758 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



Dec. 



FRAMES, PROPOLIS, ETC. 



I guess I shall have to apologize some. In my last 

 month's communication, in speaking of frames 1 

 should have said that, according to my estimation, 

 the all-wood frames not wired were too light for use 

 in friend Abrams' locality. On account of the great 

 amount of propolis, some of the frames were glued 

 fast all around. As to the source of this propolis, I 

 am not prepared to say. The second reason, but not 

 an objectionable one, why these frames are too 

 light for friend A.'s locality is, that it is an extreme- 

 ly good place for honey. I do not tbiuk I ever saw 

 frames more completely filled with honey than were 

 friend A.'s; and it being so very warm, the combs 

 are much inclined to sag. In defense of friend A., I 

 will say that he had his fi'ame well nailed, and not 

 simply driven together. Chas. Kingsley. 



Greeneville, Tenn., Nov., 1883. 



WINTERING BEES WITH DOWNWARD VENTILATION. 



My father has been keeping bees in the old square 

 box hives for nearly 30 years. He kteps blocks un- 

 der his hives about an inch or IVi inches thick, and 

 lets them be in that condition all winter (on a plauk 

 In a shed), and he seldom has any bees to freeze. 

 Perhaps you would like to know how much honey he 

 gets. Weil, sometimes he gets some honey, and 

 some summers he doesn't get any. He usually gets 

 one and sometimes two swarms from each hive, and 

 they swarm about the last of June, or perhaps not 

 until July, and only a lew of them gather enough 

 honey to keep them over winter. He and I have 

 concluded to go into partnership with our bees, and 

 expect to put all of his in chaff hives next spring, 

 and Italianize them also. Thas. Matthews. 



Predricksburg, O , Nov. 20, 1883. 



DOWNWARD VENTILATION. 



I notice on page 536, Juvenile, about downward 

 ventilation. Last winter was very culd; my bees, some 

 of them, froze to death, well packed in dry-goods 

 boxes, while my neighbor's bees stood on a bench 3 

 feet from the ground in single-wall hives, with 8-in. 

 space above the frames, entrance open, nothing to 

 protect them from the cold, and old cracked hives 

 at that. I was in Southern Illinois a month ago, and 

 saw some bees there that were standing in the same 

 spot i years; and when the man hived them it was 

 very warm, and he put a brick under each corner of 

 the hive above the bottom-board. When I saw them 

 they were full of bees, with combs about VA inches 

 below the edge of hive. They were hybrid bees, 

 and hardy ones. Richard Edmunds. 



Grand Crossing, III., Oct. 23, 1883. 



SOME BEE-FRIENDS IN TROUBLE. 



Friend Root:— We deem it advisable to state, that 

 several cases of foul brood developed in one of our 

 apiaries the past season. We never saw a case of it 

 before; and if we sent out any infected colonies or 

 nuclei to our customers, it was unwillingly and un- 

 knowingly done. When discovered, prompt and ef 

 feclive measures were taken to eradicate it, both by 

 the burning and starvation processes, and, we are 

 happy to say, with the most satisfactory results. All 

 orders filled hereafter will be from apiaries that 

 have never had a case of foul brood. 



Flanagan & Illinski. 



Belleville, 111., Nov. 21, 1883. 

 We are very sorry to hear of this, friends 

 F. & I. But we are glad to know that you 

 have decided to come out frankly, and own 



up to the condition of affairs. Your record 

 has been so fair for years past, that I think 

 no one will accuse you of purposely or even 

 willingly scattering the seeds of this dire 

 scourgf. I presume you have, of course, 

 made arrangements with those to whom the 

 foul brood was sent (for you can probably 

 easily trace it), that every possible effort be 

 made to kill it out wherever it has gone, as 

 speedily as possible. I have for years been 

 afraid to buy bees indiscriminately from a 

 distance, for fear of just such a calamity. 

 Now that we know how to raise bees, and 

 multiply them with such exceeding rapidity, 

 would it not be well to rear them, instead of 

 buying V A pound of sugar is a good deal 

 cheaper than a pound of bees ; and when 

 the honey-yield fails, colonies may be in- 

 creased with enormous rapidity by sugar 

 ff eding. Then we are safe from any conta- 

 gion that may be unwittingly contracted. 



IIVTRODUCIIVG QCJKENS BY CHL.ORO- 



D. A. JONES'S PROCESS. 



AN you tell D. A. Jones's method of introduc- 

 ing 50 queens in 50 minutes, as he told in the 

 '^'^ Canada Convention? See Juvenile, Sept. 15' 

 1883, page 556. J. C. Dickinson. 



Hudson, Mich., Nov. 13, 1883. 



We submitted the above card to friend 

 Jones, that we might get the plan correct, 

 without any mistake, and below is his reply, 

 which was sent to us in the shape of a proof- 

 slip, prepared evidently for some paper. We 

 mention this, so that said paper may not ac- 

 cuse US of borrowing wiihout giving due 

 credit. Here is friend Jones's answer : 



I take an ordinary bee-smoker with a straight bar- 

 rel or fuel-box. Tapering smokers, such as Clark's, 

 would not be as good, as there would be more dif- 

 ticulty in fitting tbe spong;es. I then get three 

 spimges that fit moderately tight to the inside of the 

 barrel, when pusbed in. Then press one sponge 

 into the bottom of the barrel; dampen the second 

 sponge with one teaspoonlul of chloroform, and put 

 it in next; then put the third s^ponge on the top. 

 You then have the sponge filled with chloroform 

 between the two dry ones. Adjust the nozzln of 

 the sm()k*-r, and you are ready lor operations. Pro- 

 ceed to your queenless colonies, and puff in the 

 chlorofoim at the entrance, the same as you would 

 smoke them, for, say, a quarter of a minute; then 

 pr< ceed to the next, and so on, for, say, about two 

 minutes; return to the first hive again, and give 

 them a few more puffs with your chloroform smo- 

 ker, and let your queen run in. Do this until you 

 have gone over all those you first puffed. Thus the 

 bees in each hive have had about two minutes in 

 which to get sleepy before the queen is introduced. 

 Now, if it is in the middle of the day, and the bees 

 are returning from the fields, I return to the first 

 hive, after, say, two minutes, and give them a third 

 dose, as the returning bees require a little sniff to 

 keep them quiet. I have the past season taken the 

 worst cases ot fertile workers, and the most difficult 

 queenless colonies that I ever had to deal with, and 

 1 never missed yet. Now, why does it work, or why 

 use it? Simply because there is a principle govern- 

 ing the introduction of queens; namely: That the 

 bees must be kept quiet, and without a desire to 

 fight or kill the queen, and the queen must act as 

 if just hatched — she must be quiet and innocent, 

 and must exhibit no fear. 



The chloroform is dintributed equally into all por- 

 tions of the hive by this system; and if the entrance 

 is not too large, the chloroform remains some time 

 about the hive and comb, thus keeping the bees in a 

 sort of a quiet, sleepy state, and they come out of 

 that condition so gradually that the queen, being ia 

 witb them, gets ewougb so that her mpvemeots are 



