90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Mar. 



HOW BEES 'EVAPORATE" THE WATER, FROM 



THIN HONEY. I 



One morning in the month of Sept. as I was stand- i 

 ingr about ten rods from my apiary, looking partly | 

 toward the sun, I noticed that most of the bees on \ 

 their first flight in the morning- (to a piece of buck- [ 

 wheat) exuded a watery substance from their ' 

 bodies. What was it? Was it caused by the rapid i 

 accumulation of excrement in the working season, 

 or was it water obtained from the honey in the 

 ripening process? Although it may not be of prac- 

 tical importance for us to know, yet it would add 

 one more link to our knowledge of the insect. My 

 bees have been bringing in pollen from dandelion 

 for the last four days, and are apparantly breeding 

 considerably. F.C. White. 



Euclid, Ohio, Dec. 38th. 1877. 



I feel assured it was the water they had 

 by some means (doubtless well known to 

 themselves) separated from the thin new- 

 ly gathered honey, in the process of ripen- 

 ing. On page 125, vol. 2, you will tlnd an 

 account of some experiments in the matter, 

 wliile Hying bees in the green house. 



SIMPLICITy FEEDERS. 



Make your wooden feeders hot, pour melted par- 

 afline into one, put another top of it, face to face, 

 shake them until mside is coated— rery nice. I made 

 tops of frames same way 4 years ago— good feeders 

 but clumsy frames. J. M. Shuck. 



Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 11th, 1878. 



EQUALIZING STOCKS IN FEBRUARY. 



On going down cellar to look at my bees to-day, 

 imagine my surprise at finding bees hanging out 

 over the entrances of some hives in bunches from a 

 handful to two quarts, like a warm July afternoon. 

 I thought it would be a good time to divide and 

 equalize. Taking a two quart dipper, I dipped them 

 ott' and poured them into the top of the hives of 

 some weaker stocks; what do you think of the oper- 

 ation? My bees are mostly in Langstroth Simplici- 

 ty hives, with chaff at the sides and on top. If the 

 cellar were not dark they might swarm. 1 wouldn't 

 be surprised if, on looking, 1 should tind queen cells 

 started. Chaff if rightly used is the greatest bee 

 medicine known. 



Last season was not a very extra one here; we had 

 so much rain. One day, in particular, it rained very 

 hard (i hours without stopping. 1 had to go out three 

 times and drag my hives up hill out of the water. 



As it was, they averaged about 75 lbs. each. Some 

 sneak thieves stole 7J lus. in frames one night; poor 

 fellows, if it will do them any good I'll let them 

 have it. "Father forgive them, they know not what 

 they do." Richard Hyde. 



Alderly, Wis., Feb. 4th, 1878. 



I have never tried mixing them, but I 

 had bees cluster out of two hives when pla- 

 ced on a shelf in the bee house, and cluster 

 together. In the spring one was queenless, 

 and several vveeks after, I found two 

 queens going along peaceably in the other 

 hive. They may unite without trouble un- 

 der such circumstances, but one of the 

 queens is very likely to be "balled'' and 

 frequently, killed. 



WINTERING FIVE STOCKS IN ONE HIVE. 



I commenced last spring with 11 colonies of blacks 

 and hybrids, and one colony from Dadant with im- 

 ported mother. I transferred all combs, putting them 

 into a uniform frame. I extracted liott lbs, took 100 

 lbs. c :)mb honey in sections, and uuTcased to 30 

 stocks, raised and introduced 38 young (lueensfrom 

 imported mothers, and sold 6 to my ncijrlil>;>rs. 



I had 32 swarms out for a fly (wintering in cellar) 

 on the 5th and ti>uiid them in excellent condition. 

 Found a good many dead bees on the bottom boards, 

 but lots of eggs, lav\ a* and sealed brood. 



