isrc. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUUK 



(tLEanings came by return mail, aiui there is some 

 sati.staction in having things come as iiromptly as they 

 <lo from your shop. But we wish to enter u protest 

 iigainst your metlKKl ol'tryins? things. We take it tiiat 

 your trial of tke cold " t'i-ni«e proves vers- little, 

 lor or agaieist tSie chiiims of the originator. You did 

 r.ot use the cokl Irn^ie acconling to the directions of 

 <lie originator, if I rea<l aright. Now, f think your 

 itrial of the hoiise apiary is a little the same. This far 

 your management ss about in accordance with Faulk- 

 ner's directions, and the condition of your bees seems 

 to be very satisfactory. Faulkner claims that he con- 

 trols the te-nperature of his house by his plan of ven- 

 tilation, and by ihat means, in connection with liis 

 ?.)lan of n«ini]){ilating the hives, contix)ls swanning. 



Y'our house and Faulkner"? are about the same at 

 5)resent, but when hot weather comes they will be 

 iliflerent. if you can control swarming with your 

 house it will be strong evidence against the utility of 

 his ventilators. IJut if your bees swarm as usual, will 

 that be any evidence against Faulkner's house? I 

 think not. 



About midnight, in forepart of last May, { landed 

 <m the wharf at Vevay. The next morning! obtained 

 the names of several bee-keepers lixtm ag)ocer, (my 

 object was to learn something about the honey re- 

 (lOurces of southern /n<l.) and accklentally called on 

 V*'m. Faulkner. I foun<l him to be rather a feeble 

 looking old man, who seemed to give nearly aU his 

 (hue to the care of bees ant) the manufacture of honey 

 fjoxes. After talking to him for some time and taking 

 a look at his house apiary, I was surprised tJiat I hatl 

 never read any tiling in the bee papers about Wm. 

 f/aulkner or his liouse apiar}'. His house, liives and 

 fixtures look somewhat complicate«i on paper, but 

 the}' are very simple in use. 1 like the house so well 

 that I have been very much dissatislied with my hives 

 over since. K. AI. Retnold.s, 



East Spriagfield, O., Jan 14th, 1870, 



Wo believe we gave the cold frame a faithful 

 lest in all thing:s, except covering; the glass 

 with boards and straw; and as this part of 

 5 he programme converts the cold frame into 

 little else than a cel'ar or cavo, except that it 

 is very much more expensive, we thought we 

 were excusable for hesitating to sacrifice any 

 more bees ; especially as a large number of let- 

 ters were receive<l detailing just such losses as 

 ours, when they followed all the "instructions." 

 It is to be remembered also, tiiat even Mr. Bid- 

 well himself stated at a convention, that the 

 cold frame did not prevent the bees from get- 

 ting "sick." As the onh- sick bees we liad last 

 sijriiig were those under the glass, and as we 

 (ouki discover no way of preventing thedanip- 

 viess that seems to be a necessary feature of all 

 cold frames, did we not carry the experiment 

 far enough r* 



jNIr. Faulkner's house, as described in A. B. 

 J., is elevated l^X inches from the cellar walls, 

 and the eftect of this, in our opinion, would 

 amount to no cellar at all. Perhaps this idea 

 is patented; it is to keep out "ants" we are 

 told, and this reminds us of the following, just 

 at hand : 



Now, al)out the house apiary. Certainly your Ix'cs will 

 M'inter in it such a mild sesison as this, for in f.iot they 

 would winter anywhere. But let me caution you. The moths 

 will destroy yoiu- bees before any coll vVeather does. 

 Moths ! moths I moths ! 1 :un afraid will be the cry. I 

 once knew a man who hart GO hives ; they had done so 

 well for him, he said he was going to build a house for 

 Ihein. He did so, and in i years he had not a bee on tlie 

 phiCL". The millere at ni^ht were soon thicker than the 

 l.tPi'S in the daytime. 



Maeccs D. DiTBOia, Xewburgh, X. \. 



