1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



29.^ 



or Gleanings that helps us out. We have only one 

 hive of bees. They are strong, and are working 

 nicely; they have fastened the sections all together 

 with comb; they built the comb crosswise, and every 

 way; the top of hive is fastened down; in fact, the 

 whole concern is fastened up tight. Just what is 

 best to do with them, we don't know; whether we 

 should let them be until they swarm, or shall we 

 take them apart? Now, if you would give us ad- 

 vice about them, we should be very glad. 



E. A. Barber. 

 Akron, Summit Co., Ohio, April 3, 1882. 



Why, my friend, the reason the ABC 

 says nothing of such cases is because it does 

 not anticipate ever liaving any. It tells how 

 to transfer from box hives, and I guess that 

 must be the thing for you to do. I can not 

 imagine how your t)ees ever built their 

 comos crosswise in the sections, unless you 

 omitted the fdn. starters ; and if you did 

 this, you would assuredly have this kind of 

 trouble. What should we ever do without 

 fdn., at this day and age of the world V 



KENDEL'S FEEDER. 



When you make any more Kendel feeders, please 

 have the end quite as high as the rest; if any thing, 

 a little higher, and the perforated tin sunk a little 

 lower. The lot you made for us will let the syrup 

 run out at the end when set just a little lower than 

 level. A. C. Kendel. 



Cleveland, O., April 39, 1883. 



There ! Did I not tell you last month that 

 the differences in regard to this feeder were 

 only in construction? You see, friend Ken- 

 del made the perforated tin a little lower 

 than the rest of the tube, and this let air into 

 the jar easily enough. 



36 colonies, and 1500 lbs. of honey from one 

 sw.arm in one season. 

 Owing to our winter rains not coming til) late, bees 

 have yel scarcely commenced swarming, which Is 

 two months late, still, as all farm crops bid fair for a 

 tine yield, although late, bee-keepers look for a fair 

 honey crop. The bee interest is not booming here 

 now as it was three years ago, when our chief bee- 

 man here, Mr. Archer, increased ohe swarm to 36, 

 and extracted over 1500 lbs. of honey from them. 

 This is wonderful, but lam acquainted with Mr. A., 

 and do not doubt the correctness of the statement. 



S. P. Snow. 

 Santa Barbara, Cal., April 24, 1883. 



The above may seem almost incredible, 

 especially to our friends new in the Inisi- 

 ness ; but with a good queen and a powerful 

 colony, and the climate of California and 

 one of California's best seasons, I think we 

 have a few among our number wlio could 

 reach it. Neighbor II. took a pound of bees 

 in May, as I have told you, and increased 

 them to five good colonies, and every one of 

 the five are working strongly this 4th day of 

 May. A powerful colony might have 10 lbs. 

 of bees instead of one at the date mentioned, 

 and all that would then be lacking to make 

 fifty would be the nine extra queens. 



FRIEND DEARBORN'S REMARKABLE SUCCESS (?J. 



I have kept bees five years; good success every 

 way, except profit. Kansas don't furnish the honey. 

 Sometimes it is too dry, sometimes too wet. I live 

 near a creek, and there is plenty of willow, bass- 



wood, maple, mulberry, judas-tree, Cottonwood, elm, 

 etc., and peach and apple orchards. Three yeai-s I 

 sowed buckwheat, and never saw a bee on it. I 

 failed to get red clover to grow. This spring I sowed 

 Alsike and alfalfa. I prefer outdoor wintering, even 

 if it takes more feed. I fed all last summer after 

 the fruit bloom was gone. They went into winter 

 quarters with about 5 lbs. of honey per swarm, and I 

 fed in February and March. 



A NOVEL "observatory" HIVE. 



Only one year have they made any surplus. One 

 swarm came off in June. I put them into a box 

 without any bottom, set it up so that I could lie down 

 under it and look up and watch them. Up to the 

 10th of August, they made a piece of comb about 

 tlie size of my hand; after that they made about 

 one hundred and fifty pounds of comb and honey. 

 They are black bees, industrious, and healthy; but 

 it doesn't pay in cash. It is the pleasure of seeing 

 and working with them that induces me to feed 

 them. J. H. Dearborn. 



Silver Lake, Kan., April 32, 1883. 



Why, friend D., you are a genius. If your 

 enthusiasm continues to the extent of prompt- 

 ing you to lie down with your face upward 

 under a bee-hive, I predict you will eventu- 

 ally get honey and money, more than you 

 perhaps have any idea of, and right where 

 you are, too, in your poor location. The 

 quantity you mention, from one hive of 

 black bees, indicates pretty well what your 

 locality may do. After the rejDorts we have 

 had in the years past, I am a little skeptical 

 when I hear people speak of poor localities. 



hybrids VERSUS EITHER RACE PURE. 



I find, from several years' experience, that the 

 Italians are no better than the blacks— Jiot so good; 

 but a pure Italian queen crossed by a black drone is 

 worth almost any two of the pures. Thoj' do sting 

 with some force, but they are a powerful bee. I am 

 going to hybridize all mine this summer. 



combs put in THE EXTRACTOR, NOT AS THEY HANG 

 IN THE HIVES. 



I am surprised at your recommending the frames, 

 in slinging, to be put in the same as they hang in 

 the hives. You are aware that the cells are not 

 horizontal, but slope upward a little. Now, if you 

 place the comb in the extractor so that this slope is 

 backward, that is, have the bottom of the comb go- 

 ing round first in the extractor, the honey will slide 

 easier than in any other position, considerably less 

 speed will do, and the honey will come out cleaner. 

 Geo. Eiddel, A. M., School of Leslie. 



Insch, Aberdeenshire, N. B., April U, 1883. 



Even should we grant that first- cross hy- 

 brids are as good as the pure, friend R. (I 

 hardly tliink it will be agreed they are bet- 

 ter), you not only have cross bees to handle, 

 but you are in danger of having their drones 

 fertilize your queens, and then you Avill have 

 bees that are perfect furies when the honey 

 yield relapses. If we could be sure that our 

 queens all had a pure mother, we might get 

 just as much honey, in spite of any num- 

 ber of black bees about us, but we couldn't 

 well rear queens for sale.— Your argument 

 on extractors may console the friends wlio 

 object to the L. frame because it is turned 

 to set in the extractor. After the comb 

 comes up to full speed, I am inclined to 

 think the position of the comb would make 



