308 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



hives, for this very reason. The covers of ordi- 

 nary two-story L. hives, usually lay on the top 

 so loosely as to give sufficient ventilation. If 

 the snow should drive under so as to accum- 

 ulate considerably on the cushions, it may be 

 a good idea to take tliem out and shake off the 

 snow. You can take this trouble, or you can 

 let it melt and rot the cushions, and then buy 

 new cloth, when you want them again. 



Now in regard to the lower story; I have 

 found very few colonies that come through the 

 winter, without dead bees between some of the 

 combs, when wintered in ordinary summer 

 hives; and if enough bees are left with the 

 queen to " fetch up," we say they wintered all 

 right. Now they can be wintered, on their 

 summer stands too, without any dead bees at 

 all between outside combs. Again, friend 

 Bulin, and many others who winter successful- 

 ly, have repeatedly mentioned cases of the bees 

 having worked over to one side of the hive, 

 while the honey was at the other. Does this 

 not look as if they had too much room to ram- 

 ble about in their winter quarters? Well, we 

 have so far had no trouble in getting our larg- 

 est colonies into a space that will hold only 7 

 L. combs ; and we have no trouble either, in 

 getting all the food that such a colony requires 

 into their combs. Our chaff hives, as well as 

 the others, have one of the chaff division 

 boards on each outside, with the bees on the 7 

 combs contained between them. A sheet of 

 duck is then put over them, and the chaff cush- 

 ion over that. It may transpire that a good 

 colony will winter as well thus prepared in a 

 Simplicity or old style L. hive, as in the chaff 

 hives ; but as I have never before made the ex- 

 periment, I am unable to eay. About half of 

 our apiary, is prepared for winter in this way, 

 the other half are in chaff hives; this is for full 

 colonies. Those that are not full, I would 

 crowd down on as few combs as 1 could, and 

 then push up the division l^oard. You will be 

 astonished to And that you can put what you 

 thought a very fair stock, on 4 L. combs. 

 Those that can be put on 3, I would not try to 

 winter; put two such together, uniting them 

 as directed last month. 



It is very clear they will not get away from 

 their honey, for the vi-ry worst they could do 

 would be to get over to one end of their combs, 

 while the honey was at the other, and bees 

 rarely fail to find honey that is in the same 

 combs they are clustered on. We do not con- 

 tract the entrance to the chaff hives with a 

 full colony, but when one has but 4 combs, I 

 would narrow it down to perhaps one inch, by 

 pushing a piece of wood, of the right length 

 and thickness, into it. I do not think there 

 will be any dead bees to ck>g the entrance, if 

 they are prepared as above, for live bees will 

 be clustered about it the greattst part of the 

 winter. The Simplicity hives, I would bank 

 up with sawdust to close all the joints round 

 the bottom board, and I would make the en- 

 trance so small that no mice could by any pos- 

 sibility get in. I have not (bund colonies that 

 ■would consume over '30 lbs. of stores when thus 

 prepared, and I think we may therefore con- 

 clude that 25 lbs. will be a great plenty under 



any circumstances. I would pay no attention 

 whatever to snow, but would prefer to have 

 the hives all covered up with it. From what 



experience I have had, I do not believe that 

 even some unsealed honey would be detri- 

 mental, when thus prepared. I do not favor 

 wintering bees indoors, but were I to do so, I 

 would prepare them in the same way, though 

 they would perhaps require more ventilation. 

 I would not fasten bees into the hives, yet it 

 has been done many times, without doing them 

 any harm. 



f m^lt ^clmnn. 



Honey season just closed, very poor. From 35 old 

 stock." I go I 3'i iriCiCa^e and 13(iO lbs. surplus; one half 

 section lex, and 5 swarms "gone wesi." 



R.L. Joiner. Wyoming, Wis., Sept. 26tli, 1877. 



I h^vc about iC(0 pounds of honey on hand, all 

 white clover, which 1 would be glad to sell at 11 cents. 

 Joseph Duffelek. 



Wcqiiiock, Wis., S ept. 4th, 1877 . 



I have about r2C0 lbs of honey that I want to sell ; it 

 is in '1 lb boxes, a part of it white. I f xpect 15 and 2u 

 cents for it. Geokge Smith. 



Wallace, N. Y., O ct. 14th. 1877. 



We started with ItO hives, increased to 200, sold 3 

 queens for $10. and 2 hives lor 8E0. Have VHiZO lbs. 

 box honey in Harbitori st3ciion8 and IS.'^iO lbs. slung 

 hor.ey. An average of 100 lbs. lor the 150 hives. Will 

 take 17c lor ll.eDO IDs. iv. sectiorib. D. D. Palmeu. 



Eliza, ills., Oct. 7th, 1877. 



We have had a very dry summer here and bees have 

 not done very well, but licm 18 in spring we got 18(0 

 lbs, extracLed honey, mostly basswooil. 1 have 12(ju 

 lbs on hand whiuh 1 woula sell lor r2c; Isold the 

 other lor 15c. I increased 10-13 and all are in good con- 

 dition lor winter. John Baueknfeikf). 



Mcnaiha, Wis., Oct. IGth, 1877. 



I have 1000 lbs. of very nice clover honey, whicli I 

 oiler at 13c by tlie barrel. In '<< barrels, 14c; in tin 

 cans, any quantity. 15c. Packa;i:es included at above 

 pi ices. Also, 250 \i)t. of comb honey in 1 lb. sections 

 at 30c per lb. I do not expect you will purchase at 

 the latter price, but at the late it is now being re- 

 tailed, it will iirobably all be out long before another 

 season. A. I. Root. 



Fill a glass can with grapes— jour grapes preferable — 

 and cover them with liquid honey. In a few days the 

 grapes will bo delicious and the honey most delicious. 

 Try It. J.H. P. 



The last order of comb fdn. (10 lb.) was nice, being much 

 thinner than what you sent last year. My honey (1500 

 lbs.) is nearly all sold. I can't supply the home market, 

 and will h:ne to run my bees for increase one year, buy 

 bees, or sulTer the annoyance of being called on for honey 

 i) months out of the 12 without any to siipply. 



M. Wight, Bedford, Iowa, Oct. 20th, '77. 



CATNIP. 



1 found a very slow sale for a large lot of catnip seed, 

 and never heard a report of a lot sold. I had, perhaps 15 

 lbs., sowed on our hillf^id(;s by seme of my boys, but I 

 don't notice an abundance of catnip around us. 



CiiAS. F. MuTH. Cincinnati, O., Oct. 15th, '77. 

 A few years ago we purchased some catnip seed from 

 one of ycur neighbors, which was positively new seed ; we 

 tried it again and apain in our testing hot bed, and also 

 in our greenhouse, but only succeeded in getting 4 from 

 100 seeds to grow. We did not sell any on that account 

 and since then, knowing it was so very uncertain in ger- 

 mination, we have not attempted to keep any. 



Stair & KenhI'L, Cleveland, 0., Oct. 8tb, '77. 



lliVaiPil.KMKRiTS F055 BEE ClULTliKE AL.- 



Q-'H A Ii'JK'fi^lCAI.I.i: AUK AfWOEB. 



For descriptions of the various articles, .•■ee our tenth 

 edition circular found in April Xo., Vol. V., or mail- 

 ed on application. 



This price list to be taken in place of those of former 

 date. 



Mailable articles are designated in the left hand col- 

 uiwn of figures ; the figures giving the amount of postage 

 required. 