We think we can imagine the amused ex- 

 pression that pervades the countenances of 

 most of our readers, Vv'hen told that ants and 

 moths are going to contest for our hard earn- 

 ings ; surely friend D., you are jesting. Our 

 house apiary was stocked in July and as tlie 

 colonies vicre all weak, the moths had ample 

 field, and in fact a fev,' were seen during the hot 



weather in August ; but bless you ! there were 

 no cracks or crevices left in <?ur house to har- 

 bor them. The Italians idrove them out of the 

 hives in v', trice, and if they sought a lodging 

 place ou the smooth papered walls of our room, 

 we, broom in hand, soon convinced lx)th them 

 and the spidei's, that that precise locality was 

 anything but a healthy one for rising genera- 

 tions. Our most persuasive argument for ant 

 hills is Mrs. R.'s tea-kettle of boiling water. 



During the warm '.veathcr in Aug. we weix.' 

 unable to discover any need of ventilators 

 whatever, and during the zero freexes this win- 

 ter we have been of the same opinion ; yet the 

 patent men continue to dwell largely on the 

 subject. If the house f^houkl get too warm 

 during the swarming season, and we should 

 think best to open the large trap door in the 

 centre of the floor to get the benefit of the coo! 

 air from the cellar, does anybody think we 

 should buy a right for the privilege ot so do- 

 ing y Bcxi-keepers will probablj' have as many 

 notions in the construction of house apiaries 

 as they have in hives, yet if we undtrstantl 

 Mr. Faulkner in A. B. </., he threatens prosecu- 

 tion to any who put "any kind of a hive" in a 

 house and permit the bees to pass out through 

 the walls. We believe the time has come when 

 we may safely class individual rights with ants 

 and moth millers. 



By following the directions in last Gleanings 1 suc- 

 ceeded to a T. Ko accident, made a nice lot of it — mean- 

 ing candy. HENEr Daniels, Plainville, N. H. 



My bees have not done so well .-vs last season. I started 

 with about 40 good colonies and 4 weak ones. Got about 

 3,000 liis, mostly Ixix honey. Increased to 100. Late cold 

 spring and early cnld f;dl was bid for the business. Am 

 wintering llo colonies in my cellar ; doiny well so far. 



V. D. Bassford, Water;own, Wis,, Dec. 13, 1875. 



I should like very much to obtain some seed of the gold- 

 en lod, as there is nothing of the kind in this section. I 

 have tried borage from seed. I obtained it from New 

 York last winter, and tind no very great advantage in it. 

 I inteiid to try it again from seed galhered last summer. 

 There is in this neighborhood what is termed wild cucum- 

 ber, on which the bees work industriously. 



Joseph Mason, Hazel Green, Wis., Dev. -20, 1875. 



I have succeeded this year quite satisfactorily with a 

 start of 12 colonics of bees. Have sold SIOO.OO worth, ta- 

 ken 900 lbs of honey, and put up for wintering '20 colonies. 

 Twelve on summer stands and 4 in a bee house with 

 double walls, 4 inches filled with over 00 bushels of saw- 

 dust, and double door. Have 4 in my cellar. So far the 

 weather has been very favorable, scarcely any snow and 

 but little time that plows have not been running. The 

 early part of fall was very dry, the latter ver.v wet. Honey 

 sells here at wholesale for "iSc. extracted, comb 35c. 



Edwakd Stevenson. 



Salt Lake City, irtah, Dec. 24, 1875, 



I agree with you in regard to the light colored bees, on 

 page 163, Dec. No. A couple of friends called to see me 

 Sept. the 17th, at that time my bees were very scant in 

 honey ; one said if his bees were so light in honey he 

 wovdd feel alarmed about them, I said I would wait two 

 weeks, if they did not fill up in that time I would 

 feed them ; my object was to test the light liees with the 

 dark ones in gathering honey. My light colored were the 

 strongest colonies. About Oct. 13th. there was a heavy 

 frost that stopped all honey gathering ; my dark bees had 

 gathered honey enough, and .'-ome to .spare to keep the 

 yellow fancy bees from star^•ing this winter. If all light 

 iices are like these, my advice is this : if .vou want to keep 

 bcs with satisfaction ami jiay, keep the dark leather 

 colored. 1 had .a colony of Italian bees at our county fair 

 last fail, had them flyinit anion'-' the cix)wd, did not use 

 any smoker in handling theui and no person was stung 

 that 1 know of. The ([ueen was bred from Argo's stock of 

 bees. We got a colony of bees from i\lr. Argo three .years 

 ago ; they were genuine, and the nif^est iiees to handle I 

 ever had. J. M. C. Tatloe. 



Lewiston, Md„ Dec, ilst, 1875. 



