1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULtUllE. 



431 



KNOWIilCDOli: or a liOOAXIOlV, 



AMI OTllKU MATTEUS. 



BlICCESSFUL boo-kccplujf is made up of inimer- 

 ous items, all of which Iwvir iin iniportniit 

 pait toward tho sucocss altaino<l; hcneo, tho 

 more IhoroiiK'hly a person uiKlcratands when to iit- 

 tond to al! these items so that the rJRht thiiiR is done 

 at tho rijfht time and in tho riK'i' place, the more 

 sure that person is to attain tho succcfs desired. 

 Among- these items, a thorough knowledtrc of the 

 location in which wo are situated as to its honey- 

 liroducing llora, is by no means the leas-t. 15(!8t 

 hives, best strains of bees, and beat locality, all play 

 an important part in the success of the apiarist; 

 l)ut none of these are more important than a knowl- 

 edge of our location. I was for(!il)ly reminded of 

 this about a month ag-o by being asked liy a person 

 who had kept bees lor nearly a score of years, If 

 liasswood was not out of blossom long ago, when 

 about the 4th of July I remarkc<l that I hoped for 

 bettet weather when basswooil blossomed. To be- 

 sure, our l)asswood was nearly two weeks late in 

 blossoming, and the knowledge of its liclng- late was 

 what helped mo to secm-c tho little surplus I ob- 

 taitH^d. How are w(; to kTiow whcMi to (^ommcncii to 

 build o\ir l)ees up sc as to have our hives tilled with 

 b(-es and brood at just the right lime, when to put on 

 bo.xes, and when to have our swarming all done up, 

 unless wo know which llowers produce our honey? 

 As I saiil in Glkanin(Js a month or two ago, "The; 

 getting of bees at just the right time is the great se- 

 cret of siiccess," and hives full of bees at any other 

 time amount to nothing. When I llrst began bee- 

 keeping, I was told bj' an oM bee-keeper, that 

 when ho lived in niy neighborhood, his bees got an 

 early start by getting pollen otf the willow buds 

 when they llrst swelled in the spring, as there was 

 lots of golden willow on his place. So I set it down 

 that golden willows produced tho first pollen. 1 

 Soon ri-ad in (^uinby's book, that golden willow pro- 

 duces no pollen, but that the first comes from skunk 

 cabbage. About April Kith I saw tho llrst pollen 

 coining In, and I at once wt^nt for tho willows, but, 

 not a hcv was to be seen about them. Ne.x't I went 

 to tho skunk cabbage, and there I found the little 

 fellows rolling up the pellets of bright yellow pol- 

 len, and carrying it home, thus showing that (,»uinby 

 knew more of what he was talking about than did 

 my old bee friend. Then as every new variety of 

 pollen came into tho hive I traced It out and kept 

 tho date of its bUissoniing In my diary, from the 

 skunk cabbage in tho (jarliest spriug to thc^ wltcli 

 hazel in latest fall. Then tho sanio was done as re- 

 gards honey-producing plants and trees, golden wil- 

 lows giving tho llrst, and scleudine and a white weed 

 in the woods tJio last. This was kei)t up for live 

 years, and then notes compared, bo as to give tho 

 mean time of tho blossoming of all jilanis visited by 

 the bees. Thuswitli this knowledge' I could work with 

 the bees undcrstandiugly; an<l If tho season were 

 early or late, vary operations accordingly. If those 

 entering tho ranks of bee-keeping would thoroughly 

 post themselves in this matter, wo should hear less 

 of "blasted hopes." 



r^AmiE QUANTITIES OF QUEEN-CEI-r.S. 



I read with Interest E. 11. Root's article, telling us 

 bow those Holy-Land bees build queen-cell?. With 

 me, the Cyprians far excel tho Holy-Lands in that 

 direction. In swarming, tho Cyprians had about 60 



cells, grouped in bunches of from 3 to 10, while 13 

 was all the Holy-Lands gave under the swarming 

 Impulse. Although I agree with E. U. Uoot, that the 

 new races of bees are apt to build more (lueen-eells 

 than tho blacks or Italians, still I think the e>ndi- 

 tion of the ivlony h:is m\i(;h to do with it. I on(^e 

 knew an Itnlian colony to build l.")4 <]Ueen-colls at 

 one time, and 83 < I' them were on a piece of comb 

 not larger than a man's hand. This was brought 

 about by a plan similar to that rep:)rted by Mr. Uoot. 