I must tell you how I undertook to winter 5 

 swarms in one hive. In Nov. I made a "long 

 idea" hive and put a good swarm in one end of it on 

 5 combs (my frames are 10x15 inside measurement) 

 then put in a division board littinu- "bee tight" (said 

 division board had a v:rii large hole cut through it. 



and wire cloth tacked over it to prevent the bees 

 irom passing through), then another swarm, placed 

 in and so on, until the 5 were in one box. All were 

 then covered over with blankets folded up, and over 

 all, were laid wide boards. On examining them on 

 the 5th. I found that my "hive" had "sprung," and 

 let all the frames drop oft' the rabbets ancj onto 

 the bottom of the hive leaving a fine passage every 

 way for the bees at each upper corner of the divis- 

 ion boards. To my surprise, I found every queen 

 alive, and brood in all stages in every apartment. 

 Fearing to trust them until spring in that condition 

 I removed them to separate hives. Now No\ice, 

 cannot we winter neuclus colonies on this plan? I 

 shall try it next winter. T. T. Delzell. 



Hersey,Mich. Feb. 11th, 1878. 



You can winter colonies in that way, and 

 perhaps nuclei also ; but it is a great deal 

 of trouble, as you have experienced, to put 

 them all into one such hive ; and then it is 

 a great deal of trouble to get them out into 

 some other kind of a hive when it comes 

 spring, besides the risk of losing the 

 queens. 



I am glad to see you progressing some. Some 

 time ago, j'ou recommended sugar alone for feed; 

 now you add flour which I know to be an improve- 

 ment. I have used starch for 30 years. 



1 was troubled for some time by something dis- 

 turbing my hive at night ; moving the blocks at the 

 entrance, and the sawdust and coal ashes, that I 

 use instead of sawdust. I set a trap at last and 

 caught a skunk, and have not been troubled since. 

 Do skunks eat bees? 



Would it answer to extract till the harvest begins 

 to fail, then feed back, for box honey? 



Would a little propolis injure wax? 



J. Winpield. Hubbard, Ohio, Dec. 3nd, 1877. 



You have, yourself, given us excellent 

 evidence that skunks do eat bees, and 

 other reports agree with your statement. 

 If you can buy extracted honey for 10c, 

 and sell your comb honey for 15, it will pay 

 to feed it, but I think it will pay better, to 

 have the honey stored in the section boxes, 

 at first, rather than take the trouble to ex- 

 tract and feed back again. 



Propolis does no harm, for it is readily 

 separated from the wax by melting, or with 

 the wax extractor. 



I am a victim of "blasted"— "earelessnesis" in one 

 respect, and "hopes" in another. The Jan. No. of 

 Gleanings came to hand all right, but I lost it on 

 the road home before I had opened it. That is 

 wherein I am a victim of carelessness. Pray don't 

 draw any bad inferences, I belong to the Murphj's. 

 My "hope" that was "blasted" was this: I built up a 

 swarm last summer from about a pint of bees; they 

 became quite strong, and I set them apart for the 

 minister, intending to give it and all its proceeds 

 and increase to the support of the minister (axtra), in 

 the future. Well, they filled nine frames (Prof. 

 Cook's style of frame) and I was overjoj-od at the 

 prospect; but, alas! one day, late in the fall, I no- 

 ticed an unusual activity about two of m.v hives, too 

 much so I thought for "honest bees." On looking 

 into matters I found the two had overpowered the 

 hive in question, and had taken, not only most of the 

 honey, but all the bees but about a teacupful, and 

 they principally drones. I put a stop to their opera- 

 tions, and in a day or two afterward a rather weak 

 swarm of Italians found there was something there 

 that they would like, so I let them take the remain- 

 der. Don't accuse me of carelessness in this, for I 

 had been out to that hive two days before iuid saw 

 nothing wrong; they did it up in a hurry. 



I have 6 left; they are doing well so far. The win- 

 ter has been very warm, bees flying in all directions 

 for a week at a time. My three Italian swarms are 

 out about an hour earlier than the blacks, every day 

 that they ttv. B. Robison. 



Schell City, Mo., Feb. 3d, 1878. 



I am afraid my friend, that if your min- 

 ister should see this, he would reprove you 

 for using the term "blasted'', as you have 



