480 



GLEANINGS IN JiEE CUJ/rUUE. 



SfiPT. 



then grave them up for lost. In the nl'ternoon I was 

 looking' at one of my yoiin^ Hwnrmw which whh 

 standing near the hive of the aVjscondcd bees, and 

 I i)erccivcil Home old drones, Hying in and ont. Now 

 I linew that my Ix^os hud Klveii up tli(! ideaof swarm- 

 inj? a^ain, and liad liilled nil the drones, ho that I 

 hadn't one in fhr) iipiary; and as I kncMV that there 

 were quite a number of (h(nii In the two pounds of 

 bocs, a thouKfit IImsIkmI inlo my heail tliat perhaps 

 my runaways were tlier{\ Sure enoujjrh, on opening 

 the hive I found over doubli' the inimbcr of bees 

 that wen; in it the day before. 



Now, Mr. Editor, is not that strange? or is It my 

 igiioranee of the " ways that are darlc and trielis 

 that are vain " ol' the honey-bee that makes me 

 think so? 



ltrtl-r)IN(l VV CONDKMNKI) STOCKS. 



I liad an idea oC getting iriy farmer friends to 

 let ine liave th(; swarms tliey generally kill in the 

 fall, giving these swiirtns dollar queens, and feeding 

 thorn till spring, giving them hives full of fdn. i 

 have another plan, which perhaps is better — to 

 rai8C a lot of (jueens from two fine s(dect tested 

 ()tieens I have, and give thorn, say, 3 lbs. of bees 

 each in a hive with fdn.: do this, of course, this 

 coming month, August. Which do you think the 

 better plan? 



T inclose a sprig of a plant 1 I'ouud tlie bees work- 

 ing on very strongly. Can yon tc.U me what it is? It 

 growsabout4 ft. high. John Asi'inwam,. 



IJarrytown, N. \., .July :!1, IHHIi. 



VVliore a colony abscoiuls siuldeiily, as in 

 the cnHG yon mention, I .sliould always loolt 

 in the oilier hives in the ai)iary, lor they 

 very oi'ten try to ])nsh in soinewliere else, 

 and they are not always as snccessfnl as in 

 your ease ; tluil is, they ol'ten ^et stnnj^ for 

 their presumption. It is not at all unusual 

 for stray colonies to come into an apiary 

 and tinite with some one of the hives.— 

 Either of your plans will work well, provid- 

 ing you st"i(^k rijfht to them, and build them 

 up strong in both brood, bees, and stores.— 

 \ our plant is the well-known sweet clover. 



C!YPKIANS VIOT KIC 



.iAMi;s iu;ui)ON. 



Mill' I hip! Hold on I Never, since the howl of 

 the Kree Methodists resounded through the 

 "~ groves of the backwooils was I so astonished 

 as when I read the claim that B. F. Carroll's report 

 was tho largest ever made in the U.S. Mr. J. Vaii- 

 dcrvort,of Pennsylvania, beat him badly last season, 

 the same having been reported in tho .1. B. Jiturnal. 

 Two different colonies of hyl)rids (crosses betwt^en 

 Italians and (Jormans) beat his record. I (juoto voi- 

 'l)atlm I'rom Mr. V.: — 



"From one stock in the spring, with mo extra 

 chance, I have to-<Iay three new swarms (two arti- 

 tlcial, one natural), all good and in the best condition, 

 except al)out IF) ll)s. loo much honey in each, in the 

 hives. From the old one and increase, 400 lbs. of 

 white; honey, and ;!00 lbs. of dark, all in li-lb. sections. 

 Another gave 400 lbs., and no increase." 



NOW, LET US COMrARE. 



