12 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



crossing tlie blacks with tlie Italians, we 

 keep on importing fresli stock, and also pre- 

 serve pure black bees to cross with them. If 

 we do not wish to do this, keep both races 

 separate. Am I correct V 



FROim 10 



TO 71 COLONIES, 

 I4ISS. OF HONEY. 



AND 1200 



ANOTHER "STUNNING" REPORT. 



Spi WISH to give you some of the ups and downs of 

 I bee-keeping — especially the downs. In this lo- 

 " — ' eality we had the best honey season we have 

 had for many years. We had the hottest and dryest 

 season wc ever had. No rain from Juno 15th until 

 Sept. l,")th. The hotter and dryer, the more honey 

 seemiusrly. 8w>^et clover is king, as a honoy-produc- 

 Ing plant. It blossomed until Nov. 14th this fall. I 

 suppose mj' suoceas is due to the grand honey sea- 

 eon, and plt^nty of old combs on hand, of which I 

 had 1500 sheets. My loss lit;! winter was 163 out of 

 105 colonies. I bousrht 8 blacks, and commencf'd 

 with 10 colonies — 8 fair and :J weak ones. I trans- 

 ferred the 8 June 5th, and made my first division 

 Juno 12th. I di\ide by moving a strong colony, 

 and start a nucleus in its place with a full set of 

 combs and a frame of eggs and brood in the center.* 



This season I subdivided each nucleus when the 

 queens were ready to hatch, say from Vi to 11 days, 

 by giving each a brood comb again. In this waj' I 

 have increased from 10 to 71 colonics, which could 

 be done only by dividing and subdividing. My hive 

 i.s what I will call a systematized Langstroth, 14x14 

 and ll?a inches high, inside measure, holding 9 

 frames. Prom a number of iniclei, started between 

 Juuo 13th and July 15th I have extracted 60 lbs. of 

 finished honey, each from the upper story, in Sep- 

 tember. 



Total honey crop for 1881, 1000 lbs. extracted, and 

 200 lbs. comb honey; bees all strong, and plenty of 

 honey for the winter. I work on the tiering-up sys- 

 tem. 



1 took 40 full sheets of brood from my only surviv- 

 ing colony of Italians, and yet it occupied 4 sto- 

 ries, containing 36 frames and a case of sections. 

 Again, the middle of September my 8 colonies of 

 blacks v/ere not much behind this. Each occupied 

 ;}6 frames, and had also furnished a great many 

 brood frames. Quite a number of my nuclei occu- 

 pied 36 frames. Again, in September also, each old 

 colony gave me 60 lbs. honey, which van taken after 

 it was all finished and capped. Tweh e hundred lbs. 

 honey, and 100 lbs. wax from 10 colo lies in spring. 

 From the time maple and fruit trees blossomed, say 

 May 1st imtil Sept. 18th, we had a e jnstant flow of 

 honey. Our principal honej -producing plants here 

 are fruit-trees, white clover, basswool, sweet clo- 

 ver, wild cucumber, and heart's-ease. 



After reading a great deal of bee literature, I have 

 come to this simple conclusion: Like all scientific 

 subjects, the more we know, the less we know — 

 or the more we feel the necessity of knowing more. 



I have to differ with some of your correspondents 

 on glass jars. I sell my honey in Mason's jars, 

 quarts and pints, and also jelly-tumblers; quarts, 

 65 cts.; pints, 40; jelly-glasses, 25; so you see my 

 honey nets me over 18 cts. per lb. I have sold up to 

 date, $166 worth of honey. My object in increasing 

 my bees was to save my comb. 1 have succeeded in 



saving 13o0 out of 1500 sheets. Now, how much 

 more could I have accomplished had I received my 

 8 queens from H. A. Burch in June? My intention 

 was to buy 25 queens this season; but Burch & Co. 

 wiped me in the start, so 1 got none at all. Accord- 

 ingly, the queen-dealers have lost on me the price 

 of 15 to 20 queens. Now, if the rest of Burch's 

 dupes have withheld their orders and money from 

 honest dealers, what has been the total loss to deal- 

 ers on account of H. A. Burch & Co.'s trickery? 



H. S. H-\CKMAN. 



Peru, La Salle Co., III., Dec. 12, 1881. 



AN A B € SCHOLAK'.S MANAGEMENT OF 



£>EES, 



AM) REPORT FOB 1881. 



*I wonld invite tlie attention of fiionil Hasty (see j). 

 above— Ki), 



N March number of Gleanings I told you I had 

 my bees down cellar— two box and two Sim- 

 ' plicity. They were put into the cellar the mid- 

 dle of November, and remained until the last Aveek 

 In April (without any fly). I visited them often to 

 see that they were quiet and happy, and free from 

 dysentery, and took care not to disturb them in any 

 way. In preparing them in the fall, to the box 

 hives I did nothing, only left the empty surplus 

 boxes on. In the Simplicities I removed the enamel 

 cloth, and placed, instead, a chaff cushion thick 

 enough to fill space in cover with a fourth-inch 

 space across the opposite end from the entrance up 

 by the cushion for ventilation. Then on the rabbet, 

 on the outside of hive of the same end, I placed a 

 piece of wood ?« square by ]i thick, tipped back 

 against the miter, and let the cover rest on that, 

 which gave a circulation of air through the hive. 

 Temperature from 40 to 45". I could put all the 

 dead bees in a pint dipper when I took them from 

 the cellar, and I had no spring dwindle (and I will 

 say right here, it was one of the hardest winters we 

 ever had). I placed them on their summer stands 

 about 10 o'clock a.m. on a very fine day (snow all 

 gone). Then there was a fly in earnest. 



Now for summer report: I transferred one box 

 hive to Simplicity; changed the other two over into 

 new hives so as to be sure the queens were there, 

 and every thing sweet and clean. After I got them 

 to raising brood I made one colony qucenless, using 

 the queen to form another colony, and using the 

 queenless colony to raise queens; got three good 

 cells on the very first frame I put in then ; after they 

 were capped, I transferred two cells to separate 

 frames of brood, and with these formed two other 

 colonies, leaving one for the queenless colony. The 

 other box hive I let swarm once, after which I used 

 the bees from the box to prevent swarming, and to 

 build up the others. This doubled my number. I 

 stopped here. As I had no sale for bees, I did not 

 wish to Increase further; got them Into shape for 

 honey as fast as possible by taking from the strong 

 to build up the weak, and had them in good work- 

 ing order in time; but, lo and beholdl the honey 

 did not come -that is, as fast as I expected, but 

 rain, rain, rain, until the first week in August, and 

 then they began to fill up; but it cut short, so I got 

 only about 100 lbs., mostly in 1-lb. sections. How- 

 ever, I am not discouraged a bit. They are jammed 

 full of honey and bees; are all fixed warm, and have 

 been in cellar since the 10th of November; so don't 

 put me in Blasted Hopes yet. My bees built comb 

 between the bottom of surplus frames and top of 

 brood frames. What is the trouble? Do you use 



