10-3 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JULT 



CHAFF. 



ET J. 11. TOWXLY. 



fjHE result of .your "experiment" with chaff is about 

 what I expected ; l)ut, keep cool, don't get excited, 

 — ' one swallow does not make a summer, neither doe? 

 a single success prove that one will always succeed. Mr. 

 Quinby was for a great many years so successful in win- 

 tering bees housed, that he rather boasted that if he could 

 iiavc the privilege of selecting his stocks he would not lose 

 to exceed one colony in a hundred, and yet if we are cor- 

 rectly informed, his jjercentage of loss five years ngo was 

 as great as our own, and our loss was so heavy (35 out of 

 .50 stocks) that we were ashamed to own it. That was my 

 lirst exjierience in packing bees with chaff. I had 5 stocks, 

 with chRlI packed on two sides and over the top, and 

 saved tliem all, although some of them wore quite weak in 

 the spring. The next winter I tried IG in same way and 

 saved 11, while I lost SO out of 34 wintered in other ways. 

 In '63 I bought dry-goods box(s and packed my bees in 

 them, from one to four hives in a box, and lost but few 

 bees ; I was so well pleased with it, that in 'C.i I made 

 boxes expressly for that purjjose, a box for each hive, and 

 wnitered my bees in them the following winter with but 

 a trifling loss, and that loss could be traced to other cau- 

 ses. Most of my bees were wintered in the same way 

 hist seison with equal success. I have had no spring 

 dwindling in the yard in three years. I care not how 

 ))ees are wintered, whether in cellars, houses, or boxes, to 

 ahvai/s winter well they must be kept warm and dru. 



It on some cold, freezing morning in April you had 

 looked at the interior of your Quinby hive, and then at 

 your hcsf one outside, not packed, you would have been 

 still more surprised at the difference between them. In 

 fact "springing bees" packed in these boxes is just where 

 "the laugh comes in." In March 1S75, I took a few of the 

 largest stocks I had, out of the chaff and left them out ; 

 ill June they were the weakest ones 1 had. 



Are you to be jury or judge to decide the question as to 

 whether king birds do or do not eat bees V If so I fear 

 you will ha'v'e to decide it in the negative ; although there 

 are jirotably hundreds of bee-keejiers (myself among the 

 number) who have seen king birds catch bees in the 

 sjiring, ^/eeks be "ore drones made tlieir appearance, and 

 all through the summer months, before six o'clock in the 

 morning, and after six at night ; and who have also seen 

 them on rauiy days, sit on the alighting board and pick 

 worker bees from the entrance to the hive. Yet there are 

 thousands of others who have not seen it, and the balance 

 of the testimony is in the poor bird's iaxor. 

 Tompkins, Mich., June 12th, '70. 



I notice that you are enthusiastic over the Townly 

 method of packing bees lor wintering. After reading 

 his article requesting you to try one swarm that way, 

 I wrote to him about it, and lie sent mc full particu- 

 lars in regard to his manner of preparing and packing. 

 I ])acked four colonies and left them until about time 

 for fruit blossoms. They all came out in splendid 

 condition ; hardly a dozen dead bees, and they 

 swarmed several weeks sooner than last year. Tho' 

 licrhaiis the winter might have liad something to do 

 with it. A year ago last winter I jjacked in straw 

 without the boxes and lost half in spring. It is (juite 

 a task to make the boxes, but if they succeed in a very 

 cold winter, like the one before last, it will pay. 



S. H. Mallokv, Decatur, Mich., June l.Jth, '70. 



COMB FOlI?fI>ATIO]VS. 



jM LLOW me to thank you for your ]iromptness in 



P-Pi: forwarding me my comb foundation machine. The 



' workmanship is a model of perfection, it works 



like a charm. I have made a large quantity of the foun- 

 dations, and will make up wax for half in the mean time 

 until further notice, or 75c per lb. for the foundations. As 

 you have made some very important improvements on my 

 machine o^'er Perrine's and all others, I think I will get 

 the Canada trade, while you are entitled to that of the 

 U. S., especially when you sell cheapest. I can fasten the 

 foundations in the fi-ames very fast and easily, with a 

 knife (a putty knife is best) ; lay the edge of the wax on 

 the top bar then with the putty knife press it liard on the 

 wood, wetting the knife occasionally to prevent the wax 

 from sticking. If the wax and frame are not too cold it 

 can be fastened faster and stronger than in any other 

 way. 



My bees commenced swarming to-day, June l(!th, con- 

 trary to my wi>hes, as I wish to run that part mj'self. I 

 will now commence removing brood to ])revent swarming 

 and insert empty combs or fotmdations. Bees are doing 

 finely now, and we expect a good honey season. Many 

 bees died hei-e in winter and spring. Bline wintered fine- 

 ly, but I never had so manv queens die as this spring. A 

 great many old queens died before I had drones, so I had 

 to double up with others to save them. I am experiment- 

 ing with other material for comb foundations and hope 

 Mr. Editor you will continue your valuable experiments 

 and give us the results in Gleanings. 



I have to i)ay 3(;c for wax and 20c for paraffine. I put 

 in some full frames of one-half wax and one-half paraffine; 

 the next day was very warm, OP, and they sagged down. 

 I think there should be something to toughen them. The 

 samjile you sent me from the Perrine machine was a deep- 

 er cell and a thicker, higher wall. Would the wax not 

 leave the rollers with that dejith of cell, or why did you 

 make mine so shallow ? 



D. A. Jones, Beeton, Ontario, Can., Juno lOth, '70. 



We have beeu much troubled with the bulg- 

 ing of the combs, and at this date — June 32d — 

 it looks very much as if we were going to be 

 obliged to use white wax encirely, to get rid 

 of the trouble ; \nu-n yellow wax troubles a 

 good deal, and even }.. paratllue does not work 

 well in very hot weather. We are determined 

 to have them all right, and for aay weather, 

 but if we can use nothing but bleached wax, 

 we cannot well make them less than $1.00 per 

 lb. AVe have now decided to ship them iu 

 boxes of 1, 3, i], 5, 10, and 25 lbs. each ; and as 

 these' boxes are made expressly to hold sheets 

 13 by ly inches, we hope our friends will or- 

 der in the above sized packeges. If wanted by 

 mail, add 2.5 cents per lb. as we are obliged 

 to furnish a box that costs us about 10 cents, 

 and the postage on it is about 15 cents, it is 

 rather up hill business sending a single lb. by 

 mail. The package and postage costs us 

 about 41 cents yet to avoid complication we 

 call it all !t;i.25 by mail, or §1.00 per lb by ex- 

 press, and warranted to please ; if it don't, re- 

 turn it at our expense. The thick and high 

 walls such as the machine that we sent Mr. 

 Perrine made, do not suit the bees as well as 

 those we make now. It seems they do not ad- 

 mire having too much of the work done for 

 them. We\lo not wish to receive orders for 

 anything smaller than 13 by IS inches, be- 

 cause we wish to have the goods boxed, ready 

 to be shipped without requiring the personal 

 supervision of Novice on each individual order 

 when the bees are swarming at the rate they do 

 to-day. Please don't order less than 3 lbs. 

 when you order by mail, if you can avoid it. 

 We pay 50c for white wax, and iSc for panxlHue. 



