684 



GLEAKIKGS IN BEE CULTtrHE. 



Not. 



NUMBER OF BEES IN A POUND. 



To-day, while preparing my bees for winter, I had 

 occasion to shake two or three combs of beautiful 

 Italians oil to their alighting-board. The morning 

 had been cool, but the sun was then shining warm; 

 and as they were in no hurry to get back into their 

 hive, I thought it would be a good time to And how 

 many bees it takes to weigh a pound. I weighed a 

 little cage, and then picked it up and put into it 130 

 bees to get half an ounce by my letter-scales, which 

 would be 3840 to the pound. As these bees wei-e not 

 as full of honey as they would be in the honey sea- 

 son, it probably would take quite a few less to weigh 

 a pound then— perhaps about 3500. S. C. Perky. 



Portland, Ionia Co., Mich., Oct. 10, 1883. 



Ill our price list we give the number of 

 bees to the pound at 4u00, which is not far 

 from che figures as given above. 



REPORT FROM A HOUSE APIARY, ETC. 



The queen you sent me is a beauty, and also her 

 young, as they make their appearance. They have 

 white, hairy backs, and three red bands and three 

 white. She was at liberty Id the hive Aug. 5; began 

 laying the ITth, and her bees are flying to-day, Sept. 

 4. My bees were ail blacks this summer, and have 

 done well. I have taken over 100 lbs. from some of 

 the swarms. 1 swarm artificially all of my bees that 

 are strong enough ia season, and extract their hon- 

 ey from the top hive as fast as they want room. 



My bees are in a house, packed in sawdust, winter 

 and summer. They are all in one row, 31 in number. 

 The house is double-walled. I handle them from the 

 inside. I have tin doors, so that I can sun or shade 

 them as I like. A. J. Thayer. 



Blodgett's Mills, N. Y. 



HOW I WINTER MY BEES. 



1 thought my way the past two years of winter- 

 ing might perhaps interest some of your many 

 readers enough to try it. I build a wall six feet 

 high of plank, east and west; set my hives 6 inches 

 apart, facing south; then set posts in front 6 inches 

 from hives; then take a plank wide enough to ex- 

 tend from hives to posts six inches above entrance; 

 then plank up like first wall, making one side a 

 foot or fifteen inches higher than the other; then 

 till in with chafif to cover hives; then shed over, to 

 keep out rain, etc. Leave a small space of entrance 

 open, that the bees may have a fly every warm day, 

 as that is the main thing in keeping healthy bees. 

 I have wintered two years in this way, and have 

 not lost a single stand. The only objection is in 

 moving to summer stands, as bees will go back to 

 where they were wintered. 



This has been the poorest honey season for many. 

 We have had no rain for six weeks, and but little 

 fall bloom. I have 37 stands from 8, spring count, 

 but am afraid they will be short of supplies to winter 

 on, and it looks useless to pay 10 cts. for sugar to 

 feed, and sell honey at ]3'/2- Friend Root, how 

 would it do to set syrup out in day time, and let 

 them all fare alike? C. L. Gough. 



Rock Spring, Mo., Sept. 38, 1883. 



I think, friend G., you would not be so 

 badly off as you suggest, in selling honey at 

 VZi cts., and buying sugar at lO cts. If 

 your sugar costs you 10 cts., good thick 

 syrup — thicker even than the honey, will 

 cost you only about 8 cents, and a pound 

 of the sugar syrup is worth quite a little 



more than a pound of honey. Feeding syrup 

 in the open air is often done, but it does not 

 answer very well for preparing bees for 

 winter, because the strongest colonies, that 

 need it least, will probably get the most ; 

 and the weak ones, that need it most, will 

 get but little. Besides, unless one is pretty 

 well posted he would be likely to have a big 

 job of robbing on hand. 



ARE I3EES CANNIBALS? 



Yes, sir, Mr. Editor, sometimes. 1 have had two or 

 three cases this season, where both eggs and larvae 

 were eaten up. The last one was so striking that I 

 will try to give you an account of it. After reading 

 Mrs. Harrison's article about toy bee-hives I went 

 and made one of an old cigar-box and two sections. 

 Now, these sections contained comb and honey in 

 plenty, and the bees which I put in were never with- 

 out plenty of honey. I stocked it with young Ital- 

 ians, and a virgin queen just hatched. In about two 

 weeks, as she did not lay I inserted a piece of comb 

 with eggs and just hatched larvss. These were all 

 gone in two or three days, and I gave them another 

 piece, with larvfe in all stages, from the egg to those 

 just ready to hatch. In about three days 1 investi- 

 gated, with the same result as before. As the queen 

 was nearly three weeks old, and did not lay, I con- 

 cluded she was " no good," and pinched her head. In 

 a day or two they were given a cell; and when their 

 queen was a week old I gave them some more larvae. 

 Do you suppose those old cannibals had reformed? 

 Not a bit of it. They sucked the life blood from 

 their embryo sisters, with no more compunction 

 than a saloon-keeper has when he ministers to the 

 " depraved appetite " he has created, and thus sucks 

 the life blood from the laborer's poor wife and chil- 

 dren. Chalon Fowls. 



Oberlin, O., Oct. 33, 1883. 



Well, friend F., your experiment is such a 

 " clincher " I do not know but tliat we shall 

 have to give in ; and yet it seems to me they 

 would have taken to the brood, and reared 

 young bees, were it not that you put them 

 in so small a hive ; for I have oftentimes 

 thought that small clusters are more dispos- 

 ed to play such foolish tricks. And by the 

 way, friend F., I think if you had put that 

 queen into a full colony she probably would 

 have laid all right. Did none of your little 

 hives work any better Y 



FROM 37 TO 90, AND 3015 LBS. OF HONEY. 



This, my first report in bee culture, I send for pub- 

 lication in your excellent journal. I went into win- 

 ter quarters on summer stands in 1883, with 40 colo- 

 nies in Simplicity hives. Came out May, 1883, with 

 .37; 31 of said number I ran for honey; 16 culls were 

 run for increase of stock. Extracted, during the 

 season, 3015 lbs.; comb honey in 1-lb. sections, 300 

 lbs. Total for season of 1883, 3315 lbs., or a little over 

 157 lbs. per colony — 5-6 of total amount white- 

 clover honey, and gilt edge at that. I. used 10 lbs. of 

 combfdn.; increased to 90. My stock built out 500 

 new frames full of comb. Reduction by sales and 

 culls places my stock now for winter at 75 colonies. 

 Fall yield of honey is a total failure in our section; 

 cause, drought. W. A. Hunt. 



Lynnville, Ind., Oct. 20, 1883. 



BAD NEWS FROM FRIEND KENNEDY. 



On the evening of the 20th, my dwelling-house, 

 honey-house, work-shop, 30 stands of bees, all of 



