1874 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
105 
Hostels! of Cii'.iii n-,, 
FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 
1 NOVICE : — Mr. Martin is no doubt right 
j!rj J in thinking I do not deserve much credit for 
4k 1 wintering my bees without loss, as there are 
= wvo " uuom toss, as mere are 
plenty of others thn have done the same thing, and 
he may be right in thinking 1 may vet find my -Wat- 
erloo.” Of one thing I am pretty certain, however, 
and that is, when it comes, if it ever does so, it will 
not find me with my arms folded, trusting to luck for 
success; but like Napoleon's old guard, in the field 
ready for the fight. But as I am not much inclined to 
cross bridges before I come to them, i will trv not to 
• borrow any trouble from that source at present. 
Now to snow friend Martin ilmt it is not altogether 
fair sailing for bee-keepers in this section. I will men- 
tion that a neighbor living within no rods ol me put 
liis bees in the cellar ia.-t fall ami disturbed them all 
to death before spring. Another put his three 
swarms in a cold out-building an l only had one left 
the first o. Ain\ ami tin v were not worth 25 cts. Of 
two other neighbor.-, one living one mi.e east and the 
other the same di.-cance wesu oik- had one swarm out 
of five, and tile oilier three out of ten lelt. llie above 
are the nearest neighbors J have that keep bees, and 
their luck is a pretty fair sample oj ill. way bee-keep- 
ers have lared lor some years | a.-t, where ihev were 
not properly cared lor. 
1 never wintered more than one swarm on the sum- 
mer stand. That was the lirsi swarm 1 owned, and 
the amount ol honey they consumed, and the number 
of bees that perished during the winter, determined 
me to try some other mode of wintering. 
At the time, 1 was engaged in supplying the neigh- 
bors with what dry goods, notions etc. they needed, 
and when I talked of putting my bees in the cellar, 
many were the smiles exchanged at mv expense. 1 
might know how to sell goods, but bee-keeping was 
evidently out of my line of business. Well, the bees 
were put in the cellar, and in spite of all prophecies 
to the contrary, came out all right, and diu the same 
each succeeding winter, until failing health compelled 
me to seek some employment affording more om-door 
exercise. A natural liking for bees, amt the belief 
.hat there was money in them, indicated plainly 
enough what that employment should lie. 
On moving here, 1 had no cellar suitable for wiuter- 
ii.^ bees in, 1 therefore built a house lor that purpose, 
" 1 , * ia> : more than met mj expectations so far, as 
ai> losses in wintering have amounted to almost noth- 
ing, whilst bees kept on the oid hup-hazurd plan are 
lapiuly disappearing. 4 
* u to bees sometimes wintering well 
Mw f.°i l L 3,n - V , n< ! ol car <h— is it not generally owing to 
men being, by chance, in about, the same condition, 
»<> tar as dees, stoics and empty combs are concerned, 
as ucurelul Apiarian would put them in, belorewin- 
i 1 ,lave Umiiglit such was the case. It is seldom 
M m } vork » ,a - vs ver - v loug, lor carelessness in 
, business is sure to bring its reward, sooner or la- 
d , Jim 1 bee-keeping forms no exception to the rule, 
m tiessness is no safeguard against the “many vary- 
i rdi r 1 a J 1 ^ es * ’ mentioned by Mr. Martin, and 
J p .nmA 1101 M 1 !’ it the dm v of the bee- 
S f a « ainst - ffor Instance ; most of the 
n ees winter and spring were lost by the 
whpn L *W n > timir hives in quest oi pollen or honev 
and nq flJI! 11101 ' " as u> ,° < o1 ' 1 lor them to be out, 
„ n ,. a v ; ^bOHsequencc the old bees tlieu before voting 
h « he V 05 "' 1 '' 1 1,1 “ike their place, Lilli, leaving 111 ? 
HH.lv , 0 1 l '. lle “ 1 'b so- -Now 1 think there Is it 
Meretfvin/, k ‘“'' " ,S3 - 1,1 ‘"'“‘O ihe old bees 
1'ce- a ral ® t,ial threatened the salety ol mv 
t« set i iw m' l l >ul lk , cm in 1,10 house again, feed them 
miilt H t0 ,,v cuius ’ 11,1,1 keep them in the house 
\ n t i' °V Kl lju l’»t out with safely. 
