1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



593 



home apiary we moved 100 colonies for bass- 

 wood, of which they gathered 11,000 pounds. 

 As soon as the bass wood flow ceased we moved 

 them again, a distance of about 25 miles— this 

 time on the prairie, for liorsemint, which gave 

 an abundant yield that fall. We extracted 

 about 8000 pounds of that. 



The second move we made, we were so un- 

 fortunate as to have from ten to fifteen colonies 

 break down. I do not remember the exact 

 number. It was a very warm and sultry night, 

 and the roads being rough helped to bring 

 about the sad result. The colonies that broke 

 down were nearly all in Langstroth hives. The 

 Gallup hives came through all right. In clean- 

 ing up the broken down hives I noticed that 

 all the combs that had broken down had simply 

 dropped out of the frames, leaving from IM to 

 3 inches of comb fastened to the top-bar. If 

 these combs had been built on wood-base foun- 

 dation I do not think they would have broken 

 down. 



As is nearly always the case, the queen very 

 seldom lays eggs in the top cells near the top- 

 bar, but always leaves a space where the bees 

 usually store honey. As a result, that part of 

 the comb, where all the weight comes, is the 

 weakest, as it doesn't become tough, like the 

 rest of the comb, by breeding. If the combs 

 break down in moving, extracting, or handling, 

 they usually break near the top-bar, where the 

 honey is stored. To prevent that difficulty I 

 am quite confident that the use of a half or a 

 third sheet of veneer foundation would remedy 

 all the defects in that line. It would also keep 

 the combs from sagging as much as they do 

 with a full sheet of common foundation, and 

 there would be no hindrance in cutting out 

 queen-cells. 



Now, is there not some way by which a third 

 of a sheet of wood base could be made in with 

 the full sheet of foundation, so if one should 

 desire to put in full sheets and have one-third 

 wood base, it could be done? If that could be 

 accomplished, the question would be solved. 

 There would be no risk to run then, nor fear 

 that the bees would gnaw the foundation 

 in drawing it out. It would prove an advan- 

 tage in every way. and perhaps the wood base 

 would at last meet the long-felt want of a 

 foundation that would not easily sag nor break 

 down. The use of one-third sheet has proven 

 satisfactory to me. I have as fine a lot of 

 combs in my yard, drawn out on that founda- 

 tion, as I have ever seen. Further experience 

 will reveal its value: and it may become true, 

 as the editor has already remarked, that "old 

 things that have been discarded and declared 

 valueless in the past have come up again, and 

 demonstrated that there is something of value 

 in them after all." 



New London, Wis., June 2(3. 



[Experience years ago showed that bees 

 occasionally show a decided dislike to the 



wood in foundation ;and during a dearth of hon- 

 ey they would, as you say, here and there gnaw 

 down patches of comb down to the wood. The 

 increased expense, and this propensity on the 

 part of the bees, compelled us to adopt wires in- 

 stead. Wiring is very cheap; it secures the 

 sheets of foundation firmly in the center of the 

 frames, and, when drawn out into comb, never 

 breaks down. But I must say, on the other 

 hand that I have seen some of the prettiest 

 combs built from wood-base foundation that I 

 have ever seen. I think we have a few of them 

 yet.— Ed.] 



POOR SEASONS FOR TEN YEARS. 



A DISCOURAGING OUTLOOK ; WILL IT ALWAYS 

 BE THUS? 



Bu John Murray. 



I should like to get some more goods, but the 

 bee-business has been so poor I can't afford it. 

 It used to be around here so that, one year with 

 another, a colony of bees would average 100 lbs. 

 per annum; but the last good year was when 

 A. I. Root was here (1889). We used to get fall 

 honey nearly every year. When Japanese buck- 

 wheat first came around I got $3.00 worth to get 

 my neighbors to grow it; but I don't think I 

 got $2.00 worth of buckwheat honey since, al- 

 though it has been grown close by every year. 

 Now we are in the middle of the basswood 

 bloom. Other years it commences to bloom 

 about the 9th of July. The first tree I noticed 

 in bloom this year was on the 24th day of June. 

 The nights are so cold that light frosts formed 

 in the hollows on the 38th of June. Bees have 

 made no honey to speak of, and they are weak, 

 and on an average have not over half as much 

 brood as they ought to have at this time, and 

 drones are very scarce. It is a sign of queen- 

 lessness to see them around. My bees made a 

 little honey on basswood last week, but not suf- 

 ficient to whiten the combs. The dry weather 

 in the spring killed the white clover, while the 

 sumac and some other plants that had their 

 leaves frozen, and bloomed out again, will be 

 late, so there is a chance yet. There is certain- 

 ly so much bloom here in summer time that, if 

 the conditions are right, we shall get honey any 

 way. 



There seems to be a great change coming over 

 this country. We don't have the thunder and 

 lightning we once had. The springs are all 

 drying up, except the deep ones. I don't think 

 the creeks or the Wisconsin River is over half 

 as big as it was, and it is the same all over the 

 West. Thousands of lakes and ponds that had 

 fish and muskrats in them are dried up, and flax 

 is grown in their bed; and so large a stream 

 as the .James River, in Dakota, is so low it can 

 be waded almost anywhere. That is what I 

 am told; and if this drying-up process goes on 

 as fast in the next thirty years as it has in the 

 last, I would not '^'ive much for this whole sec- 

 tion west of the Dakota Lakes. 



Woodman, Grant Co., Wis., July 1. 



