124 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



PATENTS, ^VINTER REPOSITORIES, Etc. 



BEAU GLEANINGS :— As for me, I would like the 

 type as large as the largest, and I am willing to 

 pay for it. When we received the March No. of 

 Gleanings and read jour advertisement of comb 

 foundations for sale, we were in high spirits, and 

 made arrangements to send for .'iO lbs. It April No. 

 had been a few days later we t^hould have sent the 

 money. Bat oh, when it came and we read It, there 

 came over us a sickening feeling, such as we once felt 

 when we lost JoOOO in patent rights. On thinking the 

 matter over, it occurred to us that we had read of ar- 

 tificial honey comb made years ago. We then began 

 to ihink the patent invalid and to plead ignorance for 

 you iu the matter, ho])ing to hear more in regard to it 

 in your next. If it is a valid patent we will have 

 nothing to do with it, neither will we purchase any 

 foundations. But if it is doubtful let all who take 

 your valuable Gleanings say how much they will 

 ^ve to have it teste<l. Who speaks first? 



La«t fall, we placed 72 stocks of bees in a double 

 walled repository where we kept them last winter 

 with success ; but the present winter it has proved too 

 warm. As our ventilators were too small we opened 

 the door nights, but it only made the matter worse; 

 and on the evening of Feb. llth, we got some help and 

 s«t them on their summer stands. The next day wind 

 in south but, many perished, and brood raising was 

 checked, but we resolved to let them remain out. To- 

 day they are all but two in good condition, one actu- 

 ally starved through oversight. The other we let fall, 

 and the comb being new, broke so badly we were 

 obliged to unite them with another stock. We made 

 another repository lor an experiment, (we have ex- 

 }>erimeiited in two or three diflerent ways each winter 

 tor the past twenty years) and when we got our bees 

 in we felt a little sorry that we had iivU in so many, 

 but it was made so cheaply, (only four day's work) 

 while the other cost $115,00, we felt a little consolation. 

 We watched it with care and lo, the results. They 

 were more iiuiet, though rats by hundreds ran over 

 and around them. The heat from the bees, made the 

 haj'-mow above warm, and it seemed tliat all the rats 

 in the neighborhood were aware of it and availed 

 themselves of the comfortable winter quarters. April 

 llth, set them out well stocked up with bees and 

 brood; the next day they began to bring in natural 

 pollen. 



May Gleanings reach its thousands. 



W. H. Balch, Oran, N. Y. 



Who has not some time in life felt that 

 sickeuing feeling upon discovering that they 

 had been deluded into letting their hard earn- 

 ings go for something perhaps worse than use- 

 less ? We have had our experience, but not to 

 the amount you mention, friend B. We have 

 more than once wondered why farmers could 

 not arrange a bee room in their barns in such 

 a way that it might be covered with hay— the ; 

 centre of a large hay-mow must certainly be 

 frost proof— during the mouths that the bees 

 would occupy it. It could be kept dark, dry, 

 and quiet ; and abundant ventilation might be 

 given by having it made entirely of shits iust 

 sufficient to keep the aforesaid rats and other 

 vermin outside. Double doors could bo made 

 to give a most perfect protection from extremes 

 of weather. The past winter has shown our 

 ordinary wintering houses with saw dust 

 walls, quite inadequate, and a great part of the 

 cellars are too dump. 



NOTES FROM OUR EXCHANGES. 



f; WOULD suggest that you prepare a sort of ab- 

 stract from the good things contained in other 

 — ' Bee Journals ; any thing of ))ractical benefit in 

 those of the previous month. Medical journals have 

 such a column or page. Should Bee Journals be so 

 exclusive as never to ipiote from each other 'i So 

 many reports of individual success arc apt to become 

 tiresome. I>et them give more minutely the methods 

 which lead to success. J. C. Tuoune, M. D. 



Garafraxa P. O., Ontario, Canada. 



Very good friend T., but are you sure Glean- 

 ings has the tact and good sense needed to 

 carry on such a review, and yet avoid saying 

 anything that may cause unpleasantness"/ 

 Now you have suggested the idea, and are fa- 

 miliar with the way in which you of the med- 

 ical fraternity do it; by the way do you never 

 get sharp and unkind any of you V We sin- 

 cerely trust you have too much good sense and 

 — education. Will you please call us to order 

 if you should at any time ttiiuk it desirable. 



The World for April contains a rare bit of 

 humor in the shape of a communication from 

 "W. B. E." We wonder if his aunt does not 

 rejoice daily in the possession of such a prom- 

 ising nephew. Are we to understand that it is 

 really our friend "Annie" who had her "king" 

 bees managed thus in her absence 'i The idea 

 advanced by Mr. Parker, on page 141, that 

 spring feeding is connected with spring dwind- 

 ling, is a point that should be carefully exam- 

 ined ; before we saw the article, we had ob- 

 served symptoms that seemed to point iu the 

 same direction. We are very happy indeed to 

 note the rapid progress the South is making in 

 the production of honey, and that they seem 

 too busy to heed the discussioi'i that has been 

 going on at the North as to which way was 

 most prorttable for surplus. The demand from 

 the South for extractors is unprecedented, and 

 we have heard no word of any trouble in re- 

 gard to disposing of the large crops of honey 

 secured at several points last season. 



In the A. B. J., for March, J. K. Bledsoe ad- 

 vances the idea that foul brood is contracted 

 from foul places where the bees go after water ; 

 and that if they had a place where they might 

 always be sure of linding a regular supply of 

 it clean and pure, foul brood would not be 

 known. Now even should this be a mistake, 

 it will do no harm to act on the hint. A few 

 days ago we found the bees from our best hive 

 — Quinby — going out and in so busily that we 

 determined to see what they were in quest of, 

 ind in a minute saw that each returned with a 

 load of what we judged to be water from the 

 size of their bodies, and the ease with which 

 they flew, honey being much heavier. We re- 

 paired to the brook where they were wont to 

 go, but found none. Not to be out-done, we 

 took up their line and soon found them loading 

 up at the greenest and most nauseous outlet to 

 one of the sewers, that could well l)e imagined. 

 They worked thus for more than two hours. 

 Since we have been reminded of it, we will go 

 this minute and lix a glass jar lilled with wat- 

 er and inverted, as described in our July No. 

 of Vol. II. S. K. Marsh thinks those who have 

 had brood killed by using the extractor, used 

 machines so clumsy, that they shook the life 



