IPO 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



HOIV TO «KT ONE SWAKITI AlVD NO 

 IWORE, ANU KOX I50IVEV. 



^ HAVE purchased of Mrs. Grinnu, three colonies bees 

 M in hi\es, as per ad. I have also sent to J. Oatman & 

 " Co., Dundee, 111., for material for three Langstroth 

 hives, as per ad.; and as a novice m bee management I 

 feel somewhat puzzled to know how to proceed further, 

 and naturally thnik of looking to you for information. I 

 should like to allow my bees to swann once only from 

 each colony, and from the balance of their labor to obtain 

 bos honey. Can the object be secured V If so, how shall 

 I proceed to avoid swarming more than once from each 

 hive ? 



What have you for sale in the line of surplus honey 

 lK)xes, suitable for such hives as I have described, and 

 how many will 1 be likely to need -.I'ith my stock of bees ? 

 My bees are seemingly doing well, but I notice occasion- 

 ally a few dead ones in front of hives ; is there likely to be 

 any thing wrong with them ? When is the proper time to 

 use the honey boxes ? C. P. Teiesd. 



East Paris, Mich., May 29th, 1870. 

 To obtain one swarm from each hive, and 

 one only, is a result tliat a novice will be very 

 likely to Jail in securing, with the best direct- 

 ions perhaps that can be given, that is, if we 

 are to work for box honey only. Perhaps no 

 question is now asked oftcner than, when to 

 put on the boxes. We can only repeat what 

 we said on page 53, and the directions pasted 

 on each hive we send out ; viz., put on the 

 boxes just as soon as the bees have filled all 

 their frames and need more room, providing 

 honey is coming in, and they need rcom in 

 which to store it. If they are put on sooner, 

 it does no good, but harm; for it allows too 

 much cold air to enter the brood chamber. 

 The hive should be of such size as to have the 

 bees at all times till it as nearly as may be. 



It is utterly out of the question for your ed- 

 itor or any one else to tell yon when to put on 

 the boxes ; you must look, and see the condi- 

 tion of the hive inside ; if you fmd there is emp- 

 ty comb on the outside, make them fill that 

 first ; and if the centre of the brood nest looks 

 crowed, or if they are building bits of comb at 

 the ends of the frames, it may be well to put 

 the empty comb, if worker, in the centre ; but 

 have all full before you put on the boxes. Of 

 course we consider the Universal section box 

 and case at .$1.25 the best surplus arrange- 

 ment, or we should not have named it thus. 

 As these cases contain 30 boxes of 1 lb. or 

 more each, your colonies might if extra strong 

 1111 two cases each. But we think 1 case each 

 per hive on the average, would be a very fair 

 yield, even though some hives might till three. 

 Now the prevention of swarming, depends 

 much on giving the bees all the room they 

 want, and yet not too much. If after the first 

 swarm issues, you open the old hive — the cases 

 of section boxes favor this operation as they 

 may all be removed at once — and very care- 

 lully remove all but one, of the queen cells, 

 this generally answers with common bees, 

 but the Italians will many times swarm with- 

 out any queen cell, or withotit taking any 

 steps toward the construction of one. If after 

 taking away all their queen cells but one, they 

 shotild still persist in swarming, we really 

 know of no way of stopping them unless we 

 take away their honey with the extractor. If 

 we are going to raise box honey exclusively, 



perhaps the best we can do will be to let those 

 swarm, that are determined to, and hive them 

 on a set of empty combs ; or move the hive to 

 a new location, and put them back into it as 

 we have mentioned heretofore. Those that 

 can be kept from swarming by giving them 

 plenty of room, and our case of section boxes 

 gives a large amount of room very close to the 

 brood, will usually give us a large crop. This 

 requires a good deal of watching it is true, 

 but if you get tired of it, go back to the use of 

 the Extractor. 



^ - «^« -^»» 



THE BEE 0ISKASE, AND ISING THE 

 COIWB EEFT, FOR NEW COEONIES. 



^rfrjjDITOR GLE.\NIXGS :— Last fall I had five colonies 

 i^Pjl of black bees, in movable frame hives, from crre I 

 " had wintered in a box hive the winter before. The 



first of March, two of them died of dysentery, leaving 

 plenty of rather thirr honey. The other three seemed to 

 be doiirg well at that time, but became uneasy. I kept 

 candy and sugar orr the frames, but they would crawl out 

 and die ; arrd died in the hive so that by the time I got 

 them on their summer stands, which was the 10th of 

 April, there were but few left and they soorr dwindled 

 cut. I didn't like to give up bee-keeping thus. The farm 

 would bo too lonesome without them. 



I have bought two stocks of pure Italians, of Mrs. 

 Grimm. They came all right and ar-e doing nicely. From 

 the two swarms I lost in the winter, I took combs for one, 

 but the others have left their combs empty and somewhat 

 soiled. I can lit the hive over those I got of Mrs. G. for a 

 second story, but the frames hang the other way from t he 

 Lai!gstroth, that is, across them ; being Gallup. Woidd 

 that make any difference ? Is it advisable to give these 

 combs from the bees which died, to other bees, either as 

 secorrd story or for new swarms ? S. C. Peet.y. 



Portlatd, Mich., May 251h, '7C. 



The symptoms mentioned are precisely 

 those of the spritlg malady, and yet our Iriend 

 Bolin and others make light of it, and tell us 

 it is all our own fault, etc.; as it seems on the 

 whole to be vanishing, perhaps they may nev- 

 er have a trial of it. Our friend Blakeslee has 

 for tlie first time, this spring seen a colony die 

 by dwindling, when supplied with plenty of 

 stores ; and it really seems to run for a time in 

 particular localities, gradually making its 

 way into new ones. Careful experiments giv- 

 en in our former Vols, seem to show that the 

 honey that causes the bees to die one winter 

 will be perfectly wholesome for them the next. 

 We have found such combs just as good as 

 any during warm w'eather. The frames can 

 be set in the upper story at right angles to the 

 lower ones, just as well as any way, providing 

 the hives are set level; in fact, some aspiring 

 individual claims to have the idea patented, 

 as oflering peculiar advantages. If good 

 strong colonies carefully prepared in the fall, 

 are not a safe-guard against the spring troub- 

 les, they will certainly be more likely to sur- 

 vive even after having their numbers thinned 

 down. 



I commenced two years ago with one stand, aird from 

 them the followirrg season wintered 7 Stands ; and this 

 spriirg, all arc Oourishitrg and most of them Italianized. 

 And nov,' I must corrtrivc sorrie way to get tire honey with- 

 out destroying the comb. 



Elizabeth T. Beown, Lincoln, Va., May oth, '70. 



