187B. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE crLTURE. 



HviMi the floor covered with dead bees, espe- 

 ■chiUy when more are escaping from their hives 

 •every time a ray of light is admitted. 



HOISL: APlARIEiS. 



"^^iS^OU want to know if my kouses had been successful 

 \l before they eanie into my hands. The Keitleman I 

 ■ Ml bought of,'cleared nearly JillWO. in one season, and 

 •did not get the bees until the middle of May. If 1 do as 

 AVell next year, 1 will make more than 100 percent on my 

 -'.mestmeiJt. 1 don't see why there need be so muoh jirej- 

 udice against house culture ; it is undoubtedly the most 

 ■eouvenient, :ukI umch the easiest way to keej) them secure 

 in winter. In extremely cciJd weather, hot irons can lie ni- 

 troducedin such a manner as to )n<'rease thi' lemijerature 

 •of the houses, and their peculiar eonstruclion causes them 

 to retain the heat for a long time. As fur f.'rdjiig, it caji 

 hd done by the house system with one-half tlie ii-ouble ta- 

 ken in any other way and be entirely .swure from robber,s, 

 1 know'but little about bees yet, but am inclined to 

 ibelieve the opposition to the house system is flavored 

 somewhat with old fogyisni — a little on the principle of 

 going to mill with the grist in one end of the bag and a 

 ''dornick" in theother, i shall be glad to hear cf any ronUy 

 serious objection to the liou.se system, that is not counter- 

 balanced by the benefits. 



i have an idea that the wanner I can keep my bees— so 

 ;is not lo heat them — the less they will eat and the more 

 jtrobable 1 will bo to get them siifely through the winter ; 

 therefore I am going to put some protci-tion under the 

 dids of the hives ^ the straw mats used b.v some are hard 

 to get, and 1 am going to use a kind of my own — the lining 

 iised imder carpets, is composed of two thicknesses of 

 lieavy paper with a hiyer of cotton batting between. I 

 ha])pened to have enough of this left from fiu-nishing my 

 house, to make one mat for each hive, which 1 will put 

 tuider the hd or top, on the frames. Do you think this 

 will be enough protection 'i 



ISAAC A. Smith, Hartwell, O., Nov, 3d, "75. 



Your paper and batting will answer very 

 well, but do you not think it would be much 

 cheaper to have your whole house })rotected 

 A'om the frost rather than go to so raucli 

 time and expense with each individual hive? 

 If we are correctly informed your patented 

 liouse apiary — Faulkner's — leaves the building 

 t-ntirely unprotected underneath. If we are 

 ^oing to try to keep out frost, it is a very im- 

 portant matter to have a good warm cellar 

 underneath our building. 



ventilation at all, the cold air working in 

 slowly through the wool in the lower ones, 

 and working out at tlie same ratelhr'ough the 

 upper ones. The direction of the wind also 

 having something to do with it. 



Dec. 20th — We liave had weather o« below 

 zero, and are delighted to report that the house 

 apiary has been all througli it Just as dry as a 

 chip. Not a particle of frost was to be seen on 

 the walls, and only a little on the inner glass 

 doors, and although we haven't a sign of a 

 "ventilator" the air inside is as pure and sweet 

 as it is out-doors; in fact it is simply quiet 

 natural uut-door wintering— entrances always 

 open — aiKl yet the interior of the house never 

 goes much below the freezing point. 



On what part or parts of Faulkner's house api'.iry does 

 he claim a patent right ? I see nothing in the clesciipliou 

 of it in A. li. J., tliat has not been used by others. 



R. MALLALitu, Wiightsxille, Pa. 



We are not able to discover any thing either 

 in Faulkner's, or Coe's house apiary that has 

 not been in use. 



In the A. B. J., for Nov., M. J. Stibbs, makes 

 quite an error where she states that we re- 

 ceived the necessary instructions for l)uilding 

 our house apiary of Mr. Coe — her brother. Mr. 

 Coe gave us no instructions but on the contra- 

 ry ridiculed our idea of two inch auger holes 

 and dispensing with ventilators ; our building 

 was made for another purpose, years ago, as 

 our readers are aware, and there can be no 

 possible need of buying a patent to build such 

 a one as ours. 



