134 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



From Different Fields. 



as AM thinklnj? of moving to Southern Dakota in 

 the spring, and if 1 go I should like to take my 

 — '^ bees alcng with mo. I have three colonies in 

 chaflf hives, which I got from yon, and I wish to 

 know the best way to arrange them for shipping 5.0 

 miles by railroad. Will there be danger of combs 

 breaking down? and if so, how can I prevent them 

 from doing so? W. Platts. 



Davenport, Iowa, Jan. 23, 1882. 



If yon aflhere strictly to the following, 

 friend P., I think you will get your bees 

 through safely: 1. Move them when the 

 weather is moderate, when the combs will 

 be in the best condition for shipping, and 

 the least danger of the bees being injured by 

 heat or cold. 2. Leave only 9 combs in the 

 lower story of chafi hive; space them even- 

 ly, and fasten them securely, by placing 

 sticks between the ends of the frames from 

 top to bottom, making the last one wedge 

 tight: nail a piece across the top of the 

 frames at each end. 3. Fasten wire cloth 

 over the entrance and top of the hive, giving 

 the bees the upperstory to play in. It would 

 be well to go on the same train, and look 

 after them a little. 



PLANTING POPLAR-TREES. 



A great many of your readers have waste land 

 that is uncultivated, and is doing them no good, 

 while they could, with but little cost, plant it in pop- 

 lar, and within a few years the land, for the timber 

 alone, would be greatly enhanced in value, to say 

 nothing of the vast amount of honey it would yield. 

 There are trees near me not over eight years old 

 that are fully 10 inches in diameter, and have been 

 blooming 4 years. With these considerations, to- 

 gether with the fact that the trees can be bought at 

 $1.00 per 100, 1 think the subject worthy of your call- 

 ing attention to it. Chas. Kingsley. 



Greeneville, Tenn., Jan., 1882. 



handling bees in winter, etc. 



Can you tell me if bees need attention? Does 

 looking into the hive at any time do them injury or 

 benefit, when all seem quietly asleep this cold win- 

 ter weather? In other words, what is to be done tor 

 bees this month and next? I wish some bee journal 

 as good as Gleanings would tell the A B C class 

 what to do each month, or a synopsis of what may 

 be done each month. It would satisfy some very 

 much. L. C. Donnelly. 



Vaimont, Col., Jan. 17, 1882. 



While I am not sure that it harms bees to 

 remove the cushions and take a look at them 

 in cold weather, I would rather advise that 

 the hives be not touched, when the weather 

 is too cold for them to tly.— I have often 

 thought of monthly directions ; but you see 

 Gleanings goes all over the world, and the 

 directions for you would not do at all for our 

 friends in the South, to say nothing of those 

 the other side of the equator. Even if it did, 

 much of it would be a repetition of the A B 

 C, or of former years. Nevertheless, I will 

 try what can be done. 



wanted — a process for making dark honey 



LIGHT. 



I find, in selling, that white honey will sell twice as 

 quick as dark, and at a far better price, even if the 

 dark is better in flavor and quality. I consider it, 

 therefori', of great importance to bee-keepers to 

 find a way by which they can convert their dark ex- 

 tracted honey into white. It seems to me that sci- 

 entific men, thoroughly posted, might find an easy, 

 practical way (that is, practical to the bee-keeper) 

 to convert the dark honey into white, without des- 

 troying the flavor or any of the good qualities, if a 

 sufficient inducement were offered to them. Now, I 

 think you should discuss this question in your jour- 

 nal; and if you can find 99 bee-keepers who are 

 willing to offer $5.03 each as a premium to any man 

 who invents such a practical way as above stated, 

 let them pay the $3.00 into your hands and I will 

 send mine, with the understanding that you offer 

 the $i0C so received as a premium to any man who 

 will fill the bill, subject to your decision, that the 

 process wanted is practical for the use of common 

 bee-keepers, that it is simple, and that the honey 

 passing through this process will become as white 

 as basswood, without losing any of its flavor or any 

 of its good qualities. Chas. H. Gkote. 



Mauston, Juneau Co., Wis., Dec. 20, 1881. 



Thanks, friend G.; but I hope you will 

 excuse me for being a little incredulous as 

 to the possibility of any such process, with- 

 out adding any thing to the honey that 

 would subject us to the charge of adultera- 

 tion. Also, if I am right, dark honey usual- 

 ly has a flavor rather inferior to our light 

 clover, basswood, and sa:?3 honey. 



house apiaries. 

 Five years ago I visited your place, and took my 

 first lesson in bee business. You then had a house 

 apiary full, or nearly so, of bees. I would like to 

 know if it was a success, and whether you have one 

 or more. 



HOW TO GET bees FROM WIDE FRAMES, IN TAKING 

 OUT SECTION HONEY. 



Take a box 2 feet high, and long enough to hold 20 

 or more frames, they to be half an inch apart. Make 

 the box wide enough so the frames will just hang in 

 the top; then take any metal dish, put in fire and 

 rotten wood, enough to make a good smoke; set this 

 in the box, and you are ready to take out honey by 

 the wholesale. Bees are driven from the frames at 

 once, and you can keep one man busy carrying hon- 

 ey. No trouble with bees clustering on, and uncap- 

 ping the honey; no danger from robbers, as your 

 hive will not be open long enough for them to get a 

 start. L. U. Todd. 



Vermillion, Erie Co., O., Jan. 28, 188). 



Our house apiary is now vacated, friend 

 T. ; but we propose to stock it up again as 

 soon as we can get bees enough ahead to 

 spare. It is not as pleasant working with 

 bees in it, as in the open air, and our bees, 

 you know, are all pretty thoroughly worked. 

 — If your box were carried right beside the 

 hive, I can readily see that it would be a 

 pretty good thing, for the bees would have 

 but little time to uncap the sections while 

 you were lifting out the frames full, and 

 placing them in the "smoky box." Many 

 thanks for the suggestion. 



