!?56 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



FROM 3 (AND SOME MORE) TO 30, AND NO HONEY. 



Here Is my report for 1883. I commenced the 

 season with three swarms, one of which was queen- 

 less. The season has been cool most of the time. 

 Frost came on the night of the 8th of September, 

 and killed all flowers, and vegetables in general; 

 and yet, notwithstanding the cold and backward 

 spring, bees have done pretty well. I have taken 

 no honey, except for table use, as honey was not my 

 object this season. I purchased a Holy- Land queen 

 (tested) of W. P. Henderson, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 

 which came to hand April 16th, and I have from 

 that queen and her progeny 10 fair colonies in good 

 wintering trim; and from the other two I have 15 

 colonies. I have climbed, and transferred from the 

 timber into movable-frame hives, 3 colonies; have 

 taken three which were intended for the brimstone- 

 pit, and have fed them with sugar syrup until they 

 have ample stores for winter. I have 30 all told, 

 and have them all neatly packed on summer stand j 

 in chaff. If I am a candidate for Blasted Hopes, j 

 just place me where I belong. Counting the three 

 in the spring at $10.00 each makes $30.00; and the . 

 27 increase at $5.00 each, makes $135.00, and I sold 3 

 four-frame nuclei with hive for $10.00. Sold queens 

 to the amount of $5.00, which sums up for income, ' 

 $150 00, and the outlay for the season for lumber, ; 

 etc., $10.00, which leaves me a profit of $140.00 on 

 the bees. A. L. Lindley. 



Jordan, Ind., Nov. 15, 1883. 



Friend L., your remark about increasing 

 the Holy-Land queen to ten colonies reminds 

 me of a question my brother asked me a few 

 minutes ago. His home is in Mitchell, Da- 

 kota ; and as he was getting ready to go he 

 asked me if he could build up an apiary from 

 one of those little boxes with bees in it — 

 meaning some cages of queens ready to go by 

 mail that he saw in the factory. Xow, 1 told 

 him he could not ; but as you state it above, 

 perhaps I am mistaken. Joking aside, you 

 have done well anyhow, if your bees all 

 winter, and 1 hope they will. I can do so 

 much to help you along, without very much 

 trouble. Your figures look first rate. I do 

 not think we shall put you in Blasted Hopes 

 just yet. " 



BOTTOM ventilation. 



I thought I would write you, and give some of my 

 experience in bee-keeping. I saw in Gleanings, on 

 page 537, that you wanted some reports in regard to 

 lower ventilation. I have been keeping bees for 30 

 years, and have always wintered them on their sum- 

 mer stands, by raising them and placing blocks of 

 wood between the hive and bottom-board, one inch 

 thick. 1 have had all kinds of hives, and generally 

 they winter well, unless they take the dysentery. 

 Last winter was very severe on bees. I lost about 

 five per cent of mine, with outdoor wintering. 



CAN bees hatch OUT IN 14 DAYS FROM THE LAY- 

 ING OF THE EGG? 



I want to tell you something about my bees swarm- 

 ing this last season. I had 65 swarms that I hived, 

 and one of these I put in the hive June 8, and on the 

 33d day of June they swarmed, and, without cluster- 

 ing went to the woods. I have since found them. 

 There was nothing strange in their going to the 

 woods; but there was something about that hive 

 that was strange and new to me. After the swarm 

 left I went to the hive, and the ground was strewn 

 with young bees that could not fly. I began to help 



them In the hive by taking it off the stand and plac- 

 ing it on the ground. You may say they were old 

 bees that got knocked down in the rush of swarm- 

 ing. They were young bees, sure. This was a Quin- 

 by hive they were in. I examined in the hive to see 

 the young bees crawling out of the comb. They 

 had been in the hive just 14 days. I put two frames 

 of finished comb In the hive, which I had taken out 

 of a hive the bees died in last winter. There were 

 no eggs nor brood in them. I want to know if you 

 ever had bees to swarm in two weeks after hiving 

 them, and have young bees hatched, and crawling 

 out of the hive. 



HOW LONG WILL BEES LIVE IN A HIVE, WITHOUT 

 CHANGING THE COMB? 



I have one that has been 20 years In a box hive, 

 and it has always been wintered outdoors with bot- 

 tom ventilation. There is one of my neighbors who 

 has one that has been 38 years in the hive (it is a 

 box hive also). I put both of those old swarms in 

 the hive. I have 50 of the Quinby hives, and 30 

 more of all kinds that I expect to winter outdoors. 



BEST PACKING FOR BEES. 



I find the best packing for my bees is plenty of 

 good white-clover honey; when they have that they 

 are pretty sure to winter. Ben.i. Veach. 



Springport, Ind.Oct. 29, 1883. . 



Friend Y., although I can not see where 

 the mistake comes in, yet I am sure you have 

 made one somewhere. I do not Jbelieve that 

 bees can be hatched out in 14 days, any more 

 than I believe that corn may come up the 

 same day it is planted. No offense, of 

 course, for I know you talk honestly, only I 

 can not see how it is possible. By some 

 "hocus-pocus," 1 can not just tell how, there 

 must have been young larvic in those combs 

 that you put in that hive.— I believe it is 

 pretty well settled, that bees may live and do 

 well in the same combs for even 30 or 40 

 years. — Friend V., I think we shall all have 

 to take off our hats, and own up the corn on 

 your last observation, even if we do discount 

 that part about the bees hatching in two 

 weeks a little. 



FLORIDA. 



Well, at last I am in Florida. The weather Is de- 

 lightful; no frost yet. Yesterday I overhauled my 

 bees; they are full of eggs and brood, having been 

 here now 3 weeks today. They are flying out to- 

 day as early as 8 o'clock a.m. I shall leave here for 

 New Smyrna, Fla., on Monday, and will settle on 

 my location, then have bees forwarded. I write you 

 fully from there. I inclose a sample of plant grow- 

 ing here in father's yard, which I think is the Simp- 

 son honey-plant. It is now in full bloom. Please 

 advise me what it is through your next No. I will 

 try to have plenty of early queens for you in April, 

 and I have no doubt a success can be made of ship- 

 ping bees to Florida for wintering, at a cost of not 

 over $1.25 per swarm from Western N. Y. I also 

 send you two Florida papers, and an invitation to 

 come to see me when I get fixed. 



T. Graham Ashmead. 



Jacksonville, Fla., Nov. 17, 1883. 



Friend A., we are glad to hear from you, 

 and hope you will like your new home. The 

 plant you send is not the Simpson plant, but 

 our old friend the spider plant, of which so 

 much has been said. This seems to indicate 

 that the spider plant is very widely dissem- 

 inated. 



