1882 



(jleanings in bee culture. 



555 



A CORRECTION (SEE P. -149, SEPT. NO.). 



Please bear with me this once. When I said that 1 

 could count 13 swarms for 3, I counted the pound of 

 bees and their 2 swarms unintentionally; I should 

 have said 10; and although if I had waited until now 

 I could have said •lUO lbs. of surplus instead of 300 (15 

 of which is from the pound of bees and their first 

 swarm), which would have about made up the differ- 

 ence in point of value, yet the report is not true, and 

 1 wish to correct it. My success with bees could not 

 have been the result of my skill, as this is the first 

 year's experience. I give the praise lo Him who is 

 the giver of all good. D. S. Tvleh. 



Clio, Mich., Sept. :25, 1883. 



BEES IN CITIES. 



Sterling, 111., has about five thous;and inhabitants; 

 on the principal street, and near the center of the 

 city, only fifteen feet from the sidewalk, is a little 

 inclosure, ~lx33 feet, in which, last spring, were 21 

 colonies of beoe in chaff hives. Twenty-five feet to 

 the east i.'s a dwelling-house, the space between being 

 used for croquet ground, while half that distance to 

 the west is another dwelling. The owner of this api- 

 ary has already taken over 3000 lbs. of honey this 

 season from these bees, and will probably take 

 enough more to make It 2.')00 lbs., while they have 

 Increased to 43 swarms. These bees are not trouble- 

 some to the neighbors, but, instead, furnish the boys 

 and girls of the vicinity many sections of honey 

 that are not filled or capped enough for packing. 

 Why arc not more bees kept in cities and villages? 

 Clauk, Giddings & Co. 



Sterling, 111., Sept., 1883. 



GETTING llEES WITHOUT BUYING, FINDING, STEAL- 

 ING, OR RAISING THEM. 



I must report in Gleanings a fact that I Know, for 

 it came under my observation. It seems "snaky," it 

 is so big. A neighbor of mine had two colonies of 

 bees this spring. They swarmed twice apiece. Two 

 swarms left. He has bought none, found none, sto- 

 len none; none were given him. He now has 36 

 lair average swarms: 33 came to him. I will report 

 another year; I know how. M. W. Akers. 



Marseilles, 111., Sept. 28, 18S3. 



Now, friend A., that is aggravating. You 

 know how, but won't tell. Is it some new 

 decoy hive he has contrived, that coaxes his 

 neighbors' bees to desert their own hives, 

 and swarm just to go into them? If so, is it 

 the fair thing to do? Perhaps you have so 

 many bees in the woods they are decoyed 

 from there. That might do, if one could 

 only be sure they all came from the woods. 

 I presume you have heard of the inquisitive 

 Yankee who wanted to know how the man 

 lost his leg. The man said he would tell, if 

 the Yankee would ask no more questions. 

 He promised, and was told it was bitten off. 

 Now you have left just about there, but we 

 didn't promise. Will you please stand up 

 and tell how he managed to get 22 to come 

 to himV 



more about THE C(iW-PEAS, AND SOMETHING ABOUT 



astebs. 

 I wrote to you last week about the cow- peas; since 

 then they have bloomed out, but the bees do not 

 care much for them this year, as they have done 

 years back. I suppose the reason is, because there 

 are so many asters around here. I believe there 

 are not less than 400 acres within two miles of my 



bees; there are some vei-y large fields that have not 

 been cultivated for two years, and they are just cov- 

 ered with them. The plants are nearly five feet 

 high, and just covered with bloom. During the last 

 week the bees have filled their hives full, and now 

 are working in the boxes; the honey is just as clear 

 as water. When 1 hold a comb up to the sun, the 

 honey in the uncapped cells sparkles like dew. 

 There is plenty of goldenrod around mo, but the 

 bees do not touch it as I can see, and 1 have watched 

 them very closely. One good thing about the asters 

 is, the bees work on them all day until dark, and it 

 makes a fellow feel good to see the bees come home 

 so heavy laden that they fall down a foot away from 

 the hive, and then crawl slowly in. 



Will A. Hammond. 

 Richmond, Va., Sept., 1883. 



You are quite right about your last obser- 

 vation, friend II. I did not before know 

 that honey from asters was white honey, 

 lias that been the experience of others? We 

 liave asters about here ; but although the 

 bees are on them sometimes very thickly, 

 they have never got enough honey from 

 them to be noticeable in the hives. Perhaps 

 the peas, like other plants, do not always 

 yield honey alike ; and if the asters yield so 

 much this "fall, it is tiuite likely they neglect 

 the peas, even though they do contain honey. 



HOW THE OLD-STYLE BEE-KEEPERS WERE MISTAKEN. 



I started this spring with 11 swarms of bees, two 

 queenless; the 9 increased to 35 good swarms; my 

 first came the 9th of Maj-. I took about 100 gallons 

 of extracted and (jOO lbs. of comb honey, all white- 

 clover, as we have nothing else to produce a surplus. 

 I had the same experience you had in commencing 

 bee-keeping. The old-style bee-keepers told me the 

 day for bee-keeping was past, as the land was clear- 

 ed up. They now commence to open their eyes. I 

 have Introduced alsike clover among the neighbors, 

 and my bees will have 20 acres within their range. 



CANS FOR RETAILING EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Do you keep for sale 10-gallon tin cans, with hon- 

 ey-gate attached, so they can be filled and set in gro- 

 ceries for retailing? It makes the extracted cheap- 

 er for the pool man, than to sell him a can with eve- 

 ry few pounds. Clement Kintneh. 



Carrollton, O., Sept. 30, 1883. 



The cans on our 75-cent counter, which are 

 intended mainly for Hour-cans, are now being 

 used considerably for extracted honey. We 

 can put in a honey-gate for 75 cents more. 

 They differ from the ordinary lOO-lb. cans, in 

 having a tin cover the Avhole size of the top. 

 This arrangement is much better liked for 

 candied honey than the cans with the screw 

 caps, because if the honey becomes so tliick 

 in cold weather it won't run out of the gate, 

 you can take the cover off and scoop it out 

 of the top, so as not to keep your customer 

 waiting. 



COMB honey; how to WHITEN TH.VT WHICH IS 

 DARK, ETC. 



I should like to know if there is any way to whiten 

 section-box honey, darkened by bees crawling over 

 It; also putting propolis in comb after capping. My 

 bees are slow about filling sections out to corners 

 and capping all cells; so if I leave them in the hive 

 to be properly filled, they soon become dark, and 

 are unsalable. If there Is any prevention or reme- 

 dy, I want to use it. Bees use a great deal of prop- 



