380 



GLEAl^INGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



July 



recently suggested, that swarms that go off 

 without clustering are from hives with large 

 entrances. Did you have any such experi- 

 ence with these hives with such abundant 

 openingsV I, too, have noticed that where 

 no division-boards were used, the bees would 

 cover the exposed comb, especially when it 

 came to be used for brood with a dense cov- 

 ering of bees, and that they stored the honey 

 more over against the protected side. Our 

 experiments in the house apiary brought this 

 out clearly. For comb honey, we want rath- 

 er close hives, and not too much ventilation; 

 and I feel pretty sure they should be well 

 protected from the great heat of the sun in 

 the hot summer months. 



WHY NEW S^VARMS GO OFF. 



SOME GOOD THOUGHTS FROM FRIEND TRAIN. 



¥ES, swarms do sometimes come out and go off 

 without clustering. My answer to the question 

 — ' asked by "Old Fogy," p. 243, May Gleanings, 

 is as above. I have several times had the bees get 

 the emigrating fever so badly that they would often 

 do 80. This has always happened when honey was 

 scarce in my immediate vicinity, and a good flow at 

 some distance. I am situated 5 or 6 miles from 

 heavy basswood timber; and when basswood blooms 

 freely, and there is a dearth of other bloom, we al- 

 ways have a regular fight to Iseep any bees at home ; 

 and during such times they quite frequently come 

 out and leave without clustering. And with this 

 state of things they do it so often that I dare not, as 

 usual, leave them to cluster under the eye of a small 

 boy or woman, but am on hand with my big looking- 

 glass and my double-barreled shotgun, well loaded, 

 shot and all; for when they make up their minds to 

 go, they lose no time "fooling around," but rise 

 right up over the top of the maple grove in which 

 they sit, out of reach of blank cartridges, and away 

 they go. So let Old Fogy take notice, that at least 

 one man "has seen bees come right of the parent 

 hive, and go off without clustering." 



CHICKENS IN THE BEE-YARD. 



F. D. Clarke asks about keeping chickens in a bee- 

 yard, lean only say I have kept chickens in my 

 bee-yard every j-ear for over 15 years, and have nev- 

 er had them eat any bees, and the bees seldom dis- 

 turb them; and the chickens arc, we think, a great 

 help in subduing the moth. They are very busy, 

 early and late, eating not only the worms but the 

 moth also. But wo coop the mother-hen, and re- 

 move the chicks as soon as Ihey will do to wean, and 

 plan to have a young brood to take their place. We 

 now have a brood of 22 chicks just installed. 



BEE-CELLARS, AND SUB-EARTH VENTILATION. 



Since I am writing, allow a few words about bee- 

 cellars, etc. 1 note your rcmai'ks, page 214, May No., 

 relative to sub-earth ventilation. That is all right, 

 if you do not have too many bees for the size of the 

 cellar; but if you have more than one swarm to ev- 

 ery 20 feet of cellar space, you must let in air colder 

 than the earth. What we really want is a subcarth 

 pipe, and a pipe without the "siif*;" so that we can let 

 in cold or modified air at pleasure. 1 have my cel- 

 lar 5o arranged that I c\n bring all the air that en- 

 ters, through 16 feet of narrow air-chamber filled 

 full of ice; so when the temperature outside gets 

 above 40° we resort to the ice-air chamber. In a 



few instances this last winter, the thermometer in 

 the cellar went down to 40°, the first time in many 

 years; and at those times wo used a Icettle of coals 

 from the stove, which we use to create a draft out 

 of the cellar. Said stove always has a good supply 

 of live coals whenever the bees are in cellar, daj' or 

 night. We have no trouble in keeping the cellar 

 warm enough ; and with proper care we can keep 

 the temperature nearly steady at about 4.5°. It 

 should never be lower, for the best results. I have 

 become so confident in my cellar, and ability to reg- 

 ulate it, that I would not give one per cent to have 

 my wintering insured, if the bees are in a normal 

 condition in the fall; and I do not care how much 

 pollen they have either. I do not mean to boast; be 

 it far from me; but I have wintered bees in cellar 15 

 successive winters, and have not lost 5 per cent in 

 any winter of the 15, and for the last 5 winters I have 

 not lost one per cent; and all the losses 1 have had 

 have resulted from some abnormal state of the bees, 

 or from carelessness on my part. And then it 

 makes me feel so bad to read of heavy losses, that I 

 feel like talking strongly. And I am not satisfied 

 with having them come out merely alive, but I want 

 them perfect. All of my 131 colonies came out perfect 

 this spring, save 2, and they only soiled the front of 

 their hives a little near the entrance ; their combs 

 were clean. AH the rest scarcely fouled a thing, 

 even in their first flight. The two exceptions re- 

 ferred to were caused by my own carelessness, and 

 that is usually the trouble, if we have any losses; 

 for a m<c?fi or queenlcss colony will winter, if the 

 temperature is kept right all the time. Keep the 

 conditions all right in cellar wintering, and I think 

 a good healthy swarm of bees are as sure to winter 

 as a well-fed healthy steer. 



HYBRIDS FROM BLACK QUEENS AND ITALIAN DRONES. 



I just happened to think that the strain of bees 

 may have had some influence in my case; but I 

 guess not (my bees, it is true, breed late and early, 

 and are well acclimated), unless it be the small ad- 

 mi.xture of Italian blood. And, by the way, I am so 

 well pler.sed with this cross (Italian drones and 

 brown queens), that I have sent for a dozen Italian 

 queens to raise drones from, and I mean to decapi- 

 tate all other drones for one year, and watch the re- 

 sult. My present hybrids certainly differ materiallj' 

 from the hybrids that others wriie about, and that I 

 see at other apiaries. H. V. Train. 



Mauston, AVis., May IT, 1881. 



Thank you, friend Train, for the sugges- 

 tion that the cause of bees decamping with- 

 out clustering might be due to the fact that 

 they had discovered a better hunting-ground, 

 and one that would save many long, labori- 

 ous nights. If bees do really sometimes liy 

 six or eight miles, 1 can hardly think they 

 really like the fun of carrying a heavy load 

 that far. Well, it would "hardly be beyond 

 their instinct to figure out, as it were, the 

 advantage to be gained by starting a new 

 "ranch," right in the midst or on the bor- 

 der of these more desirable locations. And 

 here opens a new field for us to investigate. 

 Where wild swarms do most congregate in 

 the woods, there is where the bee-keeper 

 should aim to locate. The swarm 1 alluded 

 to, which the women-folks saw go olf , went 

 right over to a tract where both clover and 

 basswood abounded in great profusion. — 

 Small chickens would doubtless do very well; 

 but the reports found elsewhere of grown 



