1883 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



575 



long, was cut in the ground, across one end of which 

 two pieces of old picket stuff were placed; and on 

 the pieces, ordinary frame} were hung. To guide 

 the bees about starting to builii, one frame ttlled 

 with comb was hung in the center, the frames ori 

 each side of it having only starters of fdn. Thus the 

 swarm occupied one end of a covered trench while 

 the other eud was simply unoccupied space. The 

 top was covered with boards, and on the boards 

 earth was heaped up, except where a crack between 

 two boards formed their entrance-way. The fall 

 harvest had been poor, aud they were light in stores; 

 but I told them they must be prulent of their hon- 

 ey, and make it last, for I wouldn't give them any 

 more. They had about 8. 9, and 10 lbs. respectively. 

 This was not bad, considering the time they h id had 

 to gather it in, as two of the s^varms were— iomiciled 

 — \uir. 1.5th, and the other Aug. 20th. When I dug 

 in, about the midlle of March, one colony hal starv- 

 ed, and two had cira3 through tolerably well. The 

 colony that perished, and one of the surviving ones, 

 hal suffered s )me with dysentery. D.wiii^j the cold 

 part of the, fsprin:] thmc hole-inlhey round colonies 

 buiU up much faster than the average of colonies nhove 

 ground; but when steady warm weather arrived, 

 just the reverse was the case, f hoped greatly that 

 so much room and coolness would prevent swarm- 

 ing; but, alas! it doesn't do any such thing. In pre- 

 paring them for winter I suspended a division-board 

 on each side of them, put an enamel sheet over 

 them, then some waste paper, ani then a sh^et of 

 tin. The cover was then replaced and earthed up a 

 little more than before, but the entrance-hole was 

 left op3n. Part of the time duriug winter it was 

 drifted over with snovv, and part of the time warmth 

 from within kept a hole open. So I report that 

 bees prosper well in holes in the ground, winter 

 well, and swarm, just the same as any bees; but I 

 have not yet hit upon a very convenient way to take 

 surplus honey from them. 



The experiment with the thirteenth colony was 

 rather a botch, and perhaps it is not necessary to 

 give the details. It was the strongest and best of 

 the colonies tried experimentally; cami through 

 alive but weak, and dwindled away in the spring. 



My figures last month got a little inebri;ited. Sub- 

 tracting IS from 130 docBn't leave 136 quite; it leaves : 

 11"; and as the odd one, of course, had to be packed 

 alone, there were IIB instead of 136 packed two and 

 two. E E. H.isry. 



Richards. O., Oct. 18, 1883. 



Friend H., I am very glad indeed that you 

 have, by these experiments, given ns consid- 

 erable information on this matter of partial- 

 ly burying bees. I haye for some time been 

 well satistied that chaff hives and other sim- 

 ilar protections have the objectionable fea- 

 ture you mention in regard to ho'es in the 

 ground, and that, while they protect from the 

 severity of the weather in winter, when 

 warm spring weather comes they deprive the 

 bees of the warmth of the sun, and are too 

 slow in getting warmed up ; liowever. as they 

 very shortly become a protection against the 

 rays of the summer sun, on the whole we 

 usually hnd a gain by protection. I have 

 often thought of having the bees partially in 

 the ground, thus saving them from the dis- 

 astrous effects of cold winds ; and I believe 

 yet that your plan may be developed so as to 

 be one of the best for wintering bees. In re- 

 gard to that pollen matter, I wish you could 1 



be sure that your bees that had almost noth- 

 ing but pollen had lived until March, or even 

 till February. Many times bees seem to get 

 along after a fashion when the stores they 

 consume are mostly pollen; but for all that, 

 I believe I would rather they should get 

 along without it until they commence rais- 

 ing brood. 



A OOOD REPORT FROITI NORTH CAR> 

 OLINA. 



ANOTHER ROUSING REPORT FROM A FOUR - STORY 

 HIVE. 



Ij? COMMENCED the season with 31 weak colonies. 

 ^ I now have 43; have sold one, and gave one to 



~^ my son; have taken 2100 lbs. honey — 500 lbs. 

 comb, 1600 lbs. extracted. I also have about 200 lbs. 

 in the frame, i-eady to set in the hive if needed. My 

 crop of honey is nearly all sold at 12'/4 cts. per lb. for 

 comb, and 10 cts. for extracted. I had none built in 

 section?; my comb honey was made mostly in half- 

 story frames, cut out in 4 pieces, laid in tin cans, 

 and extracted honey poured over it till covered; it 

 was very nice. 



My crop of honey was all sourwood, except about 

 300 lbs. Myself and neighbors were astonished at 

 the amount made by my little stock of bees. My 

 best hive (spring count) made 316 lbs. extracted hon- 

 ey; another, which sent out no swarm, 260 lbs. ex- 

 tracted. From this hive, on the 13th of July I took 

 87 lbs., and on the 27th, 134 lbs. This was a 4-story 

 hive. Does it pay? Let us see how profits compare 

 with expenses: 



23 colonies increase iS5. 00 per colony) • $115 00 

 1600 lbs. extracted honey at 10c per lb., - - 160 00 



.'iOO Itis. comb honey at 13!4c per lb., - - 63 ,50 

 Queens sold 30 00 



$367 50 

 67 50 



Total, 



We will put labor and expenses at 



Which leaves a profit of - - - - $300 00 

 I see reports ahead of this, but I think this should 

 satisfy an A B C scholar. 



Friend R , I am under many obligations to you for 

 your ABC book and Gleanings. They are worth 

 many times their cost. I use the Simplicity hive; I 

 made them by the directions laid down in the ABC 

 book. I have been a bee-keeper for 25 years on the 

 old box-hive plan. My crop of honey this season 

 was worth more than all made in the 25 years. The 

 Italians are far superior to the blacks, in my estima- 

 tion. Their gentleness while being handled is one 

 very desirable trait, and they gather honey at times 

 when the blacks do not seem to find any. They in- 

 crease much faster, and the only fault I have found 

 with them is, they swarm too much; but that is not 

 serious. 



The flow of honey from the sourwood commenced 

 June 24, and ended July2t. Since that, bees have 

 been gathering enough to keep up brood-rearing. 

 My bees are in good condition for winter, except a 

 few hives that failed to store honey In the brood- 

 chamber. I will say in regard to the sourwood as a 

 honey-bearing tree, that we, in my opinion, have 

 made a great mistake in clearing our lands for the 

 purpose of raising tobacco; but we have more sour- 

 wood yet than bees. There were tons of honey lost 

 this season for want of bees to gather it, in Eagle 

 Mills township. Better send over some of your 

 Ohio bee-keepers, and help us take care of our hon- 

 ey. Up to this date very little interest has been 



