706 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



whoj-f ho could watch tli(> bees from a bedi-ooin 

 window, and step ont of the window and cai'c 

 for them. 



A few days ago I had to return to tlie liosyi- 

 tai, astlie cancer did not seem to l)e wliollv erad- 

 icated: hut I hope it is entirely destroyed now. 

 I found the colony of bees built up into a strong 

 tine colony, and iiad given something like :.'0 lbs. 

 of surplus honey, but had not swarmed. It had 

 plenty of brood and honey below in the brood- 

 nest. I think there are not numv bees kept in 

 the vicinity where lie lives, and" I could m)t 

 find that there was any large bee-keeper iu 

 Aurora. As there is a small stream running 

 throngli the town, there is waste land covered 

 vvitii wild Howe.rs, and it seemed to be a good 

 locality for bees. 



THK ADVAXTA(JKS OF ONIA' A FKW f'OI.OXIES 

 IN A I-OCALITV THAT IS NOT FIKST CLASS. 



Many poor years that bees do not pay if run 

 for honey as worked by the average bee-keeper, 

 would yield returns, if a i)erson kept only a few 

 colonies and had them all boiling over with 

 bees at the beginning of the tii'st honey-flow. 

 We seldom hav(A a year but tiiat the bees'would 

 pay their way, with a small income to their 

 owner, above tiie cost of keeping, if worked on 

 the above rule: and when a good year came 

 they would pay largely. 



VICIOUS HYBIUDS AND YOITN(i CHICKENS. 



Little black chickens, while very young and 

 downy, ought not to be allowed in'anapiaiy. 

 especially if left to run with the lien, or confin- 

 ed in a coop near a vicious hvbrid colony at 

 times of the year when mucli w ork is done:' but 

 when they get older and feathered out they are 

 very useful to gather up the rcjaches and moths, 

 as the bees do not s<'em to sting them so badly 

 as when young and downy. We have never 

 had them bother white chickens, even while 

 very young. We have two young I'lvnioutli 

 Rock cockerels about half grown. When I 

 start down into th(^ apiary they will follow me 

 around from hive to hive 'picking up roaches, 

 as there are a good many in our apiary this 

 year. They will pick a roach out of a lot of 

 bees that are shaken off upon the ground, so 

 quickly that I don't think they get stung at all. 

 and seem to enjoy the fun. 



Comb honey is almost a staple article in our 

 little town, while twenty years ago one had to 

 work hard to sell it all. Now the principal 

 groceries and stores all keep it tlie year round, 

 if they can get it. 



Cut-out honey looks very nice if cut out in 

 square chunks and set up on edge in a circle 

 around the outside of a new tin pan, and then 

 the center filled in: and quite a quantity may 

 be laid on top. and all covered over with a glass 

 cover, such as are us<'d at restaurants and lunch- 

 rooms to cover cakes and ])ies with. One 

 groceryman sold more for us of extracted than 

 three other stores in sections last winter; but 

 it was the num that sold tlu^ honey, rather than 

 the shape it was in. In winter, cut-out honey 

 will sell readily without a cover. As soon as it 

 gets to looking mussy, and the unsealed and li(i- 

 uid honey candies, we take in a fresh panful, 

 and buy back all that was left in the pan. 



In leaving honey in stores, esjx'cially in the 

 warm weather, the cover should fit so clqse- 

 ly that dust and flies can not get in, else it be- 

 comes unsalable in a short time, and grocery- 

 men get disgusted with it. and do not care to 

 handle it. Soinetinuvs bees. also, find it if not 

 tightly covered, and soon fill the grocery so that 

 people are afraid to enter, and so the grocery- 

 man loses trade for an hour or two. and con- 

 cludes that handling honey won't pay. When 

 bees get to entering a grocery they haiig around 

 the door. Such was the case some years ago iu 



one of our grocery stores iu Roseville. where we 

 had our honey. 



CHICKENS OK BEES. WHICH'.^ 



In looking over a back number of Gleanings 

 the question is asked. " Which pay best?" We 

 should say. ■■ Bees, in the long run. counting 

 sevei'al years together." Poultry is usually a 

 source of profit e\ery y(^ar: and every month in 

 the year, with carefiil handling, it might be 

 made to be profitable: but when we do get a 

 good year for bees they arc^ very profitable, and 

 bring iu a large income — so much so we see 

 many people attracted to the pursuit only to 

 give it u]). perhaps the next year, in disgust. 

 So it is those who have perseverance that 

 make bee-keeijiug pay best: and then I think 

 we get too many bees in a neighborhood, es- 

 pecially where all waste lands are tile-drained, 

 as is the case here. 



A SWAKM OF DRONES. 



Last summer, between four and five o'clock, 

 while I was still out in the apiary watching for 

 swarms, I heaixl a loud humming of bees just 

 above my head. I looked abovi' me. and all 

 about me was a swarm of drones. Scarcely any 

 workers could b(> seen among them. They 

 flew round and round in a circle some ten min- 

 utes or so, and then all at once seemed to scat- 

 ter, not settling like a swarm. 



IS EXTRACTED HONEY IN.IITKED 1?Y BKING 

 STOKED IN OLD BLACK COMBS? 



Why would it not be a good plan, when de- 

 siring to use old combs for extracted honey, to 

 bleach them somewhat by filling them with 

 water and letting them stand a few hours, and 

 throw out the \\ater liy extracting thenu I 

 did so at one time with a few combs, and the 

 water thrown out was nearly as dark colored 

 as coffee. If the water would be colored by 

 dark comb. I should think honey also would be. 



WINDBREAKS FOR BEES. 



I don't think w<' sufficiently value windbreaks 

 for bees. If winterc^d oiit of doors they are in- 

 valuable. We could see a great difference in 

 the loss of bees in wintering just as soon as we 

 had erected a high board fence. 71 -i feet high on 

 the east, west, and north side. It does not 

 make the apiary much warmer in the summer, 

 as we feared it would, because, in hot weather, 

 the wind nearly always blows from the south 

 or southwest or southeast, and then it blows 

 into the apiaiy. If it blows fnnn the noi-th or 

 northwest or noi'theast. generally the weather 

 is cool, and it makes no dift'erence' if it does not 

 blo\^• into the apiary. If the bees are wintered 

 in the cellar, aiKl are set out upon their summer 

 stands with a windbreak, even if packed with 

 chaff' the wind pierces the cracks in the hives, 

 and chills brood in small colonies, while the 

 bright sunshine at the entrance invites the bees 

 to fly, and the cold wind so chills them that 

 they never return. 



Ernest mentioned, last winter, that he had 

 no troubl(> in keeping his 40 colonies of bees cool 

 enough iu his cellar: but if he had added tO 

 colonies more, he would have seen a great dif- 

 ference in tempinatui'e: and if he had made it 

 150. even if the cellar wer(> as large again, he 

 would have seen it almost impossible to keep 

 tham quiet such a winter as the last. 



With propel- windbreaks, bees may be'taken 

 from the cellar very early in the spring, and set 

 on summer stands, and do even better than left 

 in late, especially where there are many bees 

 left in the cellar. The remaining ones will do 

 better als(j. \Ve choose that part of the' apiary 

 where the winds ar(^ broken oft' by buildings, to 

 s(>t out our first colonies, and lay on top of the 

 hives an extra (juilt, and lean iip against the 

 front of the hive a board on cool days. 



