1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



191 



CEiMENT AROUND THE ENTRANCES. 



I have been trying: for some time to think of 

 sbmothing cheap and substantial to Iccep the grass 

 and weeds from growing around bee-hives. How 

 would cement do? have you tried it? it costs only 

 about SI. 00 per bbl., and I should think one barrel 

 would answer for several hives, by scraping away 

 the grass and putting down a thin layer. If you 

 think it worth trying, let us hear from you through 

 Gleanings. Jas. Eravin. 



Gainsville, Ky., Dec. 14, 1883. 



Cement was long ago suggested, friend E., 

 and, if I am correct, tried to some extent. 

 Would not the frosts of winter break it upV 

 We rather give the prefere ce to clean white 

 sand. 



BROOD-REARING IN WINTER; DYSENTERY, ETC. 



The bees will be very scarce here in the spring. I 

 know of one man who has lost 9 out of some 20 hives, 

 and others that are losing more or less. I have lost 

 one stand up to the present, and have three others 

 that are diseased. I can not account for their get- 

 ting diseased altogether. I think sometimes it is 

 caused by brood-reat-ing. The hive that I lost has 

 been trying to rear brood all winter, and it has been 

 so extremely cold hat the brood would chill in the 

 best of cellars here, when the thermometer stood at 

 from 30 to 60° below zero. I think that the brood 

 dies; then it sours, and begins to taint; and, as a 

 natural consequence, the honey and pollen around 

 the brood become stale; and as it is consumed first, 

 I think it generates disease and dissatisfaction in 

 the hive, and makes the bees noisy, and they eat the 

 more; and if j^ou ever noticed, the bees commence 

 to move from comb to comb, and eat every thing be- 

 fore them until they get full and almost rotten, and 

 then fall off and die. 



LATE, THIN, DARK HONEY NOT NECESSARILY PRO- 

 DUCTIVE OF DYSENTERY. 



I have one swarm that came off the 20th of August. 

 I put it into a hive without any comb or fdn. ; it filled 

 the hive partly full of comb and thin black honey, 

 and I thought I would see how it would winter with- 

 out any feeding. I put it in the cellar, and have 

 kept it clean and nice, and ttiere have been the few- 

 est dead bees under it of any hive I have in the cel- 

 lar. J. E. r AVIS. 



Mill Creek, Wis., Feb. 14, 1883. 



Your idea has been many times suggest- 

 ed, friend D., and no doubt you are at least 

 partly right. Brood-rearing, and its atten- 

 dant consumption of pollen, is without 

 question one great cause of dysentery, and I 

 believe we are pretty well agreed that bees 

 winter just as well, at least, without pollen. 

 We are glad of that experiment to show 

 that even late dark honey may winter bees 

 safely. I presume this hive did not have 

 any pollen, or at least very little. 



For several years past I have kept bees on a limit- 

 ed scale, and find it to be a pleasant and remunera- 

 tive business here in Texas. I generally obtain 100 

 lbs. per colony annually, from black bees. But 

 while my bees are doing well, my health is on the 

 decline, and I must seek a milder climate. 



HOW FAR MAY SWARMS GO ? 



It has become a question among my neighbors, as 

 to the greatest distance that bees will travel after 

 swarming, in search of a suitable place to locate. 

 Two of them have captured swarms of Italians clus- 



tered near their premises; and it is an evident fact, 

 that at the time there were no Italian bees owned 

 within less than 18 miles of either of the lucky par- 

 ties. It appears from the above, that bees will 

 sometimes fly many miles away to seek a new home. 



WHITE POLLEN. 



In the month of January, for two years past, my 

 bees have gathered a beautiful white substance that 

 has every appearance of pollen; but at that season 

 of the year there are no flowers in bloom. Where 

 they obtain it is a mystery. 



Honey in our home market is worth from 12!i to 

 16 cts. per lb., if in good shape. My entire experi- 

 ence has been with the black bee; but if I emigrate 

 to Florida I shall stock up exclusively with Italians, 



J. H. HOLYFIELD. 



New Boston, Bowie Co., Texas, Mar. 4, 1883. 



It may be, friend II., that bees fiy as far 

 as 18 miles; but I should be very doubtful 

 about it until it was thoroughly proven. 

 Are there no forests where the Italians 

 could have located and sent out the swarms 

 you mention V You know they often send 

 out a swarm only a few months after they 

 have swarmed.— Is not the white pollen sim- 

 ply Hour that they have stolen from some 

 neighboring mill, or other similar source? 



TWO QUEENS IN A HIVE, AND BOTH FROM ONE LOT 

 OP CELLS. 



Is it not an unusual thing, in cases where two 

 queens are found in one hive, to find them from the 

 same batch of queen-cells? A friend has a hive 

 which became queenless in June, and remained so 

 despite my best efforts to requeen it, till the 23d of 

 August. It then had a laying queen which was 

 only 5 days old. A week aferward my friend saw a 

 very handsome queen emerge from the hive, and, 

 after a five-minutes' flight, re-enter, then emerge 

 again after ten minutes, and after fifteen minutes 

 re-enter. A month afterward I found two queens in 

 toe hive. One was quite dark, and her wings were 

 quite dilapidated. The other was a fine large yel- 

 low queen, and was doubtless the one which my 

 friend had seen taking her wedding flight, I have 

 heard of old queens which have became somewhat 

 enfeebled, allowing a laughter to help them in 

 their peculiar duties ; but I do not remember to have 

 heard of two queens, from the same batch of queen- 

 cells, living in harmony in the same hive. 



James McNeill. 



Hudson, N. Y., Oct. 9, 1882. 



A few such cases have been reported, 

 friend M.; but from your description of 

 them when last seen, I should still be in- 

 clined to think, by some chance or mishap, 

 they were mother and daughter, after all. 



FROM 78 TO 130, AND $650 WORTH OF HONEY, AFTER 

 ALL EXPENSES ■WERE PAID. 



I started the season with 78 colonies of hybrid and 

 pure Italian bees; increased to 153 by natural swarm- 

 ing, except building up 10 nuclei; did not accept any 

 after- swarm; all were returned to old colonies; 

 there are now 130 colonies in cellar, and the rest are 

 chaff-packed on summer stands. I made 4000 lbs. of 

 white-clover honey, all in 1-lb. sections, and two bar- 

 rels of mixed extracted honey, about 700 lbs.; all is 

 sold but one barrel of extracted; the whole, after 

 the expenses are taken out, has netted me $650. I 

 have 3000 sections filled with comb (from which I 

 extracted the mixed honey), for use another season. 

 W. Addenbrooke. 



North Prairie, Wauk. Co., Wis., Dec. 6, 1882, 



