382 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



dirty, don't care what, " enough Is as good as a 

 feast," kind of a style? Not at all. It has been good 

 weather, and a hum, hum, hum. work, work, work, 

 right along. On the 10th of January there was more 

 sealed brood In the hive than live bees in the swarm. 

 To-day, the 10th of May, the produce of that swarm 

 fill four ten-frame hives — Improve each shining 

 hour, not gathering honey all the day to eat it up at 

 night, but storing in big 8 x 16 handsome white slabs 

 on comb fdn. The comb is white, the honey between 

 golden and silver; a peculiar, but very nice flavor 

 and taste. If they continue to improve in geometri- 

 cal ratio, I shall have 61 fine swarms by November to 

 feel big about — some contrast to my disheartening 

 time with bees In New Hampshire last year. The 1st 

 of Mfly, 1882, 1 had 51 live fair swarms of bees. I 

 took the best care of them, made preparations early, 

 buying quantities of fdn., sections, hive material, 

 etc.; and for result, the 1st of Oct. not one new 

 swarm; no honey, and dwindled to 39 odd swarms of 

 bees. Misery loves company, doesn't it? Every dog 

 has his day, doesn't he? When you come to Florida, 

 come and see me. Henry Daniels. 



Fcrnandina, Pla., May 8, 1883. 



ITEJnS OF EXPERIENCE FKOOT FRIEND 

 J. A. GREEN. 



INCLUDING SEVERAL ITEMS OF IMPOUTANCE. 



aN making my spring report, as I promised in my 

 wintering report, given in May Gleanings, I 

 have little change to make in the results given 

 then. I have had some slight losses since then. 

 Several of the swarms used in queen-rearing last 

 fall have dwindled somewhat, and others have be- 

 come queenless, so that I have united down to 140 to 

 begin the season with. 



A DRAFT THROUGH THE HIVE NOT DESIRABLE. 



The swarms that had large entrances at each end 

 of the hive have dwindled enough to convince me 

 that a strong draft through the hive is not desirable. 

 On the other hand, one of the very strongest swarms 

 I have was wintered in a lai'ge chaff hive, with 12 

 frames below and 5 above, only partially covered 

 with a piece of duck. 



TENEMENT HIVES. 



I am compelled to admit, that the swarms in tene- 

 ment hives used considerably less honey than those 

 in either chaff or single-walled hives. I did not 

 weigh the stores allowed them in the fall, so I can 

 not tell exactly how much less they used than the 

 others, but should estimate it at 5 lbs. less than those 

 in single-walled hives. There was not so much dif- 

 ference between them and the chaff hives, but still a 

 very noticeable one. The tenement hive, though, is 

 so InconvenTent to handle, that, unless they prove 

 superior for honey production (which I have not had 

 opportunity to test fairly), I will not make any more 

 of them. 



POROUS COVERING A DETRIMENT DURING THE 

 SPRING MONTHS. 



While I do not think it makes much difference 

 whether enameled cloth or a porous covering is used 

 during the winter, I believe very strongly that no 

 porous covering should be used over bees during the 

 spring months. In the spring, bees need all the 

 moisture generated in the hive for the raising of 

 brood, and any current of air, no matter how gentle, 

 which carries off this moisture, and, of course, with 

 it a large amount of beat, is injurious. 



ENAMELED SHEETS; GOOD POINTS OF. 



If moisture condenses on the under surface of the 

 enameled cloth during rainy weather, all the better. 

 I should bo glad if such were always the case. Bees 

 need large quantities of water when rearing brood ; 

 and }f the weather is such that they can not fly out 

 without it, they should be supplied inside the hive, 

 or they will suffer. 



WATER FOR BEES. 



Last week, on a warm sunshiny day, when the bees 

 flew freely and gathered honey, with also, doubtless, 

 a full supply of water, was followed by a rainy day, 

 the rain falling steadily nearly all day. During the 

 afternoon I observed that the bees were getting rest- 

 less; and about 4 o'clock many swarms had a row of 

 bees along the entrance, sucking up the moisture 

 from the soaked earth, while some swarms, less 

 wise, flew out into the rain in search of water. A 

 saturated sponge, or a little water poured into the 

 hive, soon quieted them, showing that all they wish- 

 ed was to renew their supply of water, which had 

 become exhausted in 18 hours or less. I removed 

 the last of your wooden mats yesterday, and I don't 

 think I shall use them any more, unless for experi- 

 ments in wintering. 



SWARMS IN THE HONEY HOUSE. 



I was much interested in Mrs. Axtell's account of 

 the swarms of bees that formed in the honey-houses, 

 and I have had some experience in that line myself. 

 Two years ago I stored my comb honey in a small 

 house-apiary in which were two swarms of bees. I 

 allowed these bees free access to the interior, where 

 about 600 lbs. of honey in sections was stored upon 

 shelves, in order that they might empty all unsealed 

 and broken cells. By the way, this is a plan of 

 which I have never seen any mention, though it 

 may not be new to some. In this case it worked ex- 

 cellently, all unsealed honey being taken out by the 

 bees, thus preventing all drip when the honey was 

 carried to market. There was no trouble about the 

 bees uncapping the honey, although there might 

 have been if their hives had not been full of honey. 

 About the last of July I noticed a small cluster of 

 bees in the upper part of the room. Whether these 

 bees came from the swarms already there, or were 

 brought in with honey, I can not state. On examin- 

 ing them I found that they had removed the honey 

 from two or three sections, and filled them with 

 brood. The honey removed had been stored in 

 several small combs which they had built overhead, 

 and this honey was, as Mrs. Axtell has remarked, ex- 

 ceedingly thick and nice —much better than that in 

 the sections. Now, the interestmg point is, as you 

 have said, Did these bees fly out of doors while they 

 raised their brood, or did they rear the brood with- 

 out pollen? I am certain that there was no way for 

 them to get in and out except by going through the 

 two large colonies, which is improbable, unless they 

 watched their chance and dodged in and out of the 

 door as it was opened and shut, which is still more 

 improbable. I am positive, though, that they raised 

 brood with little or no pollen, as I particularly re- 

 marked that the larva^ seemed more delicate than 

 usual; in fact, almost transparent; and when they 

 were capped over, which I think, though I am not 

 certain, was after a longer period than usual, the 

 caps, instead of being of the usual yellowish color, 

 observable even on new combs, were as white as 

 those on the finest comb honey. It would have been 

 interesting to make careful experiments on them, 



