r.i57« 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



.nt !8" (was that right:) ami liet-e I hatdicd pei?iiips 125 

 qi'.neiis, and introduced thcui to the hives us fast as 

 H:dchod4 some immediately on taldiijf out their q'lieeiis, 

 M.itie in a ■\vesk, aaid some in tlii'ee w«'l«, iKit ■wit-h the 

 Aniifomi success of losing 11 <iut of o^•eI■y 1"^. Consequently, 

 .•(fter a saerifice or baickset to my beesi, of one to two liiui- 

 >lred dollars, I reluctajitJy abaiKloiied it; aKliongli I put 

 IS hen's eggs iii it and hatched seven isiteresting little 

 j^ets that I J.avc to mother: which not having to be in- 

 troduced to Mves promise fair to •do well. I thus avcaded 

 1 lie cociimon pest i-chicken lice) liere, bred while hens are 

 setting. R. Wii.kin. 



F. S.— ISiave s-inoc consulted back X'ol.of Gf-EANIN'GS 

 ,iiid started lip iny nursery with a'e\ived Jwpes. But iny, 

 Oh ! this is not snueli like Ohio, the ivay l)ees work here,, 

 •>it almost works the lif* oiitf>f me to keef) up with theiii. 



San Hueiia VeiitiuTi, Qii., May ")15i, T'l. 



There is sometiiitiij' <(ueer about the niocKl of 

 ?iees in accepting queeus, and it is also very 

 .strange that a few report as above. In our 

 own experience v/c have scarcely ever seen ji 

 colony that would pay any attention to a queen 

 Just out of the cell, say before she had been 

 hatched five hours, yet a few who have tried 

 the queen nurseries have given a report some- 

 thing like the above. You need have sustained 

 .no great loss friend W., had you kept the old 

 queens to be returned in case the new ones 

 were not well received. It is our opinion that 

 during a yield of honey, queens could in the 

 majority of cases be put anywhere without ca- 

 sing, scenting., or daubing wjtli honey. If you 

 have a queen that you <:lo not value, try it. 

 Llfr, out a comb, and if the bees are gentle, you 

 can take out their own, and put the new 

 one in her place without a bee being the wiser; 

 at least we have done it a great nuutlx;r of 

 times without mishap. If your smoker is in 

 your hand and in trim, there is but little dan- 

 ger in making the experiment. 



ficaj" vSi>:— Enclosed find 50 cents balance OJi ex- 

 tractor. It came in due time, and after s cveval da\ 's 

 regular work I ain very inucJi pleased with it. Itop- 

 <;rates perfectly without breaking or bruising coaibs 

 in the least. The speed is so very easily aid (luickly 

 regulated by th« operator tliat tiicrc is no need or ex- 

 cuse for throwing out unsealed broo<i; but your tinner 

 alighted it in one little i)lace. There is a leak where 

 one of upper edges of trough is joined to can. 'Wili 

 iiave it soldcicd over by first tr;iveling tinner that 

 conies along. White clover has been yielding splen- 

 didly for two or tliree weeks. I extracted six gallons 

 ^rom one hive at one time last week. 



r see in May ^jLEANING.'^*, Staples & Andrews, Co- 

 hunbia, Tenn., stiite they had a queen hatched Feb. 

 ;i7th. This is rot particularly early or very strange, 

 lor in this section we could have had them any month 

 ^luring the last winter. I hafl one hatched Feb. loth, 

 and fertilized tlie iSth, which is as prolific as any J ev- 

 4.-r saw. Her progemy hiivo til.'ed ;i '20 frame hive lull 

 "1 honey which was extracted on the 12th Jnst. She is 

 <tiinghter of an imported qvocn. My box honey is now 

 {•eing taken off and is beautiful. 



Wm. H. Wake, Bayou Gouia, La., May 15th, 76. 



