1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



straw or dry leaves, six inches thiclj. This year I 

 have thrown away contracting boards altogether for 

 wintering purposes anil have made matH of unbrolfen 

 rye straw. I place mats at the sides, fitting and press- 

 ing them in close and tight, then by making the top 

 mat a little larger than to cover the franies,bending the 

 ends of top mat down over the toiis of side mats, I 

 have almost a straw hive— have lllled in with straw as 

 before. I place tliem in this condition in the cellar 

 which is large, dry and dark, about the '20th of Nov., 

 after they have had a good fly— set them two feet 

 from the ground— removing covers and opening en- 

 trances about the same as in summer. I take them 

 out about the 10th of March if the weather is suitable, 

 and never have returned them again to the cellar. 

 Now mark. 1 let this packing remain uittil time to 

 put oil boxes, and it seems to me this is one of the 

 main uses of packing. The result with me has been 

 hives just boiling over with bright, strong, healthy 

 bees, ready for the harvest when it should come. 



WHEN TO PUT ON ISOXES. 



I see the above question is often asked. This *'no 

 fellow can lind out" as an invariable rule. It is a 

 matter of juilgment, subject to certain conditions. I 

 see the question answered, "when the hive is full of 

 honey." According to my ideas, that is a little too 

 late, friend Novice. With the hive full of bees and ap- 

 ple blossoms out, put on top boxes and perhaps boxes 

 on one side. This season for instance, I put boxes on 

 with the above conditions and the consequence was, I 

 had my boxes half full of nice new comb and honey, 

 before the wild crab-apple and wild plum were gone, 

 to say nothing of our orchard blossoms. 



Al'PLE KIX)S80M HONEY, HOW TO UTILIZE IT. 



The honey obtained is scarcely merchantable, but 

 the beauty of it is, the bees will use it out of the boxes 

 to raise young bees, and so have the combs in boxes 

 all ready prepared for the white clover harvest. Now 

 if the above conditions, or something like them do 

 not exist, don't be in a liurry to put on boxes, would 

 he my advice. So after all, we can but say it is a mat- 

 ter of judgment subject to certain conditions, and 

 leave it. 



TOO MUCH HONEY, JUST ENOUGH. 



I see questions asked and instructions given in al- 

 most every bee journal as to what should be the con- 

 dition ot stocks when prepared for winter. Almost 

 all advise "if tlie hive is too full of honey extract 

 it fr mi at least two combs in the center," &c. So 

 would I if I ever found such a one ; but I never did 

 when the stock was in a normal condition. A weak 

 swarm of-bees no bee-man can afford to winter;— 

 «<ouble them up. If there is one thing more than an- 

 other in bee culture that I believe in, it is strong 

 stocks ; and anything that will bring about such a con- 

 dition of things will lead to success. How much 

 pumping out does such a swarm need after setting out 

 from the close of the honey ; cason until the last of 

 November ? Not much I That hive full of honey .ind 

 bees, well i)ackcd and put in the cellar, will come out 

 in the sjjring with some iO or l.'i lbs. less in stores, 

 strong in numbers, little or no dwindling il the pack- 

 ing remains, plenty of stores to keep up breeding, and 

 will lie fully ready for the lioncy harvest when it shall 

 come. K. H. Mki.len, Amboy, Dec. S, itiTfi. 



We heartily endorse all the above. 



FROITI OOOLITTI^E ONCE MORE. 



BEAH GLEANINGS:- If at any time you think we 

 I an- taking too much liberty in criticism of matter 

 "^^ found on your pases please give us a gentle hint, 

 :jnd 've uill do <!> no more. (>;i p:v_'r ?.W> we find that the 



KEES, now LONfx DO TIIET LIVE f 



average life of a worker bee during the summer season i^ 

 but ;iO days, and as Novice does not say otherwise we takr 

 it for granted he believes this to be a fact. One experi- 

 ment however will convince him or any apiarian th:it thi 

 avenige life of the worker is 45 days, or one-third mon- 

 than given aV)ove. Take a black stock for instance thi' 

 10th of June and introduce an Italiiui queen so that shf 

 shall commence laying on that da.y. In 21 days the last 

 b'ack bee will have hatched, and at the end of 45 days 

 from the time the last black bee emerged from the cell. 

 no bliick bees can be found in the colony. At 40 days 

 plent.v of them can be seen and but very few the 44th. 

 And right here I woidd sa.y that at 15 da.ys from the timr 

 the first Italian hatches if they are at work in boxes wi- 

 will see none but black bees going in and out at the en- 

 trance, while those in the boxes will lie all Italians, show- 

 ing conclusivel.v that the bees that gather hone.v are not 

 Ih". ones that put it in the boxes. Ajain, we find on tlii' 

 next page that a worker may live six months if wintereil 

 in the most sticcessful way, while experiment will show 

 that they will live S months. For instance, we have in- 

 troduced Italian queens to black stocks the middle of Sep. 

 and have had man.v black bees in said stocks the first o; 

 June of the next year. Italians are said to live longc 

 than black bees, but I have never conducted any experi- 

 ments on that point. 



We cannot agree with those who think the Italians will 

 not enter boxes as readily as black bees, or that the.y will 

 not go to the top of the box to commence work, for all 

 our experiments and practical experience go to the con- 

 trary. Our Italians not only average more honey in the 

 box, but are at least 10 lbs. ahead in stores when winter 

 comes. That the Italian bee is any larger, or has aii.x 

 longer tongue than the black bee we could never see, but 

 they are far more industrious ; toiling and persevering for 

 that which the black bee does not think worthy of notice. 

 For instance, a number of years ago, when we had 15 col- 

 onies of blacks to 3 of Italians, we put a little sugar intd 

 some maple sap and started the bees with honey ; the.\ 

 came in about the ratio given above, but as soon as tlii 

 honey was gone the black bees quit, while the Italian^ 

 carried off the whole. So we have repeatedly found th:n 

 while the black bees and poor hybrids were starving, thr 

 Italians would make a small gain every day. 



SW.4.EMING, NATURAL ANU ARTIFICIAL. 



We wish we could agree with A. J. Cook in regard to 

 natural swarming but we cannot, for we have made arti- 

 ficial swarms by all the different ways given and have 

 come to the conclusion that in no way can an artificiul 

 swarm be made, that will work for the first few day^ 

 equal to a natural one. A natural swarm has the wax al- 

 ready secreted before it leaves the pai-ent hive for a star: 

 in its new home, and will build more comb in the first 2 1 

 hours than an artificial one will make in the first 60 ; also 

 the natural swarm has the right proportion of bees of ali 

 ages for nurse bees, wax workers, gatherers, &c. As foi 

 each hive having a laying queen, one can be introduced t-i. 

 the old stock as soon as it swarms, thus providing then. 

 with a laying queen at once ; but such a stock will hardl.v 

 compare with one that raises its own (lueen, if they arc 

 not allowed to swarm the second time. There is an im- 

 petus about both new and old stocks by nature's course 

 that cannot be given by any artificial means. 



QUEENS, now MANY EGGS SHOUL]> THEY LAY? 



Inthe^ee World for Nov. we notice that H. Al- 

 ley, of Wenham, Moss., says: ''A goo<l, prolific queen, 

 say one that will lay one hundred thousand eggs in a year 

 will play out in two years." Now let us look a moment. 

 We give the smallest brood capa<'it.\- for a hive, of any api- 

 arian in Ameri(ta,— about 800 square inches. This is kojit 

 fdlcd with brood from the first of June to the middle ot 



