1876. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



47 



inken Rreat pniiifl and pride in brcedinar these bees up to 

 1 lie greatest degree of docility niul briKhtness. but now I 

 :iiii compelled to say that tluy have disappointed mo most 

 iiitterly as honey gatherers, and I have been superseding 

 1 hem l)y the dark •eoiorevl Jiaji:»js. The poor hylirids 1 

 tised to liii;ht sii vigorously are now permitted (as lon^ as 

 Ihe drones :ir(^ jmre) to rest in peace with their blunt 

 smoky n|ji»t>araiK"e and weJl filled honey combs. Now I 

 -^lo not like to "tto back" on these hriuht bees, but it is my 

 honest conviction that they are inferior as workers in 

 Kiimparison to the dark colored Italians or hybrids. I 

 know many breeders wiJl feel a Utile sore and indijmant 

 :U these statements, but I am willing to stake ail my 

 <':(rthly possessions on the assertion that every breeder of 

 clear observation has, to his great disapiwintnient been 

 <'onipeiled 1o acknowledge what I here do, relative to this 

 inferiority of the bright colored bees as honey galhereis 

 find comb buiSders. 



I have some queens from imiwrted mothers, that pro- 

 vince very dark bees ; some producing what I take to be 

 hybrids, and in ail of these colonies there arc enough 

 stores to carry them through, while my liuest looking 

 bees were entirely destitute at lirst of Oct. 



In Italianizing bees for a neighbor living three miles 

 from my ai>iary, I took from one of his hives a native 

 <(Uoen that had mated, with, an Italian drone, and to test 

 1 he matter I introduced her into a hive in my yard, (being 

 <'areful to not let ar.y of her drone progeny mature), and. 

 1 h:ive never yet had a queen of any kind or cross that 

 {iroduced workers that would bear a favorable coinjjarison 

 !o the bees from this queen, as comb builders an<l honey 

 !<atherers. Of course they had the disa!.'rei'able habit of 

 getting down olf the combs and "piling up" wheii their 

 hive was opened; but 1 don't care for this, so they do 

 not call for A, coft'ee sugar the .vear round. 



Do not thnik I am going into the old black bees again, 

 far from that. Now I have "squealed" from trouble with 

 (lie "beauties" and call for the decision of the fraternity 

 on this point. J. A. Buchanan. 



Wintersville. O., Dec. 18th, 187(5. 



— — ~ arQ «0* -iJ^' 



LAMP UriJRSEKIES, KTC, 



ESPECIALLY THE "ETC." 



^rjlRlEND NOVICE :— I write this, requesting a little 

 jSp aid from you in relation to making a lamp queen 

 '-!* nursery. lam building anew b<>e imuse, and wish 

 to canstruet a lamp water heater. !K)t mily for (he iiurjiose 

 <il' liatching queens, but to heat the Ituilding when neces- 

 sary, aTid in which to melt candied honey. 1 supply con- 

 siderable honey in cans to our stores and find frequent 

 heating of honey necessary. It I daub i)ai!s. pans, and 

 the newly blacked kitchen stove, our lietler h df is sure to 

 <'!ill our attention to it by calling us "old Ikhh-.v," or "old 

 beeswax," Now we dont like to be called "old beeswax," 

 so we are going to adopt a plan for melting honey in oin- 

 bee house. Wo can then be monarch of all we' survey, 

 and if our better half comes aromid she'll get called "o!(l 

 broomstick," or some other awful name just as sure as 

 fate. 



Now my idea of a nursery or healer is as follows : Oiu- 

 fnimes are 14x11. I will make a tin tank 15x1^x12, this 

 will contain about nine gallons of liquid honey, or eight 

 frames. Now, making an outer case just two inches larger 

 each way would give room between the w.ills for about 

 nine gallons of water. What I wish to know is, would 

 two inches all arounu, be sjjace enough for w:iter '? or shall 

 I make it larger':' I would also construct the bottom por- 

 tion of tin or sheet iron, so as to use one or more lamps as 

 necessary. You will understand my idea from this dia- 

 gram. 



