1876. 



GKEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



239 



<lry leaves, line sU\iw or chalT, (the last I have not 

 tried, but think it would be good) and you have your 

 swarm in a snug repositorj'. Use carpets or quilts on 

 top of hive with packing directly on it, and I lay tvvo 

 strips a few inches long under the carpet on top of 

 frames to give a winter passage. I make the sides of 

 the outside box just the height of my hive without 

 the cap ; the top in two parts, the rim 6 inches, and 

 the roof, as you could not pack on top if it were all in 

 one. This arrangement secures or rather retains the 

 heat of the swarm, and still lets the moisture escape; 

 also, if it gets warm enough at any time during win- 

 ter they can lly without being moved or disturbed, 

 which I believe kills off many stocks. 



Vo your packing in October while it is warm, or 

 even earlier, and don't touch them until spring. Of 

 course stocks must have stores enough and a good 

 queen, etc.. or they will die anywhere. 



I do not give this as entirely new, but it works so 

 well that I believe it will nearly always save them. 

 My advice is ta get your bees in good shape for winter 

 while the weather is warm and put them up in some 

 way, so they need not be handled or disturbed during 

 the winter. These boxes with packing removed, may 

 stand all summer and be a protection from heat, and 

 then you do not want any house apiary, grape vine, 

 or any ether shade and the hive may be made of rough 

 lumber and unpainted, with no cap. Some might ob- 

 ject to the expense, but a few stocks saved will pay 

 for a great many boxes. I can make them here with 

 two coats of paint for S2,C0, and they will last a long 

 time. I think I have made this sufficiently plain to 

 be understood ; and now for introducing queens. 



It seems to me there should be no trouble in intro- 

 ducing queens at any time during the season, wheth- 

 er honey is coming in or not. I believe that most 

 losses are caused by releasing queens too soon. I 

 have introduced a great many and never have lost 

 one. 1 used to let the queen loose after being caged 

 on top or in the stock, in 3 or 3 days (of course old 

 queen must be taken out first) disturbing them as Ut- 

 ile as possible. But four years ago I released one 

 after 3 days and the bees balled the queen in two sec- 

 onds. I took her from the ball, caged her again 

 leaving her 3 days more, then daubed her with honey 

 and she was well received ; since which time I always 

 leave a queen caged 3 days, then drop her in a cup of 

 honey and cover her all over wiih it, dip her up with 

 a tea spoon and drop her an.ong the bees between the 

 liames, b-at am sure not to disturb the stock for 3 or 4 

 ilays more. 



I do not think it singular that petroleum will kill a 

 queen, as it will kill even the Colorado i)otato beetle. 

 We have had four cases of two queens in one hive 

 here this summer ; one of them had two laying queens 

 and has them still. I have proved that young queens 

 destroy queen cells, and also that young queens raised 

 in August or September will keep up brood rearing 

 much later in the fall than older ones. I have but two 

 queens in mj' yard but what were raised this year and 

 they are only a year old. 



I wintered all ray bees last season in the boxes des- 

 cribed, successfull}-, but sold two in April, keeping 9 

 to go on with. I have now 32 besides some nuclei for 

 raising queens. I have sold 3 nuclei which are now 

 good strong stocks, liavc extracted -iOO lbs. and taken 

 35 lbs. comb in small frames, besides which I have 

 sold (juitc a batch of queens. 



Be on hand another spring with your fdn. for we 

 will be after you hot and heavy. Many wishes for 

 your success. J. W. Ci:AMi:i:. 



Oneida, 'llinoi', Sept. 5th, ISTO. 



Boxes made to hold chaft' as above, we be- 

 lieve will be about the l)est arrangement we 

 can make, and as oar friend says, something 

 very cheap will do for the inside hive, if they 

 are to remain so during warm weather. We 

 would however always have the inside of the 

 hive smoothly plained, for we wish to have 

 them as free from propolis and bits of comb, 

 as possible. With suspended combs, we see 

 no good reason why the chaft', around the 

 walls at least, may not remain permanently ; 

 above the frames in the space occupied with 

 the surplus sections, we would use a chaft' 

 cushion, such as is advertised in this No. If 

 it will pay to thus protect the section boxes^ 

 we do not see but that the outer box might be 

 tall enough to admit two stories, and then we 

 should have only to put the cushions in the 

 upper story to prepare them for winter. Do 

 we need chaft" under the bottom of the hive ? 

 Who can tell ? For the closed end Quinby 

 hive, we would suggest sides all movable, and 

 five cushions ; the latter all to give place to 

 surplus sections in the summer season. We 

 have several times had queens that would not 

 be accepted in two days, but would be receiv- 

 in two or three days more. While young 

 queens lay prodigiously in fall, we frequently 

 have queens 2 years old that outstrip them the 

 next season ; so we would not be too hasty iu 

 killing oft' old and tried ones. 



THE OLD PI.AIV AND THE NEW. 

 ING, ETC. 



FEED- 



sjrjp^EAR FRIEND : Gleanings came to hand fuller 

 J[Jj j than usual of matter interesting to bee-keepers. 



When feeding large colonies in July and August to 

 encourage the preservation and and production of drones, 

 1 used old discarded fruit cans, putting in them two or 

 three small pieces of corn cob, and one long one. These 

 were placed in the portica about dark, removed next 

 A. M. and set on the ground near the hives, so that they 

 could be readily refilled and replaced in the eveninj. No 

 robbing, no bee-i lest in the food. After two or throe feed- 

 ings the bees were as conscious of the lime for feeding as 

 our barnyard stock, parading impatiently over the floor of 

 the portico, and finally swarming u; en the can as seen as 

 we had left it. If two cobs are tied together, one to be in 

 the can, and the other outside so as to rest on the portico, 

 a strong stock will empty the can in quite cool weather. 



That was a very interesting letter of Dr. Pettrs. By all 

 means let the old find new systems ba tried by experts. 

 As a general rule the old system has had but a jjoor 

 chance being mostly in the hands of the ignorajit oi care- 

 less. I presume that the results cf such a trial \riil only 

 confirm the conclusions of such eminent bee men as tho 

 late Mr. Quinby, Judge Fishba?k of Batavia, Ohio, and 

 Dr. J. P. Kirlland. These men after large experience 

 with box hives, abandon them for the movable frames. 

 I have no doubt that manj' are "dabbling" with frames, 

 who would be much better off if they used the old gum, 

 and the sulphur pit. 



The fact cannot be questioned, that for some reason the 

 race of bee-keepers who make bee-keeping profitable 

 without movable frames is fast dying out. Is there 

 among them one who can compiro, for success, with Cap- 

 tain Hetherington, or the late Adam Grimm ? 



Let mc call the attention of your readers to a single 

 point, the rapidity with which after the most disiistrous 

 winters an apiary is re-establislied by those who have 

 control of the comts, while similar losses with ih: box 

 hives arc irreparable. 



