532 



GLEAi^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



living. Some of them are quite expert as bee- 

 hunters. As the timber is not very extensive, few 

 colonies go there but are hunted up by these per- 

 sons before winter, and the honey thu-; obtained is 

 an addition to their bill of fare much relished by 

 their children. If a few of my bees have thus stolen 

 away on Sabbath while 1 and my family were at 

 church, and helped to increase their fall supply of 

 honey, I am satisfied; and more so when I read such 

 a passage as Lev. 19 : 9, 10: '"And when je reap the 

 harvest of jour laud, thou shalt not whully reap the 

 corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the 

 gleanings cf thy harvest. And thou shalt nut glean 

 thy vineyard; thou shalt leave tbem for the poor, 

 and the stranger; I am the Lord thy God." 



Six years ago I purchased 19 colonies of bees. 1 

 now have 80; I raise both box and extracted honey, 

 and depend for increase on natural swarming. By 

 giving plenty of room and ventilation, and by care- 

 fully shading my hives from the sun, I have labored 

 to keep down swarming. All these years I have 

 gone to church and li-ft my bees, and I never heard 

 of a swarm leaving while 1 was away, and I never 

 had any grounds to think that any did leave. 



Scotch Grove, lo., Aug. iH, 1883. 



'Thank you, friend R., for yonr wise coun- 

 sel. I am pleased to note how nearly you 

 decide just as I had done before your article 

 was received, on page 588. 



RAILROAD FAKES TO THE CONVEN- 

 TION, ETC. 



SOJIETHING FROM D. A. JONES. 



NNOUNCE return ticljeis at single fares on all 

 railroads in Canada from the 17th to the 2:M 

 of Sept.; l}-i fares for excursion tickets from 

 the 10th to the 33d of Sept. I am arranging hotel ac- 

 commodations. Urge every one who possibly can 

 get here, to come. There will be special excursions 

 from many points in the U. S. very cheap, to the 

 Falls and Toronto. I hear of one from Kentucky, 

 Cincinnati, Pennsylvania, New York, Chicago, etc., 

 but can not get particulars yet. They are to be ad- 

 vertised thoroughly by the excursion agents of each 

 road. Parties communicating with them can get 

 full particulars. We will do all we can. 



And, friend Root, you say the can business is live- 

 ly now with you, and that you receive many orders 

 every day. Why, after your people visit our exhib- 

 it in Toronto, your trade will doubtless double for 

 some time. We have been receiving orders for from 

 500 to 3000 daily; but last vvednesday, orders arrived 

 for nearly ten thousand! We expect to have the 

 first hundred thousand completed next week, and 

 yet are behind on orders. 



I should have sent you samples of our new tins 

 sooner, but was improving on them, so now we con- 

 sider them perfect. When you start making them 

 you can turn your whole shop into an immense tin- 

 factory. I will have you some honey-can labels 

 ready to take back from our convention; and if I do 

 not surprise you all with their beauty and value, I 

 shall be disappointed. 



Excuse haste and scribbling, as you know how it 

 is to be nearly driven to death with work. Looking 

 forward to the time when I shall have the pleasure 

 of again talking to you persooally, I am, dear sir. 

 Yours in haste, — J). A. Jones. 



Toronto, Can., Aug., 1883. 



Thank you, friend Jones, for your sugges- 

 tions. We shall be very glad indeed to see 

 the new honey-pails, labels, and all the oth- 

 er things you are continually inventing and 

 devising to make the bee-men happy. Long 

 may you " wave " ! By the way, we do not 

 lind Cleveland in your enumeration. Are 

 there not friends enough going from Cleve- 

 land so as to get tickets at'a reduced price ? 

 Who is there among us who can agitate the 

 matter, and get us a rate that can be report- 

 ed in our Sept. Juvenile V We will try to 

 have it out a little earlier next time. 



By the way, friend Jones, if you don't al- 

 ready know it, I have another piece of good 

 news for all who go to the convention. Mr. 

 l^angstroth is to be present, and has prom- 

 ised to go with me ; and I hereby invite 

 friend Muth to go to his home and get him, 

 and bring him to our place, and then we can 

 all make the trip to Toronto together. If 

 any other bee friends want to be among the 

 number, let them come along. 



WINTER PREPARATION. 



BY J. E. POND, JR. 



ONE of the reasons for severe losses in winter, I 

 ! firmly believe, is that we wait too long before 



^~' we commence winter preparation. In our 

 anxiety to obtain the largest possible yield of sur- 

 plus, we draw from the brood-chamber with the ex- 

 tractor, up to the very last moment, or leave the 

 sections on till it is almost too late to feed up for 

 winter with safety. By these means we either ex- 

 haust the brood-chamber entirely of stores, or al- 

 low the bees to put both honey and pollen where 

 they choose, which, as a rule, is in such parts of the 

 frames as will be nearly inaccessible to them in late 

 winter or early spring, at just the time when they 

 are most in need of them. I once thought the form 

 of frame was the chief cause of loss in winter; but 

 I am now convinced that such is not altogether the 

 case; and while I favor the standard L. form, believ- 

 ing it to approach the nearest of any to the shape 

 indicated by an obsprvanoe of natural laws, I am 

 still of the opinion that deeper frames would winter 

 more successfully, if care were taken in their prep- 

 aration for the approaching cold season, at an earlier 

 period than is usually done. 



What, in my own view, is needed to enable a stock 

 to winter safely, is a frame that contains a sufficient 

 amount of stores, so placed that they are at all times 

 accessable, no matter how cold the season, or in 

 what condition it Is placed. I am speaking now of 

 wintering on summer stands; having had no exper- 

 ience in any other form of wintering, 1 am unable to 

 give any but a theoretical view upon aught else. 

 An experience, however, of sixteen years wintering 

 on summer stands, using the standard L. frame 

 without loss, may warrant me, perhaps, in thinking 

 my ideas are nearly correct upon the matter, and 

 may, perhaps, be considered tolerably safe for 

 others to follow. 



My apiary is protected on the north and west sides 

 by a high close hedge. The hives face the south, 

 and have no other protection. I have used double- 

 walled and chaff hives, and also single-walled Sim- 

 plicity hives, made of 9i-in. pine stock, and with the 

 alike good results given above. I have lost colonies 

 in winter during the above-mentioned period, bat 



