96 
“NOVIClV GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
the first straight down and the second to 
the right, and so on. On the first, the 
positions 11 and 12 would not be used, 
unless we chose to go over 100, and per- 
haps 10 should always be read as naught. 
We hardly need add that the practice of 
marking hives up with a pencil is untidy, 
and besides a pencil is not always at hand. 
No. 115. — I put into winter quarters last 
Nov., 108 good colonics of bees in good cendi- I 
tion andcamo out with 24 pretty good colonies 
and 22 in a weak condition. The 24 gave us t 
3500 lbs. of honey, nearly all out of the j 
comb, and increased them to 32, A little ; 
after the middle of tho honey harvest wo 
smothered 2 of the best ones and got no in- 
crease from them. I have now 70 colonies 
and 4000 lbs. of honey in all, of tho best j 
quality we ever had ; wo have sold about 2500 i 
lbs. of it at an average of about 24 cents por 
ponnd. My bee house is a second story, with 
saw dust walls 11 inches thick and well ven- 
tilated. I think bad honey was the cause of \ 
our loss. P. W- MoFatrioe, 
Carthage, Ind. II 
We are obliged to our correspondent, 
for tw* reasons. First because ho really j 
has done exceedingly well, and secondly t 
because Mitchell, in his Directory , gives 
an account of what agrees in name, state | 
and many particulars with the above ; yet j 
he states the result was obtained from ' 
right stocks instead of forty-six. Quite a ; 
difference Mr. M., yet we don’t know but j 
'twere wrong to expect truth from you at l 
all. 
No. 116.— I think you are a little too strong I 
on your syrup theory for winter food, and if 
my bees winter as well this year as they did I 
the last two years, I shall most certainly con- j 
vert you to mv straw mat arrangement. I 
don’t feed at all, except in particular cases of 
course ; and oven the stimulating in spring, 
outside of rye (lour, I have never dono with J 
satisfaction. The uncapping of a comb occa- 
sionally suits me much better. 
C. F. Muth, Cincinnati, 0. 
Supposing syrup no better winter food jj 
than honey ( we think all agree that 'lis : 
just as good,) the great saving, owing to , 
the difference in price, would always, we |j 
think, lead prudent bee keepers to use the i| 
sugar. We are already converted to Mr. 
M.’s straw mats as a means of keeping 
the bees dry and warm, and they may 
serve a better purpose than the cloth quilt, 
but wo have always considered them J 
about their equivalent. We have au im- 
pression that straw mats are untidy and j 
are always scattering straws about. Is it i 
not so ? The colony mentioned under j 
Beads of Grain No. ti9, that we wintered 
on less than 1 lb. of food per month, wus * 1 
packed all over with fine swamp hay and 
kept in the cellar right beside our cider j 
barrel. As we expected them to be out j 
of food before New Year’s, wo tapped 
daily on the hive (?) to eeo if they re- 
sponded, and to our astonishment, they 
did this promptly until the last of March, 
and then when set out had nearly all oj 
tlieir one comb of sealed honey, given 
tJiem in November. There was less than 
a quart of bees in the fall, and few if any 
more in the spring, but they built up 
eventually to a fine colony. We attempt- 
ed to winter onr whole apiary of 40 colo- 
nies, the winter after, in the same way, 
ottly we didn’t Tfce the hat. Wo lost all 
but 11 with the bee cholera. We have 
many times since wondered whether the 
liny possessed some rare virtue, or if the 
“tapping” may not have had some tabs- 
manic effect. If we remember aright, not. 
a dozen dead bees were found on the bot- 
tom board, but after their first (light so 
many bees were missing #v feared the 
few remaining young bees would never 
get strong, but they did. We think the 
diverse reports in regard to spring feeding 
come about because the condition of the 
colonies differ; with one containing “lots 
of pollen,” lavish feeding produces hosts 
of young bees; but where pollen is want- 
ing, feeding with honey or svrnp docs lit- 
tle good. Rye meal, or anything they 
will take in lieu of pollen, always gives 
abundance of brood. Are we right ? 
We “extract" the following from the 
Chicago Honey Co.’s circular. If they 
are not entirely in the right they are 
“most 
“The honey thus extracted possesses a 
most delicious flavor, and can be eaten 
withoutfear of sickness. It is eating the 
Comb that makes one sick, the Rees nor er 
eat it, and phycians say there would be 
as much propriety in drinking ale from a 
bottle, and then eating the bottle, as to 
eat the Honey and Comb ulso.’ 
A t» v 33 1 IT I8EMBNT 8. 
Advertisements will bo receive'! at 10 ocnls 
per line each insertion, cash in advance ; 
and we roquiro that, every Advertiser satisfies 
us of his responsibility and intention to do 
all that ho agrees, and that his goods are 
really worth the price asked for them. 
1 MEMO AX BEE JOERNAE.— Estub- 
/\ lished by tho late fiam’l Wagner, at 
Washington, IJ. C. Now published atChiea ■ 
go. W. F. Clarke, Editor and Proprietor. 
Subscription price, $2 a year in advance. 
Sample numbers sent on application. 
R ee-keepers, attention t— Send 
25 0 * 8 . for throe months’ subscription to 
National Dec Journal, now published and edit- 
ed bv 
ELLEN S. TUPPEB, Dos Moines, lows. 
Liberal terms to Agents. Specimen num- 
ber free- 
A DAIR’N ANNALS OF BEE (El. 
TUBE.— The fourth volume will hois- 
mod in 4 quarterly parts, cnuli the sir" of 
formor volumes. Atf.Oe. each. $2 por Vol. 
Tho first will bo out about the first of Decern ■ 
her, 1873. Prospectus and Club Terms soul 
on application. Hack Volnmos, excopt the 
first, can be still furnished at. 60 cents each, 
in paper, D. L. ADAIR, lluwesville, Ky. 
TA /ATRY IT 3 Motif (in fop 10 Cent* t 
LM /or with SJCbromo, l'or50 cents : or six 
mouths with “Tho Flowers of Paradise,” a 
first-class 86 G'hromo, Vo'/, x 21 inches for 81. 
The National Agriculturist and lleo Journal 
is a gixtecn-pogo paper of 64 columns, baud - 
mutely illustrated in all its departments. 
One ofthc best Agricultural and Family pipers 
published. Only hi per year, or 81.25 with 
best Bee-Book, or 81.58 with a beautiful 
Cbromo. Boo-Kuepev’s Magazine, a 82-pavo 
monthly, samo terms, or bolh for 81 . 75 , 
Pend now for samples, and Eibernl Terms 
t« Ajrent# 1'rce, II. A. KINO k OO.. 14 
Murray Pt., N. Y. 
