388 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



take a new piece of ground. The Simpson 

 has the advantage over Spider plant, buck- 

 wheat, and ahnost all others, in keeping the 

 bees busy every liour in tlie day that tliey 

 can tly. The period of bloom will also cover 

 entirely the grape season. The next point 

 will be the item of expense. The cost the 

 lirst year will be about the same as for an 

 acre of cabbages. The two succeeding years, 

 all that will be needed is cultivating just as 

 we do corn, say two or three times, i should 

 say $10.00 per year would coverall expenses, 

 on an average, for the- three years. There is 

 no crop to gather, you know, unless you 

 gather the seed ; and with a demand of 25 

 cents per lb. for the seed, the seed should 

 pay all expenses. This estimate is for good 

 thorough care, such as would produce a good 

 crop of corn. If the work is done in a slip- 

 shod or negligent manner, it will be a failure, 

 like all other work with bees— or crops either. 



liETTER FROM A PLEASED ABC 

 SCHOL.AR, 



TfiLMNG ALSO WITAT ONK SWARM OF UEES DIlJ IN 

 OREGON. 



fiHE goods you sent me ';ame iu dav time. I 

 received full compensation for the ten dollars. 

 — ■ The 50-cent plane could not be bought from 

 me cow foi- $5.00 if I knew it could not be replaced 

 for less money. The wholebillof goods gave perfect 

 satisfaction. 



By the way, I will tell you what a swarm of bees 

 did in 48 hours. June 1st, at ll o'clock, a swarm of 

 bees came out. It was a big one. I put it into one 

 of my new hives; gave it 11 empty combs, also 32 

 1-lb. sections, 16 2-lb. sections, all weighing 40 lbs. 

 June 3, at 11 o'clock, I weighed again, 8S lbs., a gain 

 of 48 lbs. in 48 hours. June 10, at 11 o'clock, I 

 weighed again, r31!,2 lbs. I have now taken out 33 

 well'filled pound sections, and gave them the same 

 number of empty ones. 



I almost forgot to tell you that I set the new 

 swarm in the old one's place, and moved the old one 

 about 40 feet away. My brood'^rack is 10?.i.vU)J4. in- 

 side measurement. I work from 10 to V> brood- 

 racks in each hive. Now, you can growl about the 

 size of my racks, if you wish. I think they are just 

 the right size. 



I suppose I am progressing about upon an average 

 With the A B C class. 1 learned to spell saleratus, 

 lye, and wear my socks outside of my pants before 

 I got out of my ABC class. 



The smoker you sent me to quit smoking is a nice 

 one. Before it reached me I sent for a Quinby 

 double-draft. Now the boys use the one you sent 

 me for smoking out minks, rats, and rabbits. My 

 black bees do not know me unless the pipe is in my 

 mouth; so, what is the price of the little smoker you 

 sent inc'i' 



I am making a collection of honey-plants and 

 flowers, and will send them to you; the upland al- 

 sike and white-clover meadow M'ere in full bloom 

 May S.'ith, and will last till August; the bottom-land 

 meadow is just getting in bloom, and will last till 

 October. W. E. McWillt. 



Collins, Benton Co., Oregon, June 10, 1SS3. 



Perliaps I should apologize for giving the 

 above entire in the reading columns, but 



friend M. seems to have such a quaint fash- 

 ion of telling a story, it seems a pity to spoil 

 it by marking any thing out. Perhaps he 

 would not have been so extravagant in his 

 praises of the iron plane, without that boom- 

 ing report of 4.S lbs. of honey in 4.S hours. 



ABSC'ONDINC; IN SPITE OF UNSEALED 

 BROOD. 



"A PESKY LOT OF STUBBORN CUITTERS." 



/^A N the first pa-^e of ABC, under the head of 

 ™Jy) "Absconding Swarms," there is a sentence 

 which reads thus: " We never feel satisfied 

 unless we have given the new swarm at least one 

 comb containing unsealed brood, and we have never 

 had a swarm desert a hive when thus furnished, 

 nor have we ever heard of one's doing so." 



Now I am going to tell you of one's doing so. A 

 few evenings ago I found a swarm clustered on one 

 of our pear-trees. It had doubtless hung there for 

 some time, and had taken a shower while clustered. 

 They were "powerful" cross, and as they were 

 slow about getting into the swarming-box, and as it 

 was getting dark, I threw a sheet over them, and 

 left them for the night. 



Next morning, bright and early, I hived them, put' 

 ting in a frame of unsealed brood, according to the 

 most approved plan of ABC, and filling up the 

 hive with frames of fdn. I also placed the hive in a 

 shady place. About ten o'clock they swarmed out 

 and clustered. I hived them again, but had not, 

 time to get the cover on the hive before most of 

 them were in the air. A third time I hived them, 

 giving them a fresh frame of brood with plenty of 

 stores. I placed the swarming-box quietly on the 

 frames, covering hive and all with a sheet. But 

 they seemed possessed with the spirit of contrari- 

 ness, for they soon came pouring out from under 

 the sheet, and clustered again. The fourth time, I 

 hived them in a three-story hive. I closed the en- 

 trance of the lower story, which contained the brood, 

 and, clapping the cover on before they had a chance 

 to get away, kept them prisoners for the rest of the 

 day. In the evening I found them clustered on the 

 top of the hive as far from the brood as possible. I 

 brushed them down into the lower story, took off 

 the other two hives, put on the mat and cover, 

 opened the entrance, and gave up the contest, tell- 

 ing them, a "pesky lot of stubborn critters," to go 

 or stay, just as they saw fit. The next morning I 

 found them all clustered at one side of the hive on 

 the frames of fdn., which they had partially drawn 

 out. My frame <if brood was stripped of its honey, 

 and the brood was dead. 



Supposing, from such unusual conduct, that they 

 must be in need of a mother's directing care, I gave 

 them a queen-cell about to hatch; but behold, the 

 next morning they had accepted the situation, and 

 their queen was filling the despised and ill-treated 

 frame of comb with eggs. James McNeil. 



Hudson, N. Y., June '24, 1882. 



IJut the sentence don't read " thus " now, 

 friend JNI. It did when the A B C was first 

 written, but I soon had to change it. Unce 

 in a while we lind a stubborn colony, like 

 the one you mention, but I have always suc- 

 ceeded in making them stay by breaking 

 them up and giving unsealed brood to each 