 The (luodi was taken away from tho colony, and 

 after two <la.\ s all the iirood was taken away, Ri\ Ing 

 them diy (^omb. They were then left ;.'4 hours, 

 when live frames of brood were given them, with 

 the above result. Whenever I wish a "raft of cells," 

 as Mr. Itoot tells (d', I practice this nu'thod; still, I 

 rarely resort to It, as I believe cells produced under 

 the swarming Impulse are superior. 



I.AIKJK YlKMiS OV IIONIOV. 



I see our I'riend CarroU is at the front with the 

 enormous yield of 700 lbs. of (<.\tracted honey, which 

 is 134 lbs. better than I ever ilid, and IIH lbs. better 

 than P. H. Klwood's report; yet, without wishing to 

 take any of his well-earned honors, I wish to say 

 that his sentence, "This is the greatest amount of 

 honey ever proikuH'd from one colony of bees," 

 nee<ls a little notice, as It is not in accordances with 

 the truth. If the readers will take the pains to 

 turn to page Kit, A. li. J., Vol. 7, they will find 

 that E. Gallup, then of Orchard, Iowa, produced a 

 surplus of 738 lbs. of honjy from a single swarm 

 hived the 1 Ith of May. If I am correct, Mr. Carroll's 

 was an old (iolony. Mr. Carroll will also see that 

 Gallup's swarm mado the same average- feir 30 days 

 which his e-olony did. Among the "big yields" re- 

 ported, this e)ne of Gallup's seems to have- been 

 overle)oked. Unless Mr. Carredl e-an make- out 38 

 lbs. over and above what his colony consumes elur- 

 ing the rest of the year till honey comes again, I 

 don't sec but that Iowa will be tho banner State In 

 the Union for honey so far. 



I also ne)tie!0, on page 4l(i, GfiioANiNeis for August, 

 that tho editeir says, "Al.se) that the tiering-up pre)- 

 ces3, which ne) either hive than the Simplicity will 

 allow e)f. Is at le-ast not a very faulty plan." I read 

 this sente-nce- several limes, and fe-ll te» wonelering If 

 frienel Root meant it to reael just that way. Geo. T. 

 Wheeler's hive allows of tie-ring up; N. N. Hetslng- 

 er's iloes, and I have- tie're-il up tho Gallup feir ye-ars. 

 Gallup te)lil (d' tiering up bcfeiro Netvice over thought 

 e)f the Siniplicily hive- at all, as you will see by ge)ing 

 over bae;k volumes of the A. 11. J. Dadant uses tho 

 tiering-up preicess with Iho (^uinby hive, unless I 

 am greatly mistaken. I have frceiuently tiered the? 

 Gallup, as wt II as what is termed the Doolittlo hive-, 

 three steirie-s high, and obtained the4l'21bs. freim one 

 colony i-epeirtcel last seasein in that way. I once 

 used a 3:J-frame leing-ielea Aelair hive twe) steirles 

 high. The ceileiny could not ceinte-nt thomsedve-s 

 without swarming e)n the 3;J frames, so I gave them 

 (i4. Don't that se'iite-iice need a little e'.xplanatle)n, 

 friend Hoot? 0. M. Dooi.ittle. 



Horodino, N. Y., Aug. 10, 188:J. 

 Very likely the sentence needs u little ex- 

 plan:itie)ii ; but it seems to me my I'liends 

 need to exercise a little more charity before 

 takiiiff me very screrc?// to task. As one or 

 two others have made the- same correction, 

 j)erha]»s I should not have made the remark 

 III just that way. What I meant was the 

 yimplicity idea, compared with hivea having 



