120 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
taining the brood and sealed stores, and empty 
their temporary combs as fast as tilled, or ex- 
tract all unsealed stores. We think we should 
prefer sealed honey to unsealed syrup. One or 
two wrote last winter saying their bees 
were doing finely on unsealed stores notwith- 
standing all that had been said against it. 
Late in the spring one of the most sanguine of 
them wrote as follows : 
DEAR NOVICE My bees have all gone to the 
<>— U— d— ilogs this winter; did not have one left 
when the weather became tine enough for bees 
to fly. So I have commenced afresh with 17 swarms 
that i bought last week, all natives. Now Sir how 
would it work to winter bees In this way, say have 
both stories on with the bottom story empty, no flames 
nor comb in it, have combs frames and bees in the top 
story witii a straw honey hoard on the top, and sun 
cap over that, and place them on the south side of an 
s foot high tight hoard fence. I think of trying this 
plan next winter if von are in favor of it. My experi- 
mental swarm I spoke of last winter, in the room, did 
not increase the least ; the young bees would not come 
to perfection from some cause or other, and 1 could 
not keep my store room in which I kept mv bees, cool 
enough to keep them quiet, and through fooling about 
with them lost them till. 
M. UlCHAluisON, Port Colhorne, Canada. 
The plan you mention friend M., hats been 
tried, and gives no especial advantage. A 
strong colony often winters well in this way, 
as they do in ljives without bottom board at 
all, but much more food is consumed. 
It should be borne in mind that a very strong 
colony can be safely fed, later than a weak one ; 
if their hive is fall of bees they can evaporate 
and seal up, but beware of giving a feeble col- 
ony in a large hive a large amount of stores, 
after the weather has become too cool for them 
to ripen it. All such experiments, so far as 
we can learn, as taking bees into a warm room 
in the winter time have proved failures. What 
will be accomplished by utilizing the heat of 
the sun’s rays in winter time remains to be seen. 
some writers claim to have Queens hatch In 9davs, 
I never had one hatch in less than 10 days— unless it 
was till' first lot I ever raised, and I have often thought 
the mistake was mine. Never have seen one of the 
Queens that only live two or three months. How 
long will a fertile worker live ? G. M. Doolittle wrote 
a number of years ago, that a pure Queen mating a 
black drone would never show any black bees among 
her worker progeny. 1 have had a good many Queens 
that mated impurely whose worker progeny never 
showed any black bees. 
T. G. McGaw, Monmonth, 111 
DEAIl NOVICE & Co.— Just now with us, it Is ills- I 
trcssingly hot and dry, not a particle of liouev in the 
fields, still the bees are Hying at a rapid rate. Do you 
■uf what they are after? I answer water, water. 
*d liters tell us, as well as our own experience, that 
bees require water to prepare food for the grubs. 
With me, breeding for the present is suspended, no 
grubs to be provided lor, still the bees drink an Im- 
mense deal of water, they require it for their own bod- 
ies, they also furnish the Queen with a liberal amount. 
My close daily observation this summer lias fully 
satisfied my mind, that many, very many Queens sent 
by mall and express, during Intensely ' hot weather, 
tire lost while “in transitu” solelv lor the want of 
water. I am not a Queen breeder, but an occasional 
Queen buyer, and hence, feel an equal interest with 
the breeder in safe transportation. 
J. II. Wilson, Sen. Lexington, Texas. 
If you allow your bees to be entirely without 
brood hi Aug., we fear we shall have to con- 
sider you a bad bee-keeper. Why don’t you 
get ready for the yield that Is coming? Water 
is a very good thing no doubt, but aiut it rath- 
er “thin” for a regular diet? Joking aside 
friend IV*., we presume you know your own 
business best, but we have been so well pleased 
with tlie plan of keeping things lively this 
Oct- 
season, with sugar, that, we don’t like to think 
of their being idle during warm weather. Our 
friend Dean who lias had such success in send- 
ing Queens great distances, gives them nothing 
hut honey in a sponge. A sponge filled with 
water does not answer for long distances ; it 
evaporates and the sponge is dry, while the 
honey remains unchanged. 
I went to Mr. Alley lust year and got an Italian 
Queen, she lived till May tills year, then was missing. 
Bees raised live Queen cells, the Queen they saved 
was lost in bridal trip. Then I was plagueu with a 
fertile worker and they actually made Queen cells on 
"''one eggs. 1 gave them a black Queen and after she 
bad laid a quantity of eggs, she disappeared and tlie\ 
raised another Queen which now reigns I suppose. 
Now 1 have been plagued with that hive bevoud ac- 
count, and if I had not kept it up with brood and bees 
It would have gone up ere this time. 
John Dawson, Pontiac, Mich. 
We dare say you have had far more trouble 
with tlie hive than if you had made an exam- 
ination of it once in every week, or two weeks 
even. Fertile workers never make their ap- 
pearance in a well conducted apiary, and they 
may almost be considered as only an evidence 
of inexcusable carelessness. If a Queenless 
hive has fresh eggs given every week or ten 
days, they will never appear; they are only 
seen when tlie colony lias no Queen, and no 
means of raising one. With proper hives, tve 
can remove a frame from tlie center of the 
cluster and see if the Queen is all right, in five 
minutes at least, and he who cannot take this 
trouble whenever the deportment of the bees 
outside seems to indicate a want of thrift, de- 
serves to have trouble. We are well aware 
friend D., that you are not tlie only one who 
allows a hive to go, “weeks” without a Queeii, 
but it is assuredly at a loss, for all that. 
You say you suppose they, have a Queen now , 
we advise you to suppose nothing about it but 
look and see, at once. • 
Please tell me whether a stock will be any more 
likely to accept a strange Queen after having been 
Queenless for a time? 
Ila Micukneu, Low Banks, Ontario, Canada. 
We think as a general thing they will. 
Should they however have been Queenless so 
long as to induce fertile workers, the case 
would be different. A steady yield of honey 
lias more to do with a favorable reception than 
any tiling else we know of. Regular, liberal 
feeding until comb building has commenced, 
we think comes next to it. 
Can Queen bees be sent from Ohio to this place 
through the mails? If so what would each Italian 
Queen cost me here, and bow soon in the spring could 
you furnish me with a small number? Bees begin 
swarming here the latter part of Jfeb. 
1). F. McFahland, San Diego, Cal. Sept 3d, 1874. 
We thiuk our friend Dean, of River Styx, 
will scud them without trouble, but it is diffi- 
cult to furnish dollar Queens here before July. 
Some one asked you the question— will It do to win- 
ter in the tony hives? 1 believe you answerd, yes. 
Shall w r c give t he bees the whole length ofliive, giving 
them plenty of honey, pollen, and a lew empty combs 
in middle? or shall we restrict them to a limited por- 
tion of hive, giving ilium the balance of room In spring 
as they may need It? J. II. Wilson, SEN. 
We have had no experience in wintering in 
the long hives, and are therefore unable to de- 
cide. We should favor a division board, having 
uniformly liad much better success at all times 
of the year, when tlie hive was of such size 
that tlie bee^j filled it completely. 