I have been wintering my bees in the large Quinby 

 hive on their summer stands with good success, by conli- 

 niiig them to C frames in the middle of the hive, with di- 

 vision boards on each side of thcui, and filling Vip the va- 

 <'iint spiice on eaah side and over them with saw dust, oa t 

 iliafi'. and oat straw. TIio Quinby hives which I ha\'e 

 ■"•en using, have openings rvt the toj), front and rear, cov- 



ered with wireflotli for the purjwsc of ventilation. I sec 

 no use for these opeiiings for summer ventilation, as I 

 protect my hi'/cs by a large inovaUie board cover resting 

 on the hives in a slanting position, so as to timi off the 

 water. And as to winter vesitilalion, why jiot j-aise the 

 lid of the hive (rear part) say It' of an inch? No water 

 could get into the hive, nnless the large cover should be 

 blown off in a storiu. or perhaps a little snow might blow 

 in during a sivow storm. If these openitigs are not neces- 

 cssary, sosne expense can be saved in snaking hives. Please 

 give us all tJw lifjikf you can on this point, in the tiest Na 

 of Gleanings and im>cls oblige, J. A. 



It certainly is considerable trouble and ex- 

 l^ense to p'.it all the wire cloth covered holes 

 into a hive, that were in the sample hive we 

 received from Mr. Q., an<l as the tx?es closed 

 them all with propolis Just as soon as the hive 

 was used, we can but think it time wasted. 

 Besides, we are inclined to think «<p ventilation 

 holes needed with the loose cover that is 

 ordinarily used on such large hives. Has any 

 one had good evidence that they are required"? 

 If the thin hoops, such as we recommend, are 

 u.sed, nothing more would be needed, certainly, 

 and tlie easiest way for us to make a box of 

 any kind, is to make it with hoops. They 

 wculd be nice to hold the chatt'. 



I have been in the bee Jiusiness four years, and whea 

 I get some leisure 1 intend giving to iho. Bee publish- 

 ers the history of my adventures. It will contain some 

 of the tallest blunilering on record followc<l by an 

 equal amount of success. I succeeded in making- 

 from one colony last summer a pile ef boxes \iO feet 

 liigli (40 '* lb. boxes or 200 lbs.) I am running this 

 summer 125 colonies, wintered in cellar, without loss, 

 excepting one queen, J, F. Callbuis.-itii. 



White Lake. Sullivan Co.. X. Y. 



I stai tc<l last spring with one swarm of Italians, an<! 

 increased to .5. Sold the third sw.trm without hive for 

 $ii^»ii. Extracted 40 lbs,, and took 20 lbs. box honey 

 liom the remaining 4. 1 must acknowledge however, 

 as I was just learning, 1 drained them a little too 

 clasc. Fed one swarm W lbs. of tlie extracteil. Put 

 them in cellar >fov. Itih. 15. F. UAVKNi'c»in. 



Auroraville, Wis., XJec. 25th, 1S75. 



I will toll you how I introduced three queens the 

 past season. I took a honey box containing- bees and 

 honey, from t!ie hive to which 1 wanted to introduce a 

 queen. J juit the queen into this, k-l it remain off the 

 hive about 12 hours, and then placed it on the hive 

 again; the bees and queen were treated alike and it 

 proved suecessfui in eaeh case. Having never seen 

 this plan given in any journal, I mention it that others 

 may try ii it is easier than caging, or other methods 

 practiced by apiarians. Coktlanu Xkvvton. 



South Otselic, Chenango Co., N. Y., Feb. Itth, '76. 



Nearly the same thing has been tried before, 

 and vvitli perfect success in every case, so lar 

 as we can learn. The idea seems to be to re- 

 move a pint or teacupful of liots from the 

 hive, and to keep them away until they Jeel 

 lost, and queenless ; perhaps a couple of hours 

 may answer. They will then receive any queeu 

 so lar as we know, and the queen and all may 

 be placed over a (jueenless hive and allowed to 

 become ac</uainted gratUuilly. Befere deciding 

 liastlly that this plan or any other, is inhiUible, 

 we should l)ear in mind that queens will usu- 

 ally be accepted -without any introduction, du- 

 ring the sv/armiug season, as we have men- 

 tioned elsewhere. 



