124 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



of bees or bushel, so that houey and pollen 

 iiatherin^ are going on, and that all the con- 

 ditions of a piosperous swarm are at hand. 

 Perhaps a pint of bets might answer equally 

 as well during favorable weather, but the 

 Chances are rather against queens reared with 

 so few bees. They are (juite apt to get dis- 

 couraged and work feebly, the <|ueen larva; is 

 left with a meagre supply of food and we then 

 of course have feeble queens. We know strong 

 queens have been reared with less than a pint 

 of bees, but it is too unsafe to adopt as a rule. 

 More poor queens result, in our oi)inion, from 

 allowing the bees to use larva^ too old, than 

 from any other one cause, and we should 

 strongly advise having them reared from the 



Winn AND IV.\RKOW TOiP BARS, AND 

 MOVING BF.l.S SlIOKT Ml STANCES. 



C;1|AN yon tarnish metal corners of larger size than 

 )/ those yoii arc uslupt ? I must have the top bars 

 ^^^ of mv Iramc 1 V inches in width. 1 am thor- 

 on^hly disgusted with narrow frames; the liees build 

 oomb on the sides ot the frames and acroBs the spaces 

 ^o that I can not put the frames In place without 

 pinching the bees between the knots of wax that are 

 bn ' across the spaces between the frames. It is a 

 ^reat trouble to cut those wax braces oil the frames 

 \u .1 ■'U una tjive of bees. With wider top bars this 

 d ffl-uliy is entirely obviated. I use a two story hive; 

 tilt- h*Hi is -.o intense here at timet- that wo could not 

 kfep the ci>rao iVom melting down without the top 

 i <>i-\ not even in the most dense shade. We some- 

 times )iav4 to raise or separate the stories so as to 

 ieave an air space between ihem and at the top to 

 prevent the melting of the combs. 



I move bees short (iistances ^ay 5 to 1(1 rods, and by 

 shaking tliem on a cloth in front of tlie bivc. (it may 

 !>e loni' ln'ioie or alter removal but I preferlo do it at 

 the old location) and as soon as they aie settled on 

 th> combM moving to any locality they will not go 

 back, li l-i not necest ary to give them other than 

 their '> II combs. .Shaking them off the combs ren- 

 ders them homeless, and they will accept any place 

 ttiat vou ma.\ desire as a home. Bees here have vvin- 

 t"ii d A : : with chalf, without chiiff, without i\n> juo- 

 tec'ion n their summer stands and in cellar?. 



Amnek ALi en, St. George. Kansas, A]ir. !)tii, "77. 

 Til: iiuitier of wide and narrow top bars, is 

 out' that has been carefully tested years ago, 

 ai d we only decided on ^g of an inch for the 

 \i: a I'orriers, alter some very faithful experi- 

 nitii!-> Wide top bars, like closid top bars 

 anil eii'i- \o frames, seem to be just the thini: 

 wlien first used with new hives, but after the 

 CO. lib-; iier old and well waxtd, and after thiy 

 have passed throujh a season of a bountiful 

 ti >w of hoiii y, we begie to see that there is 

 tiouliie with thetn, even greau r than with tiie 

 nariovv oius. In fact the whole top of the 

 Iiaiiies will be almost one solid piece. It may 

 b. i)ad at times with a narrow top bar, but 

 yi'U wilt assuredly And it worse with the wide 

 Oil. •< If >()U uive them an extended trial. 

 , The Diaii of shaking bees olf th*^ combs to 

 niiiKe them contented in a new location, will 

 .-iucceid sometimes, but it is so often a tailnre, 

 that we feel it will hardly do to recomniend it. 

 Some stocks seem almost determined to uo 

 back to their old home, no matter what we do 

 with them, vvhiie others seem to understand 

 very readily what is wanted, arid to be content 



with almost any amount of moving. We will 

 have to go slowly, and work carefully, or we 

 shall meet with considerable losses. 



OIJK OU^N APIAKY. 



HOUSE AI'IARIES. 



M PRIL llfh — Our bees are in beautiful cou- 

 ^r\ ditiou, and the value of chaff cushions 

 "~^"^" and chaff packing, is demonstrated, at 

 least to our complete satisfaction. The house 

 apiary winters bees beautifully, if the hives 

 are chaff packed or cushioned. Weaker colo- 

 nies than we ever wintered out-doors have 

 come through in nice trim, when they were 

 protected with a chaff division board, auft a 

 thick cushion on top. The animal heat gen- 

 erated when they commence brood rearing is 

 really astonishing, for the cushions above the 

 cluster feel as we have said before like the 

 nest of a setting hen. The cushions are so 

 easily handled in the house, that we can over- 

 haul 20 hives easily in an hour. The house 

 apiary, is certainly a success, but still there 

 are some unpleasant features about it; both 

 dead and live bees are getting out in the room 

 more or less, and we are obliged to be con- 

 stantly sweeping the floor, if we would not 

 have mashed bees under foot. One also feels 

 cramped lor room in a way that is not the case 

 in the open air, and all things considered, we 

 shall probably have a wide difference of opin- 

 ion in this matter, as in many others in 

 bee culture. 



CX>VEKS, IMPOKTANCE OF GOOD ONES. 



One fine colony was found dead out of doors 

 just because the hive had ;i leaky cover, that 

 had permitted the cluster to get soaking wet 

 just before a hard freeze. Be sure your covers 

 are made of good sound boards, and then keep 

 them well painted. 



^tEAI, FEEDINO. 



We have thought for the past few seasons, 

 that meal feeding might possibly have some- 

 thing to do with the dwindlin<_', by starting 

 brood rearing unseasonably; but durinij this 

 hue warm April weatlter, the bees seemed so 

 hungry for something of the kind that thiy 

 even carried in large loads of sawdust, and in 

 pity f(>r them, we ifave them wheat flour. 

 They used nearly a [4 barrel sack in one day, 

 and under its influence they have started 

 brood so bountilully, we have decided they 

 shall have all ihey will take. If it results 

 badly, we will report. 



S.MOKERS. 



Mr. Bingham has very kindly .sent us one of 

 his siiujktrs, which works just about as well 

 as Quinby's, hut so far as we see, no better. 

 It is t)y no means as neat as the Qiiiiiby, and 

 i^ much moiv cheaply got up. With our too.'s 

 and machinery, it would be an t asy matter for 

 us to make them by the quaulity for 50c each. 

 Why can tluy hot be sold for an evi n dollar? 

 I conies- I hardlx know where du'y lies in 

 such matters. 



May \2th — The ehafl" packed hivis have al- 

 ready comiTiniced sending a sti\aiii of warm 

 air out at the entrance, ^vhile those vviih only 

 a cushion on top. do nothing of the kind. One 

 of the l)est colonies we have, is in a hoop hive, 

 but it was banked up with savvdust nearly to 

 the cover, otherwise it has had only its sum- 



