1882 



(CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



493 



will run something over 1000 pounds, for which I 

 find ready sale ; comb honey at ~5 cents, and extract- 

 ed at 20 cents per pound, put up on the new princi- 

 ple. My expenses have been about $25 in all, with- 

 out counting' my labor, whii'h I cuLjsider merely rec- 

 reation. From this you will see (by counting the in- 

 crease of 20 colonies at a low estimate of $8 per colo- 

 ny) a showing of over f'lO per colony for the ten I 

 staried with last spring. Now, this is nothing more 

 thiHi what plentj- of men are doing to-day with bees. 

 I know the season is pretty good, but not much 

 more than an average. It can be done only on the 

 new principle of bee-keeping. A. H. Ddff. 



Flat Ridge, O., Aug. ], lo82. 



I agree with you ia rt'gard to red clover, 

 friend i)., and it is my impression that time 

 and money invested in (jetting good fields of 

 red clover would be about as protitable as 

 investing in plants that pay no protit, aside 

 from the honey. We are also glad to get a 

 good report from the " Cyps." I agree with 

 the spirit of your article, in the main. 



NOTES BY AN ABC SCHOL.AB. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT HONEY-DEW, AND WHERE 

 IT COMES FROM. 



fAM a " village preacher," my salary small. To 

 increase my income, and to provide myself with 

 ' a very pleasant recreation, I keep a few bees. 

 I purchased of D. C. Ucdcrhill, of Seneca, 111., 11 

 colonies in 



CHAFF TENEMENT HIVES. 



Great barns they are — too unhandy for profit or 

 pleasure. When you wish to handle one you have 

 got to contend against the pickets and advance 

 skirmish lines of four brigades all after you at once, 

 with "charge bayonet." If j'ou wish to move one, 

 you must move four. To do this you must call in at 

 least three men to help. Just after I bought my 

 bees in April, the robbers attacked one queeniess 

 hive. After I had tried almost every means to stop 

 them, I could not. At least I saw the only salvation 

 was to carry the pillaged swarm away. I had to lift 

 them out of the tenement, and carry it away 

 at night into a deep ravine, half a mile distant. 

 There was left only a quart of bees; to- iay they are 

 as good as any hive in my apiary. The extra work 

 caused by tenements is what 1 dislike. Perhaps 

 next spring I shsll feel differentli'. 



THE SEASON. 



Up to July the weather was exceedingly cold and 

 wet. With some feeding in May they kept raising 

 brood; and as the combs were empty, the queens 

 had things pretty much their own way; and, oh the 

 hecs! the bees! The frequent rains during July kept 

 the honey washed out of white clover and basswood, 

 of which there is an abundance, especially of the 

 former. The hills and valleys are covered. During 

 August, 



THE IIOXEY-DEW, 



SO called, has furnished the bees with an abundance 

 of stores. Sometimes the hickory leaves were so 

 loaded that great drops would fall to the ground. 

 The source of this honey is no longer a problem with 

 me. It is the pi-oduction of a small light-green in- 

 sect, from the size of a small pinhead down to those 

 invisible to the naked eye. They have red eyes, long 

 wings, the upper half of which are black; long man- 

 dibles, or feelers, twice the length of their body, and 

 about the color, and striped like a raccoon's tail. 

 Proof: 1. They are found on all trees where the hon- 

 ey is found; 2, They are on the under side of the 



leaf, the honey on the top; 3. The topmost leaves 

 have no honey; 4. The grass and dead leaves under 

 such tiees have the honey as well as the green hick- 

 ory and oak. To me, these facts seem conclusive 

 evidence. The honey is not flrst-class. 



SPIDER PLANT- 



Tho=!o I find as described in A B C book. I think 

 there are no plants which will pay better to cultivate 

 than these. Tho bees will go out and work on them 

 at least half an hour earlier and later than they will 

 on any thing else. A little honey carried in thus 

 early will set the whole apiarj- in motion, and will 

 cause them to work more industriously. Just let 

 one member of a household be up early in the morn- 

 ing; the effect will soon be seen on the whole fam- 

 ily. Then in the evening, after the busy work of 

 the day, it is a pleasant and profitable little chore 

 for them to go to the spider plant, and get this last 

 load So easilji. It reminds me of the provident 

 housewife who, with pail in hand, goes out after 

 sundown to " pail the cows." But you will say it 

 would look better if the male member of the house- 

 hold would do the milking. Surely it would; but 

 that would spoil the analogy, unless the great awk- 

 ward drones could be induced to visit the spider 

 plant, and carry home a load of honey. 



My apiary of 11 hives hais increased to 28 good col- 

 onies—four Italians, two blacks, and the rest are 

 hybrids of different shades. M. W. Akers. 



Marseilles, 111. 



Many thanks, friend A., for the facts you 

 give us on honey-dew. I am much inclined 

 to favor your view in regard to the source of 

 the greater part of it. Very likely a light 

 misty shower, or the morning dew, dampens 

 it so the bees work on it with more facility. 

 I agree in regard to early rising too; ask Sue 

 and the children if I don't. 



THE REQUISITE CONDITIONS FOB 

 SENDING BEES L.ONG DISTANCES. 



SHIPPING POUNDS OF BEES, ETC. 



fHE pound of bees and Queen sent from Medina 

 Monday reached me Saturday noon. They 

 ' were in good condition, not more than a doz- 

 en dead bees in the cage. They had emptied both 

 bottles, but had eaten only a little of the candy, and 

 I do not blame them, as the candy in tho sections 

 was so very llinty. It so reSsted any impression 

 made on it, that I could get only small portions out 

 with a strong butcher-knife. Three years ago I got 

 a queen from you, and when looking at the cage 

 Saturday I found the candy in that softer, after all 

 this time, than what I last received. 



Did you send any comb in the middle section? If 

 not, the bees built it, as the section was nearly full 

 of comb, built out on the wire on each side, and had 

 some unsealed honey in it. 



I took a hive of black bees, and when my brother 

 would draw up a frame, I would brush all the bees 

 off from it, and set it into another hive, and so pro- 

 ceeded till I left but one frame in the old hive for 

 the blacks to cluster on. When they had all nicely 

 gathered on this, I uncovered another hive and set 

 them right over it, and I see no trouble " on either 

 side of the house " since then. I then carried the 

 hive of combs back to a new location live or six rods 

 from the blacks, and with a knife I split the middle 

 section of the cage, and thus made two cages out of 



