274 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Ocx. 



Began in the spring with 29 stocks ; increased to 47 

 and took 250 lbs. extracted and lOOo \bs. comb honey. 

 The comb honey is in the section boxes, which 1 like 

 very much. I use the 8 frame Langstroth hive. The 

 season was good in June and July, but too wet in 

 May and too dry in August. Bee's, one-halt' Italian 

 and one-half hybrid. The hybrids did best until the 

 drouth came on, then the Italians came to the front. 



Tiie extractor you sent me suits to a T. 1 think it 

 fills the bill exactly. 



The country here has been settled about 20 years, 

 and this is the first year during which white clover 

 has grown in sulHo^ent quantity to help the bees 

 much, but it helped vvondertuly this year. Our honey 

 is ootained mostly Irom Iruit blossoms, white 

 clover, basswooil, buckwheat, and the prairie fiowers. 

 Three cheers for Gleanings and a 'Vifirer" for "Our 

 Homes." J. F. spauli>ing. 



(Jdaries City, Iowa, Sept. 4th, 1877. 



A gentleman, who has some bees, has been very 

 klml to me and I would like to give him one of your 

 honey knives for a present. 1 enclose a dollar. 



John \Vm. Andrews. 



Hermitage Landing, La., Aug. 21et, 1877. 



There! Is not that the rijrlit sentiment? I 

 do not mean that jou should give every body 

 honey knives, but it vyould be a fine thing if 

 we all made a practice of remembering the 

 kindnesses done us, In the same substantial 

 and neighborly vray. It is a pleasant thing to 

 help those about us, and it is also pleasant to 

 feel that our efforts have been appreciated and 

 remembered. 



The day that I sent for the hive my bees com- 

 menced dying ; we think it the cholera. The 

 bees come out of the gum on a run as if they 

 were going to fly, but they can't rise, and fall to the 

 ground dead. My brother caught a swarm of hybrids 

 in June, and in putting them in the hive he killed the 

 queen. It was a small swarm and dwindled away, 

 but there were young bees in tha comb, full grown. 

 Now, where did the eggs that hatched the young bees, 

 come from? My Italians are piled all over the hive ; 

 how would it do to brush them ofi" into another hive 

 and get a queen for them ? 



Btkon Kiogs, Turman's Creek, Pa. 



I cau think of no other reason for your bees 

 dying than that they are out of honey and 

 starving ; they sometimes crawl out of the hive 

 in the way yuu mention, under such circum- 

 stances. Your brother, doubtless, hived an 

 after swarm that contained two or more 

 queens, and only killed one of them. You can 

 make a colony by brushing off the loafing bees 

 and giving them a queen, but you will have to 

 give them a comb ol' brood to make them stay 

 contentedly; and if no honey is coming in, you 

 would have to furnish combs or fdn., and feed. 



BEES KILLING YOUNG WORKERS, COLOR OF DRONES. 



Will you please tell me what is the trouble with my 

 bees. One swarm is killing their young bees as fast 

 as they liatch. They kill and drive them out just as 

 they do the drones. I'liey have plenty of honey in 

 the hive ; they storod iw lbs. in sections. How can 

 you tell pure drones ? I have two Italian queens, one 

 "from Nellis tlie other from Alley ; the drones are not 

 alike. Tlie queen Irom Alley has drones with three 

 yellow bands with snots of yellow on the fourth ring; 

 the queen from Neliis hatches drones with one yellow 

 band and spots of yellow. Why the difl'erence in the 

 drones, if the queens are pure'? The workers show 

 the raark^ of purity. If these queens were bred from 

 imported mothers and purely fertilized, why are they 

 not as good as imported to raise queens from ? 



E. A. RoiJiNSON, Exeter, Maine, Sept. 10th, '77. 



I cannot tell why your bees kill the workers, 

 having never met a case of the kind, although 

 several cases such as yours have been men- 

 tioned. Are you sure more dead bees are 

 brought out than are usually seen at the en- 

 trance, very early in the morning, because they 

 are in some way imperfect V You can tell little 

 or nothing ia regard to the purity of a queen. 



by the color of the drories or quefens ; they vary 

 iu color and markings, greatly. Your queens 

 may be just as good as imported stock direct, 

 but it seems to be the general opinion that the 

 best honey gatherers, are those from freshly 

 imported stock : at any rate, we have much 

 better and hardier bees now, than when we re- 

 lied on home bred mothers, and carefully se- 

 lected the yellowest stock. 



I opened the nucleus this morning and found im- 

 ported queen all right. Just 20 dead bees in the hive. 

 The packing could not be better, so far as I can see. 

 Thanks for promptness. E. M. Hathurst. 



Kansas City, Mo., Sept. 8th, 1877. 



Prcrgeny of S1.(0 queen Is out— finely marked. 



D. H. Tweedy, Smithfield, O., Sept. r2ih, 17. 



We are glad to hear your queen pleases, for 

 not all of the dollar queens produce pure 

 workers. The black bees are nearly all out of 

 our neighborhood, but there are many hybrids, 

 and we are endeavoring to get rid of these too, 

 by offering them at SOc each. It is true, their 

 drones are pure, but such stocks frequently 

 swarm or replace their queens, in which case 

 we should have hybrid drones, and most likely 

 in great abundance. On this account I would 

 advise all who think of rearing queens for sale, 

 to replace all hybrids before any drones can be 

 raised. If you are raising honey only, I think 

 the hybrids will in some ccises, produce even 

 more than the full blooods. 



WINTERING. 



I use the 8 frame L. hive, tight bottom with entrance 

 blocks and portico. Have ten colonies of Italians. This is 

 my second year's experience keeping bees, and I naturally 

 dread the winter, as 1 lost all last winter. I think of pack- 

 ing them, side by side, about a foot apart in a crib of chaff. 

 Shall I close the entrance, and bore a f hole in front ? If 

 so how near the top, shall I raise the rear end of the hive 

 and how much ? My hives are same depth as yours. 



I think of packing them some warm day in Oct. Shall 

 I extract from one or two center combs if they are full of 

 honey then? Shall I put in tin or zinc thhnblesto prevent 

 the bees filling the holes in the combs ? Will you tell us 

 about some of these things in the October No.? 



Sample section box rec'd. I don't see how you can saw 

 them so smoth. The fdn, enticed the bees into the boxes 

 instantly. G.W.Haven. 



Bloomingdale, Mich., Sept 8th 1877. 



If I were going to have an auger hole for 

 winter entrance, I would have it about half 

 way up the front; but my friend, if you have 

 your bees packed in chaff, and in such close 

 quarters that they completely fill their winter- 

 ing cavity, so that they are crowded out at the 

 entrance except during cool weather, you can 

 let them have their usual summer entrance and 

 can omit all winter entrances and all such fus- 

 sing, for the bees can go around their combs 

 as well in winter as in summer. 1 would not 

 raise the rear end of the hive, unless it was be- 

 cause the roof might leak otherwise, as many 

 of the old style L. hives will do. I would not 

 use the metal thimbles, and very much doubt 

 the utility of holes in the combs at all. When 

 your bees get over to one side of the hive and 

 cannot get back, it is because their wintering 

 apartment is much too large for the colony. 

 If you move your bees into a crib, you will lose 

 bees when moving, both in the fall and spring. 

 Besides, your bees will be very apt to mix up 

 and rob, after being changed about in this way. 

 Fix up a good nice summer stand for them, 

 grape vines for shade, &c., and leave them 

 there always. 



