1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



731 



no out-apiaries, I think I should decide very 

 quickly that I want a large hive. With a large 

 hive you can have rousing big colonies, and 

 they are the ones that give you the honey. If 

 at any time you wish to contract down to eight 

 frames, it is easily done. But, oh dear me! I 

 just can't bear to even think of hauling the 

 bees and lifting those great big clumsy hives 

 again. I think that, on the whole, I shall still 

 vote for the eight-frame hives in the out-apia- 

 ries, but will vote for a large hive at home. 

 Marengo, 111. 



D[I think most bee-mc/i who have a liking for 

 the two hives, and would take less account of 

 the lifting item, would vote the other way — 

 large hives for out-apiaries and the smaller 

 ones for the home yard. The former, being 

 less liable to cast swarms, would require less 

 the constant watching of an attendant; but 

 neighbor Vernon Burt, a strapping big fellow, 

 with whom I talked yesterday, would vote as 

 you do. Indeed, his out-yard has the eights 

 run for comb honey, and the home the tens. 

 During swarming-time he spends most of his 

 time at his one out-yard. His mother and 

 brother look after the home bees during his ab- 

 sence. As these colonies are larger, and are 

 run for extracted, they do not require much 

 of their attention. When the swarming-hours 

 are over at the out-yard, Vernon returns home 

 and gives these bees any attention, so far as 

 room is concerned, that they may require. But 

 suppose Mr. Burt had more than one out-yard. 

 I think he would want the eight frames at 

 home and the ten-framers at the out-yards. 



While I am about it, I may remark that friend 

 B. says his ten-frame colonies, when made to 

 occupy the whole set of frames during the 

 breeding season, and are then contracleo down 

 to eight with a dummy, are just the ones to 

 give more honey than those colonies that have 

 been confined to the eight frame space all 

 through. He would, if he were to start anew, 

 have all ten frames, and these he would reduce, 

 whenever it was to his advantage, to eight, by 

 dummies. Here is one on the other side. — Ed.] 



small hives ahead in honey; three 

 months' honey-flow. 



I see in Gleanings, Aug. 1, that Dr. C. C. 

 Miller thinks it wouldn't make any difference 

 what kind of hive he had if he could have a 

 steady flow of honey for three months. When 

 I send in my report, which I will do as soon as 

 the honey season is over, the doctor will see 

 that, the longer the flow of honey, the more 

 need of having a hive that the bees will con- 

 tinue to store honey in. My bees are doing but 

 very little at present in my large hives, while 

 the small ones are piling in the honey as 

 though they were going to work all winter. I 

 have been careful to put a pencil-mark, with 

 the date, on one of my best hives each time I 

 have extracted. 



I have just been and counted the marks, and 

 find that I have taken the honey out 13 times. 

 I looked in the hive and found it full again. I 

 will take it out to-morrow. That will be 14 

 times this summer. 



I have weighed the honey several times, and 

 it would average 23 lbs. each time, amounting 



to 308 lbs. I had 20 colonies to start with this 

 spring (8 were small ones); I increased them to 

 30. I have taken out 3135 lbs. of extracted hon- 

 ey, and about 100 lbs. of comb honey. I don't 

 want any one to think that all my small hives 

 did as well as the one I marked, for they did 

 not; but they all did much better than the 

 large ones. 



How would it do to cut the number in the tin 

 tags and dip them in coal tar, or something 

 black, then tack them on to a white hive? I 

 think that would be the cheapest plan. 



Bunkersville, Nev., Aug. 19. J. I. Earl. 



[Cutting the numbers out in the tags would 

 be much more expensive than putting them on 

 with stencil or printing-press. The cutting 

 would require a set of dies that would cost hun- 

 dreds of dollars.— Ed.] 



HOW BEES WORK ON STRAWBERRY-BLOS- 

 SOMS, 



AUGER- hole entrances NEAR THE CENTER 

 OF THE HIVE AN ADVANTAGE. 



By Elias Fox. 



I have been a silent listener to the long con- 

 troversy as to whether or not bees work on 

 strawberry-blossoms. I was indeed surprised 

 to see the fact disputed, and by men who, per- 

 haps, are old enough to be my father, and the 

 difference of opinion is truly amusing. While I 

 was at home on the farm my father kept a few 

 bees, and we invariably raised strawberries; 

 and it was as common to see bees working on 

 the blossoms as to see them on the willow, 

 dandelion, or any other blossoms in their 

 respective seasons. When I left the farm, 13 

 years ago, I purchased two colonies of bees; 

 and as long as I kept them here it was a com- 

 mon thing to see them working on strawberry- 

 blossoms. After removing them from the vil- 

 lage I did not raise any strawberries until the 

 past two seasons. Last year I lost my wife 

 about the time they were in bloom; and this 

 year the sickness and death of my little boy 

 tilled my mind and heart with other thoughts, 

 so I could not say positively whether they 

 worked on them or not; but if they did not, it 

 was on account of the atmosphere not being in 

 proper condition for the secretion of nectar. 

 The fact of bees working on white clover is not 

 disputed; yet it is an undisputable fact that we 

 often see fields white with it, and not a bee on 

 it; while other years they will swarm on it as 

 long as it lasts; but as for getting surplus hon- 

 ey from it in this locality, it is a rare thing late 

 years. If the acreage of strawberries were as 

 large as that of white clover, I doubt there 

 being any dispute as to whether or not bees 

 work on them. 



I have heard it said a great many times that 

 bees gather honey from corn-tassel; but I claim 

 they do not — at least in this locality. 