DEAE NOVICE :~Don't you think those oti e/i trances 

 to your house apiary will all "draw like stores' when the 

 we.ither gets cold ':' see Gleanings page 1, Vol. 111. 



1 am not making fun for 1 am greatly interested in all i 

 .jour experiments, and we all have been benehtted by 

 .some of them. Last spring when my bees began to die (or 

 at least to disappear mysieriotisly tor the hives became 

 de;i()pidated, and none were left to tell the tale) old wise 

 heads began to say "that's what you get l)y following 

 ■\ovice,' " but the next thing every body s hers were go- 

 ing the same way rail-road speed, box hives and ail. 



\ few weeks ago we were al>out going to work to convert 

 our wintering house into a "house apiary" a la Novice, 

 but then came Gi.eaninrs for Nov. and Novice said "can 

 you not wait until we have given it a test for a whole 

 year:^" And as we had prepared our bees for winter, by 

 extracting stores, where there wiis much ttnsealed, and 

 cutting holes through all the combs, (use Standard 

 lii\es with good straw mats of our own make, thanks to 

 Oj-eanings) and as the bees had a good lly on the 12th 

 jnst, and gathered pollen to some exteiit, the next morning 

 early, before it began to snow, we i,<ut a jiart in the bee 

 house, leaving cover of hives off, and left a ))art out doors 

 on suitimer stands, with an :iir jiassage between mat and 

 cover according to Mr. Mntli. Wo also packed the space 

 buck of the di\ision board wiih dry wheal chaff. 



We did not get )nuch honey this season for we had to 

 lirild up again and buy some be&s to start with. 



fL.4. MicHENEi!, Low Banks, Ont., Canada, Nov. 20, '75. 



Were we to put a ventilator in the ceiling of 

 our house apiary, the entrances to t^e hives 

 would assuredly "draw like stoves" but on the 

 contrary, the room is as tight as we ca'a make 

 it except the entrances. In this respect we 

 have gone directly contrary to the patented 

 house apiaries ; as yet we discover no want of 



Pertaining to Bee Oiiltxire. 



[We respectfully solicit the aid of our friends in 

 conducting this uei)artment, and would consider it 

 a favor to have them send us all circulars that have 

 a deceptive appearance. The greatest care will be at 

 all times maintained to prevent injustice being tlone 

 any one.] 



MITCHELL, is still at work, and though 

 , we have had frequent reports of him, we 



iiave not thought it best to devote the space 

 necessary to lasting our readers on eacli one 

 of liis new pretexts for obtaining money. His 

 latest, however, needs nientiou, as several of 

 his victims were at the National Convention. 

 He now gives a swarm of "full blood bees" to 

 each of his pupils, and so they are sure of some 

 equivalent for the .$30.00, l)ut alas ! he informs 

 them the bees cannot be shipped before spring; 

 so all they have after all is the old story, his 

 promise. We would like to hear some good of 

 Mr. M., and if any one has ever heard of his 

 sending a single queen, or bee, as he so con- 

 stantly promises, we hope they will let us 

 know of it at once. 



SWAEMINa IS CONTEOLLED. 



No swarms isstic indess desired, but the bees all work 

 in boxes storing suriihis honry iiiss>:iil of swarming out. 



TW(J UrNMiEli I'll! Mis I I ];ix noNET 

 from one swarm aiuuitilly in h raliiics \\\wrQfort>i pounds 

 l)y other methods is e(;iisi(leri'd ;i ///va^ yield. No losses 

 in winter. Bees wintered safely on their siniimer stands 

 in tlie hives they oecu[)y through the summer Feeding 

 lirolitable and safe. Cotnplete and comprehensive in- 

 structions given in this book on every iioint connected 

 with the stu'cessfvl and profitable ntan;sgemcnt of bees. 

 The book will be sent pest paid on receipt cf one dollar. 

 Addre.'^s, Mits. L. E. Cotton, 



West Gorham, Cumberland Co., Me. 



