1S77 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



21 



One your ;j.,'--o I began tlio \viii(cr with 82 swarms, two of 

 Avhifh 1 k'ftoH llieir suiumer stiuids pitokcil with chiiiT in 

 •Juiuby hives ; tlioy wiiitored better thuti those in the 

 toee house. One of them cast a swariii eight days in atl- 

 vance of any of the rest and the other one was the third 

 to switrin. I lost II swarma ; G of them >tarv<i<.l before be- 

 ing takeo out in the spring, the other eight ilwindled 

 •ilown and were robbed by others, there being v.o one to 

 iook after them. I being sick froin the first of May until 

 the first of July. Mow for the result. I increase<l them 

 ro 101 by natural swarming bat reduced them in the fall 

 to 1)0, 11 of which are on their summer stands in Quinby 

 tiives piK-ked in chaff. Five of these have chafT bottom 

 i>oai-ds; 7!) are in the bee house and that is not all. I got 

 lisO lbs. of dark comb honey. How is that for low ? I 

 'leed not tell you that it was the poorest season I ever 

 >aw; fruit blossoms and white clover were failures on ac- 

 coiuit of wet weather. Basswood which is our main dc- 

 jicndance for >nr|>lus, did not blossom and the fall was 

 (■old and wet. ( 'onsequeiitly our bees are not in the best 

 condition for winter but we hope for a better season nest 

 year. Wm. H. Tenant. 



P. S. — Please don't put me in "Blasted Hopes" this 

 time. 



fiureka. Wis. 



Less thaa; Ti ]b«. of honcj^ to the hive, and 

 poor at that, we think justly eutitles ycu to 

 the department mentioned; but as you have 

 tiivtn us a good report in favor of the chafi", 

 ^ye think we vviJl tiy you once more friend T. 



I received (he two colonies of Italians sent me; all 

 appear to l;e alive and in good condition. They arc 

 '.he only bees in this country, and jf they do well the re 

 ■i-tre a great many who stand ready and very desirous 

 oi trying them also. Where the bees are, it is so 

 warm they arc out from 9 o'clock to 4 each day, all 

 over the country. But as every class of vegetation is 

 dead, I cannot see how they can gather anything to 

 cat. BI. W. Mills, Cimarron, N. M., Dec. 16, '76. 



Is not that pretty well for shipping bees all 

 1 he way 1o New Mexico ? The credit belongs 

 "<> friend Biaktslee we presume for he prepared 

 ih(m. Old l)rood combs were used, and those 

 with but a moderate amount of honey in them. 



It is quite encouraging tor me, as a beginner, to hear 

 ih« reports from different states, of the successful bee- 

 keepers; it just braces me right up. I have 16 stands 

 ■of bees : I transferred 8 from old i>ox hives last spring, 

 Mud hove <j Italianized. Now which is the cheapest 

 and best plan to Italianize the remainder.' Would it 

 1.0 sale to remove the old quetus next spring and place 

 <iueen cells in their stead? And w^ould the young 

 'lueens btcome fertile before black drones make their 

 appearance. 



I have about 20 lbs of wax of good quality; had I 

 better send iho wax for fdn. or can you get me a pure 

 -:irticie? L. P. Kline, Mordansville, Pa.. Dec. 14, '7*. 



Killing your queens in the spring and giving 

 them queen cells might be safe, but it would 

 bt; a very wasteful way, for you would stop all 

 brood 1 earing for at least two or three weeks. 

 Vou might get Italian tlrones before the com- 

 mon ones, and by such a course get the queens 

 purely fertilized; but you woukl lose at least 

 oue-haif your crop of honey. It will be much 

 better to wait until swarming time, and then 

 rear your queens in a nucleus or on two frames 

 in one side of the hive. T\hen your queen is 

 lajiLg, 30U can kill the o>d one and cage the 

 young (. 1 e 48 hours as usual. For full partic- 

 uiurs see it^iluuiziiig, page lo7. Vol. IV. You 



probably could not get your 20 lbs. of wax to 

 us for 1. ss than Tjc per lb. ; llierefore we think 

 you had l)Ltter sell it at home it you can get 

 within 5c of wliat we pay, and buy the Idn. of 

 us. We have a lar|ie stock now, of very nice 

 pure wax. 



