1878. 



GLEA^EXGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



49 



Do you think I can sell all the queens I can raise 

 from 20 nuclei, handled according to your method? 

 I mean dollar queens, from an imported mother. Is 

 It necessary that queens frr m Italy be over-hauled 

 on ariving "at N. Y.. or will they go through to desti- 

 nation nearly as well withf^uty 1 understand the 

 queen rearing business and can furnish as good 

 queens as any one. 



Black bees are quite scarce here now, so nearly 

 every queen will prove pure. About 9-10 of mine 

 proved pure last year. Do you send orders to your 

 advertisers when you cannot till them yourself? I , 

 shall furnish dollar queens next season if you think ; 

 I can sell them. If I lear queens for sale, I shall ' 

 want a queen nurssery as I do not think I can fur- 

 nish dollar queens without one. O. H. Townsend. 



P. S. — It is very warm, with nothing but rain and 

 mud. Bees are getting somewhat uneasy in the cel- 

 lar, where I have all but one stock. Shall have to 

 move them out if the weather does not change soon. . 



O. H. TOWNSEND. I 



Hubbardston, Mich., Dec. 27th, 1877. i 



At present I should say it was next to iiu- 

 possiole to fiiniish more good dollar queens 

 than will be called for next year. When we 

 are unable to fill orders otherwise, we of 

 course have to call on our advertisers. As 

 this makes considerable complication. I 

 would advise sending your orders direct to 

 some one near you ; if we all use imported 

 mothers, there should be no great difference 

 between the queens of one apiary or another. 

 I should be glad to sell you a lamp nursery, 

 but there has for the last year or two been'a 



good many failures in introducing "just 

 atched" queens. Xuclei when first made 

 give no trouble, but after they get to be tol- 

 erable colonies, many of the "young queens ! 

 are not accepted, or turn up missing for i 

 some reason or other. I 



Your P. S.. illustrates the difficulty of ■ 

 housing bees with our uncertain winters. 

 During the warm weather about the holi- 

 days, we herird from great numbers who had 

 been obliged to carry out their bees, and 

 many of them had suffered severe losses, in 

 trying to keep them in. I would not confine . 

 bees to their hives in any way, and I do not 

 believe I shall ever again carry a hive into a 

 house or cellar. Excepting of course house 

 apiaries, that allow them to fl}' otit at will, 

 l^ueens are sent right through" from X. Y., 

 without any changes, but if you are un- 

 kno'ftii to the agents they may be held unti^ j 

 you can forward the money. I 



CAUTION ABOUT FEEDING, ALSO SOMETHING 

 OF MB. LANGSTROTH. 



I commenced with one hive, i years ago, and had 

 everything to|leam. I increased them to upwards 

 of 30. and reduced them by selling and doubling to 

 about 24, without loss until this winter. Duringtthe 

 warm weather I discovered that one had dysentery, 

 and as an experiment gave it a pan of flour and syrup 

 mixed, which they did not use up at once, so I left it 

 in for a few days, and at the next visit I paid them 

 found all dead; starved out and robbed; but the 

 balance of my bees are all in good condition. I use 

 the L., hive and prefer it to any other. I winter cut 

 doors with the outside frames replaced with close 

 fitting frames sided with picture frame back- 

 ing, stuffed with chaff, and lined one side with 

 old woolen carpet. Over the frames I place one 

 or two peices of old carpet, and on top of them a chaff 

 tick about 4 inches thick. I place the hives about 6 

 inches apart in lots of 4 or 5 and pack leaves between, 

 under, and all round except in front, then set com 

 fodder over the leaves to keep them dry, and in very 

 cold weather put a little straw in the portiecs. I live 

 within about 20O yards of Mr. Langstroth, i^nd am 

 sorry to say that his health is very poor, and has 

 been for some time. I have tried jour fdn. and am 

 well pleased with it, especially for second stories, 

 and the thinner it is, the better. D. A. McCord. 



