£876 



^LEA^HINGS IN BEE CULT"URE. 



270 



UMllh 



FroHi Diifereiit Fields. 



■^ fi»i'Y ■second storj' is a lioop six inches deep. Instead 

 \ /\ of trasnes, i propose to iise sl;Ks of tlxe saine widfii 



"^ '' as mj section boxes. Thi section boxes are to be 



.listened to tbeundeiade oT these slats, by means of doub- 

 Aq pointed carpet t.-wks; ohc point being driven into tlie 

 edge of the slat, tlie other, into tJje edge of tne box. One 

 tack on eaoJi Kde will liolel the iMxes perfectly tight. 

 'Tlieso boxes can thus be ftetencd to each slat, a piece 'M 

 i:.ch sfiuareis to be 'laid across thelrames to give support 

 to the middle section box. Thus arranged, the boxes, 

 three at a time can be -easily lifted on't for examination, 

 •;uid replaced if necessary. K Hie section Ijoxes rest di- 

 rectly on the'iraines, or'cros! slats, it is dilScnlt to replace 

 them, owing 'to the propolis vrilh which they are fasteiied. 

 1 propose to put strips of g?ass 2 iitches wide, and Vd or 

 ■vi2 inches long, in tlte sides of the hooiK so that I can see 

 what the bees are doing withovit the iiecessity-of smoking 

 them. What think jo^i o^ my 1^x311* 



The idea is iK)vcl, -and may provt? •a v-ery 

 good one. We tiiiiilc no support will be need- 

 fcd in liie middle, for liie boxes will be tightly 

 ■giuni'n'e<:l tog^tlKr before tlvey are fill-ed, and 

 they will in this -condition give stiffness to Ih^e 

 top bar. Th-e ereat objection, will be the proiv 

 olis that covers the bottom ami «juds, which 

 anars *30 mucii t-he bca-nty of the clean v\'Ood, 

 .tir.d the bits of wax that will be, with some 

 stocks, built between the sections and frames. 

 IV-e find much less of this propolis in the 

 'house apiary, and have just be(n wouderiDg if 

 it were not because it is so much warmer. 

 Thin stufi- to go all round the sections anv1 

 'j.rolect their exterior, such as Doolittlc uses, 

 ^vould be nicer, Init it would tak-c up room in 

 .the hive, and add to t]ic expense, 



if I ttesti-oy Ciuetii cells just before swaiining time, 

 •can I thus -certain^ly pr-evcut swarming? Will a second 

 oxam illation Ije Jiectssa ry S Ls it advisaWe to piusue this 

 <-ourse ? J. H. P., Fr.'uildin, N. Y. 



By IK) ra-eans, for the It-aliaus often swarm 

 without the sigii of a queen cell. A second 

 •examination may help the matter, hat will 

 350t make a sure thing of it. We believe it 

 5ias Ixjen voted that cutting out; the queen 

 <,el)S is not mu-ch to be deix}nded on. 



I was x^greeably surprised when I learned that you had 

 •^eiit me a colony of your bees, and could scarcely wait un- 

 til they ariivcd. I received them yesterday at noon— 

 Thursdoj" — and at once took them out home. In openiiig 

 Ihein I was very fortunate, beirg stung but twii'e. As far 

 ■ys I cculd tell, they can i2d very well. At 3 o'clock in the 

 Jif teriioon 1 received jour postal and queen, the former 

 oxplaiiiing the latter. I was somewhat alarmed tlien lest 

 the bees might go away, being queenless, and consequent- 

 ly hurried out home to give them the queen. I did as 

 you directed on postal and will liberate her this evening. 

 i am vciy well satisfied with them, and feel somewhat 

 3ike the boy with his first whistle. I came very near 

 ■■■gi\ing up the fort" yeste.'xilay afternoon by running; 

 i iiuil three l>ees on two fingere, * each one stinging me. 

 Tliis makes five times, and I will soon become accustomed 

 to the poison at this rate 1 



WiU this colosiy swarm again this year? You say there 

 live about fifty pounds of honey in the hive. Do they need 

 til! of this for winter? ^Tould it be l^csfc i ot to take any 

 f')! it out? I could not couiplniri cf the i)rice at all, con.- 



siderii'.g the koney and the hive. The express charges 

 were ?8,0G, making it cost me Sl8,00, which I will not be- 

 grudge if lean but winter them safely. 



My lices are working niceb' now. Saw the flueen to- 

 day, til 3 first time since I put her with them. 



Do yo« ever sell CLueens ? At wknt price could you seH 

 them ? E. B. Thoe>-tox. 



Bedford, Iml, Aug. Vth, K76. 



Abofit the last of -fuly we took a notion into 

 our head that if we wished to answer the 

 many qiicrics in regard to shipping bees wie 

 iiad better make some practical experiments, 

 and an order coming to hand opportunely, we 

 flxed one and sent it along. The colony vv^as 

 too heav}- to be crowded into one story, so we 

 moved the hive, and put our new one in its 

 place, putting in all the brood combs, and as 

 many bees as wc could get in. To our dis- 

 may there wai^ hardly even a brood comb, 

 that was not so lieavy that we feared it would 

 all be smashed down during such hot weather; 

 we flxed it to our notion, and sent it away, 

 but when it was weighed, wc found there 

 must be something like 50 lbs. of honey. 

 That was not all the trouble, w-e gave the re- 

 maining bees the comljs that had been in the 

 tapper story, and a queen cell, but by the way 

 it was soon torn open we knew they had a 

 queen, and ehe proved to be the one that 

 should hare been sent with the swarm. 

 "Was'i-t that bright! Sending the queen by 

 mail, and the bees by express ! Now we de- 

 termined to see if Doolittle was right in say- 

 ing' the honey would be. moved into the sec- 

 tion boxes above ; so we gave our colony 

 another cell, and watched their behavior 

 when the queen began to lay, for there was 

 hardly a sxiuare inch of empty space for her to 

 begiu work in. Sure enough they did move 

 the honey into the sections-, hardly as much 

 as we expected, but they are now a pretty 

 fair colony, with solid walls of houey on 

 every &ide of their circle of empty cells where 

 they will pass the winter. We shall report 

 the effect of so much honey for wintering. 



I wintered last season, two small nuclei (on four Gallup 

 frames each), and as they increased in the spring, gave 

 theoi larger hives and oMiJ^^/ frames, until, on the sixtli 

 inst., one of thera threw ott an enorsiously large swarm 

 from a crowded two story hive, notwithstanding I had 

 several tioies extracted all their honey and destroyed 

 queen cells to prevent swarming. Vigor jus treatment of 

 a like nature ha.s with difficulty restrained the other 

 from swarming, I hare no more prosperous colonies than 

 these two. One year ago last winter. I wintered two 

 nuclei in the same small hiver, with like results in the 

 following spring and summer. G, E Coebin. 



P. S.- On the 18th day of Ma.v last, I destroyed every 

 queen cell in a jirosi^ei-ous' colony, which nevertheless, 

 swarmed out on the -iOth. Since that time they have 

 filled 12 gallup frames with comb and brood, and swarmed 

 out a second time. These bees are hybrids. 



G. C, St. Johns, Mich., July 10th, 1870. 



Will you please tell us friend C. just how 

 you prepared those nuclei to winter thus, and 

 where they werc kept; just now it will be 

 quite an interesting item. 



I have -i-oOO lbs. first quality linden honey, extracted 

 for which I will take 10c per lb., and -2000 lbs. fall honey 

 at !tc ; fall honey is good. 



Geo. ?.I. Dal]-, Border Plains, low.-., Oct. 1. lS7tJ. 