What do yoii use for bemling th« metal corners before 

 IJUttiiig tiitni on the frames V 



The corners are folded and finished in a very 

 ingeuious and expensive piece ol automatic 

 niachiiiery. It is entirely out of the question, 

 to think of doing accurate work by hand. 



Have you ever known the Italians to collect honey front 

 t he larijc headed 1 ed clo\ er 'r 



L. Heine, Smith\ille, N. Y. 



Our Italians work on all the red clover we 

 have in this locality, and we see no ditteience 

 in ^avor of either the small or the large. 



THE OLD WAY AND THE NEW. 



A Mr. Thomas, living about 4 or .5 miles from Toledo, 

 Ohio, tr lis me that he generally keeps from 40 to GO col- 

 onies, and sets the hives on tlie ground, first laying 

 down a board. He does nothing in the fall to protect 

 them, lets the grass grow aroxind them, uses no stands, 

 liay, chaff, or quilts, and scarcely ever loses a colony. 

 H(' never smokes his bees, but turns up his hives in 

 the spring ana cuts out 'j to V of the comb and hon- 

 ey, and sets the hive in place again scarcely ever get- 

 tir g one stirg. He has box hives but is now thinking 

 of getting movable frames. 



?«iow, sir, Mhy isitthatwiib his bees in the grass, 

 scarcely any attention given, w ith natural swarming' 

 altogether, cutting out the comb and honey, &c., his 

 bees winter vs eil, come out finely in the spring, and 

 gi\ e line crops of comb honey ?— and still more amaz- 

 ing, he scarcely ever gets a sting? 



Geo. tJrimm. of Jefferson, Wis., says that his bees, 

 being in a better locality than his mother's, have done 

 tietter than hers; they have had a poor season. He 

 has over irj<i colonies ; he keeps them in dry warm 

 cellars, gives plenty of ventilation, and keeps a barrel 

 of water in the center which is changed every two 

 weeks. He piles his bees ."> to (i high, has the whole 

 entrance open, and slides the honey board forward 

 giving H iiiiih. opening behind, causing a draft through 

 the whole hive; finds it Cbpccially necessary to give 

 drait thus ; he has always tucoeeded. Ho aj^provcs of 

 making a hole through the comb tor winter passage 

 but (iocs rot practice it himself. His uncle Christo- 

 pher does, but has no better success in wintering than 

 himself. 



See how differently these two men proceed, and both 

 of them very successful. A. Fahnestock. 



Toledo, Ohio, Dec. IS, 1876. 



Mr. Thomas is by no means the only one 

 who succeeds in wintering his bees antl get- 

 ting small crops of honey in an unsalable 

 state. But were you to inquire into the mat- 

 ter we think you would find the percentage of 

 loss greater tlian stated. Also, that the aver- 

 age yield per colony, is very insignificant com- 

 pared with your own, and those who read, and 

 practice what they read. There is occasionally 

 a bee-keeper near us who has in the same way 

 escaped almost entirely the malady of the past 

 few years, but much the greater part of the 

 box hive laee-keepers, have gone down to very 

 few stocks, or oftener, none at all. Adam 

 Grimm made a fortune from his bees, while 

 Mr. Thomas has probably made little more 

 honey from his than to supply his family, even 

 if he hxiH escaped loss in wintering. At the 

 same time we should not lose sight of the fact 

 that bees many times do better in old rickety 

 hives out in the grass, than do those so care- 

 fully fussed with, so far as wintering is eon- 

 cerned. We shoultl keep a keen lookout for 

 facts, but avoid going to unwarrantable ex- 

 trfrac^ either way. 



