50 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



OPENING IIIVKS OFTEN, IS IT HARMFUL ? 



Your free and easy manner of speaking about 

 opening hives, I think if liable to mislead the inexpe- 

 rienced. Some say. disturb the bees as little as pos- 

 sible ; from my very limited experience I have found 

 that opening a hive disconcerts the bees for several 

 hours afterwards. Is it proper to open a hive as 

 often as you please, for any purpose whatever ? You 

 speat of opening a hive to ascertain whether they 

 are building straight comb or drone comb, to see if 

 they have queen cells, have the swarming fever, to 

 pick out worms, etc., etc. I wish for more definite 

 instructions in tliis matter. Is it proper to open a 

 hive once a day, once a week, month, or how often .' 

 Jas. H. Parsons, Jiranklin, N. Y., Jan. 5th, '77. 

 Some one said lie could not dig his potatoes 

 several feet away from the hives, his bees vv^ere 

 so cross, and he could not comprehend that the 

 same bees would allow their hive to be taken 

 all in pieces and the combs scattered all about, 

 without making a single hostile demonstra- 

 tion. The motion of hoeing, or chopping, or 

 even driving nails with a hammer, seems to 

 arouse their combative tendencies, especially 

 If at a little distance from their hives ; per- 

 haps they think the blows are aimed at their 

 unoffending selves. When we open a hive 

 they look up to see what is going on, precise- 

 ly as your horses and cattle put out their 

 noses as you come near them ; if they have 

 seen you before and know by past experience 

 that you have no purpose of vexing or harm- 

 ing them through carelessness, they soon re- 

 sume their duties, undisturbed. Have young 

 bees no opportunity of knowing you ? Young 

 bees seldom lead in an attack, and in a hive, 

 a part take the lead, and the rest follow; 

 therefore young bees will behave just as if 

 they had had the experience of the older ones. 

 During our experiments with fdn., we opened 

 hives morning night and noon, and when 

 friends were present, they were opened again, 

 yet these colonies were the very best we had, 

 and that for comb honey too. Fine theories 

 about letting nature have her way may sound 

 very well, but reports from practical men are 

 all in favor of opening hives often while the 

 hees are geiting lianey. We usually chose gen- 

 tle stocks for our experiments, yet on one oc- 

 casion it was convenient to use one of the 

 very crossest hybrids, and for the first few 

 days, we really thought we should have to use 

 smoke ; but after a short time they became ac- 

 customed to these intrusions, so much so that 

 they were as peaceful as any in the apiary ; 

 this experiment has been verified in man}/ in- 

 stances. A question is asked on first page, we 

 will answer here. 



HANDLING BEES IK THE CELLAK. 



Although this may be done at times with- 

 out injury, we must consider it very injudi- 

 cious. If you have weak stocks, give them 

 plenty of food, and pack them in as saiall a 

 compass as you can with chaff cushions, and 

 then let them alone. To be sure they will 

 come out if you open their hives, and to use 

 smoke under such circumstances seems cruel 

 and useless. If they must be examined, wait 

 until a warm day, set them on their usual 

 summer stands, and none will be lost, or ser- 

 iously injured. 



1 Italianized one colony last September and will 

 Italianize the rest next spring; cannot from exper- 



ience tell which will be the best, but am so well 

 pleased with my yellow pets, I shall try for more. 

 Many have been to see them, and if I had queens I 

 could sell almost any quantity of them. 

 J. L. McDanibl. Webbford P. O., N. C. Dee. 28, '70. 



Why would not a hive made with double ends pack- 

 ed with chaff between, and chaff cushions at sides, 



answer instead of your chaff hive ? W. G. Phelps. 

 Milford, Del. Jan. 8th, 1876. 



Such a hive would doubtless answer very 

 well, but it would make the ordinary Simplic- 

 ity much more complicated and expensive, 

 and we are pretty confident we can make a 

 very good wintering and springing hive, by 

 the use of the chaff cushions, as it is. The 

 matter is now being carefully tested. 



PROPOLIS ANL> simplicity HIVES. 



"Won't the bees so fill up the space on the bottom of thw 

 front and back of your hive (inside) with propolis, that is 

 will not lit on top of another hive after being in use for a 

 short time? Ebnbst Shumam. 



Breckenridge, Mo. Jan. 8th, 1877. 



They do fill up with propolis as you men- 

 tion, to soiue extent, yet not so as to make 

 any serious difficulty in setting old hives over 

 others, even after they have been several sea- 

 sons in use. We do not ordinarily require to 

 set old hives over others, unless we have our 

 bees die out badly. We have been accustomed 

 to remove the upper story, frames and all, du- 

 ring the winter, putting them back again la 

 the spring. Propolis has annoyed us very 

 much by sticking to our fingers and clothes, 

 but we do not remember that it ever came in 

 the way of setting Simplicity hives over each 

 other, more than to make them stick, as alt 

 upper stories do with heavy old stocks. 



I will give you some of my gleanings ; to begin, I hine 

 kept bees 57 years. 



AJIOUNT CONSUMED IN WINTER. 



I have weighed bees in the middle of September and 

 again the first of April and have found them from 9 to *i.S 

 lbs. lighter. I have doubled, trebled and quadrupled 

 swarms in the fall often, and found them to do no better 

 than just a fair swarm, although they will eat more than 

 an ordinary swarm. One fall, I got four hives of bees, or 

 rather the bees of four good swarms, put them with, j* 

 fair swarm of my own, weighed them carefully in Sept. 

 and then in April, and they had eaten just 23 lbs. of honey. 

 An ordinary swarm at the same time ate as much. 



MOVING BEES SHOET DISTANCB8. 



Early this fall I moved at least IJS} miles and took soine 

 of my bees ; they went back in great numbers. 1 brought, 

 away the rest when tke weather was cool and I think 

 scarcely any went back. When a boy (in Scotland) 1 

 gathered penny by penny and bought a second swarm of 

 bees and as soon sis I could gather another seven pence 1 

 bought a lb. of Muscovado sugar with it. It gave a 

 swarm S8th of May, also a second and third. Thick- 

 ness of syrup, three measures of sugar to one of water. 

 That hive got a number of lbs. of sugar. Never saw a 

 moth miller about a hi vo till I came to this country ;tl 

 years ago. I f I had no queens before July, I would S!iy 

 so in advertisement. How soon could one get dolliir 

 queens from the south? Jno. Dawson. 



Pontiac, Mich. Jan. 6th, 1877. 



Rather trying on bees, this protracted culd snap, but 

 all right yet ;— 52 colonies in double walled hives, Laiii;- 

 stroth— one of J. S. Hills students, you see. Success lo 

 him and to Gleanings. Jonas Scholl. 



• Lyons Station, Ind. Jan. 8th, 1877. 



