164 



GLEAJ^LNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



to my own skill nnd man;\,L'i,Mnent, as to the large 

 colonies of boi-s, iiliiiinhuu'c of ixood sealed stores and 

 the remarkable inildin's-^ of thij weather, i think my 

 bees are fully as strong now as they were last fall. 

 All stronjr stocks had brood in all stag'es and hatch- 

 ing- the middle of Feb., and the weakest hatl brood 

 hatching tlie 6th, of March. 



The bees began gathering pollen on the last day of 

 Feb. and have been bringing it in at a lively rate every 

 fair day since. 1 shall want something less than "10 

 acres" of comb fdn. soon. Let Messrs. King & Co. 

 say what they please abont it, I know I had the 

 nicest comb honey last year that 1 ever saw; it was 

 built on comb fdn. too, and had no "fish bones" in 

 it either. Alfred McMains. 



Chariton, Iowa, March, 19th, ISTS. 



CROOKED COMBS. 



What would you do with a hive of bees which had 

 built its combs so "awful" crooked and irregular 

 that mine would do for "decent" frames, if trans- 

 ferred? L. S. J. 



New Philadelphia, O., March, 13th, 1878. 



The day for discussion of crooked combs 

 has passed, for very much the cheapest and 

 easiest way to do now, is to melt them np, 

 and liave new ones built on fdn. 



WILD BEES Ilf THE SOUTH. 



I can get as many swarms caught in frame hives 

 by the negroes, for 50c. and 75c. as I care to have. 

 There is no end to the swarms flying around in the 

 spring, as the swamps are full of bee trees. 



H. B. Shaw, Lake St. John, La., March. 27th, '78. 



CORN CRIB HOUSE APIARY, &C. 



Our bees have wintered nicely, and were bringing 

 in pollen on the 8th, inst. The chaff hives are nice. 

 I have made some with L. frames. Bees in all kinds 

 of hives have wintered well. 1 don't like the corn 

 house apiary, and will take them out this spring. 



Wintering in chaff is a success; this 1 knew before 

 the bee Journals published it, but I like cellar win- 

 tering as well; also for springing, there is little differ- 

 ence. J. L. D.wis. 



Holt, P. O., Mich., March, 2Sth, 1878. 



QUEENS REARED OUT OF SEASON. 



On the 11th, of March I found an Italian colony of 

 bees, (jueenless. I gave them a sash of comb in 

 which were eggs and larvii^, from another Italian 

 colony. On March ISth, a neighbor gave me a black 

 queen which I introduced to the queenless colony to 

 which I had given the eggs and larviB. And what do 

 you think? To-day, March 27th, I found a dead ^•i^- 

 gin Italian queen in front of the hive, which the 

 black queen had killed. Now what I want to know 

 is, can bees rear queens any season of the year? If 

 so, can you keep them until drones are out? 



A. F. CONAWAV. 



Mannlngton, West Va., March, 27th, 1878. 



Queens can be reared at any season, but 

 if they cannot tiy out before they are a 

 montir old, tliey will, as a. rule, be only 

 worthless drone layers. Your experience 

 was exactly what might have been exi)ected. 



REPORT FROM A LADY. 



1 began last spring with 15 swarms in improved 

 box hives, frames below for brood and 4 drawers 

 above. The merits of the S. hive having been noted 

 we made 3 dozen with metal cornered frames, which 

 were used for the new swarms on the two story plan. 

 The result at the end of the year shows, comb honey 

 in frames and boxes 900 lbs.; cash proceeds from 

 sales ^81, 50.; No. of healthy stocks on hand at this 

 date 32, with abundance of honey. 



t We now think section boxes are just what we 



j want, and are ready any time to take stock in a uni- 

 versal S. box. Nice comb honey in small packages 

 that can be shipped .kept and handled, is the shape to 

 have it in, to make it profitab.e; at least, such is, at 



I present, my conclusion. Mrs. Eberman. 



I Merrimac Point, Ills., March, 14th, 1878. 



