1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



395 



K inch thick on tubs of water; but I KOt out my old 

 Indian tent and pitched it over a hive, built a lire 

 in an old kettle stove, and all was ti^ht, as I had a 

 2-inch pipe, used for fishing- in winter, to carry out 

 the smoke at the top. In an hour it was as warm 

 as a parlor, and out came the bees singins: live- 

 ly. I srave them some honey drippings, and they 

 commenced carrying it in. I then opened the hive, 

 and in 3 minutes, I had the queen. I have had her 

 out 48 hours now. My tent still stands, as the weath- 

 er is still freezing-, and to-day. I shall put in my new 

 queen in the same way. I will report to you how I 

 succeed. 



I am thoroughly waked up in the bee business 

 now (all done by (Sf.eanings), and anything 1 can 

 do, or anything- I learn, I will write up for you. 

 Keep me posted on now improvements, and monej' 

 shall not be wanting. E. A. Morgan. 



Arcadia, Wis., Oct. 18, 1878. 



P. S.— Yesterday, the 23d of Oct., I opened ray hive 

 and hunted up the queen. I found her all right. 

 She had been in a week, and I found every empty 

 cell filled with egg-s just laid. I am overjoyed with 

 my success. E. A. M. 



$€ie§ and Quenej. 



SgKvEE STINGS.— When placed under a micro- 

 prH) scope, the sting of a bee presents a polish of 

 ■~<^ dazzling beauty; but when placed on the end 

 of a man's nose, it takes the semblance of a rat-tail 

 file dipped in vitriol, bringing out words as rough as 

 a grindstone.— Gt«c(7i)iafi" Breakfast Tahk. 



Warming your honey before the fire will not pre- 

 vent fermentation, but rather increase it. Some 

 American bee-keepers boil their honej' when fer- 

 mentation begins. Boiling may act for a time, and 

 Is probably the best thing that can be done to hin- 

 der the fermenting process. As soon as any of our 

 honey begins to ferment we boil it, and then give it 

 either to poor people or weak hives.— Cuftaye Gar- 

 dener. 



[Well, Mr. Cottage Gardener, there is some sound 

 sense in your advice, bvit if 1 could not get the hon- 

 ey ripened in the hive so there would be no fermen- 

 tation at all, I believe I would never extract any 

 more. I c>in readily imagine how grateful the "poor 

 people and weak hives" must be, after you have 

 been to so much trouble to boil and "skim" it for 

 them. If given to the bees in warm weather, the.v 

 will ripen it themselves, better than any boiling and 

 skimming I ever saw.] 



I made a fdn. machine after Foster's plan, but it 

 does not work. I do not see anj'thing about making 

 fdn. machines in A B C. Please state, in Gleaning-S, 

 how the rolls are made. I am going to make one. If 

 it takes all winter. I will write j'ou soon, how my 

 bees get along, also about my home made extractor, 

 and foot power saws. I do not think E. A. Morgan 

 deserved that §3.00 queen, if he charges $1.00 per 

 stock for transferring. We onlj^ charge 50c. here, 

 and that is enough; some do it for less. I have tried 

 his mode of scattering the scent for bee hunting, 

 and it does not do as well here as burning comb. J. 

 L. Woleott's tool-grinder is the boss. P. L. Wright. 



Plainfleld, Mich., Nov. 11, 1878. 



[It is a very nice piece of mechanical work, to 

 make a fdn. machine to work nice, thin fdn., and I 

 fear it would be of little use to you, if I should de- 

 scribe the tools, which, by the way, are quite expen- 

 sive. I believe :?1.00 is the usual price for transfer- 

 ring, but it should be done up nicely tor that sum, 

 everything cleaned up, the bees set to working, 

 hives banked up with sawdust, etc. Glad to hear 

 you like the tool grinder.] 



I ha%'e got my bees all packed in chaff, and they 

 are ready for the cold weather, but it is a job to 

 pack them up in the fall and then unpack them in 

 the spring. Now, supposing you were compelled to 

 use only a two story hive, which would you prefer, 

 a Simplicity or Chaff hive? [Chaff by all means, if I 

 could pay for them.] 



Will bees commence work in the upper story of a 

 chaff' hive, as soon as they will in the second story of 

 a Simplicity? [Sooner; for reasons given further 

 along.] 



