1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



11& 



the euake and let the frog go, but I have never doue It 

 since. As I have no recollection of seeing In print 

 that Irogs were enemies of bees 1 thoucht I would 

 report. 



In taking out one or two combs from a hive to start 

 a new colony and i)utting in empty frames, I think 

 •you hold that the bees will build drone comb. If so, 

 what is one to do who has no extra combs? and what 

 is the best plan you know to get good worker combs ? 

 I Fdu.] I will not speak about how my bees are doing 

 as it's time enough tc talk about a good day when 

 niglit comes. Only this, that I think it will be two 

 weeks yet before wc have natural pollen here, and 

 the weather is too cold for them to work on rye Hour. 

 John Dawson, Pontiac, Mich. 



We have had similar reports of frogs being 

 addicted to such "shameful ways," before, but 

 are inclined to think it not generally the case. 

 It is like bees eating grapes, or heus eating 

 their eggs. Give them such a scare they will 

 never forget it, most certainly. 



DEPOSITORY OF 



Or L.etters from Those Wlio Have Made 

 Bee Culture a Failure. 



^^OU may put me down in the list of "Blasted 

 W Hopes,'' as discouraged in bee keeping. I have 

 — ' lost during the past winter anrl spring 30 colo- 

 nies of bees from diflerent causes. One starved in a 

 Farmer's Friend hive, still there was honey in four 

 frames, but where the bees clustered, honey was gone 

 and all were dead and dry. I should say froze to 

 death in the cold weather in March. Some smoth- 

 ered under snow, and others died of a sort of dysen- 

 tery, mostly last years swarms. I think the cause was 

 poor honey. Lyman Legg. 



Rose, N. y., April lotli, 1877. 



Bees are wintering very poorly in this vicinity. 

 Nearly one-half are dead and the balance in very 

 poor condition. The long continued cold weather 

 destroyed them I think. Bee culture is very unprofit- 

 able and risky in this locality, as well as many others. 

 I am satisfied Irom experience that bee culture re- 

 quires considerable capital and a good locality, to- 

 gether with considerable care to insure success. 

 Then poor seasons, long cold winters, backward 

 springs, and low prices for honey, make it a very poor 

 business to depend on for a living. If any one has 

 any doubt of this I would like to have him try it and 

 see how far I am out of the way. I think the time is 

 past for making mucli money in cultivating bees, in 

 many localities. D. W. Fletcher. 



Lansingville, N. Y., March 15th, 1877. 



We started in the spring of 1S7(J with 82 stands of 

 bees, fti at home and the rest in the country divided 

 into two apiaries ; one nine miles south and the other 

 two and one-half miles west, both on the prairie. Our 

 home apiary is in the limber and was mostly pure 

 Italians. The bees in the country are the common 

 black bee and were transferred in ihc spring. The 

 spring was backward, but as soon as fruit blossoms 

 came out, our bees all started work in earnest, and 

 during the summer increased to 162 stands, and gave 

 us 3u75 lbs. of honey. Sold extracted honey at 16 -n cts., 

 comb at 25 cts. We sold direct to the consumer, and 

 think we will always do so hereafter. 



The pa^t winter has been a very hard one on bees. 



we lost all but '25 stands; tlie greatest loss we have 

 ever had since we have been in the bee business. 

 Our heavy loss has set us thinking of some other way 

 of wintering than on tlic summer stands. We think 

 we will try a house hereafter. 



Tlie "IJueen Nursery"' we got of you last season did 

 good service— was well pleased witli it. We tried the 

 comb fdn. and found that the yellow was used before 

 the white. Our black bees (on the prairie) averaged 

 more honey ))er hive last season than the Italians. 

 Chap. W. Lakfeutv. 



Martinsville, Ills.. April Uth, 1877. 



GLAKSINO SECTION BOXES, ANB A 



CHE.\P SIJPPOllT FOR THE ENBS 



OF FRAMES, Arc. 



fi BELIEVE you have not told us how you intendeii 

 to lasten the glass into your section boxes. Please 

 — ' "rise and explain."' I have been using hoop-iron 

 — 'a inch— for metal bearings. The iron strips B, are 

 coated with melted wax to prevent rusting and driven 

 into a thin saw kerf in the rabbet of hive C, thus : 



I use nailed Irames. Nail them in a case or frame 

 which holds them true, and all alike as to size. A 

 similar arrangement you will find very desirable, to 

 say the least, to nail your wide frames in for section 

 boxes. I think I got the idea from Langstroth's book. 

 T. P. Andrews, Farina, Ills., April 9th, 1877. 



The idea is quite ingenious and simple, and 

 the strip of hoop-iron, will certainly be quite 

 an advantage over letting the frames rest flat 

 on the wood ; yet as we have said before, it is 

 still far behind the metal rabbet that comes 

 clear up above the end of the top bar. If the 

 ends of these wooden top bars are beveled lo a 

 sharp point, there will be less chance for the 

 bees to gum them fast to the end of the hive. 

 In old hives, we often find the rabbet com- 

 pletely tilled up with propolis, and the ends of 

 the frames fastened down almost as securely 

 as if they were a part of the wood itself. 



Put the glass in the sections precisely as 

 Doolittle does ; cut it of such width that it 

 will just go between the side pieces of the sec- 

 tion boxes, and of such length that it will just 

 lap slightly on the top and bottom, and then 

 fasten it by two slender glazier's tins. The 

 tins are to be pushed in until secure, and then 

 bent over the edge of the glass with the thumb 

 nail. The matter will be readily understood 

 by referring to the cut of the section box. 



HOUSE APIARIES WITH THIN \¥AI<LS, 

 ANB CHAFF. 



f' AM well pleased with my house apiary with thin 

 walls, as described in Jan. Gleanings, page 22. 



— ' Have examined my bees, and find them all O, K, 

 in bees, and stores, and nice bright combs. And now 

 I can not speak too highly of the long Standard hive, 

 especially for the house apiary. Bees cluster in the 

 front end, rear their brood there, and store their hon- 

 ey back next the division board, and then how easy to 

 examine in such a house, no matter what the weather 



