1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



299 



there is that withholdeth more than is meet, 

 but it tendeth to 'poverty "V I think the 

 above will apply pretty well to feeding bees. 

 If the A B C class are "really going to believe 

 all I say, I think I had better be pretty care- 

 ful what tiiat '' say " is. 



GETTING UP IN THE MOKNING, ETC. 



1 tell you I have all I can get through with. I had 

 to get up at 3:35 Monday morning and tix up two 

 3-frame nuclei to go on the early train. I have sold 

 over $20.00 worth of bees and queens this week. 



Washington, Pa., May 13, 1882. L. W. Vankirk. 



And is not that just the way to do, friend 

 V.V I believe I always feel the happiest 

 when I have to work so hard I hardly get 

 time to eat and sleep. You see that teaches 

 us to appreciate a few moments of leisure 

 when we get them. 



EXTRACTED VERSUS COMB nONEY. 



My bees did well last season. I took about 1000 lbs. 

 of extracted honey. In fact, I take no other, for 

 extracted is coming into general use more and more 

 every year, and justly so. It is more nutritious than 

 comb honey, the wax of which is scarcely digestible. 

 I obtain just the same price (20 to 25 cts.) for ex- 

 tracted that I do for comb honey, and we can all do 

 this when we get our customers to understand that 

 we will, under no circumstances whatever, suffer 

 the least adulteration in any honey that we put up- 

 on the market. Other professions put inferior and 

 adulterated goods on sale. Let bee-keepers as a 

 class come squarely to the front, and, under the 

 guarantee of their own right hands, offer nothing 

 that is adulterated or of an inferior character. This 

 is my motto. 



As heretofore, my bees came through the winter 

 in fine condition, all on their summer stands. I did 

 not lose anj', neither have I in ten years. 



I think the ''new departure" is good, especially 

 when we old subscribers to Gleanings are to re- 

 ceive it " free gratis for nothing." Can you stand 

 this? If so, it shows that Gleanings is on good 

 foundation, for which we will all rejoice. 



Shclbyville, 111., May 20, 1882. J. W. JorfNsON. 



" HOW TO get them LOOSE." 



The three-frame nucleus you sent me two years 

 ago has increased to three good colonics. When- 

 ever there comes a warm day they work very strong. 

 I left the upper story of sections on all winter, and 

 the frames are stuck as tight as if they grew there. 

 1 would like, if it is not too much trouble, to have 

 you tell me the best way to get them loose. 



Salem, O., May 13, 18^2. William Stratton. 

 Wait until a warm day, and then let the 

 sun shine right on the sections until all the 

 propolis is warmed up so as to be soft. Now 

 you can remove them without trouble, but 

 they will be so badly daubed up as to be 

 rather unsightly. If we wish nice comb 

 honey, the unfilled sections should be re- 

 moved as soon as the honey-yield ceases. It 

 is true, the propolis can be scraped off with 

 a bit of glass and sandpaper, atter they are 

 filled with honey, but it is quite a laborious 

 task. 



SOUR honey. 

 Some one asks in May Gleanings if honey will 

 sour in the comb. I will tell you what came under 

 my observation. Several years ago I had a very 



large swarm. I hived them in a box hive; they 

 fllied it in two weeks during the fall; that honey 

 was so sour that one could smell it anywhere about 

 the hive. J. S. Cummings. 



Brooklyn, Pow. Co., Iowa, May 13, 1883. 



I should be inclined to think the odor of 

 this honey was a characteristic of the plant 

 from which they obtained it, not because it 

 soured. Hives often smell of onions, you 

 know, where many seed onions are raised. 

 A good strong colony of bees are generally 

 proof against any thing souring that once 

 gets into their combs under their direct su- 

 pervision. 



smokers, etc. 



I ordered a Bingham smoker of you for a friend 

 12 months ago. I have used it some, and don't like 

 it at all. It is awful to snort out tire. I ordered a 

 Clark for a neighbor some time ago, and 1 like it the 

 best of any I ever saw. It never snorts fire, and it 

 is fcmpcr paratus — (always ready). 



A man here says ho does not now let his hees 

 swarm, and don't have so many to abscond as for- 

 merlj'. When asked how he got swarms, he replied 

 that he would take a few frames out of different 

 hives, and then hunt up a queen and put in; but 

 sometimes the queen is very hard to find, and in 

 such cases he would put in a drone, and he never 

 could see but that it did just as well. 



My bees commenced swarming the 10th of March, 

 and for the last 3 weeks I have had one and two 

 swarms every day. I cut down the cells and put 

 the queen back. It seems that don't do much good 

 here. They will swarm again in a week or ten days, 

 and several have swarmed thus 3 or 4 times. I have 

 saved several swarms until I have every thing full 

 of bees, even ash and salt boxes. I now have 40, 

 and if I had the lumber to make hives I could have 

 80 or probably 100 this season. They are not making 

 much honey yet, but just enough to give them the 

 swarming fever. In my present circumstances, I 

 would sell several lbs. of bees at 50c, if I were near a 

 market. The honey harvest here will not open till 

 the middle of May. I never saw the horsemint finer, 

 and this, undoubtedly, will be a great honey year. 



Maysfleld, Texas, April 24, 1882. S. C. Fox. 



Friend Bingham says, in his advertisement, 

 no complaint has ever been received in re- 

 gard to his smokers. Well, the above is not 

 much of a complaint ; but if friend F. wants 

 one that doesn't " snort fire,'' and the Bing- 

 ham does, it seems there is one dissatisfied 

 customer. / am generally pretty well pleas- 

 ed to have them ''snort lire;" for where 

 there is tire, there is generally, pretty soon, 

 some smoke too. And I think, friend Fox, 

 where there is lots of swarming there is gen- 

 erally lots of honey to be had if you manage 

 rightly ; so, go ahead and don't let the bees 

 waste or go off. 



$80.00 WORTH OF HONEY FROM SEVEN HIVES. 



Bees are just booming now. I have 28 colonies, 

 and never had them so strong this time of year be- 

 fore, since I kept bees. If the honey season is good, 

 I expect to get a great amount of honey. Last year 

 I got 400 lbs. of comb honey from 7 hives, and sold it 

 at 20 cts. per lb., which amounted to $80.00 in money. 

 Cash invested in bees, and then taken care of, pays 

 better than any thing else for the same amount. 



WM. FLICKINQBRi 



Doylestown, Wayne Co., O., May 10, 1882. 



