1883 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



493 



cellared. I can not, therefore, give them the atten- 

 tion and winter preparation considered so essential 

 to successful wintering. What feeding there is to 

 be done is done late, and in a rush. Brood being 

 scarce, queenless colonies often go in with the rest; 

 and weak ones are rarely doubled up. Last fall my 

 bees received no attention whatever. I saw that 

 they were supplied with honey sufficient to carry 

 them through to spring; then I hurried them into 

 the cellars. Those in chaff hives needed consider- 

 able feeding, but it was too cold; so [ watched my 

 chances during the winter. To this winter feeding 

 the loss is probably in a great measure attributable. 

 And yet, in spite of these facts, those in the cellars 

 wintered well. They were strong in spring, even 

 stronger than usual; and had not the severe and 

 potraoted cold weather during spring checked 

 1 rood-roaiing, they would have eaten up their stores 

 ffir lou snou. for my satisfaction. 



Of course, summer management has a great deal 

 to do with the condition they are in in the fall ; and 

 raising comb honey, as I do, leaves them in better 

 shape than raising extracted. Yet I feel that, as 

 with many others, a great deal often depends upon 

 luck; and it would not surprise me if some of oui- 

 most successful winterers would some time come 

 out at the "little end of the horn." I mtke this pre- 

 diction now while my record is good, so that if, at 

 some time, bad luck does overtake me, you will 

 know the cause of it. The fact is, that, though we 

 know the requisiti s to average successful wintering, 

 or think we do, we are not always able to do that 

 which we wish to; and often, too, are careless when 

 we could do better. 



Speaking of carelessness reminds me of your ans- 

 wer to Mr. Langstroth's letter; and I feel, with due 

 deference to you, like offering an apol gy to Mr. 

 Langstroth for differing with one so pre-eminently 

 above me in knowledge and experience; and yet, if 

 I understand him rightly, I agree rather with your 

 answer. It is impracticable with me; it would take 

 too close watching; I am tooca-elcss. perhaps; h:ivc 

 too many to look after, and scattered too far over 

 the country; a very heavy flow, or a sudden dearth 

 of honey like this year, would demand quicker at- 

 tention than I am always able to give them; besides, 

 I am convinced it doesn't paij. The bees do not work 

 as well, or seal as quickly, near the opening. The 

 litter may not be objectionable to some; but to me 

 it is, for I want my honey sealed before extracting. 

 In fact, I never extract during the busy honey sea- 

 Si'U, but simply give more room. I thank Mr. Lang 

 stroth for his kind recognition of my father, Adam 

 Grimm; the more so, since I remember so well the 

 high estimation my father had of Mr. L. to the bee- 

 keeping world He is right when he says my father 

 condemned as inferior the hives u=ed in his mother 

 country. In fact, I have frequently heard him re- 

 mark that HO hive that he has ever tried (and (hey 

 were many) could nearly equal the " Langstroth " 

 And as to bees above the tops of the frames, and 

 plenty of air above, I will say this: He was quick 

 in his manipulations, and cared little for labor when 

 connected with bees; but he kept the cover raised 

 f )r the sake of ventilatUm, and allowed openings 

 around the honey-boxes for that purpose. But h ; 

 did not do that in later years, and I'll tell you why. 

 When he got so many bees, it became impossible to 

 get around in time to prevent building inside of the 

 cover. That this could not fail to happen in those 

 days when the honey-flow was sometimes eo great 



that the bees built comb and filled it with honey out- 

 side the liivc in the portico, you will readili' under- 

 stand ; and when we got to lifting off the covers, and 

 found every space between boxes and cover filled 

 with honry, and dripping, well, it was provoking; 

 the blessing was too great. 



But that was not the only reason why he shut 

 down. In those days we used the glassed boxes, six 

 to the L. hive, and the bees in an ordinary honey 

 season would not seal as well near the glass, espe- 

 cially when the co\ or was raised. So he first re- 

 versed his bC'Xes, and placed them'grlass inward, and 

 found that they sealed better; and fiaally ho also shut 

 down the bees out of the cover, and was better sat- 

 isfied. 



Fv)r my part, I say as you do, friend Root: Rees 

 work better where every thing except the entrances 

 is tightly closed and dark. Where ventilation is 

 needed, shade is all chat is necessary. The little ex- 

 tra work of lifting off a cover is well paid for. 



A while ago I read an article from Mr. Heddon up- 

 on overstocking, and somebody's reply. I wanted 

 to answer then, but did not get time. It is an im- 

 portant question to those bee-keepers who are 

 oblig d to keep a number of apiaries; and when I 

 get time later along I will "chip in" a trifle to the 

 general fund of experience for Gleaning's readers. 

 Perhaps I i-hall to some extent draw upon my fath- 

 er's experience as well as my own. 



Well, now, 1 forgot that I promised to lecture you, 

 and my letter is already too long; but, wait! it will 

 keep and some day you'll hear it. 



A vfor(\ about the season, ana [ will shut up. It is 

 poor. White clover, medium; basswood, almost a 

 failure. But still a fair credit balance will be chron- 

 icled at the end of the season. Geo. Grimm. 



Jefferson, Wis , Aug. 13, 1883. 



Now, friend Geoige, that is really tantal- 

 izing. You start by saying you are going to 

 criticise me. and keep me shaking in my 

 shoes until I get to the end of the article, 

 and then very coolly declare you haven't 

 time, beciiise your letter is too long ! There 

 is one satisfaction in it, after all ; and that 

 is, lliat you will have to write again for us ; 

 because if you do not, ever so many will be 

 inquiring what it was that I had done that 

 was wrong. I am very much obliged indeed 

 for the results of your experience in regard 

 to keeping the apartments closed where hon- 

 ey is being stored. This is indeed a most 

 important matter, and I hope honey-raisers 

 will give us their experience quite freely in 

 the matter. I hope that our good friend Mr. 

 Langstroth will not feel hurt at all, even if 

 we have given our objections to his plan so 

 freely.— A word about succeeding by luck, 

 as you express it : I know that we often suc- 

 ceed because we have neglected something; 

 but, of course, you would not recommend 

 developing that system of management. 



DRONES THAT CAN STING. 



SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN. 



^",f' SEND you a cage containing bees. Look at 

 \ them, and see what you make of them. We have 

 ~ been taught that drones could not sling; but if 



there are not some bees in the cage that have drone 



heads and bodies, with stings, then I am mistaken. 



I also put in a few worker bees from the same hive. 



There are some of them that have worker bodiea 