Ihev nu.vhe flniS out * ,,<l hud u pnritx lug flight, 
am{ siii r,, i I. m-doors lor some time with saietv, 
s »ailu wl ihH " S ,y 1 have to see the lirst 
Warm plaoejaiu' fed!’ 0 * ° SUt *° bmMUu «' If put in a 
iii l eiulB 11< \i']n! 0 | 11 ’ ¥ r ’ kiditor, just say to your farmer 
tieither th . J, 1 !! 1 ' 1 nt " s ulemllie” liee culture, that 
‘in’ ej.usp Vi* iU , OI ’ stigar-syrup, or the Italians are 
tiu- abovi* lilt i °' s ol , so many bees; as i have all 
k3 'vfaile,i to km m lne? g ulvolm “ sUu “ue»'' and they 
James B oi.ix,' West Lodi, (). July loth, is7f. 
in Mna'ii m j , s ,?" ui * 11,1,1 bees will store surplus honev 
•ItanTevwiTi fiSSUSH 11 ?- ?“ » “‘oderate supply, 
humhhuhhi 
tliiSX Win M® re »! ui .' on a moderate supply 
i'artor .L,,, it,. ‘'‘'(j;; itl' us, lint tlie use ol the ux- 
modules the rule and to my mind 
?nd , h > iA« nlh i ll « tcs "i 10 ncc ; t ‘, 8sil - v Of diversity in frames 
and lines. I a n only making a start in bec-keeplDK 
mh. ,r C l ’,im have handled, and can handle bees for 
otlKis. I did what 1 think most others should do I 
“ 1 n " i "! 1 apprenticeship in a large apiary, and If 
same Jo,,) ^ur correspondents would submit to the 
...... k . o /i'Scipilue they would not need to ask so 
n anj silly questions and let everybody know' it, 
eii'to k’now 1 " n , M, nkerof Gleanings a subscriber want- 
tw , k i what to do, -wanted to examine his bees 
100 oold-JVi mice -did not 
know , wit} Amice ! J cam them into a moderately 
warm room-do It In any kind of weather. If mv 
bees don t sing “Never mind the weather,” I do. 
Geo. W. Horner, Dubuque, la. 
Now friend H. if we ajl followed your ad- 
vice there wouldn't be any more novices. A 
letter is now before us from a lady, who has 
.lust been through her hives with the extract- 
01 for the first time, asking how soon she can 
extract them again; of course we replied pleas- 
antly, “as soon as they are full again,” and 
we hope our readers will not hesitate to ask 
anything they may feel disposed. We have 
tried taking the bees in doors to examine, but 
they had a way of getting around loose on the 
floor, and after somebody had stepped on them 
™ey were “all spiled” or as Blue Eyes would 
express it, “broke, broke, broke, real hard !” 
NO Y ,( E:--! see a Sood deal said about 
Quinbj s new smoker as though he were the invei.- 
8Cen il * % from descripih n 
\\ ntov w iwf ° l?. ,ne as P n , c Mr * Davis Of Ch ur 
vv atci, W 1 iglit Go., Minn., tried to sell me seven years 
'T as ma(1 e of tin, perhaps 2 inches in diaiheli r 
and s inches (more or less) in length, with a foldiu 
seam like those in tin pans (as the heat melted Uh>m- 
only with solder) one end terminated in a 
small tube, to the other end was attached a small hei- 
jyhich couid be readily removed when wishing 
to nil it. \\ ho was the inventor I know not, he made 
J, 1 !?! 11 p^^bially to kill lice on calves or ticks on sheep, 
with tobacco smoke, but when he went to keeping 
bees he used one ol them to smoke his bees. 
Have taken 56 lbs. of honey from 4 of mv f> svvaims 
all ol which were weak in spring; will i oi extract 
Irom brood chamber this year and see if tln-v will not 
winter better on early gathered hom\. Wintered 
1/ees successfully when 1 ext'd onlv from tup stow. 
8. Howei.i,, Faribault, Minn. Aug. Jml.'lt 74 . 
Thanks for the item. We see 13. K. M. also 
mentions that combining the smoker with the 
bellows is not new. However, the most inge- 
nious part of Quinby’s is perhaps the arrange- 
ment of valves that open when it is stood up- 
right, but close when laid down ; so i‘ar at 
least, we believe Mr. Q. is entitled to credit. 
We Teal ly hope leaving the honey near the 
brood may prove an advantage, but if this is 
all tlie trouble why have box hives fared so 
badly ? We certainly should be sure that the 
bees have an abundance of well sealed ripened 
honey tor winter, and where fall stores abound 
your plan will probably be best, say, after the 
1st of August at least. We never extract after 
that time here. 
Should not a fertile Queen begin to lay eggs lmmedl- 
n clv, on being placed with and received by a swarm 
ol bees, after being caged with about a dozen workers 
4 5 days ? x. K. 1 ‘uentk e, Caatalia, O. 
Site should lay within 24 hours at least, but 
before deciding, we would give them a good 
feed ; then if she would not lay we would sav 
“off goes her head.” 
You should have said in starting a colony with so 
leu bees to uo llie work, “try to do as much of it as 
you can yourself.” Keep them warm, fight their ene- 
mies, give them plenty ol both honev and pollen. 1 
built up a colony so last year, and two this summer, 
ihev consume an enormous quantity of pollen and 
should be allowed to fly every evening. One of these I 
round had a great many dead ; I noticed too that the 
