild. Besides, it necessarily 

 has a humid atmosphere with more or less 

 fog, and this might make it necessary to use 

 a wide deep entrance. 



Speaking about the size of entrances, we 

 have tried time and again i7i our locality an 

 entrance one inch deep by the width of the 

 hive, and the loss in bees and stores is almost 

 invariably excessive. We were forced to re- 

 duce the entrance to f X8 inches maximum; 

 then the mortality was noticeably decreased. 

 In the average locality where bees are win- 

 tered outdoors we believe it would be a seri- 

 ous mistake to have an entrance one inch 

 deep by the width of the hive; and we are of 

 the opinion that our correspondent even in 

 his locality could make a better showing if 

 he would try half of his colonies next winter 



with an entrance |X8, and the other half 

 full size. But it should be remembered that 

 whenever an entrance is reduced it must be 

 kept clear of deail bees. 



The data furnished by our correspondent 

 are very interesting and valuable, and we 

 should be glad to hear from others who have 

 any thing to offer on this subject. — Ed.] 



COLOR OF HEARTSEASE HONEY. 

 A Report to Show that it is Always Amber. 



BY G. T. WILLIS. 



On page 1428, Dr. C. C. Miller says, "But 

 this year a large part of the my surplus was 

 other than white clover, sweet clover, or cu- 

 cumber. It was whiter than either. I think 

 it was from heartsease." In your footnote 

 you ask, "Is there anybody else among our 

 subscribers who is able to report beyond 

 doubt that heartsease honey may be light-col- 

 ored? We are of the opinion that there have 

 been reports to that effect." 



Now, let me say that, if any one has ever 

 made any such report, he is surely mistaken 

 unless it can be shown that heartsease will 

 yield some years white honey. And I can 

 positively assert that, in this locality at least, 

 heartsease honey is always of an amber or 

 golden color. About 25 years ago white clo- 

 ver bloomed very abundantly here; but on 

 account of excessive rains while it was in 

 bloom I got no surplus; but in August and 

 September following, the heartsease came on 

 in abundance all over the cornfields and un- 

 cultivated places, and yielded the largest sur- 

 plus I ever obtained from any source. That 

 year, from 7 colonies, spring count, I increas- 

 ed to 21. and from heartsease I extracted be- 

 tween 1200 and 1500 pounds of amber honey. 

 I am certain of this, because there was no 

 other source from which the bees could gath- 

 er honey. This season I got very little from 

 white clover; a better yield from sweet clo- 

 ver; and later, when the sweet clover was 

 comb honey, and after the sweet clover ceas- 

 ed to yield, the heartsease came on in abun- 

 dance, and from this source I received about 

 as large a yield as I did from the sweet clo- 

 ver of an amber or light golden color, and 

 of a good flavor, and it sells readily in this 

 market. 



Hoopeston, 111. 



HEARTSEASE HONEY WHITE. 



You can tell Dr. Miller that he is right 

 about heartsease or smartweed honey being 

 white with a slightly pinkish tinge. Span- 

 ish needle generally grows where heartsease 

 abounds, and it comes into bloom just before 

 heartsease begins to fail, and it is what gives 

 heartsease honey the amber color that makes 

 most persons think heartsease honey is am- 

 ber in color, as it generally is on account of 

 the mixture You can depend on this, for I 

 have extracted tons of both kinds in the 

 past. E. T. Flanagan. 



Belleville, 111., Nov. 29. 



