148 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



ftsed.] Am the Italians as pood comb proilncera as 

 the black bees? [We think ihem better, all things 

 considered.] James M. Talking ton. 



Searcy, Ark., May Ist, 1877. 



^ ■»■ *m 



TOO OTUCH "FUSSING" WITH BEES, &c. 



fHAVE jnst been taking a forced lesson on winter- 

 ing bees, and as it may gerve to allay to some ex- 

 , tent, the nervousnees lelt by some on that subject, 



I send you an account ot It. On the 2.3d of October 

 last, after dark, two stocks of bees, one a hybrid, the 

 other a pure Italian, disappeared mysteriously; on 

 the 16th of April the hives were found in a tliicket of 

 hazel brush where they had been all winter. The 

 hiTe that bad contained the Italians was empty, but 

 the hybrids were in a prof perous condition notwith- 

 stancingthe fact that the entrance 5 inches long and 

 K high had been open and no cover on except a two 

 inch plank and boards which were put on so loosely 

 that a wood mouFe l»ad made a nest on top of the 

 lYames out ot the diuLle thickness ol sheeting, the 

 only winter covering provided lor them when stolen. 

 The frames were let down 4 inches from the top of 

 the hive which space was open all winter. 



Do net folks fuss with their bees too much as a gen- 

 eral tbirg ? On the 25th ot Kov. '75, I set 40 stocks in 

 the cellar lour deep, entrances closed tight and two 

 thlcknisscs ol sbeetins on top ol the frames, the caps 

 off, but the bees shut in ; and kept them so until the 

 latttr 1 an of March without los-ing an^ . In the 

 spring lour were robbed; but the lemaining 36 in- 

 creased to 110 and with their increase, gathered up 

 wards ol 4300 lbs. of honey, about one-third comb and 

 the rest extracted. 



Last winter I set 97 stocks in the cellar in rows, 

 hives one upon the other lour deep, with the bees 

 sLiit in tight and lost none. Over the frames I placed 

 sheeting doubled, or newspapers, (the latter are bet- 

 ter), and in one instance a sheet of tin; all wintered 

 equally well. I have never lost ai:y in the cellar ex- 

 cept those that I fed and kept shut in the hive while 

 feeding, Jerome Wiltse, Rulo, Neb. 



Perhaps it will be as well to be a little care- 

 ful about taking a positive position on any of 

 these questions, inasnauch as bees at times 

 winter well under almost any circumstances ; 

 again they winter badly under almost any cir- 

 cumstances. If the bees are healthy, and have 

 an abundance of sealed stores — very likely the 

 latter secures the former — they generally get 

 through all right whether in the cellar or out- 

 doors, covered or uncovered ; and even shut- 

 ting them in the hives, if everything is all 

 right, seems to cause them no annoyance. 



NATUKAIi SWAKMING, VERSUS ARTI- 

 FICIAIi QUEENS, SECTION BOXES, &:c. 



I 



T seems friend McGaw has get a hobby too 

 as well as friend Doolittle. We, do not 

 have hobbies ; O no ! 



Is it not strange that some stocks (same ones year 

 after year) always come out strong? Take for in- 

 stance the first colony I ever owned, bought in 1863 — 

 shipped it west Irom Monmouth the ]3th of August, 

 1866. It always winters and I never knew a season it 

 did not give some 6ox honey. Same way with anoth- 

 er made irom the above in 1807, and severaJ others. 

 .Now it won't do to say they had iietter treatment than 

 others; they might iiossibly have better quei-ns, liut 

 how does it happen they always have better queens? 

 They mostly have young queens, for when 1 ship a 

 tested queen I always take her from a full colony. 

 The queen in No. 1 was hatched in the hive about 

 June 20th, '66; this slock swarmed in Oxford, Ohio, 

 June 13th, '66. The queen lived till May 1870, when 

 she was superseded, lacking a month of being four 

 years old. 1 do not remember what became of the 

 next queen. I probably sold her. In the summer of 

 1873 I gave this stock an artificial queen raised from 

 my imported (iiieen. Last summer this queen brought 

 off a swarm in July. This spring 1 find the queen is 

 failing very last and not able to keep her stock up. 

