20 
“ NOVICE’S ” GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
NOVICE’S 
gleanings in #cc ^nlturc. 
A. I ROOT & CO., 
EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS. 
Published Monthly, at Medina, Ohio. 
Terms: 75c. per Annum. 
A ny one tending us 5 Subscribers can retain 75c. for 
their trouble , and in the same proportion 
for a larger number • 
: PRINTED AT MEDINA MUNTY^GAZETTE OFFICE. I 
Medina, March 1, 1873. 
You can work nearly twice ns fast in 
cutting up stuff for hives and frames, if 
yon have a child to assist, by handing the 
pieces and taking them away. 
We shall really have to give up telling 
what we are going to give next month, 
for so many new things are coming up 
continually, that the best we can do on j 
our limited number of pages is to con- 
sider what seems to be of the most intqj;- 
est to the greatest number at the time. 
We most heartily commend President 
Quiuby’s address, to N. E. Iiec Keepers 
Association, given in Utica Morning 
Herald of Feb. fith. We really wish our 
pages were sufficient to give complete, 
one of the ablest efforts of a great and 
good man. 
Problem four develops such a varietj’ 
of opinions that our "Table” at present 
would be a sorry affair. Please don’t get 
into any argument for we want truth in 
this matter, and argument seldom calls it 
forth ; and don't theorize, for we want 
facts only from experience in this. 
In our first two numbers we made an 
error in giving the price of Messrs. Slmw 
A Daniel’s untested queens, after Aug. 1st 
$1.50, instead of $2.50 as it appears in 
this number. Mr. Shaw’s plan of winter- 
ing queens in a hive containing 0 frames 
just half the length of the standard 
Laugstroth frame seems to work well. 
The little hives are neatly made and it 
seems to us there ran be no cheaper way 
of getting a queen safely, very early in 
the season, for they answer almost every 
purpose of a full colony, and the expense 
of shipping is much less. For shipping 
and for wintering surplus queens, we are [ 
inclined to think such small hives will 
pay, and we should like to hear from bee 
keepers on the subject. For the sake of hav- 
ing them a regular uniform size we sug- 
gest a frame 8«x9£, and then five frames 
would make them just one-fourth the ca- 
pacity of the standard Laugstroth hive; 
at any rate do let us have them with 
frames interchangeable when we buy and 
sell hives. 
We learn the great yield of honey oh. 
turned by Mr. Davis, ot Delhi, Mich., was 
principally from a yellow (lower that 
sprang up after a swamp was burned over 
in the fall. of 1 1 . Will lie please give us 
a full account of his swarms and surplus, 
and also of the plant mentioned, and how 
"the bees filled with honey, combs built 
on the outside of their /lives' because he 
"hadn't time” to give them room inside. 
We hope our readers will excuse us for 
declining to send any articles pertaining 
to lice Culture C. (). 1). Our profit is 
too small lo even pay “return charges” on 
money. Send us Post Office orders pay- 
able in Medina, or New York draft. As 
letters rarely miscarry now a days, small 
sums can be sent safely by mail. We 
have heard of but few failures in over 5(10 
letters sent us in the past two months. 
Ora bees were placed on their summer 
stands and enjoyed a full (light Feb. 1 9th 
and 20th, but we put them back again 
"cause it went below zero;”' and we arc 
sure it paid, for we found one quecnlcss 
colony and one almost “bee-less," also, 
that we combined much to their satisfac- 
tion as well as ours. All were in fine 
condition except some weak nucleus 
colonies made quite late to save surplus 
queens. Seven out of twelve of these 
were all right, but the remaining live were 
fed as late as November and having too 
few bees to seal up their sjrup before 
being “housed,” they quietly “slid out,” 
and now we have only (i!) "living hives," 
all good except one with a drone-laying 
queen and all old bees for an experiment, 
hut with sealed combs of syrup, they un- 
healthy and bright, although their num- 
bers are decreasing. When we returned 
them to the house, mercury stood four be- 
low zero, and even Hybrids, when dis- 
turbed were content to dive down into 
the cluster after a "very brief " show ot 
war. such ns “standing on their heads, 
etc.” Although they were “housed with 
a rush," scarcely a bee was lost. 
