38 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



WINTEUING ElVTIREIvY ON SlICiAR, 



CHAFF PACK11V«, ANU CHAFF IN 



SUOTMEK. 



f||HB fall of 1872 found me a tyro in the bee business 

 ■with several good colonies and a few which were 



— short in everything. The queens in two of the 

 poorest colonies cost $5.00 each, and I was particularlj- 

 interested in them. What shall I feed was the first ques- 

 tion which presented itself. And after searching Quin- 

 by's book, King's book. The Bee-keepers' Journal, and 

 iiSkinn a number of old bee-keepers, the question was not 

 satisfactorily answered. All agreed that sugar syrup was 

 ;!■ leood feed for spring ; one said "may be used sparingly 

 ih the fall ; " no one said that bees coidd be wintered on 

 it. 1 had no honey and could not buy any near home, so 

 I gave them plenty of syrup in October. And when done 

 feeding, the hives were a little more than half full of 

 ("cmb, with nearly every cell full of syrup. 



"Where shall I winter? was the next question in order. 

 Something which 1 read led me to consider the subject of 

 outdoor wintering with protection, and resulted in my 

 lacking seven colonies in dry goods boxes. The two col- 

 onies referred to above were packed in a 10 bushel box, 

 the packing being a mixture of broken straw and chalT. 

 Tiie bottoms were tlioroughly protected, and there was 

 itbout four inches of packing at the ends, with six inches 

 at the sides. The tojjs of the frames were open and cov- 

 ered with a thin clotli and two inches of the packing — the 

 lid of the box fitting closely on top. The only opening at 

 the bottom was a X inch auger liole. The box was placed 

 \o inclies from the ground and thoroughly roofed so as to 

 protect all parts from rain. Warm days were rather 

 scarce during the winter of 72-3, the bees in these two 

 (■«)lonies flying but three times from the latter part of 

 JCov. to the middle of March ; and they were stirred up 

 lit these times by my opening the hives at the top to see 

 if they were alive. I have been particular in describing 

 tlie packing of these two colonies for the reason that the 

 renulls were fully as satisfactory as with any plan wliich 



I have tried. In one dry goods box that two low hives 

 were packed in during that winter, tliere was a space of 

 >? or 10 inches between the lid and the packing ; and one 

 day when the mercury stood at 12° above on the outside 

 it stood at 21" above in the inside after the lid had been 

 i)n fifteen minutes. 



AMOUNT CONSUJIED IN WINTEE. 



In the fall of '73 two hives which were weighed Oct. C. 

 packed Nov. 7th, and unpacked and weighed March 27th, 

 '7t lost 13 K lbs. and li lbs. ; three hives weighed Oct. 6th 

 packed Nov. 3d, and unpacked and weighed Mar. 20th, 

 lost 9)^ lbs, 9K and lOj^ lbs ; two hives weighed and 

 packed Oct- 30th, and unpacked and weiglied Mar. 30th, 

 lost 8 lbs. and 10 lbs. Bees Hew frequently that winter, 

 the coldest day being 8" to 12° above zero. During the 

 winter of '71-5 I had 17 colonies packed— lost two queens, 

 t^ast winter I had 8 colonies packed— let one starve, lost 

 two queens— unpacked three in May and left i packed all 

 summer. 



My hives were all well shaded and most of them had 

 (ipenings 3^x10 itK^hes yet the four colonies whicli were 

 packed in a close box with an opening ?4x3 inches t) each 

 iiive seemed to be as little affected by the heat as the 

 others. These four worked as well and seemed a little 

 loss inclined to swarm than the others. My experiments 

 in this packing business hav(f iiroven only one thing to 

 ruy entire satisfaction, and that is just this, that to use a 

 common liivo, pack it in a box for win I or and take it 

 Out in summer is loo much like work. 1 have mostly un- 

 packed too soon in the s|>i'iui; and the tops of the frames 

 have been c()Von^d with a coMon quilt which is probably 

 not as good as a, cli;iir cusliion. One coloiiy that was xm- 

 pucked in May g:ive the best results last summer, but one 

 1 hat wintered on its summer stand was nearly ais good. 

