74 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Am. 



As furlhei- pnblicatioiis out of tlie trea.siu-y of my , 

 studiea and experiences may by ami by follow. 



Blessed IIl'J^IANE hec-kapinri and the reforms for I 

 it. The rur:'.! «rvhiiect for house apiaries. Landscape | 

 i/'irdcuhif/ and fin-mhir/ for apiculture, (artilicial bee- j 

 pasture). Aiiiri.-Jiurc and Ilygloie. liec-Templars, a 

 best ally and cliampion for the holy casue of the "Good 

 Templars'* ami the "Women's Crusade." 



Temperance! the nkw eua oi" Ai'icirLTLiKK or 

 U>e beneficial inHuences of tiKNKHAL, humane bee- 

 keeping for the welfare ot our planet and Her Majes- 

 ty's subjects and inhabitants. The adornment of 

 mother Earth by ha))py country people "■■ifiih bees on 

 xmiU fiiriiis" and by their Industry, Temperance, 

 Economy, Health, Wealth, Happiness, Moiudity, Wis- 

 dom and Peace! -THE r.Eic hive a holy liiuLH. 



Realization here and practical examples, I hope, I 

 ^hall be able to show, as soon as I, professor in the 

 wiliierncss, carving out a home,— now a poor Pegasus 

 in Yoke, and the very Bee-Tantalus in Purgatory (for 

 big i-ins against "/(M;H(7He'' bec-ing)— can get jiardon 

 and redemiition and be '■'icitliV bees again !— Then I 

 shall have my (now bound) time, hands and small 

 means free for doing best repentance by ostablising in 

 a good location my Bee Mission or Academy for Api. 

 eidf.ufe, with model apiaries, honey house and (may be) 

 llygeian liomes. 



Help Heaven ! "What work and holy task! God grant 

 me some years more ! 



Trulv your Bee-Templa? : Apiphibus, 



M. VOGKI,. 



Boyne P. O., Charlevoix Co., Mich. 



By vvay of explanation we will add that 

 friend Vojel is an enthusiast; and that his es- 

 pecial hobby is hives piled on top of each other 

 in such a way as to make i house apiary. Two 

 walls are thus made of hives, and the hall 

 formed between them, is the place where the 

 bees are handled. Of course the frames and 

 honey boxes arc to be all drawn out from one 

 side. 



While such a plan seems to be little in favor 

 with the bee- keepers of our country, it has 

 been used quite successfully in the Old World, 

 in some cases. Hives can be built quite eco- 

 nomically in this way, and if one can be in- 

 duced to forego the pleasure of being able to 

 remove the top of the hive, it might be made 

 to do very well. We suggest that where 

 frames are to be pried loose whf^n one is reach- 

 ingback to the farthest frame ol a 10 frame 

 hive, it mtist at times be somewhat aggrava- 

 ting. 



[P'or Gleanings.] 

 "U'HY ©O Qlj'EEr^'S LAY i ETC. 



3'N July last, while holding a frame containing 

 brood, bees, and a (pieen, in my hands for inspect- 

 -^^ ion ; (taken from a hive containing '2000 square 

 inches of eggs and maturing brood, as ascertained by 

 actual measurement). I distinctly noticed eggs drip- 

 ping from the queen at the rate of several each min- 

 ute, as she slowly crawled over the comb in search of 

 cmjitv cells. 1 therefore, very naturally concluded, 

 Ihattliat queen, at least, laid eggs because she could 

 •lot help if. 



I have repeatedly noticed eggs dripping from young- 

 queens in small colonies, wliere brood combs were 

 scarce. 



In Novemlicr, 1874, I had a young queen with a pint 

 of btes on a single comb, in a glas-i observation hive, 

 situated in a sitting room, with a passage fur the bees 

 communicating with the open air. I daily fed them, 

 a-.id carefully noted the cfl'cct. 



Each morning the small bottom board was strewn 

 with eggs that had dripped from the queen. During 

 the day, the bees carrieti many of them out; perhaps 

 all of them ; perhaps not. It may be that they ate 

 some of them .as has been suggested ; I could not de- 

 termine. But that they carried most of them out of 

 the hive and lel't tliem in the passage way, I know. 



In the midst of my observations I des-ired to insert 

 a thermometer in the cluster. To do this I attempted 

 to keep the bees down with a puff of smoke, which set 

 them all in commotion. Mrs. C. was looking at the 

 queen at the time, ami reported that the bees instantly 

 attacked her. 



With no obstruction whatever, we watched the re- 

 sult, and saw her own daughters worry and sting her 

 to death. Why was this ? 



I invariably make use of smoke when extracting, 

 and handling bees for other purposes, and am sure I 

 have never lost many, if any other queens, in conse- 

 quence. 



In the course of a few days I int'^oduccd a second 

 thermometer, and placed the bulb of one ni/ot-e, and 

 the bulb of the other heloto the cluster. In such a con- 

 dition I subjected them to various degrees of temper- 

 ature, and carefully note<l the effect. Considering the 

 results of these observations c f some value, I will re- 

 port them at some luture time. 



In this connection, allow me to predict that the bees 

 you left with so much "upward ventilation"— no quilt 

 or other protection save the roof —will certainly i)er- 

 ish as victims of "spring dwindling," before May. 

 Very truly, G. E. CoKBiN. 



St. Johns, Mich., March id, 187(5. 

 The above is just in time to give us a vivid 

 sense of the importance of giving all our queens 

 plenty of room as fast as they can use it, plen- 

 t.y of bees and stores, and a good snug hive. 

 Friend C. is right in regard to the bees with 

 no quilt, etc. They did get the "dwindling," 

 so badly that we put a quilt over them and 

 contracted the size of their hive with a divis- 

 ion board. Please tell us the result of the ex- 

 periments menlioued by all means. 



VARIOITS MATTERS. 



^p\ !''AR GLEANINGS :— We have been waiting some 

 j>|[ \y f time, oxijecting to hear from some one besides P. 

 Herring, on the subject, "How far do b.;es fly "r" 

 but as no one seems desirous of sajing anything, wc have 

 a word or two more wo would like to say. 



Novice says (page Itti) "a radius of 1^2 miles would cov- 

 er an area of nearly 5090 acres," and seems to think we 

 are derauiod by intimating that 20 colonies might over- 

 stock such an area. If he will refer to what we wrote on 

 said page he will see wc said n poor locality. 



I have been in many jjlaces where 5000 acres would not 

 produce 10 basswood trees, .and no while clover except a 

 little by the road side, a few aci-es of buckwheat, and here 

 and there a few stunted apple treis. How much honey 

 do you think 20 swarms of bees would produce if confined 

 to .'jOtO acres of such pasture as the above ? 



No\ ici; also says "y.ou have all observed how they (the 

 wings) get worn down to jigged stubs during the linden 

 bloom.'' Beg i)ardon, we have observed no such thing ; 

 Ihit is, to iir.y such extent as they do when clover is iti 

 bloom. ^Vhilo clover with us grjws nioslly in mead- 

 ows, and in order to get it the bee must fly downi in the 

 herds grass, and so liy coi-.staii ;ly hi:ting the wings against 

 said grass they bjcorae worn as he s.iys. By the time b.iss- 

 wood is nearly over wo see but very few such bees, as the 

 ones that worked on clover have mostly died. We are 

 positive on this for wo have noticed our bees (after bass- 

 wood was all gone with us) going and coniLiig in one di- 