The ease A, is made of sheet iron and connects with the 

 Nentilators, by the pipe B ; at C, is a gate for drawing off 

 contents of the tank, or receptacle D. 



1 am biiilding a bee house partly on the plan of the one 

 •-iven on paae 13'2, Vol. II, only mine is 12x18 inside. Will 

 liave a root and will fdl in on top of the bee room with 

 siw dust ; propose to jut up a ventilating j.ipe in (<w end. 

 ! shall run a car out of the bee house upon Tvliich I 



can place 10 hives ; when they are run in from the yard 

 the shelves will be close to the car and the hives can be 

 sho\ed olT (>asily from one to the other. My house is only 

 partiy I'niished, hut when my plans are carried out, I shall 

 give yuxx full diagrams of the yard rmd house. 



Bees are all right thus far, in the cellar. I have ob- 

 served one thing friend Novice, in relation to wintering 

 out doors, I don't care how cold the weather from Dec. 

 until Feb., bees will .generally live ; but from Feb. out, 

 cold weather tells upon them fearfidly. Did you ever 

 hear of r/ood stock's dying during the (irst half of winter ':' 

 J. H. Maetin, Hartford, N. Y., Dec. loth, 187U. 



We think your better halfi.s probably quite 

 excusable for calling you the names meutioned, 

 judging from some similar experience we have 

 had ; and this reminds us that the bee-keeper's 

 golden rule should be to leave no untidiness — 

 not to mention stickiness — about his wife'.s do- 

 main, that he would object to having her leave 

 about in his place of business. Even farmers 

 sometime scold like—like — "mea folks" when 

 the "women folks" happen to come into the 

 barn and scatter things about, or carry oft' the 

 ax, hammer, or some other tool; and now while 

 keeping bees, be careful that you use your 

 wife's room and implements precisely as you 

 would have her use yours. A very safe wa}' is 

 to provide large newspapers — heavy sheets of 

 brown paper will be better if you are going to 

 do much daubing, and we know from experi- 

 ence that when a man starts out you never 

 know how 7mtch of a muss he will make before 

 he gets through— and spread them out in such 

 a way that you can clear all up in a twinkling 

 when you are done. This is a simple matter 

 but you may get disgusted with yourself un- 

 less you do take some pains to keep things neat 

 and tidy. Go about your work as if you were 

 expecting visitors every miuute ; keep things 

 so clean and orderly that you can pre.'ierve a 

 pleasant smile during all your work, just as 

 you would if you were running a new locomo- 

 tive that you had built all yourself. Please 

 don't ever get down so low as to ncold either 

 your wife or children, whatever absurd thing 

 they may do or say. A father should at all 

 times bring sunshiue into the household ; and 

 by the way we will end this subject now, if 

 you will permit us to advise the women folks 

 in future to call us men folks to our senses by 

 the appellation "old sunshine" instead of "old 

 beeswax," and if we don't look good natured 

 and submissive at once you can set us down as 

 "poor cre'ters." 



Wg can find no fault with the plan of the 

 lamp nursery, but would suggest that it be so 

 arranged that the lamp stands at least one foot 

 below the nursery, as this gives a much better 

 effect than if the chimney of the lamp is closer. 

 A nursery made of tin, does not last very long, 

 unless taken better care of than our own has 

 been, but as it was for an experiment, we made 

 it of the lightest tin, and then left the wtitcr 

 standing in it not only all summer, but actual- 

 ly left it so late that it lYoze up, and it is hard- 

 ly strange that it now troubles by leaking. 

 After you are through with it for the time, it 

 should be carefully drained and dried; your 

 wife knows how. We have thought of making 

 them of copper or galvanized iron, but both of 

 these would be objectionable if u.sed for melt- 

 ing candied honey. If made of heavy tin and 

 carefully u,scd, they will doubtless last 8 or 10 

 years. One inch space between the walls is 

 ample, and perhaps to inch would answer; 