1 HOME MADE HIVES, FRAMES, SECTIONS, &C. 



i T received your samples of small sections, comb 

 ' fdn. &c. Being almost entirely without fmachinery, 

 I I set my mind to work out sections, brood frames, 

 I hives, &c. as best I could, and to do so had to deviate 

 I somewhat from your original ideas. I am now fully 

 prepared to transfer my bees from Harbison, to Sim- 

 ! plicity hives, using the L. frame. 



Having but one saw, I cut the grooves in the top 

 bars of brood frames with it, being 3-16 deep x}8 

 I wide; this lets the fdn. in quite loose. I then fasten 

 it by pressing thin strips of wo(»d in the space be- 

 , tween the fdn. and side of the groove. This makes 

 } solid work. The small sections, I cut from bolts 

 , three feet long, sawing them 3-16 thick. Smooth- 

 ing on both sides reduces them to a trifle above }s. 

 I then cut them of the proper length in a mitre box, 

 ■ reversing the top pieces, and with a hand splitting 

 saw, a stroke or two makes the groove for the fdn. 

 I then nail them on a form, putting one ^i nail in 

 each lower corner and two in the upper corners; 

 this presses the fdn. into place. In handling the 10, 



000 I have now prepared, not one, as yet, has fallen 

 ! out. 



I The Feb. No. of Gleanings has been of more 

 I value to me, than four times its price for one year. 



1 consider your suggestions on sawing, and saws as 

 j perfectly invaluable, and will ncNcr feel satisfied 

 I until I have a foot power saw, and one of those Cigar 



Box planers, for making sections alone. Do you 

 find it difficult to remove the first frame of sections 

 in the upper story? Is it necessary to have separa- 

 tors between the side frames of secti(ms and side of 

 hive? 



Our prospects for a honey season are good all over 

 the State. Geo. C. Doherty. 



Bakersfleld, California, March 6th, 1878. 



As bees very seldom attach comb to the 

 side of the liive, separators are not really 

 needed there. As the Simplicity hive is 14ir 

 inches wide, and the 7 broad frames but 14, 

 we have i inch to wedge up between the last 

 frame and tlie side of the hive. As this last 

 frame has the separators on the outside, no 

 combs are ever built in the i incli space. 



I have to apologize to you for accusmg you of neg- 

 lect in sending the saws. The saws were sent, but 

 overlooked by my workmen. And found only yes- 

 terday among the rubbish in the shop. 



A. X. Illinski. 



East St. Louis, Ills., March, 29th, 1878. 



I give tlie abcn^e a place because there 

 have been several like complaints. One 

 man said we had sent no rabbets with his 

 hives. I ordered tlic shipping clerk to send 

 tliem, with an apology, and to i)ay all ex- 

 penses, lie was so certain that he had put 

 all in. that we wrote again, and received 

 answer that lie li:id found them after all ; 

 they were taken out. laid aside and forgot- 

 ten, lie very carf^ful that i/ou are not the 

 (;ar;']ess one, and tlien state "the case gentlv. 

 for remember it is but human to err. 



COMBS WITH iMOTH WEB ON THEM. 



I have several gums with full sets of frames, all 

 filled with old conib that contained bees, in the fall, 

 which died out during winter months. Some of these 

 combs are literally filled with moth; in fact, some 

 few are a solid mat of web. Would you advise me 

 to use one or two of the worst ones in each hive of 

 new swarms that I am looking for in a few days? 

 Will they clean the web out of them and build to the 

 old foundation that is left in them? M. M. Camp. 



Navasota, Texas, March, 18th, 1878. 



I presume a good colony of Italians would 

 pull the webs all out in time, but it is quite 

 l)robable they would build a new comb 

 (juicker and easier. Cannot you afford to 

 poke the webs out friend C ? It is (piite a 

 task for the little chaps to lug and drag a 

 web out at the entrance, even if tliey do 

 sometimes do it. Since the advent of fdn., 

 it is less of an object to save every bit of old 

 comb. I would try some of tlie combs, and 

 see how they work, but think I wouldj first 

 pick all the webs off. 



