350 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



THE GOOD AND BAD POINTS OF BOX HIVES. 



In the spring I had only 19 swarms; left five of 

 them so weak I put no boxes on them. I increased 

 the 19 to 43, and have wintered all of them. From 

 the 19 swarms and their increase I got about 1400 lbs. 

 of box honey. Is not this pretty well from the old 

 and much-condemned box hive? Last spring, when 

 I had nearly 59 dead swarms of bees, I realized one 

 ba^ point against the box hive —the combs in them 

 were of no use except for beeswax; whereas, if I 

 had been using hives with frames, the combs from 

 the dead ssvarms would have enabled me to have in- 

 creased my 19 swarms to 75 or 80, instead of to 13. 

 Thos. Rothwell. 



Austinville, Pa., May 8, 1882. 



BEE MARTINS, ETC. 



I send you a small parcel, supposed to be bees. I 

 picked it up just as it fell from the mouth of a bee 

 martin, the paper being stained by the moisture, as 

 you will see, before it dried. I have no way of test- 

 ing, to my satisfaction ; and if my supposition proves 

 true, or you desire, I will send you statements of 

 facts connected with the subject. I had a fine swarm 

 last Saturday, May 6, from my dollar queen. She 

 far excels my tested queen in business qualities. 

 Will soon have new honey. J. B. Davenport. 



Hodgenville, Ky., May 8, 1883. 



I have examined the " wad " of crushed 

 insects you send, friend D., with a good 

 magnifying-glass, but have not been able to 

 find any thing belonging to a bee. There 

 were wings, legs, etc., belonging to bugs 

 and insects, especially a sort of cricket, or 

 beetle, but no part of a honey-bee that I can 

 discover. Let us not be in too great haste 

 in condemning these feathered friends of 

 ours. 



WHICH ARE THE BEST BEES? 



I write you for information regarding bees. I have 

 two colonies of black bees; have had them for two 

 years, and have not had a single pound of surplus 

 honey; fed them about 20 lbs. of sugar last fall, and 

 managed to keep them through. They are now in 

 good condition, strong, and are working on the 

 apple-blossoms. We have no white clover or buck- 

 wheat, and but little red clover, and our bees have 

 to make their honey from fruit-blossoms mostly, 

 and wild flowers in the woods. They work on the 

 red raspberries, I think, with greater energy than 

 any thing I have ever noticed. There are several 

 hundred acres of blackberries, and perhaps some 50 

 or moi'e of red raspberries within a mile and a half 

 of me, and strawberries and grapes. I have taken 

 observations for several ycai-s, and the common 

 black bees do not pay more than one year in three 

 or four. 



I see in Gleanings, advertisements of Holy-Land, 

 Albino, Cyprian, and Italian queens; now, what I 

 would like to Itnow is, io7n'c/i arc the hcst honey-gath- 

 erers? I want bees that can get honey, whether 

 there is any or not— I may as well be honest about 

 It. There are but few bees kept in this vicinity — 30 

 colonies, and the most of them in the old box hive. 

 I looked the ABC book all through, but could not 

 learn which bees are the best. As I do not want to 

 raise queens from my bees, I made two of Jones's 

 bee-guards to-day, and put them on my hives. They 

 work like a charm. I shall rid myself of drones in 

 shoi't order. My friend Fowler, at Ancora, has two 



colonies of Italians. That is all I know of nearer 

 than Egg Harbor City. 



Berries are looking well, all kinds. This is one of 

 the largest stations for shipping fruit, on the Cam- 

 den & Atlantic R. R., and N. J. Southern R. R. 



J. P. Patten. 



Hammontown, N. J., May 3C, 188:2. 



That the Holy-Lands, Cyprians, and Ital- 

 ians, are all far ahead of the common bees, 

 is sufficiently well established ; but as to 

 which of the above three is best, all things 

 taken into account, 1 can not tell. Those 

 who are curious might get some of each kind 

 and try. I think I should place both the 

 others ahead of the Italians, a trifle, if they 

 were not so prone, at times, to act hke hy- 

 brids, or even worse. The Holy-Lands, it is 

 true, are not bad to handle, and they are 

 great honey-gatherers ; but they are, of late, 

 showing a disposition toward fertile work- 

 ers, quite a good deal more than Italians, 

 which is not a desirable trait. Our apiary is 

 at present almost entirely Italians. AVith 

 your vast area of berries, it would seem you 

 should do well, at least while they are in 

 bloom. 



ANOTHER IMPKOVEMENT IN WORKING RUBBER 

 PLATES. 



After several trials I have get the small rubber 

 plates you sent me to work finely. I took 2 boards, 

 about 6x15 inches, and fastened them together with 

 2 spiral springs. With screws I fastened the lower 

 one to the bottom of a tub, and fastened one of the 

 plates to the upper one. Fill with water, so the top 

 of the plates will just be above it when in its natur- 

 al position. With the left hand, immerse them un- 

 der the water; and as soon as they rise, dash a table- 

 spoonful of hot wax on the right-hand one, and 

 with the left hand, clap the other down, and the 

 whole under watei', and open while under the water. 

 I use nobrush, as it needs all the water I can have 

 on the plates. It sticks most on the tin and wood 

 but rub that with paste occasionally. I made 500 

 pieces in a little more than half a day, and could 

 make about 1000 pieces in a day, and about as fast 

 as another hand can trim them. I would advise 

 every one who has bees, to have one of these small 

 plates, if nothing more extensive, for making up 

 the surplus wax for section boxes. 



Denver, Col., May 26, 1882. J. L. Peabody. 



I should be inclined to think that 1000 

 sheets, to fill a Simplicity section, a day, 

 rather slow work, friend P. ; but for all 

 that, your invention promises to be quite an 

 important one. If I get the idea, it is that 

 the bottom-plate is set on a yielding plat- 

 form, so that the pressure necessary to make 

 good fdn. forces the whole machine under 

 the water, out of which it raises itself by the 

 force of the springs. The only remaining 

 obstacle now is the trimming, and it does 

 seem as if something might be arranged to 

 have these machines self-trimming. As you 

 say, the hot wax sticks to any thing besides 

 wet wood or rubber. If you can put on just 

 wax enough, and not have it run quite to 

 the outside edges, we can get along by trim- 

 ming just the edge, where the sheets are fas- 

 tened to the top-bar of the sections. So far, 

 we have found the rolls much the fastest 

 way of working, but very likely the bees take 

 to the dipped fdn. a little more readily. 



