1878. 



GLEAJ^I:N^GS IX BEE CULTUKE. 



21 



Why don't you groove the top bar of frames to hold 

 fdn.? I think it could be done, and the fdn. fastened 

 in with melted parafflne. "Why do you need ten 

 frames in the lower story in summer, if you take out 

 the outside ones for winter? We have placed our 

 hives all in a row, and packed in chaff, for winter, as 

 usual. Don't think we loose many bees in so doing. 

 The operation so changes the appearance of the apia- 

 ry, that ihe bees readilv find their own hives. 



K. M. Barbour, Alamo, Mich.. Nov. 26th, 1877. 



We do gi-oove tlie top bars to our frames 

 to hold the comb guides, and if jou choose 

 to take out the comb guide you will find that 

 the fdn. will slip in nicely. We prefer how- 

 ever, to fasten them to the comb guide in 

 the manner given in our circular. Perhaps 

 we shall not need more than 7 brood combs 

 in the lower story at all, if we use the divis- 

 ion boards for winter, and frames of section 

 boxes in the summer time. I am well aware 

 that bees liave been moved, in the way you 

 mention without loss, but at other times, if 

 a warm day comes soon after, they will go 

 back to their old stands, get into the wrong 

 hives, and make "no end of trouble."' 



OLD BEtS, WEIGHING HI^-ES, &C. 



I tried an experiment last winter on wintering' old 

 bees that were queenless. Old bees will certainly 

 ■winter and make good swarms in the spring, if kept 

 healthy. My bees have built thick combs (not deep 

 c^lls) in Aug.. and I have thought it owing to the kind 

 of honey gathered, but I now think it the cool nights; 

 it being cool they can't Tvork the wax out thin. Am 

 I not con-ect? 



How about weighing hives in fall when put in to 

 the cellar, without brood, and again in the spring when 

 hea\'y with brood, and telling how much they have 

 consumed in wintering? Lewis Kellet. 



Ionia, Mich., Xov. 27th. 1877. 



You are right friend K.. though I had 

 hardly thought of it before. "We might say a 

 colony had consumed only 10 lbs. were we to 

 trust entirely to the steelyards, but if they 

 had 10 lbs. of brood at the last weighing, ft 

 would in rerlity alter the statement very 

 materially. I knov%' from experience, that 

 bees may' starve, when their hive feels quite 

 heavy, in the spring. My experience with 

 old bees has been the same as yours. 



earned $20. 00, In two days. We have a lot more to 

 transfer in the spring. The others were done Sept. 

 34th, SKCcesffully. Bees can be transferred at any 

 warm season without risk if honey is plenty, either 

 in store or in the fields. Mrs. M. A. W. B. 



P. S. — For i of the colonies transferred we received 

 4 other colonies of black bees, valued here at from 

 ^.5.00 to fS.OO. 



I am very well aware, my friend, that 

 transferring can be done at any season if it 

 is warm, providing the one who undertakes 

 it will be prudent and careful : if all our 

 friends who ask qustions in regard to the 

 work, had a woman to help them, or rather 

 svch a woman as you seem to be. I should 

 have less scruples in ad^■ising that it be un- 

 dertaken at any time. I congratulate you. 

 but beg to claim a little credit for the very 

 full instructions I gave in oiu* last year's 

 price list. 



COMBS PAKTIALLY FILLED WITH TTN'SEALED HO.VET. 



WTien you pack your bees in chsff. the crmts that 

 are taken away will sometimes have the honey work- 

 ing out in drops all over the comb. Is it best to put 

 them back ? Levi Fatlor. 



SuflBeld. O., Nov. 20th, 1877. 



"We have been somewhat troubled in the 

 way you mention, but we set such combs 

 back' in an upper story, or outside of the 

 division boards of small" colonies, until the 

 bees cany out the unsealed honey, and then 

 they are all right. We have found the divis- 

 ion'boards very convenient indeed, in get- 

 ting the bees to put their stores all in a few 

 well filled combs, instead of having them 

 scattered through a dozen or more. ITntil 

 the division boards were put in. we could 

 not make them carry the honey from the 

 outside combs up around the cluster. 



The fdn. I received from you last Sept. worked like 

 a charm. I put a few frames in seme young swarms 

 and in a few days they drew it all out "and had a per- 

 fect comb. I tell you it made my eyes "bung out" 

 when I saw such nice work. Nathan Hutches. 



Westerville O., Dec. Sth, 1S77. 



extracting thick honey. 

 In extracting from my surplus combs, I could not 

 get all the honey out, it being very thick on account 

 « if the cold weather. Will it injure the combs to put 

 them away with a little loose honey in them ? I can- 

 not get it cut without breaking some f>f the combs. 



Oxford Mills, Canada. Nov. 12th, 1877. 



Had you kept the combs in a wann room, 

 until tliey were warmed through to a sum- 

 mer temperature, you could have taken it as 

 nearly out as in summer: but I woidd.if 

 possible, leave the combs in an up]ier story 

 luitil the bees get them clean and di-y. The 

 honey will do "no haiin more than' to dry 

 do\\Ti hard on the combs, and possibly at- 

 tract mice and insects. 



I had 2.5 stocks in the spring and took 1000 lbs. comb 

 honey in 2 lb. frames, besides 200 or .300 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted. I increased to .50 stocks which I am winter- 

 ing on from 5 to 8 frames, according to strength of 

 colony. I use chaff cushions over them, division 

 boards and mats on the sides. I winter on summer 

 stand. Have tried a cellar and bee house. 



J. B. Hains, Bedford, O.. Dec. 3d, 1877. 



transferring : what a "WOMAN DID. 



I sent to you in Aug. for a sample copy. It was 

 promptly received, and after looking it over I set out 

 for friend Butler's. I came away the possessor of his 

 "crack" swarm of Italians, and "in 6 weeks I took off 

 24 sections of honey averaging one and one half lbs. 

 each. The copy was accompanied by the e.xtra sheet 

 containing the A B C, of Bee Culture and directions 

 for transferring. My •'cara spoaa" came home from 

 a business trip one day, and asked me if I could trans- 

 fer bees. I looked him squarely in the face and said 

 promptly, "Yes sir." 1 had never done it nor seen it 

 done, nor had he, but we were in for it, for he had en- 

 gaged to ti-ansf er 5 swarms. We did the work, and 



MAKING hives AND SECTIONS : FLAX CHAFF. &C. 



The hive has just come all riuht : the freight was 

 81, 9<'- My hive of my own rcake will just fit on as 

 nicely as you could wish. I made a plane to cut the 

 bevel on the top edge. I make sections out of 2 inch 

 plank, cut grooves first, then saw off the right thick- 

 ness. How would flax chaff do for packing ? We 

 have tons of it, having two flax mills. 



B. F. Pratt. Dixon. 111., Dec. 7th, 1877. 



Thank you friend P.. for the idea of using 

 a plane made so as to cut the shoulders and 

 bevels on the hives : where hives are made 

 by hand, the plan will I think answer excel- 

 lently. The only objection to grooving the 

 plank before the sections are sawed off. is 

 that you can rip off but one little piece at a 

 time, and then all these little pieces are to 

 be Itundled up and counted, if they are to be 

 made for sale. This bundling and counting 

 really takes more time than it does to make 

 theni by the plan we have given. 



A neighbor is trying the fiax chaff : I pre- 

 sume it\Aill answer. t»ut fear it may not ab- 

 sorb dampness like wheat and oat chaff. 



