iggs 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



325 



FROM THE FRIEND WHO DECLINES TO "SERVE" IN 

 BLASTED HOPES. SEE P. 196, APRIL NO. 



I received j-our postal, with five dollars credited. 

 I am surprised that truthfulness about bee-keeping 

 Is so rare that it is to be paid for when found. Well, 

 I don't want the five dollars any way. I made a mis- 

 take about having only one Italian queen. I intro- 

 duced a queen last fall (October. I think), and looked 

 into the hive two days after, when I found her on 

 the bottom-board; and a less majestic and more woe- 

 begone and frazzled-out looking queen you uever 

 saw. Well, sir, she didn't lay an egg through the 

 fall and winter; and shortly after I sent your last 

 communication, 1 passed the hive, when, presto! 

 every bee was an Italian, so I had two. I divided 

 them when they began to show symptoms of swarm- 

 ing, and ao have four. I have saved eight swarm3— 

 lost two. Don't forget to send me your photo. I 

 think I can utilize it to scare moths away from my 

 apiary. I'll try, and report. W. P. Laughter. 



Edna, Jackson Co., Texas, April M, 1883. 



Well, now, friend L., I think that is a 

 little too bad that you are going to use my 

 picture to scare moths away. Am I such an 

 enemy to moths that the bare sight of my 

 picture will cause tliem to all "get up and 

 dust," just by having it hung in the apiary V 

 It seems to me that you are getting into a 

 better mood than you were when you wrote 

 last. jS'ow, just keep us posted in regard to 

 those four Italian colonies, and may be we 

 shall have you in the Smilery ere long. We 

 send the picture. 



from 1 TO 8, AND 27.5 LBS. OF HONEY. 



I am like those two ABO scholars in Kansas — a 

 bee-keeper on a small scale. I commenced with one 

 stand of pure Italian bees, presented to me by friend 

 Fox. He also made me a present of one of your A 

 B books, and by the valuable information gained 

 from it I increased from one to eight stands, and 

 ^ extracted 275 lbs. of honey, and I must say I am per- 

 fectly delighted with the bees, and the study of the 

 science of bee culture, and the different opinions 

 presented through Gleanings monthly. 



Now a few thoughts about the bee industry that 

 has sprung up here, and who brought it about. 

 Friend Fox is entitled to all of the credit; he has 

 created a great interest in bee culture; so much so 

 that we have from the big fish to the little minnow. 

 1 tell you, friend Fox is a "whale" among them. 

 Yes, friend Koot, he has quit the use of tobacco, 

 so you see that he is a pure man. Pray God that 

 the good work may go on, for there are still more to 

 follow. C. M. Carr. 



Maysfleld, Milam Co., Tex., March 25, 18^3. 



Thank you, friend C; but isn't that a 

 rather doubtful compliment you pay your 

 friend, when you call him a" whale "V I 

 am rejoiced to know that you agree with me 

 in the tobacco matter, and that you seem to 

 have caught the spirit of the work. 



DO FIRST SWARMS EVER GO OFF WITHOUT CLUS- 

 TERING? 



I have just finished reading Old Fogy's article on 

 •page 212. He seems to believe that, because he 

 never saw a natural swarm come out of the hive, 

 and leave without clustering (or settling), that such 

 a circumstance never occurred. Well, I will give my 

 experience in the matter. About July 1st, 1880, I 

 was at work right by my bee-yard, when I saw a 



swarm start to come out of their hive. I went up to 

 the hive while the bees were yet coming out (as was 

 my custom), and laid a bunch of grass on top of the 

 hive, so that I could readily go to it after the swarm 

 was hived, to get the number of it to enter on my 

 record (the swarm that came out was a large one, 

 and there is no mistake about its being a first 

 swarm). They circled around, as bees under the 

 circumstances usually do, for about Ave minutes, 

 when they gathered in a body and took a bee line for 

 the woods, without clustering or alighting at all. I 

 followed them until they got entirely out of my 

 sight and hearing, and kept on the line some time 

 longer, but never found them. O. E. Cooley. 



Kidgeway, Iowa, May 9, 1883. 



A SUCCESS WITH ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE. 



I took my bees from cellar a few days since, and 

 found them nearly as heavy as when put in, Nov. 25; 

 109 hives; one light, 6 quite light, the rest from mid- 

 dling to heavy. April 12 and 14 we carried out 107 

 hives, all alive. A few days after, we found two 

 minus— one without honey, the other with plenty. 

 Our honey is all buckwheat, as they got bi^ little 

 else here last season. I sowed about 40 acres last 

 year, and 45 the year before. It is still cold; freezes 

 hard at night. No pollen yet. Alders are ready, 

 and poplar soon will be. It will take a week for 

 willows yet. E. G. Holcomb. 



Brasher Iron Works, N. Y., Apr. 23, 1883. 



BURYING bees. 



The loss in wintering has been very heavy— prob- 

 ably about two-thirds, some losing all they had, 

 others wintering all they had with small loss, and, 

 in some instances, without any. One man packed in 

 chaflf all he had, except two, which were very poor, 

 one of them being the bees saved from a bee-tree, a 

 queen being given them, and a few sections of honey 

 fastened into some frames. The two weak colonies 

 were buried entirely beneath the surface of the 

 ground. First a hole was dug some larger than the 

 hives; two 2x4 scantling were laid down, and some 

 straw put in. The hives were put in straw placed 

 around them; some boards placed on top of the 

 hives, and then covered a foot deep with earth. 

 The chafif-packed bees perished in mid winter; the 

 ones that were buried were taken out the 15th of 

 April in fair condition. This I know to be a fact, as 

 I went four miles to see the result of this novel ex- 

 periment in wintering, and helped take them out 

 and carry them to their summer stands. 



SUCCESS IN CHAFF PACKING. 



I will also tell you how a man succeeded in win- 

 tering all his bees by chaff packing. The bees were 

 placed on a platform about 12 inches from the 

 ground; a box was placed around the hive so as to 

 receive about six inches of chaff around the sides, 

 and from 12 to 14 inches on top of the bees, a thin 

 piece of burlap only being between the chaff and 

 bees. A board cover was then put on, sufficient to 

 exclude the rain. The entrances were then contract- 

 ed to about ^/i the size used in summer. It will be 

 noticed that the packing did not reach the ground, 

 so the bees did not receive any dampness from the 

 earth, as they would if the packing had reached the 

 ground, and there was enough chaff above the hive 

 to retain the heat, and to absorb all the moisture 

 arising from the bees; and as there was no board or 

 cap in the way to retard the dampness, it left the 

 chaff dry at all times. Those bees wintered the best 



