134 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



THAT AAVFII. "DWliVDMlVr;." 



BY JAMES BOLIX. 



Jq^RIEND XOVICE :— I think I sbull have to admit 

 p tliere is such ii thing us a bee disease, after all, for a 

 great many l)ees have died in this section the past 

 winter and of course they woiJd not die unless something 

 was the matter with them. And then, calling it a disease 

 lets us careless ones down so easily. It is contagious, too, 

 as the bees seem to catch it of their owners, for in nearly 

 every instance where bees were lost, their owner had been 

 affected with what a noted humorist called "constitution- 

 nl weakness" the preceding fall. Of course it will not do 

 t-o impute the loss to carelessness or negligenca on the 

 part of the owner, for bee men, you know, are never guilty 

 of anything of the kind (?) It is true the bees were out of 

 honey, but that was their own lookout, they might have 

 gathered more last summer; and besides, the.y didn't 

 starve ; it was that dread bee disease that killed them. 

 Some of my bers had it last winter; five colonies died 

 with it while they were in the house, and some 8 or 10 af- 

 ter they were put on the summer stands. Some of those 

 that died after the.y were put out had plenty of honey, but 

 that constitutional weakness, or the cold, prevented ther 



reaching it, so they sta 1 mean they died of tliat dread 



disease. 



Dwindling? Yes, they had spring dwindling, too, that 

 is, some of 'em did, while others didn't dwindle worth a 

 cent. In fact all the dwindling some of them did was uj), 

 .so that they have the entire ten frames chock full of brood, 

 and have queen cell.! nearly sealed over, preparatory to 

 swaiminir. 



Dwindling down must be a disease, I think, and there is 

 something a little singular connected with my bees that 

 were afTected with it. All, or nearly all, that had it were 

 either tliose that were severaJ feet above the floor, while 

 they were in the house, or else were left on the summer 

 stand during the cold weather wo had in Blareh. Of 

 course neither having them near the top of the room, 

 where the heat arising from lt.j stocks, in connection 

 with our warm winter, rendering them imcomfortably 

 warm, causing a great many bees to leave their hives and 

 liecoming lost, or leaving them out on the summer stinds 

 during tlie severe cold, chilling their brood and prevent- 

 ing their rearing young bees to take the place of those 

 that died, had anything to do with the dwindling. Surely 

 not. It must have been a disease, or a dispensation of 

 Providence, that caused them to act so. Those that were 

 near the floor during the winter, and in the house during 

 tlie cold weather in IMarch were not much, if any, affected 

 by the disease, or dispensation. It just missed 'em, 

 that's all. 



There, now, don't that .sound better than to say I was 

 negligent last fall, and did not feed them when I knew 

 some of them were short of stores ? And is it not easier 

 to call dwindling a disease, than it is to carry a number of 

 heavy stocks into the house out of the cold ? 



O let us say a disease, or dispensation, was the cause of 

 the trouble, b.v all means, and perhaps we can make folk.s 

 believe us, and not think we were careless, negligent or 

 lazy. .Ias. Bolin. 



P. S.— Perhaps you will wonder why I did not put my 

 beer, all in the liouse during the cold v/eathcr in March. 

 Well, the trouble was, there were so many of them that 

 when they were all in thoy made it so warm they be- 

 came restless at once ; with only about half of them in 

 they remained perfectly quiet, consequently I had to leave 

 ])art of them out. Those that were in the house are my 

 strcjng stocks to-day, and although I doubled up a number 

 of those that were out of doors in Utarch, in order to get 

 them strong for box honey, none of them are anywhere 



near as strong as those single swarms that were in the 

 he use. I have a place enclosed; grape vines planteel for 

 shade, and intend to divide my Ijees and start another 

 apiary this summer. I expect to build a house there, 

 witli cellar vuider it, and thus be prepared for such win- 

 ters as the last one. I had too much to elo last fall to at- 

 tend to feeding when I ought to have done so ; but here- 

 after, I think I shall let the other work slide and attend 

 to the bees. If you ever hear of my letting so many 

 starve again, just call me careless. I fear yoiu- apiary 

 liouse will be too cold in very cold winters. 



.Iames Be^LiN, West Lodi, O., May 181h, "Tii. 



DOK'T MIX VOIR HON£V. 



!W^r-^'E have all wintered, here in Cincinnati, with our 

 W'™ usual success. I brought my '26 colonies through 

 -■ -* without a single loss, altogether on sugar syrup, 

 and much of it unsealed. I am sullering now on account 

 of some of my queens playing out ; having kept some old 

 ones I should have replaced last year, but the season was 

 so bad I found it more trouble than I could give. Some of 

 our hives are quite full of fruit blossom hone.v, and the 

 black locust is just coming out, with every prospect of 

 plenty of clover; taking it all together we have tha best 

 prospects for a large yield I have ever seen. And now 

 while on the subject of fruit blossom honey', allow me to 

 make a suggestion : keep your different lioneys separate. 

 Year before last I took 3000 lbs. ; one-third of this was 

 from fruit trees and the balance from white clover. None 

 of the latter sold for less than ■2.jC and more than half I 

 got 80 for, but we will suijpose it netted the lowest ligure, 

 that is §500,00 for 200 lbs. The dark, bad flavored fruit 

 blossom honey, I was glael to get anything for; at last I 

 solel -iOO Ills, for 10c per lb. and closed it out. A druggist 

 bought it to make mead of, a ver.y popular beverage here 

 in summer. Now if I had mixed all up together, with the 

 idea that the good Avould sell the poor, I don't think I 

 would ha\e got 1.") cts. for it all round. I found no troub- 

 le keeping the different kinds .separate. I have two ex- 

 tractors, and by the time white clover comes in the other 

 is capped over , so by taking it out before the clover honey 

 is capped, I throw that out first. I thus uncap anel throw 

 out the dark honey in the other machine. I could man- 

 age witli one machine but having the two saves time, 

 which is very valuable just now. 



I am led to make these few remarks becau-.o I know 

 how hard it is to buy a really first-class article ; not one 

 sample in ten, yes I might say twenty, is what I call first- 

 rate A, 1, wliite clover. 



H. E. CURRT, Cincinnati, O., May IKth, "Tfi. 



cO 



From Diiferent Fields. 



|/-T'|HIS week I find many of the drone combs in the 

 Pji section boxes fiUeel with eggs but not a single egg in 

 — the worker combs, though some of them have pollen 

 in them. Found ])olIeii .vesterday in two drone cells in 

 section box. The secticn fnnne sides are 1?4 inches wide. 

 It appears to make no difference about the ciuoen's laying 

 in tliem whether the boxes i est on the frames in brooel 

 chamber or V inch above. There is very little drone 

 cenub in brood chamber. C. R. Carmx. 



Quincy, Fla., May lt>th, ISTi!. 



Our new machine makes foundations just the 

 size of that furnished by John Long, viz., rath- 

 er larjie worker comb. This seems best if we 

 are to have but one l;ind for both brood and 

 boxes. 



