168 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



in the neighborhood frequently come in and volun- 

 teer their services, thinking it just fun to turn, and 

 see it cut out the stuff. I generally have a man or 

 two on the farm, and in stormy weather we can go 

 in and cut out all the material I need in a very short 

 time. Now in regard to the expense, I will say that 

 354 days' labor completed the whole thing, ready to 

 run; and any one can estimate for himself the small 

 amount the material would cost; the saws, mandrel, 

 and belt, being the most expensive parts. I will 

 here state, that after vising this power for a time I 

 thought to improve it; I therefore attached a 16-in. 

 wheel to the frame under the table to attach the 

 main belt to, attaching a 6-inch pulley to the shaft 

 of this wheel, and running another belt from this 

 pulley to the pulley on the mandrel; but I found it 

 too complicated, with too much friction to over- 

 come easily, and therefore discarded it. 



H. V. N. DiMMICK. 



Hubbardsville, N. Y., March 8, 1883. 



Mai]y thanks, friend D. I quite agree 

 with you in your decision, that a large wheel 

 bolted directly to the saw-mandrel, gives the 

 best results ; but I would have the large 

 wheel set enough lower than the table, so 

 the belt would not interfere with cutting off 

 wide boards, etc. To get it handy, this 

 large wheel might be let into the floor, and 

 a place fixed to stand iu while turning by 

 the cranks. 



DOIFNS AND UPS IN BEE CUIiTURE. 



HOW FRIEND VANNOY SAVED HIS LAST COLONY. 



fN the fall of 1880 I went into winter quarters with 

 three colonies. They lived until February, when 

 ' two died. In March, 1881, we had a very deep 

 and wet snow. Having the erysipelas in my foot I 

 could not go out to attend the bees and clean away 

 the snow for several days; but I finally got out and 

 opened the hives, and to all appearances the bees 

 were dead. In looking over the comb I found the 

 queen dead. I examined her, and laid her on the 

 cross-bar of the sash in the window, feeling terribly 

 out of sorts. 



Some time after that, a bee flew across the house 

 to the window. I said to my wife, " Where did that 

 bee come from?" She said it was one that fell on 

 the hearth, and told me to bring the others in, and 

 said that they would nearly all come to, also; but I 

 remarked, that it was of no use, as the queen was ly- 

 ing in the window, dead. She said, " May be she will 

 come to;" and taking the queen in her-hands she 

 began to blow her breath on her. I told her it was 

 of no use, as the queen was dead. She said, " You 

 try," and handed her to me. My faith was very 

 weak, although I held her in my hands, and blew my 

 breath on her, and held her between my fingers to 

 the fire. But finally she moved one leg. I remark- 

 ed, " This thing has life in it, after all." 



My wife then said, "Bring in the bees." So I 

 spread down a quilt and a sheet over it, and brushed 

 off the bees, and I guess about a quart came to. 1 

 placed them in the hive and Icept them in the house, 

 and fed them until the weather was warm. By this 

 means I learned that it is not unlawful to feed bees; 

 so I fed them up and made two swarms by artificial 

 swarming. This was in the summer of 1881. One 

 died the next winter, so the spring of 1883 found me 

 with two strong stands, as I had learned better how 

 to take care of them. 



FROM 3 TO 33, AND DONE BY AN A B C SCHOLAR "TOO." 



Last year being one of the best years for bees, and 

 having two good stands to start from, in June, as 

 sooa as drones began to hatch, I swarmed the best 

 hive, and intended to let them alone; but on looking 

 at them the next day I thought, " Too many bees 

 yet to do well." So I swarmed them again and filled 

 the space with comb, taking it out of the one that 

 died in wioter. Three days afterward they swarmed 

 naturally. I did not book dates, as I never thought 

 of reporting; so from that on until the weather got 

 cool they s.-varmed naturally, or I would watch them 

 and swarm them artificially, as they would need. In 

 the fall I had 33 stands; sold one, or gave it away, 

 and doubled two, and we went into winter with 39 in 

 good condition; Inst two up to date. 



The bees are flying lively to-day, and have been for 

 several days. This month my bees gathered a good 

 lot of honey, to be divided as much as they were. I 

 got 300 lbs. of extracted honey — the first I have had 

 since I kept bees. This may look "fishy," as some 

 of your writers call it, but it is true, nevertheless, 



R. M. Yannoy. 



Yannoy Mill, Pike Co., Mo., March 9, 1883. 



FROITI 7 TO 35 BY NATURAIi SWAKMEING. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT HAVING THE CHILDREN 

 HELP. 



¥'0U may set me down as a beginner in the bee 

 business. One year ago last fall I had eight 

 ■ weak colonies in chaflf hives, tucked away for 

 the winter as near your directions as 1 could, with 

 the means I had to go on with. They all came 

 through the winter safe, but of course they were 

 not very strong. So I got some sugar, and made 

 candy according to your directions, and hung in the 

 hives in March. They went right to raising brood; 

 and by the time the fruit-trees were in bloom the 

 hives were pretty well filled up with young bees. 

 But we had a freeze hero that killed nearly all the 

 bloom, so it was quite a drawback to the little fel- 

 lows; and before I was aware of it I found a good 

 many of them dead, and scarcely any thing in the 

 hives for them to live on. But I assure you it was' 

 not long before I had some more sugar for them. 

 But I missed it by not feeding them sooner. They 

 all came through at last, but it made them a little 

 later about swarming, I believe; but when they did 

 begin to swarm, they went at it in earnest. 1 had, 

 as nearly as I can remember, about t/rirty-^ue swarms 

 from 7 hives. I tried to prevent them from swarm- 

 ing so much; but I failed in nearly every effort I 

 made. I moved the old hive when the first swarm 

 came off, and put the new one in its place; but still 

 they swarmed in spite of me ; and in a short time the 

 new colony would swarm too, as many as three 

 times, and the old one from three to five times. I 

 believe I could have managed them better if I had 

 had time to attend to them; but my business on the 

 farrfi was such that I couldn't do it; and as I was 

 short of means I wasn't able to hire any help. I 

 made a few hives by hand, and it was such a slow 

 way that I couldn't spare the time to make as many 

 as I needed; so I just increased from 7 hives with 

 the one that didn't swarm, to 31 hives; and when I 

 put them away for winter they appeared to be very 

 strong, and they appear to be doing all right. 



Whenever there is a day warm enough for them to 

 fly they are out very strong. If I had had time to 



