1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



133 



From BifFereut Fields. 



"CORN-CKIB" HOUSE APIARV. 



•?i|A ^irA' bees are wintered through now, young bees 

 fTOJ! are hatching plentifully and old are gathering 



J pollen. That is the turning point; they will 



^ow stronger now. You are in possession of my 

 ways <it wintering ; there are only two ways that will 

 l>e noticed much, the be»t plan is cellar wintering; 

 that is my opinion, but chaff is my hobby and I shall 

 •iide him (or "lun" to the tune ol 8250, on the plan you 

 «>cntioncd on jiage 105. This building will Ije in op- 

 eration June Ist, and Is designed lor 5u hives. It may 

 tie a failure, but will make a good shop then. Now 1 

 want to say my hives are full of bees, raised last fall, 

 tlicy will be there until they swarm in June, crowded 

 aJl through the spring. Am raising drones now. 



J. L. Davis. Delhi, Mich., April 10th, \i:Ti, 



Very glad indeed frieud D., are we to hear 



30U are goiujj to make a trial of this apiary, 



and we hope you will keep a record and tell 



us just how much one costs for 50 hives. We 



week for 50c each. But won't there be lota of resting 

 here this year. I think bee-keepers are better situ- 

 ated than mofit other clrtt^ses. We hope generally to 

 save our stock, but there is slight hope of Increase or 

 honey. Nearly all the honey is sold out of this part 

 of the i-tate. I am glad I have over 5 tons of it yet on 

 hand. u. Wilkin. 



San Buenaventura, Cal., March 20th 77. 



Wo give the above to show some of our 

 many readers, that even California has its un- 

 pleasant features, and bad seasons now and 

 then. 



The saw ordered of you March 5th came to hand the 

 .id iu.st. The delay was occasioned by some improve- 

 ments being niacle which were ample compennation. 

 It worked finely, but it is a man's business to run it 

 8teady ail day. Have sawed out stuff for CO L. hives. 

 W. C. Gillette, Le Roy, N. Y., April 7th, '77. 



OVER STOCKING. 



There are over .'(00 swarms of bees within 3>^ miles 

 of me, and they seem to do just as well as ever. I d® 

 not tLink this locality can be over stocked. 



M. L. IlAKNET, Hartford, Wis. 



Please find enclosed $l,t'0 tor advertisement in dollar 



would caution all who experiment with house , ^^een list for one year. My bees have wintered in 

 apiaries, about leaving any crevices where the the tinest condition. We think our bees are purer 

 oees may get out into the room. They will bt 1 

 j^ure to get out if it is a possible thing, and 

 then you will not only lose your bees, but they j 

 will present a very unsijjht!}' appearance lying ; 

 <iead about the room and scattered over the 

 iloor and around in' the cracks and corners. 



than any imported Italians, just as good workers, and 

 they will not steal and rob like imported stock. 



Miss a. Davis, Holt, Mich., April 10th. '77. 

 We fear Miss A., you are a little prejudiced 

 against the imported queens, for we have nev- 

 er found their bees disposed to rob, anything 

 like the hybrids. Although we are hardly 

 prepared to say your bees are purer than the 

 imported ones, we can say they are very fine 

 robbers as we do out of doors. At] '««'^ing. S'^ut'e'. a»ji ^ery good workers. We 

 are unable to say which course i ^"'^ ^"^^^ our friends will be pleased with any 



If the spaces between the strips of siding were 

 far enough part to allow the bees to get out, 

 perhaps this would be remedied, but then we 

 .-hould have to keep everything closely cov 

 ■cred from 

 j^resenr, we are unable to say 



would be most desirable. Perhaps the two 

 <-an be combined. After opening a hive, many 

 limes bt'cs will stray out along the walls and 

 get on the floor — a prompt and can ful use of a 

 Quinby smoker will remedy this very much — 

 ;md Wf can leave the doors wide open and let 

 iJiem get out at their leisure, or we cau brush 

 und broom tliem out. As it is quite inconve- 

 Hiieut to have the house open when we go 

 ;iway, we have been in the habit of using the 

 broom. If left on the floor, they are sure to 

 be stt pped on and therefore this brooming 

 business is quite a disagreeable task, that we 

 <;ntirely escape with the out-door hives. 

 Again; the bees that get out inside of the 

 house, very often know nothing of the outside 

 entrance at all, and unless gathered up and 

 put back into their own hive, are pretty sure 

 to be lost. Attempts have been made to reme- 

 dy thjjj by having a window or opening throu' 

 the wall over the entrance to each hive — this 

 is quite an expense, and openirg and closing 

 >o many, makes a good deal of labor and com- 

 i|>licattoa. 



CALIFORNIA. 



We c^insider our rainy season past and we have 

 »uly 2 inches nf rain. It is almost entirely certain 

 Miat we will have no grass lor the next 8 or 10 months, 

 and .ilmost no crops. There is much foreboding of 

 'iisire>;B this season in southern Calllornla. Hogs are 

 iH'ing Jattened and shipped off; sheep, great herds of 

 ihem are being fed to the hogs, or shorn and sent liOt) 

 miles to Arizona. I boiiglit two good muttoas last 



you may send out, and as you are the only 

 lady in the list, we hope thty will keep you 

 busy fllliug orders. We should like much to 

 pay you another visit when your father gets 

 that "corn-crib" apiary going. 



BEES ATTACKI.SG THEIR OWN QUEEN. 



iSees are doing finely, have had 2 swarms, one on 

 the 4th and one on the 5lh, both Italians. I was look- 

 ing through a hivo of hybrids on the 5th for the queen 

 and (jueen cells; found no cells but found the queen 

 in a knot of bees that were apparently trying to kiH 

 her, this being before I had even touched the frame 

 she was on. I released her, put a little honey on her 

 and put her among some bees at the entrance, they at 

 first seemed to receive her kindly but Anally clinched, 

 her again and 1 think would have killed her. I then 

 caged her and introduced her as though bhe had been 

 » strange queen. Now If you knocv the cause I would 

 like to have it and the remedy. s. P. Barlow. 



Adamsville, Tenn., April 9th, 1877. 



It is not always easy to explain cases of 

 this kind, but we think it is generally occa- 

 •sioned by bees from some other hive getting iu 

 by accident. Had you not been changing the 

 position of the hives, or had not bees irom one 

 of the new ^warms by some accident got into 

 this one? It frequently happens that strange 

 bees will be permitted to go in quietly, and 

 they fltiding a strange queen, will attack her, 

 even though they may be but a handful or 

 less. The remedy, is to casre the queen as you 

 did, if you can not scare them out of their no- 

 tion by a very severe smoking. 



