If 4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



tiud. with the work, is that it is a good deal 

 better than anythiug we cau do, even were we 

 as well posted. Friend Abbot long may you 

 "Wield the pen. We extract as follows : 



"No ff having seen the bees enter the hive with their res- 

 pective spoils, lot us watch and see what they do with 

 lliem. The hcney or water-laden bee, as a rule, marches 

 directly to the hone.v -cells, beycnd, above, or possibly 

 within the brood-nest, and if not wayhiid by a hungry 

 .voung nurse-bee, will discharge the contents of its hcney- 

 sac into one of them ; but should it meet with a sister cra- 

 ving for liquid with which to make the pap for the young 

 bees, it will at once impart to her the contents of its sac, 

 and go back to the lields for more. There is great econo- 

 my in this latter proceeding, as it saves the labor of storing 

 and Withdrawing the newly-gathered honey, and leaves 

 that already stored intact, to be added too only when the 

 ingathering is greater than the demand. 



The pollen-laden bee upon entering the hive makes di- 

 rectly for the brood-nest, and where its load is required, 

 it quickly disencumbers itself. Sometimes the nurse-bets 

 are in want of the all-necessary pollen, and nibble it 

 from the legs of the worker without ceremony, but more 

 often the bee goes to a cell devoted to pollen storing, and 

 liatgs by its lirst pair of legs to another cell immediately 

 above, and by the aid of its middle pair cf legs it unloads 

 its hindmost, and (as it were) kicks the balls of pollen into 

 the proper receptacle. Here they are mixed with a little 

 honey and kneaded into a stiff paste, which is then ram- 

 med hard against the bottom of the cell, for future use, 

 the bee using its head as a battering ram ; and these op- 

 orations are repeated until the cell is almost filled with 

 the kneaded dough, when a little clear h jiiey is placed on 

 the top, and it is sealed over and preserved as bee-bread. 

 If a cell-full of pollen be cut in two, longitudiiiallj-, its 

 contents will, as a rule, be found of many colours, strati- 

 lied, the strata of varied thicknesses standing on edge, as 

 if the bees, instead of storing bread, had stored pancakes." 



We owe a vote of thanks to the editors of 

 the Magazine for their very full demonstration 

 of the fact that the loundatious were in use, 

 and publicly advertised in the German Bee 

 Journal, as long ago as 1850. 



It seems to us there is still too much troub- 

 le borrowed by many of the writers, in nearly 

 all the bee Journals. The bee-keepers who are 

 busy at work have little or nothing to lament 

 about, and those who denounce so heavily, we 

 fear are too often committing themselves 

 hastily. In regard to the comb "foundations, 

 we have of course many points to determine ; 

 but would not careful and candid experiment 

 be in better order than rushing into print 

 against them at this early stage of develop- 

 ment. 



It is really painful to receive letters that 

 seem written with the express purpose of 

 "using up"' some certain person or thing. Can 

 we not work together with the disinterested 

 candor that would become a band of brothers 

 searching for the truth, and caring little who 

 it is that flnds it first ? 



We must enter a little protest against the 

 hard things that are said about our friend 

 Dadant, although at the same time we do 

 think it looks a little bad that there are so 

 •/«««?/ complaints against him. If we may be 

 excused we would advise 3Ir. D. to have his' cus- 

 tomers satislitd, even if he had to return the 

 money he had received, when he knew he was 



in the right. To his customers we would sug- 

 gest that if he really meant to be dishonest he 

 would send out yellow ({ueeus instead of black 

 ones, for these could be furnished almost as 

 cheaply as the common queens at the present 

 time, and perhaps even cheaper for one in 

 Dadant's position. If so disposed he could 

 give the best of satisiaction by selling golden 

 queens, and all would pass lovely; but the fact 

 that he continually sends queens that are not 

 handsome, in spite of the clamor for "nice 

 ones", is to us good evidence that he gives just 

 such as he is able to procure from Italy and 

 no othfi; even when the temptation might be 

 very great at times, to send out just such a 

 one as was wanted. Among all the com- 

 plaints, we think none has been made that his 

 bees were not industrious. Visitors frequent- 

 ly tell us when showing them a queen, that 

 they would not take such a one as a gift, sim- 

 ply because they look so much like black 

 queens ; and this may be the case, when they 

 have no fault to find with the workers. If we 

 get the honey, what else do we want V 



ARE BOX HIVES MOKE SI CCESSFl't, 

 THAN FK AME illVES FOK AVfll^iTERlIVG ? 



HY do bees in good solid box hives, winter 

 better than in frame hives ? I have traos- 

 ferred 30 hives in the last few days and have 

 a solution of the question, but ask in Gleanings. 1 

 will answer it in one of the magazines shortly, in an 

 article on wintering bees. The old log gum and the 

 box hive are more uniformly auccessfiil than the mov- 

 able frame hive ; it is demonstrated to me every win- 

 ter, and in translerriug I tried to study the philosophy 

 of this thing. Xow in the bos or gum there is no up- 

 ward ventilation, every crack and crevice is closed ; 

 more, the top is closely tilled with store combs reach- 

 ing from side to side, and when the bees pack between 

 tlie combs there is a very small amount of vacant 

 space. They have no upward vectilation, they have 

 no absorbing material above them nor in any place, 

 — even the sides of the hive are coated with glue — yet 

 we cvlfirred, cditcafeil. ajnarians give them both. J 

 use the wide or closetl top frame and find that my 

 small hives with the top glued tight so that bees nor 

 water can get through, winter best. What evidence 

 have we that the bee renders the air iinj)ure by breath- 

 ing it ? or even damp, as claimed by some ^ Why, sir 

 if there were as much water thrown off the lungs of 

 the bee as some claim, it would run off tlie bottom 

 boards of box hives ; yet in my frame hives, frost 

 collects on the glass. Well, what makes it ? Venti- 

 lation. How will I prove it? 15y giving ventilation 

 to one of my hives through the propolis on the end or 

 siile next the glass. But excuse me, I didn't want to 

 waste paper. You need not read this side. 

 John F. LAFF?:RTy, Martinsville, Ills., June 10, '76. 

 A great many friend L. have taken the pos- 

 ition you are now taking, but we believe they 

 have nearly all abandoned it sooner or later. 

 Could youread the reports we do, we think 

 you would conclude the wintering troubles 

 were pretty nearly as bad with -box, as with 

 other hives. The water does most assuredly 

 run off the bottom boards, and we have seen 

 icicles iiistdi' box hives almost as large as one's 

 arm. During the past winter we had two 

 hives that we traded ifor, having honey boards 

 covered with propolis, and cemented down 

 tight. These hives had old combs in them, 



