1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



91 



her sniisrly hid in a crevice, and Uiey arc now doing well. 



.Joiijf R. Lee, Oxford, O., Feb. 17th, 1S77. 



While narrtitini; the wa\' in which very diiri- 

 cult feats, such as transferring in winter, have 

 been performed, we sliould bear in mind, that 

 perhaps jjreat numbers have tried to do sim- 

 ilar things, and have said nothing about it, 

 simply because their experiment was a failure. 

 On the other hand, it gives one so much confi- 

 dence when he succeeds, that it is well worth 

 the trouble where one has time. The plan of 

 getting the bees from a tree, is all right, where 

 the conditions will admit of it. 



HAIR MATTRESSKIS, VKKSUS CMAFF 



txsinoNs, arc. 



M^UCH has been said about wintering bee?, but I have 

 not heard one word about hair for pacldng the 

 ' hives; I have tried it for hives out doors, for the 

 last 3 winters, and nothinu: can equal it. It is f;ir ahead 

 •f chaff in every respect, it never gets damp or mouldy, 

 HO matter how v.'et the hive, and always koei)s the bees 

 warm and healthy. A man, such a natural genius as I 

 take you to be, I should think would have used it before 

 this. In fact it is said you have chalT on the brain, but if 

 jou use hair I aip sure ycu will then have hair on the 

 brain, where it belongs : (I hope you are not bald head- 

 ad.) I use common hog"s hair that I get from the brush 

 factory for nothing ; hog's hair must be plenty in Ohio, 

 the great hog state. It might be well to wash it and let 

 the hog smell get out before using, and it will last almost 

 forever except the little waste. I am trying hair, chalT 

 and dry leaves this winter on 17 hives out doors. On Feb- 

 ruary 1st it was a very warm day, I found every hair 

 packed hive as dry as a chip, the chaff packed a little 

 damp, and the hives packed with leaves quite damp, no 

 more leaves for me. I opened all fly holes, cleaned out 

 hives and took off covers, and they had a glorious good 

 fly. All alive so far, but I shall look for spring dwindlins, j 

 for we had a very severe drouth last suramei lasting from 

 middle of June to September 17th ; so dry thai trees on 

 hills and mountains died out and looked as yellow as if I 

 frost-bitten, and of course the bees could gather nothing. 1 

 They stopped breeding very early and of course we now 

 have very old bees to winter. Novembtr 1st I packed 

 mine for winter, found they had no pollen or brood. 

 Many of them had consumed a great ])art of their stores, 

 but luckily I had quite a number of full frames of early 

 honey, which was given them, and I hope enough to last 

 until time t j feed in spring. I may have to feed in spring 

 but spring fussing I do not like, but always give them 

 plenty of rje flour. Maecus Da Bois. 



Xewburgh, N. Y., Eeb. 10th, 1S77. 

 We have often thought of hair, fur, feathers, 

 etc., and did experiment last winter with a 

 colony done up in wool, but they got tangled 

 among it in such a way, that we desisted. 

 A friend uses cushions made of wool, and we 

 believe with good result?, although they are 

 rather more expensive than chaff or cotton. 

 We were not before aware, that anything in 

 the shape of hair could be obtained cheaply. 

 Will others look into the matter and report. 

 The covering for all these various cushions, 

 v/e think will have to be made of duck, for any 

 other fabric will be soon gnawed through. 

 Many of our friends have wasted money in 

 trying different kinds of woolen cloth about 

 their hives. Everything we have tried is soon- 

 er or later eaten full of holes and spoiled by 

 the bees, except the hard twisted cotton such 



as we have mentioned. Even the Indian head, 

 is often soon spoiled, if put close to the clus- 

 ter. (We are bald headed, but please don't 

 mention it.) 



I^ONG Hives AND HOW TO USE THEITI. 



AT LEAST ONE, WHO STIIJi HOLDS TO THEM. 



MjY frame is about i;5,« by 11 deep, and I take all 

 my surplus with the extractor and all light 

 honey. The hive 13 a chaff hive made 3 ft. lonj!: 

 and 25 inches wide, and it should be high enou}?h to 

 admit surplus boxes, made of planed lumber. The 

 bottom board is nailed under the whole; then -2 boards 



ft. long and 1:5 inches wide are got out and rabbeted, 

 with lioop iron for the Irames to rest on, and nailed 

 inside, the right distance apart. Now the cardinal 

 principle with us is to wintev two swarms in one hive, 

 and the entrances c;iu be arranged to suit the bees or 

 ourselves, in the sides of the hives, but never in th«- 

 ends. Use a bridge under the chaff made like this. 



I r and resting on the bottom board for the 



bees to pass out under. The division board is )i inch 

 thick, with a slot in the middle o by G inches, covered 

 with w^ire cloth, and one at each end, cf the samfc 

 tliicknees, perforated with small holes, and chaff out- 

 side of these. 



Bees ought to be put up for winter about the 1st of 

 Oct., and they will usually cluster on each side of tht 

 division board, as if they were one swarm. Then thfc 

 next spring, when they increase enough to crowd 

 their quarters, take out the chaff and boards at the 

 ends, and fill up with frames. Have half as many 

 new hives ready as you have swarms, and when nec- 

 essary, remove one swarm from each old hive to thfc 

 middle of a new one, and give the one that is left all 

 the room in the old hive. This is working them on 

 the "Long Idea"' plan, which is the best, 1 think, both 

 for ease of extracting and surplus, having tried both 

 ways. The chaff' can remain at the sides all summer. 

 The advantages of this plan are many. If one queen 

 fails they can be very easily united, and they will 

 winter together where they would not separately. 

 Thej- will increase faster in the spring, as each has 

 the heat cf the other. About the 1st of August I put 

 in the division board again, and furnish the queenless 

 part with a laying queen, and double my colonies, as 



1 allow no natural swarming. 



The season here has been a good one. I commenc- 

 ed with 9 swarms and increased by artificial swarm- 

 ing to 30, and took 1,1G2 lbs nice honey; and all but 2 

 are in double hives, with .5 to 8 combs each, according 

 to tlieir strength. I think there is not much object in 

 chaft" bottoms, if the snow is kept swept up around 

 the hives. Also, raise the cover a little, to give ven- 

 tilation over the chaff". Wm. H. S. Grout. 



Poland Center, Chant. Co., X. Y., Dec. 8th, 1876. 



-^^-HK-^i— 



CARRYING BEES 51\TO THE CEt,L,AR. 



^fjr-Y hr.nils are disabled by rheumatism so that 1 

 J[?/l|[ can not lift a hive of bees, alone, and even 



' with the help of an assistant, carrying beee 



Into and out of the cellar is the most painful and disa- 

 greeable work I have to do. Our mode has been to 

 run a stick under the bottom board and each lift the 

 hive with one hand, while we steady it with the oth- 

 er. Once, in cairying a hive thus. It tilted atd fell to 

 the ground, smashing the combs to badly wo had to 

 brimstone it. I jjrojiose to adopt another plan: Take 

 a t rod of ir'in S feet long, cut in two in the middle, 

 and make two doublc-polnte:! hooks. Loop the rod-; 