 Natviral queens are l>y far the best as I have pioven 

 to my satistaction the i)ast two seasons. Last season 

 I allowed most of my stocks to swarm naturally, then 

 took out all queen cells and gave them a laying queen 

 if I possibly could. 



Hollingworth, Kellogg, and myself are yet undeci- 

 ded as to style of honey box or section frame to use 

 for surplus honey. Kellogg thinks some of the Har- 

 bison section frames, I like your4;^x4^ very much. 

 You use too little wood and the H. section frame has 

 too much, at least this is my view of them. I would 

 be glad if we could all use the same one for there is 

 getting to be too much honey in this region lor Mon- 

 mouth to consume ; and we must this season ship our 

 honey to Chicago or some other place. If we all use 

 the same section or frame we can all use the same 

 kind of package to pack it in and select some person 

 to go with the honey and sell it. 



It seems to me were I to take out 4 frames from my 

 Langstioth hives and insert 2 frames at sides with 

 iH'smi sections, some of my queens would object to 

 my infringing on their territory. Have you tried the 

 sections in this way ? Don't your queens go over ar,d 

 lay eggs in the combs in them? I was thinking of 

 using them only in the upper story. I am making 150 

 L. hives exactly alike in size ; my covers are not fast- 

 ened (nailed) to the ca-'s. Hy a'lding, say 3 inch caps 

 to those I use on the hive 1 can soon make two story 

 hives of them. Messrs. .Sayles of Harttord, Wis., sell 

 you 4j^x4>^ sections or any size within reason for 75« 

 per hundred. T. G. McGlAW. 



Monmouth, Ills., April 26th, 1877. 



We too have colonies that are good every 

 year, and whose queens lay profusely until 

 they are three years old, yet they are not al- 

 ways natural queens. We have been tempted 

 to think queens reared during the swarming 

 season, were more likely to be long lived or 

 prolific, yet even that may be only the result 

 of indirect causes. We might find it difficult 

 to raise long lived queens every time, but we 

 are pretty sure we could with few bees and 

 very old larvte, raise a poor queen every time 

 we tried. Good queens are one of the great 

 aids, in getting tons of honey, and we think it 

 very liliely friend M., that a beginner would 

 get more good cues by natural swarming, 

 than by raising artificial ones ; but how shall 

 we do this and keep our stock pure? Won't 

 friend Doolittle please tell ? He has had lots 

 of experience with swarming, and if he sticks 

 to such small hives, will doubtless have lots 

 more. 



You can put 7 frames of brood in a hive, 

 and have a frame of sections at each outside, 

 and 7 L. frames give more space than the 8 

 Gallup frames that Doolittle uses. If you have 

 a queen that can fill more, let iier have them 

 by all means, and put on an upper stoiy. You 

 will find that 7 frames filled with brood — clear 

 to the outside bars — as Dean and Doolittle 

 have them, is about as much brood as is ofte» 

 seen in one hive. While we are about it we 

 wish to say that we think we can with the 

 chaff cushion division boards, build up colo- 

 nies full as fast with the L. frame, as they can 

 with their Gallup frames. Especially when 

 our queens are all daughters of imported stock. 



MAKING STOCKS QUEENLESS, DURING 

 THE HONEY SEASON. 



fSAW a few days ago for the first time Mr. Doo- 

 little's question to me in Sept. No. about my 

 , statement of the product from a colony which I 



had unwittingly deprived ol its queen in dividing. 

 As the question is pertinent and of importance just 

 now, I will reply. I am sure they had no queen until 

 they reaiiil one. As the one taken was a fine Italian 

 bought of Nellis in '75, I knew it in the new colony. 

 Another evitlence is the fact that this new colony are 

 pure Italians while the present stock are hybrids now. 

 The work done by this qucenless colony was the 

 heaviest 1 ever had, and I bad them at work in three 

 tiers of sections one over the other. This question is 

 important ami shows how much we are at sea— even 

 the best inlormed. Is it not an evidence that no rules 

 can be laid down in this or in much else that pertains 

 to apiculture ? 



