GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURi: 



Apk. 



just large enough to accomodate two glass hires both 

 alike in shape and size June 25th and 2Gth W3 hived 

 two large swarms in them and now mark the diiYerenco ; 

 'So. 1 Hlled its hive and gave 30 lbs. of surplus and sent 

 out a swarm the Cth of August. No. 2Jgave J2 lbs., but 

 no swarm. In 18-58 No. 1 gave 100 lbs. of surplus but cast 

 no swarm. No. 2 cast a swarm but had to feed to winter. 

 In the spring: of 185!) No. 2 was found to be queenless and 

 in removing the combs we found 2it' out of 8 to be 

 drones but No. 1 did not liave more than G inches drone 

 comb. Some may say this is not proof, well we can give 

 you plenty more. Por two years past ve have given this 

 matter our strict attention and the result has been very 

 satisfactory to us as it has put some extra dollars in our 

 pocket, In 1S75 we tried a number of experiments to see 

 iiist how far we could go. In 1870 we still made larger 

 experiments and we are now satisfied that we don't want 

 any drones in our lioney stock. In anotlier letter will 

 give our plan. J. Bctler. 



Jackson, Mich., March 13th, 1877. 

 You are giviug us a heavy argument in fa- 

 vor of using fdn. for the brood apartment, 

 friend B. and we think none of our readers will 

 be much inclined to disagree with you, but do 

 you tliink you have any cheaper plan than the 

 foundation ? 



Terms: SSl.OO Fer Annvim. 



llncluding Postage.'] 

 For Club Bates see Last Page. 



Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God.— 

 Mat. 5 : 8. 



If tou find a colony queenless during this month give 

 them a comb containing brood, and then give them another 

 containing eggs only, about twice a week, until they have 

 secured a laying queen. This refers to those containing 

 plenty of bees ; otherwise, unite them. 



Feienb Doolittle has sent us 47 subscribers, and friend 

 Nellis has sent us 31. Others have sent us large clubs, 

 but none equal to those mentioned. I know of no better 

 way of manifesting my thanks to you all, than by giving 

 you a better number now and tlieii, than you perhaps 

 expected. 



^ i»i 1^ 



We peel pretty well satisfied that nothing is gained by 

 having brood reared to any great extent too early. Wait 

 until settled warm weather, and then push them along. 

 If by feeding you produce unseasonable activity, more 

 bees will be lost than are reared in the hive, and your 

 tame and money will be wasted. 



The chaff hives have wintered finely, but so h:ive tiie 

 naked Siniplicities, m.iny of them. Those that had an 

 abuiKlnnce of .-Htores clear around the cluster, and wore in 

 Qjd black tough combi!, hare wintered— up to tliis date, 

 March KUh— as nicely as one could wisk out ou their 

 sjuramer stand.i. They hail smtliing over them b«t » 

 l«osely fitting quilt. 



CouLi> you vead the letters that we do, we think, 

 none oi' you would be in danger of wasting your mon- 

 ey by buying rights lor anything ftbout a bee hive. 

 Just now we nve asked it one has to pay lor a right to 

 use the tin separators. They are described in tbi^ 

 first volume of the A. R. J., (18fil) and so can not btt 

 monopolizeil by anyone, no matter what patents may 

 have been granted. 



^i^i ^ ' 



Last nwnth we took especial pains to give the dimen- 

 sions of the Simplicity liive, and in fact we took the 

 trouble to have it put in italics, that all might uixlerstaiKl 

 without more questions. Can you imagine our consterna- 

 tion at findiiig ibe compositor had made it read f(rurt<;vtt. 

 instead of .s(.r?'f«'» inches in width? How we came to 

 miss seeing the blunder in reading the prooJ, is more than 

 we can tell, but facts are stubborn things, and so we shall 

 have to correct it the best we can. We have added the 

 iron guage frames to our nrice list, and their dimensions, 

 that we may escape moie such blunderi. The hives are 

 outside 20JixltJ inches. 



Q«;il,'rs; CARPETING A SUBSTl'JTUTK. 

 |\ WORD on quilSa: 1 got a lot made according to 



lrj\ the sample I got of .> ou— cotton batting, etc. 1 

 made others by cutting an old woolen carpet into 

 pieces, and the lesiult was tliis; When it came cold 

 weather, all that had cotton quilts were cold, damp and 

 frosty; all that had woolen carpet quilts, were dry, livel.v 

 and warm. So I cut up carpet enough for all. I think 

 cotton quilts are a failure. Henet Daniels. 



Plainfield, Sullivan Co., N. H., Mar. 7lh, 1877. 

 It is rather rasli to decide to call a thing -a 

 failure, after so short an experience, yet it is 

 very likely that the woolen carpet has a quali 

 ty of keeping the bees warm and dry, that the 

 batting quilts have not, althougli we have 

 used the latter with very good success for the 

 past 10 years. We observed that friend Rice 

 used new rag carpeting in his house apiary, 

 and he said he liked it better than the quilts. 

 In our experience with different kinds of wool- 

 en clotli for the purpose, the bees gnawed them 

 badly, and very soon had holes through which 

 they would crawl, in a way that was very ag- 

 gravating ; at least, it proved so iu the house 

 apiary. We fear, friend D., that you may 

 change your opinion, after you have the carpet 

 eaten full of holes, yet it may be they will not 

 bite it as badly as they do the woolen cloth 

 itself. If we recollect ai-ight, the rag carpet 

 was not as badly covered with propolis, as our 

 cotton quilts, and our sheets of duck. Rag- 

 carpeting is worth about 50c. per yard, and at, 

 this price it might be cut up and hemmed, 

 cheaper than to make quilts. Carpeting real- 

 ly seems to keep its place better than does 

 either the duck or the quilts, and it may be 

 the bees will not molest it as badly as tliey do 

 new woolen cloth ; who will tell us V Wo 

 have tried a great rariety of substances, and 

 many of them seemed to answer very well, ex- 

 cept that when they were stripped from the 

 frames, little bits would tear off and stick, 

 making a disagreeable and untidy appearance, 

 and endangering the neatness of our extracted 

 honey. This latter is the greatest objection 

 to all kinds of felting. New carpeting, all 

 woolen, is rather expensive, even were tl;ere no 

 other objections. For keeping the bees warm, 

 we prefer the chaff cushions, and to keep Ihem 

 clean, we keep the bees away from them by tlie 

 sheets of duck. The hitter we have never 

 known the bees to bite through, and it is the 

 only thing we have ever tried that will 

 answer. The material is simihtr to that used 

 for graiB bags. 