Oxford. O.. Dec. 1st, 1877. 



Mr. Langstroth's heme is here but he keeps no 

 bees; and is f cly occasionally able, on account of a 

 difficulty in his head, to consult with Mr. D. McCord, 

 a near neighbor, about bee-keeping. 



A. Gray, Oxfoid, O.. Jan. 2nd, 1878. 



Should the above meet the eye of friend 

 L., we hope he will excuse us, for publish- 

 ing what was probably sent us without any 

 such intentions. I have taken the liberty, 

 because there are so many inquiries in re- 

 gard to him. and because we are all glad to 

 get hold of even the simplest bit of informa- 

 tion in regard to his health, whereabouts, &c. 



I began last spring with 20 gcrd swarms, extracted 

 rver 6barrels of boney or 2J-';4 lbs. and increased to 

 S6 swaims; have lost { ne since. 1 introduced some 45 

 queens, lost very nearly half in intrcducing. I am a 

 new beginner, am told this has been a tad year here, 

 do not know; I have ccmpaif d my doings with oth- 

 ers and think I have done well. I have very nearly 

 all Italians, and attribute my success to them. Would 

 like to know if I am dcicg well. 



R. Marioneaux. 



Plaquemine, La., Dee. £Cth, 1877. 



You have done remarkably well my friend. 

 ar;d I would warn you and other beginnere. 

 not to base your calculations on doing so 

 well continuously. 



Friend K. I would nr t take :85.00 for that one word I 

 t)f informalif n you gave en clipping queens' wings. • 

 I have had several big nice swaims do me no good 

 after clipping 1 he wings of the queen, but I never un- 

 til now. knew the leason, I shall hereafter watch out 

 about clipping young queens before they commence 

 to lay. j 



Please tell me how to make them swaim early. My 

 neighbors cry humbug to me when I ask them to 

 subscribe for GLE.\NiXGS; they have been swindled 

 by patent hives until they are out of heart for any 

 improvementin l)ee cultui-e. I tell them, time will 

 prove all things; their answer is. "all right." 



My wife also can work with bees; one day when I 

 was not at home, she put a ladder into a cedar tree, 

 walked up and took a swaim down in her apron; you 

 can tell whether she is afraid of bees or not. Some 

 people think that everybody can't handle bees, but 

 the reason is, they are afraid of them. 



E. J. Atchlet, Lancaster. Texas. Nov. 9th, '77. 



The very best argument with your neigh- 

 bors will be perhaps, a huge crop of honey. 

 And you can afford to keej) still awhile, "if 

 you kee]) steadily at work. I am much in- 

 clined to think your wife will demonstrate 

 that bees will pay for intelligent care, even 

 if you do not. I 



painting section boxes. &c. 



My bees are wintering very nicely in cellars, thus 

 far, with less dead bees than last winter at this time. 

 Have sold all my crop except about 700 lbs. around 

 home. Had 4500 lb3. to sell, all in section boxes and 

 40 lb. tin cans. I use a case similar to yours for 

 shipping, and for the use of retailers, paint them 

 green, as the honey shows better by the contrast. 

 Can't the section boxes be painted with advantage to 

 the appearance of the honey; say a cherry or walnut 

 color? Perhaps the expyens^ would be greater than 

 the benefit. A. B, Cheney. 



Sparta Center, Mich., Dec, 29th, 1877. 



I do not think it would pay to paint the 

 section boxes, for almost everybody has a 

 fancy for the clean bright pine wood. It is 

 true, that where they are left standing ex- 

 posed to sunlight and dust, the wood soon 

 turns to a disagreeable and tmsightly brown; 

 but it must be otir business to prevent this. 

 Open only 1 box at a time, and take the 

 sections out only as fast as sold. If any are 

 to be kept over/winter. leave them in the 

 close fitting frames they are in when put in- 

 to the hives, and keep the frames and all in 

 hives piled up closely on each other. In this 