Can you get any more surplus honey from a two 

 story Chaff hive than you can from a two story Sim- 

 plicity? [Yes, because the Chaff hives are so much 

 better protected from the changes of the weather, 

 something as the bees in the house apiary are.] 



If you were usinu- the Gallup frame, what would 

 be tlie least luiinbcr of frames you would have in 

 the brood ilf'iKutincnt for surplus honey? 



[It would depend altogether on the size of the col- 

 ony. If there were only bees enough to cover 3 

 frames in July, I would put a frame of sections on 

 each side, and make them store what honey the.v 

 gathered in the sections. If a strong colony, the.v 

 would need perhaps 8 or 9 frames, to contain all the 

 brood the queen could produce. If you wish comb 

 honey, make them store all the early, white honey 

 in the sections, and give them so few brood combs, 

 that they muxt put the surplus in the sections. For 

 wintering you want the same arrangement, but sub- 

 stitute chaff cushion dixision boards for the frames 

 of sections. I would work any kind of frames in 

 the same way. The heaviest colony can usually be 

 put on 8 Gallup frames, or 7 L. frames.] 



Two swarms of bees came and lit in my apiary the 

 14th and loth of Oct. I united them with my weak- 

 est swarms— the first uniting I ever did. I started 

 in the spring with 6 swarms, increased to 13, and took 

 over 400 lbs. of comb, and over 60 lbs. of extracted 

 honev. G. H. Penman. 



Pittsford, Mich., Nov. 12, 1878. 



P. S. — You will find 10c. enclosed for trouble; 

 please answer this when you have time. 



[Our bookkeeper has placed the 10c. to your cred- 

 it, subject to your order. We never take pay for 

 answering questions.] 



CHAFF HIVE SIDING. 



Bo you deem the matter important, of cutting the 

 siding into such narrow strips as mentioned in the 

 paper on "Hive Making?" Rev. L. S. Jones. 



New Philadelphia, O., Oct. 13, 1878. 



[1 do deem it important, to use strips rather than 

 wide boards, in order to allow the moisture to pass 

 off the more readily, something as it does in the old 

 straw hive. The chaff needs thorough ventilation, 

 or it will get damp and mouldy.] 



HUBER ON A SECOND FERTILIZATION. 



Huber affirms that in the whole course of his nu- 

 merous experiments on the fertilization of queens, 

 he had seen only 2 queens which mated more than 

 once, before beginning- to lay. L. L. Langstroth. 



Oxford, O., Nov. 18, 1878. 



SENDING OUT QUEENS LATE IN THE FALL. 



I have lost 12 queens out of 20 sent outthis month; 

 it is too late for this latitude. Ila Michener. 



Low Banks, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 24, 1878. 



[Why, my friend, we are still sending them out, 

 this 21st day of Nov., and we have almost no losses. 

 I fear you don't put them up right.] 



PRACTICAL HELPERS. 



T have just been reading W. Z. Hutchinson's ex- 

 perience. No. 11. concerning a home made foot-pow- 

 er buzz saw. Well, I read all his experience, because 

 I know his writings are practical, but this one seems 

 to be of unusual interest to me; the article appears 

 to be got up for the express benefit of those whose 

 means are limited, and I think there are many who 

 perhaps may not have "more money than time,'' 

 and who will thank him for his friendly assistance. 

 From his description, and the illustration which 

 your engraver has furnished, I think no one will 

 have any trouble in getting up such a machine. 



The article from the Kev. L. L. Langstroth, I have 

 read with pleasure, for it was he who published in 

 1863, the first work on bees that I ever read, and to 

 me, that work seemed to possess the charms of a 

 novel. I have read and re-read it till 1 am familiar 

 with nearly every jiaue, and to-day, the world seems 

 to be only verifying the iirediction which he made 

 25 years ago (pagr 23li). when he said, "Movable 

 fi'ames will, in due season, be almost universally 

 employed, &c." I am glad that Sir. Langstroth is 

 still living, and is yet able to contribute something 

 to that occupation in which he has spent so many 

 years. N. Luman Gerrish. 



Nov. 16, 1S78. 



[We all feel, my friend, how deeply we are indebt- 

 ed to Mr. L., but I f(>ar we have often forgotten to 

 give him the credit he deserves.] 



