316 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Dec. 



five, extractpd 3ro Hds. of honey, leaving; the bees more 



than they will need, and Ecld 12 queers. 



Value oi' increase $70 00 



3ro Uis. honev 40(0 



12 queens 12 00 



Total profit from (i pwarms Sl22 00 



Labor, nothing, for it was only rept from my farm 

 work. Bees all packed in chaff ^vhere they will re- 

 main the year round. 



Friend Anson Minor had 14 Fwarms left, alter losing; 

 1 or 2 and selling as many, which increased ratnrally 

 to ;M though he loFt 12 or 15 svarms which went to 

 the woods, and he has extracted ri^arlv hrlf a ton of 

 honey. ]la Michener. 



Low Banks, Ontario, Canada, Nov. 5tb, lb77. 



In rraring young (|uccns (rem a tested mother, we 

 sometimes find, on the ei:me comb, young queens of 

 dilTerent colors ; some being veiy yellow, and exact 

 (lu)'licPtes of the molher. others very brown, nearly 

 as dark as the common black (juern. Js thin peculiar- 

 ity indicative of impurity on the mother's side ? Will 

 the progeny of one of those dark quici s, be as bripl t 

 as those of the yellov/ queen. sriJiiosing they both 

 mate with Italian drcres? Again, how w(uld the 

 progeny of each compare with ihr others, shculd they 

 have mated with the black drones? 



1 am only a novice in bee culture, and, so far, have 

 fourd it a pleasant, instructive and eiitntaining rrral 

 pursuit, lean rot speak in terms ol loo higli com- 

 mendation, of the cxtiaclor, kr.iic and smoker you 

 sent me; they work splenflidly. Next to my w ile I'.nd 

 little ores, my little apiaiy is the most atir;;ctive lea- 

 iii7e of my heme ; my vines and fruit trees int( rest me 

 in their turn, but for a never tiring and real pleasi'.ie, 

 i turn to my bees. 



If your theory is rorrrct in regard to drones bring 

 pure irom an Italian queen that has mated with a 

 black drone, there is no reason why eveiy ore ^\ho 

 has bees in movable lr?mes, should not be able, wi;h 

 one pure queen, to purely Jialianiza all his lees. The 

 dollar queen business is certainly a blessing to the 

 bee-keeping world; 1 have bought quite a number 

 tliis serscn. mostly trora VV. P. Henderson, ot Mur- 

 frecsboro, Tenn. Their iirogtny aie now out, and 

 thev ,ire beautiful ; they seemed io be as well marked, 

 as those (rem mv tested (lucens. 



I commenced this season with 8 colonies of Italians 

 and ti iilacks ; I now have 24 colonies, IG Italians ard 

 s hybrids, all in pood shape, and I expect next season, 

 with the helj) of GLEA^]^os, to make the honey fly. 



J. R. Pakk. 



Lavergne, Tenn., Aug. 15lh, 1877. 



Our imported queens very seldom produce 

 queens that are uniformly marked ; and as we 

 find variation in color, almost all through 

 both the animal and vegetable kingdoms, I do 

 not think we can make that alone, much of a 

 criterion. The general rule, laid down by 

 Langstroth and others, is to judge by the 

 markings of workers, and pay little or no at- 

 tention to the color of either queens or drones. 

 Dark colored queens reared from pure mothers, 

 frequently produce the very Mnest marked 

 woikers. We find queens, a great part of the 

 queen progeny of which, is light and uniform 

 in color, but I have never had one that did not 

 give some dark queens in cool fall weather. 



MOVABIiE ROOFS FOR HIVES. 



fjHEY are made Ire m cypress shingles 2 feet long, 

 or "shakes" rs they aie here called, rived thii) 

 — , find shaved at one end, for which I pay 2.'i cts. 

 per 100 pieces. Placing these side by side, without 

 lajipiig, up(;n the bench, with the lower ends in line, 

 nail the thin ends to a stiip 3 feet long and about 1,V 

 imhes square. This is the "ridge pole." Another 

 light strip, say ;'„a % irches, is nailed to the under side 

 ot the shingles, i.bout 6 inches from their lower end. 

 Nails that can be clinched, shouUl be usfd for the light 

 strips. This makes one side ot the roof; let it hang 

 down betide the bench, with the ridge pole resting on 

 the edge ot the bench, while a row of shingles, likjj 

 the first, is nailed on at right angles to the other, ami 

 the lower ends secured bv a strip iVx ?, as before. 