 And several colonies which wiiUored on summer staiuls 

 gave better results than some that were ciirefully pncked. 



R. M. Ret.volbs, East Springfield, O. Jan. 10th, 1877. 



Aar APIARY OF COITIMON BEES. 



200 COLONIES OF BLACKS. 



lE^iNCLOSED please find subscription 

 S^jij I would not do without it if the pric 



m 



to Gleanings. 

 price was $10.00 a 

 year. I have almost been tempted to visit you in 

 order that I might once in my life see a genuine bee man, 

 such a person I have never seen neither have I seen an 

 Italian bee or section box. I got 1 lb. of your fdn. last 

 spring and was not long in proving it a failure. I was 

 very sorry it was so for I am so bothered to get dry comb 

 for starters. I did not send in bill as you directed as I 

 was perfectly satisfied to bear part of the expense of such 

 experiments, and now I expect to send for some of youi' 

 improved article on the strength of published recom- 

 mend.ttions, but if the bees refuse to use it you must ex- 

 pect some big words. Last .season was the worst I ever 

 knew hero, yet I have two tons of nice box honey, and for 

 next year I have 200 strong colonies divided in three 

 apiaries. I commenced with the "Bay state" hive and 

 have 50, but they did not meet my reiuiiemcnts and I 

 made one similar to the American ; they do right well, 

 but now I have another contrived up to make this win- 

 ter, which is like many others "The very best." It is 

 something like the Deacon's one horse shay. I do not in- 

 tend to Lave it patented, nor shall I publish its qualities 

 until I know they in reality exist. I will give you my 

 views if you will act as judire of their merits. The object 

 of this hive is, ample room for boxes, frames easily taken 

 out for extracting, and wintering out doors on the stands. 

 It is not a non swanner, yet the No. of hives in an apiary 

 never increases. J. F. Callbreath. 



White Lake. N. Y. Dec. 20th, 1876. 



Thanks for your kind but plainly spoken 

 words, friend 0. Altliough we may merit the 

 title of "bee man," we feel we should hardly be 

 equal to the task of getting 2 tons of honey, 

 from your apiary of common bees. Had yoii 

 told us your number in the spring, we might 

 judge better. Should you piy us that visit, 

 please do not be disappointed, if you find us so 

 busy at times, as to be hardly sociable. In 

 regard to hives, we have decided to let the 

 people be the judge; if they refuse to pay for 

 large and complicated structures, preferring 

 the low priced Simplicity hive, we have con- 

 cluded they know best what they want. You 

 liave aroused our curiosity in regard to a hive 

 that will prevetit increase, and yet is not a 

 non s warmer ; please tell us more about it. 



FODarWATION, "WHY REES SOMETIMES 

 REFUSE TO USE IT. 



flj'HIS has been a puzzling question, espec- 

 I ially a.s our bees so readily commenced 



work on the paralline, and all the various mix- 

 tures witli which we experimented. On think- 

 ing it over, v/e remembered that on one occa- 

 sion, we had some small cakes of white wax 

 sent us as samples, which remained so long in 

 the hives untouched that we made enquiry of 

 those who rolled it. At lirst they said it had 

 no diflerent treatment, but Anally admitted 

 that a much larger quantity of soap was used 

 than usual, to prevent its sticking to the rolls. 

 We thoroughly washed one of the pieces, and 

 it was worked out without trouble. If it was 

 the soap that induced the bees to refuse to 

 work on some we sent out last season, our 

 patrons may rest assured we shall try to avoid 

 such troubles in future. When a thing works 

 beautifully with our bees, wc feel we are excu- 

 sable in oilering it with confidence to others; 

 still, wc are anxious to have al! adverse re- 

 ports sent in. 



