.592 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



frames with comb; 12") of these were furnished with 

 fdn., and they made the 375. Now, if one comb 

 weighs 1 lb , and if it takes 15 lbs. of honey to make 1 

 lb. of comb, then this mnkes 56?5 lbs. more. This 

 added to the 7716 lbs would make 13,:U1. At least 

 two-thirds of this was made from 10 swarms that I 

 fed last spring, for three swarms lost their queens 

 In May, and the other six only filled up both stories. 

 If I had tended to them, they would have made me 

 a fourth more honey. The reason I did not tend to 

 them better was, that I have a farm of 80 acres to 

 work, but have boys enough to run it till harvest. 

 Then I had to help harvest, and the honey-dew 

 struck me the 1st of August. Such a shower of 

 honey I never saw before. I have taken no account 

 of the cappings, nor of the honey stored in porticos 

 and on the outside of hives. 



I set apart one colnny last spring, to see what 1 

 could do. It increased to 5, counting the old one, 

 and all, and made 1056 lbs. of honey. I shall winter 

 43 colonies. I have sold 13. Don't you think I have 

 done well for a novice? and can't I afford to take 

 two or three journals next year? Tell friend Doo- 

 little that I am going to try to beat him wintering 

 this winter. I think I have discovered how to make 

 bees build worker comb instead of drone. I will tell 

 how alter a while, but have no room now. All of 

 said honey in my report was gathered in 60 days — 

 from July 13 to Sept. 10. Wm. Malone. 



Oakley, Lucas Co., la., Oct. 21. 1883. 



The above is surely a most astounding re- 

 port. Ten colonies and their increase have 

 given over 500 lbs. of honey each, and comb 

 honey at that. Furthermore, I think friend 

 Malone's figures are not far out of tlie way 

 when he estimates that the whole amount of 

 honey gathered was probably more than a 

 thousand pounds of honey each, sprins: 

 count. Of course, this honey did not all 

 come from the progeny of a single queen, as 

 did friend Carroll's great crop ; but for all 

 that, it shows how quickly a large apiary 

 may be built up in only one single season. 

 It ought to discourage our beginners from 

 thinking they must buy bees to begin with. 

 Start with only a few, and build up. 



REPORT FROM DAN WHITE, 



AND WHAT IlE THINKS OF CH.4.FF HIVES. 



WORKED 90 colonies this season, 80 in chaff and 

 Simplicity hives. From these I took nothing 

 but extracted honey, and the result was, on an 

 average, they gave me a little over 100 lbs. to the 

 colony, entirely white-clover and basswood honey. 

 During spring and summer I shipped 40 four-frame 

 nuclei; 52 three-frame nuclei; mailed 57 queens, and 

 increased so T go into winter quarters with 118 col- 

 onies in as good condition as I ever saw bees at this 

 season of the year. I have 108 nicely tucked up in 

 chaff hives, and regardless of how cold a winter we 

 may have. I would not give 10 cents a colony to 

 have them Insured. Never losing a colony in chaff 

 hives gives me confidence; yet I may some time, 

 like other bee-keepers, have this confidence taken 

 out of me. I took ten colonies four miles away in 

 what are called Shipley hives, and they made 800 lbs. 

 of comb honey in 2-lb. section boxes, all black bees. 

 One colony made 151 lbs. I consider the 800 lbs. a 

 good yield, considering I made only six trips over 



there. Two swarms came out, although I did not 

 intend to have any. I got but little honey from the 

 two that cast swarmfa. Dan White. 



Ne^ London, O., Nov., 1882. 



Why. friend Dan, can't you give us a few 

 figures along with the rest? You got nearly 

 (or quite) 10,000 lbs. of honey, which is all 

 sold, I bplieve.and I am sure at least of some 

 of it. Now we are curious to know how 

 much money you got for it, and also how 

 much you got for those two and three frame 

 nuclei. After you tell us that, pprhaps some 

 of us would like to know where you find a 

 place to put so much money. Where do you 

 keep it nights, and is your dog cross? Tell 

 " Daisy " to send us another little hymn for 



the JUVKNILE. 



VALUE OF SALT FOR REES, ETC. 



HAS A LACK OF IT ANY THING TO DO WITH FOUL 

 BROOD? 



fi HAVE been reading Gleanings for several 

 years— four at least, and I have noticed foul 

 brood mentioned in nearly all or every number. 

 T hive beeu noticing and working with and studying 

 bees for forty years, and I never saw a case of it; 

 but 1 think I have solved the problem of foul-brood 

 preventive, and why they ever have it. As I sup- 

 pose it always begins in spring, or iu brood-rearing 

 season, 1 am inclined to believe it is found only in 

 large apiaries; if so, eureka! When bees are rais- 

 ing brood we hunt them with what we country peo- 

 ple call " stink bait," as the bees in this county and 

 Newton Co., Mo., have been followed three miles 

 from this bait, and found in trees. The stink bait is 

 made (not composed, for I do not know what it con- 

 tains) b>' having a can, a gourd, or a water-tight box 

 with some corn-cobs in it, and then filling it with 

 urine, and in two days it will be covered with bees. 

 Now, the scarcity of that kind of food (if you will al- 

 low the expression) for the brood at a certain stage 

 is what causes foul brood, 1 think. Bees will not 

 work on honey, if placed side by side with stink 

 bait, when they are raising brood; a young swarm 

 will not work at it until they begin to raise brood. 

 If you will notice, they may be found working at 

 water-closets and sinks all summer. 



H. J. Hancock. 



Siloam Springs, Ark., Oct. 30, 1883. 



Friend H., we thank you for your kind let- 

 ter calling to mind the fact the importance 

 of giving the bees, iu common with other 

 farm stock, access to salt ; but as it has been 

 pretty well proven that foul brood is a veg- 

 etable growth, it can no more start of itself 

 than can corn grow where none has been 

 planted. There is a possibility, however, 

 that a free use of salt might kill these spores, 

 or seeds ; and in this way, free access to 

 salt might ward off the dread malady. The 

 grooved-board feeder, with a little salt dis- 

 solved in the water in the jar, will give 

 them all they want, and allovir the bees of a 

 hundred colonies to supply themselves, if 

 their owner keep an eye on the jar, and 

 does not let it get empty. Recipes for mak- 

 ing the kind of bait you describe have been 

 sold for several dollars, in olden times, when 

 it was the fashion to sell recipes for mak- 

 ing things. We often see bees around wa- 