 This makes a roof :! feet long", with sides of 2 feet each. 

 To retain them in this shaijc, a light strip is nailed to 



the edsres of the shirgles at each end of the roof, 

 about ij the distal ce below the )'eak. Made in this 

 way, they arc inexpensive, verv light to handle, and 

 make the Ik St possible shade, leaving the air to cir- 

 culate Iveely ever and all about the hive. 



IhadO.^ of them in use last season, and had no 

 combs melt do\\n, no clvsteiirg out, and my colonii s 

 averaged me over 100 Us. each, very choice comb 

 honey. Pre\icus to the use of thtse covers I was cc- 

 casirnally troul.lcd with melting down of combs. 

 Resting on the hive, like a roof, not only do they pro- 

 tect the hives from the sun, hut frc m lain and snow 

 also, though they were not designed lor the latter 

 purpose. 1 have left mine on all winter, and find 

 them quite an ad^f.ntage. They can lie taken oil" or 

 replaced veiy rapidl5\ more so than can can the cov- 

 ers tc the hives, so that but a tew moments are re- 

 quired to remove all mine. 



As to their b< iny- lu'sightly. I think they are the re- 

 verse , and were they otherwise, they would not suit 

 me, for 1 am very particular, really "oldmaidish" 

 they tell me, alout ih(! appearance of my hives and 

 grounds, and can rot tolei ate sticks or rubbish of any 

 kind in myapiaiy. My hives are well puttied anil 

 painted, ol dlil'eient colcrs, and stand just G feet fiom 

 center to center each way. With these movable roofs 

 they do jirestnt such a comforiahle appearance, I am 

 sure ycu would like them Mr. Gleanings; at least, 

 all wilt, see thrm admire them very much. 



You mifilu. think, being so light, they would the 

 more re a<lily blow ofl' every lime there c£.me up a good 

 stiff breeze, and thus expose your hives to the sun, 

 though ever so hot. or keep jou trotting to replace 

 them. At least, that is v.hatlat first feared. But 

 the laet is, duilng all of last season, out of Gb, not 

 more than two or th;ee were displaceel by the wind. 

 So lar, this season, we have had two severe wind 

 storms, duiing one ol which, my corn bain, 12x30 It., 

 was blown cl( i!r liem lis foundation to the groundi 

 lut only a lew of the movable roots were blown from 

 the hives; though 1 leared I might, one morning, lind 

 many ol my hives lurneel over. 1 have never had a 

 hive blown over. W. W, Hipolite, M. D. 



De Avail's Bluff, Ark., April 12th, 1877. 



FIXED OE STATIONARY UPPER 



S'^oetiES. 



M RE there not advantages in a hive, the upper 

 J^^ and lower stories of which can be taken apart? 

 " ii— 'I It seems to me that v^hen the upper story is 

 stationary, it would be a little incovenient getting 

 down to work in the brood chamber. 



This is a matter on which I have carefully 

 experimented, and 1 much prefer a stationary 

 upper story, as in the chtift'hive. Observe that 

 you cannot take out the lower frames of an old 

 style L., or Simplicity hive, unles-s you first re- 

 move the upper story; if the 10 frames are full 

 of honey, you canrot well lilt ihe v.holc at 

 once, and if you could, ycu could not well le- 

 place it without kiilirg many bees. I have 

 lifted oft' the upper stories many limes when 

 filled; sometimes alone, and sometimes with 

 an assistant lo lake ore end; som.elimes the 

 frames above, will be altr.ched to those below, 

 ard for a variety of reasons, I now almost in- 

 variably remove Ihe greater part, if not all of 

 the upper frames, before lifting e ff the upper 

 story. When empty it is a very simple matter 

 to take it ofl', but with a powerful colony of 

 bees, it is a task indeed, to put it back without 

 killing any of them If you doubt this state- 

 ment, take a look at any movable upper story, 

 during extracting time, and see if you do not 

 find that bees have been crushed between the 

 joints. I will say the same in regard to mova- 

 ble sides, close fitting frames at either the tops 

 or sides, or any thing else about a hive where 

 pieces are to be closed up while the bees are 

 on them. Their owners say they do not kill 

 bees, but just look and see if they have not 

 killed them. My friend, are thei'e any dead 

 bees to be found in the joints to your hives V 

 you can answer the ejuestiou yourself. 



