1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



123 



STRONG STOCKS, UiviTIlVO, EXTRACT- 

 INCi, Sec. 



W' IIAVK received and read your paper for some 

 ,*|l months an<l am much pleased with it. The expe- 

 *~" rii'iKiC of our best apiarists can certainly guide 

 the Itee keeper much more safely and belter than the- 

 ory, and hence the value of statistics and facts from 

 your uiimeroui correspondents. I always read tlieir 

 communication.i with interest and wish sometimes 

 tlK'v mij!;lit l)e more particular in describing the 

 means liy whicli success is attained, and in case of 

 loss I wish if possible they would assign the cause. 



LOSSES IK WINTERING. 



1 lost several swarms of bees several winters ago 

 Ity reason of long continued cold. For three weeks 

 the mercury remained at zero or below and when a 

 sufficiently warm day came for bees to change their 

 position in the hive, I found to my sorrow that nearly 

 half my hives contained no live bees. The little in- 

 sects had clustered together as closely as possible, 

 consumed all the honey within reach and actually 

 perished from starvation with abundance of stores In 

 each hive. Since that time I have invariably taken 

 my bees into a cellar when a long continued spell of 

 cold weather came on and again returned them to 

 their summer stands when the weather became warm, 

 so as not to keep them confined in the cellar longer 

 than a month or two at a time. I have scarcely 

 lost a swarm since, either in winter or by spring 

 <i windlin ;. 



STKONG STOCKS. 



I believe one very important matter in bee culture 

 Is to keep the swarms strong. Two large swarms 

 came out so nearly together last spring as to cluster 

 In one mass and I hived them in a large hive without 

 attempting to divide them. The result was a speedy 

 filling of the hive and over 40 lbs. of surplus box hon- 

 ey. The colony is now the largest and best in my 

 apiary. 



UNITING SECOND SWARMS. 



I always unite two second swarms as soon after hi- 

 ving as possible by placing the two hives to be united 

 fide by side, and in the evening removing halt oi the 

 frames from one hive and filling the hive with frames 

 from the other, then carefully brushing all bees from 

 ttie frames removed as well as from the second hive 

 into the chamber of the first hive. I remove the 

 empty hive to some other place and have never seen 

 any difficulty about the bees intermingling and work- 

 ing harmoniously. Indeed they almost invariably 

 make surplus box honey the first season, while if 

 left separate, the half of them would not winter with- 

 out feeding. 



The only single second swarm I have in my apiary 

 came out the 2d of August last and was so large that I 

 thought I would feed and try to winter it. I gave it 

 extra comb and 10 lbs. of honey last fall. 1 have since 

 given it 6 lbs. of sUgar made into syrup and 8 lbs. of 

 honey and am not through with it yet ; although it 

 has plenty of bees and plenty of appetite. 



I learn that some bee-keepers in this locality have 

 lost a large percentage, about one-third of their colo- 

 nies during the past winter and are still losing altho' 

 honey is in the hives unconsumed. Possibly to© late 

 or too close extracting may have been the cause of 

 >he disaster. I can ascribe it to nothing else. 



EXTRACTING. 



By the way how many times can honey be extract- 

 ed froBi the brood chamber of a hive in one season 

 without serious detriment to the queen ? [We would 

 not extract at aU from the brood combs but from the 

 •thers as often as filled and sealed.] I am building a 



honey house 8x12 ft. to do my extracting and Weep my 

 honey in. My idea is to extract from only half the 

 frames of a hive at one time and afterwards extract 

 from the other half. I thus can leave over half the 

 bees nearly undisturbed on each occasion and by giv- 

 ing one liive the frames emptied from another hive, 1 

 can in a very few minutes relieve the swarm from ag- 

 itation. 



I went into winter ((uarters with 22 stands and have 

 lost none and only a handful of bees have died nnd 

 been removed from either hive. S. W. Salimjukv. 



Kansas City, Mo., March 11th, 1877, 



Wc arc glad to hear you speak approvin;jly 

 of our numerous letters, as some of the friends 

 have complained of their being tedious, e«*pf c- 

 ially those who talie so much time for del ails. 



If we extract only from the comhs in the up- 

 per story, and keep all the brood below, wi; 

 can put the empty combs from one hive into 

 the upper story of the next, without trouble. 

 Lift out the combs bees and all, put In the 

 empty ones, close up the hive, and we can 

 then shake off the bees in front, and have no 

 confusion. When the combs are extracted, 

 carry them to the next hive, and so on. 



JDOOI^lTTIiE'S ADVICE TO BEGINNERS. 



^INGLOSED please find a letter from Mr Doolitile. 



Ifmi written in reply to one I wrote him Linf many 



others (1 presume) I am just starting in the liec 



business, and think the advice given too valuable to 

 be >s:. A. G. Bl'rnettk. 



Brownville, Neb., March 27th, 1877. 



Dear Sir:— 1 make hives for sale and of course 

 am glad to sell them, but I will give you ad vloe as f 

 would a Iriend, witliout trying to grind any ax of my 

 own. In the first phice don't seud to me or any other 

 party for bees if they can be got within 20 miles <>f 

 you ; and it you have but little or no experience with 

 them do not buy more than two or three swarms and 

 select them as I gave directions in April No. Buy 

 black bees in box hives it you can get them (for they 

 can be bought much cheaper) and transfer them. 

 Then get a dollar queen (Italian) or two from difVM-eut 

 breeders and learn how to introduce them. Y ur 

 two swarms of bees will increase as fast as your 

 knowledge will, and if you take an interest In them 

 you will not be very liable to make a failure '*f tiie 

 business. Get some good movable frame hive* and 

 after transferring handle them often so as to learn ;ill 

 the inside operations of the hive. Keep experiment- 

 ing on what you read so as to prove what is g(iod I'-rt 

 throw away the bad. Don't get more than a sami.'o 

 hive of any one, but make the rest yourself Mave 

 your bees and yourself, self sustaining and after the 

 first start don't pay out for any thing in the bee i>u->l- 

 ness more than what the bees bring you in and thug 

 you will prosper. If you wish any thing farther don't 

 be afraid to ask questions for I am alway» read3 to 

 help anyone I can in the bee business. 



G. M. Doolittle, Borodino, N. Y., Mar. 19th. '77. 



QUEENS REARED IN NUCLEI. 



S?SJ>7'JrLL you be so kind as to say whether you rc- 



WM gard (jueens raised in nuclei as goofi as it 



-' ^^ raised in full colonies ? 



I used foundation last season with highest sati'^fac-- 

 tb^n. J. M. Smith, 



Cedar Springs, Mich., March 27th, 1877. 

 We belive it has been abundantly proven 

 that it matters little whether we have a quart 



