84 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
Jt'T.V. 
My bees wintered very well, 1 had them 111 an out 
cellar which la quite dry and cool, and lost but one In 
fifteen ; that one being Queenless. I llnd in handling 
them that the Quin by lVame as compared with the 
Xovice frame is rather too long, and the lull combs 
too heavy to handle nicely. C. IS. Gay loud. 
Irving,* Kansas. 
The above shows that wintering in-doors is 
practicable as far south as Kansas, even with 
winters as mild as the past. Since our friend 
wrote the above in regard to the large frames, 
lie lias countermanded an order for smaller 
ones, saying : , _ . .. 
If it would make von no trouble, I should pretcr the 
Quinby hiye for the reason that the most ot mine arc 
of that sized frame. Another season, 1 shall contorm 
to whatever size of frame shall seem to become stand- 
ard among Bee-keepers. 
Just the idea exactly, and hundreds of other 
Bee-keepers are feeling the same way. 
Mtt A. I. ROOT— You mnv condense the following 
fads for Mr. Sager [see page 59] of Hudson, 111. and 
others, ltees do work on Buckeye some seasons. ! 
am inclined to think it is sometimes very rich; have 
not the positive proof. In cold rainy weather, back- 
ward springs, it puts out large buds before grass comes, 
and cattle will eat them, and it makes them drunk. I 
have known dozens of them to die from being “Ruck- 
eyed, ” The old woman’s remedy is a pint of lard. If 
they get down once they are sure to try it again. No 
danger after warm weather and plenty of grass.^ 
Sherman, Texas. May -2tilh, 1S74. M. S. Klum. 
We have had no rain since the *24tli of April. Yes- 
terday evening we had some hopes, hut only a light 
shower hardly worth having, ana to-day hotter and 
dryer than before. The bees cannot gather allying 
from any source, and we shall have to feed for, \vc 
know not how long. 
"How doth the little busy bee 
Improve the sweltering hours. 
Loafing around the ‘gro-ci-ree’ 
Stealing botli sugar and flour.” 
And although the police does not interfere with 
their operations, they do not get enough to be of any 
benefit to their owners. 
We truly commenced Bee-Keeping in a bad season, 
but don’t mean to give up while we have any old 
clothes left (we have no new ones), to trade for sugar. 
New Orleans, June 1st, is 7-1. J. It. Y. 
I think you Editors, I mean Mrs. Tapper, Clarke, 
King, and von, have one fault in your Bee Journals; 
you ought to give lessons in natural swarming, hiving, 
etc., because there tire ten bee-keepers that use the 
box hive with a 20 or JO lit. box on toil, where there is 
one who has frame, and practices artificial swarming. 
I think we have too many contrary people, they won’t 
give up titc old way. I know more than a dozen who 
would read papers, if they could get some (bat would 
talk a little In their favor; I think yon could give a 
piece sometimes that would encourage those box hive 
men. 
I have seen in June No. about placing hives and 
about (lie color, I sue you go in for pure white ; 1 don’t 
like white on account of the moth, I think tbey will 
Cuter a white hive before they they M ill go for a dark 
one, though perhaps Unit don’t make any diil’erence in 
your Apiary because you look through your hives 
prettv often, but that is not the case with all bee-keep- 
ers. 1 Mould say to those M ho do not look often after 
their bees, get dark colored hives. I have iny hives 
Under the shed with tin; curtain arrangement to it, 
and every hive of a different color. Hives not more 
Ilian six inches apart and never had any trouble from 
their getting mixed. I have had bees over two years 
and have not lost a Queen, eithir < d u young. 
I had over a dozen young Queens fertilized and they 
all came back to the right hive. M ( v hives get Ihe 
morning sun; the sun shines on the hives till about 
10 o’clock, then they get shade from the roof of the 
shed; at about 4 o’clock the son shine-- on the hives 
again from the west side, and that keeps them work- 
ing till dark. 
I have got twenty one hives and ten different kinds, 
whieh I think are nine too man) . I ibink I M ill have 
one kind of hive next year, and that r ill be your hive. 
My advice to all beginners in Apiculture i to get one 
kind of movable frame hives. lb N. Klkn. 
Shimcrsvllle, 1'a. 
SHALE WE HAVE A DEPARTMENT FOR BOX IIIVE 
BEE-KEEPERS ? 
There may be much truth in what you say 
friend K. but what can we say for the beneilt 
of the “box hive” people ? As an illustration: 
An acquaintance bad a colony in a box hive 
that gave him 40 lbs. of honey last season, and 
as they cast no swarm, were full of bees ai d 
seemed to winter nicely. In April they began 
to dwindle down as ours did, and we sugges- 
ted that they might be Queenless, he mean- 
while thinking that the moth was the trouble, 
although wo attempted to tell him that the 
moth never troubled a hive with plenty of bees; 
but lie could not quite accept that theory, anil 
so we finally decided to transfer them to settle 
the matter. This was done the last of May, 
and a nice Queen was fouud with a fair colony 
of bees, and considerable sealed brood ; but to 
our astonishment this sealed brood was all 
eaten up by the moth. Eggs were found in 
great plenty all over the hive, but as soon as 
larvae appeared they were devoured by these 
great disgusting over fed worms, until a good 
colony was just about discouraged. After try- 
ing in vain to pick out the worms after the 
colony was transferred, our friend removed 
their comb entirely, and gave them one comb 
from an empty hive, placing an empty frame 
between this and the side of the hive. We are 
happy to relate they are now building new 
comb, which the Queen is filling with eggs and 
brood, with all the energy of a new swarm. 
Tlie recent troubles in winter and spring, make 
it more important than ever before that out- 
combs be “get-at-able,” if we may be allowed 
the expression. In the same neighborhood a 
subscriber who had between 30 and 40 colonies 
in box hives has lost all but two this spring. 
Now what shall lie do with the comb in those 
hives? Judging from the w.ay the moths are 
going for our own this summer, perhaps the 
best advice we could give would be to burn 
them all up. A new swarm put into a hive of 
combs where the moth had made a lodgment, 
would be just about thrown away, if they did 
not take themselves away. 
It seems to us movable combs are a necessity, 
and as a proof of this we would invite atten- 
tion to the fact that not one person in a dozen 
now keeps bees who did formerly. Those who 
have formerly had their box hives by the for- 
ties and fifties have now only three or four, or 
none at all, and every winter of late, sweeps 
them off at such a rate that ’tis now an easy 
matter to find localities for rearing Italians, 
with no common bees within two or three 
miles. Like many other industrial pursuits at 
the present time, success can be attained, only, 
by an incessant battle against disease, weath- 
er, and tlie depredations of the various enemies 
among the insect tribe. In this war for victory 
we are almost powerless with box hives, so 
much so that we cannot think it worth while 
to devote very much time to the matter. 
When our friend gets rid of his nine different 
kinds of hives, he of course will have them all 
alike, that Is if every frame goes nicely in any 
hive, and we think he will find dark colors 
quite objectionable in very hot weather. It he 
has as yet had no trouble with hives six inches 
j apart, he assuredly will have when he gets to 
I extracting, as every good bee-keeper must 
sootier or later. 