Suppose Mr. Carroll's honey is llrst-class e.\tractcd 

 honey (which I suppose it is not, as hardly any 

 Southern honey is), the present market price is flc. 

 per lb. Call it 10; It Is worth it, if good. The value 

 Is $70.00. From Mr. V.'s colony that did not swarm, 



400 lbs. of comb honey at 18 cts. (and he got between 

 20 and 25 if I remember correctly), $72.00. Hipl Hut 

 then, the other colony gave 3 swarms, worth, say, in 

 tho fall, independoutly of hive ami frames, $1.0(1 

 each, $12.00; 700 lbs. of (;omb honey at 18c., $l2fi.0O. 

 Total, $i;:8 00. Hip! hip! hurrah for Apis Ameri- 

 cana. Th(! best-natured and best honey-gathering 

 bees in the world. 



Gallup r(;ported 00 lbs. of honey from one colony 

 inoiUMlay. Ilosmer, rwi in one diy. Vour hnmbh; 

 servant gol ;!0 lbs. In a single <lay, and I sold $120.00 

 worth of extracted honey from two colonies, of three 

 weeks' gathering — l)lack bees too. I also sold 

 $H(i.80 worth of honey from one (iolonyof black bees, 

 all gathered in one season. The comb honey sold at 

 ;iOe., and extracted at 20c. per lb.; but tho income 

 was $80.80 ail the same, and still I was satisfied with 

 it, without any donations. I do not own any Cyi)- 

 rlans or Syrians, and I dorr't want to gel their- blood 

 anywhere near my apiary till I hear boiler reports 

 fr-om them. Tli(;y arc of doubt fuisrrperior'ity In arry 

 one resi)ect, it seems, and as cross as " blue Irlazes " 

 thrown in, and I want to say that to mo irascibility 

 among bcca is tho greatest drawback to tho intro- 

 tlon of apiculture that we have. It Isalso thegr-cat- 

 est furrroyirnce to the old practitiorrers. I am aware 

 that many "don't car(! about be(;-stings; " but then, 

 they prrr'sue a moderatiorr that rro orre would care to 

 lose time by so dolrrg, if the posterior departm(!nt of 

 the worker were built on the drone plan, about its 

 extremities. My motto is, rrrore honey and less 

 stings, and I am working towar-d that ever-retreat- 

 ing point irs fast as 1 earr. My motto for- apiarian 

 Mxtures is, accomplish the; most with the least labor 

 and capital. Jamus IIioddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Aug. .''), 188;i. 



Friend Ileddon, may 1 gently remonstrate 

 against llie way in which you speak of our 

 Free-Methodist brethrenV" Th(;y m;ty liave 

 different views in regard to the proper way 

 of worshiping God from wliat you and t 

 liave; but if we are all of us working for 

 harmony of feeling, even though we have dif- 

 ferences of opinion, are we not bound to re- 

 spect the peculiarities of each otlKU? If the 

 work of the Free JNIethodists bears fruit in 

 the shape of inducing men to give up tobac- 

 co, whisky, and profanity, by all means let 

 them shout.— If J am correct, you h;ive omit- 

 ted to tell us wliere in the A. Ji. J. the ex- 

 tract you mention is found. I believe friend 

 (Jarroll made liis claim on the gi-ound that 

 none of the othtn- results were achieved by 

 the workers from a single queen. It seems 

 he has sold his a little better than you esti- 

 mate, as the following, from the American 

 JU'c Kcrprr for August, seems to indicate: — 



It seems from friends Carrol I and Comings' ai-ticles 

 in this number, that a bee-keeper can make double 

 the money from extracted honey. And the best a r- 

 ginnent we ever had In favor- of (extracted honey is, 

 that friend Carroll soM the e\traet(Hl honey fr-om 

 one hive for $10.'>. 



I jiretty nearly agree with you in regard to 

 stings, fiiend J I. ; but our experience with 

 the two new races has not been that they 

 sting worse than the Italians, after the lirst 

 geiun-atioii reared in this country. Profess- 

 or Cook J and a great many others, say the 

 same thing, if I am not mistaken. JJy all 

 means, let us combine gentleness with hon- 

 ey-gathering. It takes tune to get stung, to 

 say nothing of the other part. 



J 



