"novice's" gleanings in bee culture. 



Dr. TV. II. Sedgwich, Granville. 0. : "What 

 will you tn kc to make me one of those extract- 

 ors described in Feb. No.'.' Your workmen in 

 Medina know better how to do it than any tin 

 fuiith who lias never made one, tint's all. 



But our tin smiths don't, for Novice 

 does it mostly himself, aud the freight on the 

 articles mentioned in the last two questions 

 would more than make t li * - difference in 



expense. Go to work with your tinner 

 and show hitn how. Our time is so fully 

 occupied already that some one could 

 certainly make them cheaper than we can, 

 but to those of our friends who insist up- 

 on it, we have promised to make them as 

 cheaply as we can. Every bee keeper to 

 be independent should make; his own hives 

 and extractor at home, and the business 

 of "Gleanings" is to tell hitn how. 



Mr Palmer, of Hart, Mich., replies to our 



question in the Jan. No: — Mr. Novice : — I 

 use simple two story hives of different widths. 

 The smallest is fifteen inches wide and con- 

 tains twenty frames, ten below and ten above : 

 the largest is twenty-two inches wide and 

 contains thirty-two frames, sixteen below 

 and sixteen above. Tbo frames arc 9x18 

 inches inside measurement. To prevent 

 swarming give a young queen plenty ot room 

 and take the honey with the extractor. I 

 keep the queens wings clipped and if I have a 

 choice queen that I want to be sure and not 

 loso, I use Quinby's queen yard and it works 

 like a charm. 



Mr. P. W. Chapman. Morrison, 111., 



answers Problem 1st, and sends us a 

 sample of beautiful hard candy that we 

 thiuk cannot fail to answer. Many 

 thanks Mr. C. We should have no fear 

 of the acid at all : 



It is prepared by adding to each pound of 

 sugar 1 gill of water and l l :> table spoonfuls 

 of "cider vinegar" all boiled together*until 

 it will harden when dropped in cold water and 

 he brittle, about 15 or 20 minutes boiling. 

 When cooked pour into pans (greased) and 

 when partly cool cut it into shape. You see 

 there is no expense and but little trouble : by 

 pulling and working it makes nice cream 

 candy, very white. I have fed it to bees like 

 this and have seen no bad effect from its use. 

 Do you think there is acid enough in it to do 

 injury if fed largely ? 



We presume everybody knows by this 

 time what remedy we would advise to our 

 friend who comes next. How his bees 

 can be saved without an extractor we 

 don'l know. 



The greatest drawback to ben keepers in 

 this part of the country is what is called 

 honey dew j it is always followed by dysen- 

 tery. There has been three crops of it in 

 twelve years, and I have lost more bees from 

 that cause than all others. This has been the 

 case as far back as 1 have any knowledge of 

 lice keeping. My father lost bees from the 

 -ami- cau>c more than thirty years ago. 

 Yours, Truly, 



New Salem, 0. MOBRISSMITH. 



Loyd Jones, Galva, III., writes: "I am a 

 beekeeper but have only four swarms: am 

 fifteen years old, but that don't make any 

 difference ; I like your style of writing and 

 your good common sense, but never mind 

 •end me the "Gleanings." 



Many thanks tn our young friend, we 

 will try and not 'mind'' in any way that 

 will detract from the common sense he 

 has L r iven us credit for. When we can 

 help you call on us. for wc have lots of 

 work for you and all bee keepers of your 

 age. PeJJ as about your four hives ; what 



kind are they, have you a neat tidy place 

 for them, with everything square, dean 

 and business like? Make everything as 

 slick as a banker's office and when "trade 

 opens" be sure and 'do your part." 



W. F Patterson. Freestone, Ohio, writes : 

 "I fed a part of my bees with syrup, rhry ba,TB 

 come out but little ; the others have come 

 out every chance and soil everything near 

 tnem, and I much fear they are diseased." 

 West Low, Ohio, Dee. 18th 1**>:!. 



Friend Novice :— I am using the standard, 

 two story, Langstroth hive and last summer 

 I found that in some strong stocks, after 

 putting on 1- four lb. honey boxes, all an 

 eleven inch cap would hold, there would still 

 be a cluster of bees outside ; so as soon as the 

 bees had got fairly started in the first 12, I 

 raised them up and put 12 more under them, 

 thus making them four boxes deep, and J 

 found that strong stocks wonld fill the entire 

 24 boxes almost as soon as they would twelve. 

 In this way I attained over one hundred 

 pounds each, from a number of stocks, not- 

 withstanding our old fogy bee keepers say 

 the season of 1872 was the poorest we have 

 had for ten years. I neglected to state in the 

 proper place, that when I pat on 24 boxes 

 that I took the cover off one cap and then put 

 that on the hive and the regular cap on the 

 top of it, thus making a three story hive. I 

 have sold all my box honey at 2o cents and 

 extracted at 1* cents. I have 88 swarms of 

 bees, all Italians, stowed away nice and snug 

 in a house similar to yours. I have wintered 

 my bees in it for the last two winters ami 

 they come out all right, whilst the neighbors 

 bees on all sides have died. Please excuse 

 the length of this rambling letter, and may 

 long life and unbounded success in his chosen 

 pursuit, fall to the lot of "Novice." is the 

 wish of his friend James Boijx. 



If it does seem that any body should 

 be satisfied with such a result, we can't 

 help thinking that Mr. 15. would have ob- 

 tained 100 or .')••() lbs. had he used the ex- 

 tractor. At the price he quotes extract- 

 ed honey don't seem to be much behind. 



Wm. Witter, of this place, has just lost 

 a fine colony that had ejrgs and brood, 

 and plenty of stores of sealed sugar 

 syrup. An examination shows that their 

 brood is located at one side of the hive 

 and their abundant stores on the other; 

 all their food being exhausted within 

 reach, and the weather very cold gives us 

 the cause as plainly as if written on the 

 hive. When we wintered out of doors we 

 lost many in just the same way, and if 

 those who advocate "double walled hives 

 and summer stands, will tell us how to 

 obviate an occasional ease like the above, 

 we should be glad to hear it. The double 

 walls may prevent the suli from warming 

 them up the first sunshiny day, and thus 

 cause their ruin. In a properly con- 

 structed bee house (and we are now col- 

 lecting all the items we can for directions 

 to build one) the bees can at any time go 

 to any part of the hives for stores. 



C. B. Porter, Ann Arbor, Mich: "I have 

 studied hard on your extractor and don't un- 

 derstand it." 



Tell us what you don't understand and 

 we will try again. 



J. Hunt, Sparta. Ga : "I have spent fifty- 

 three dollars and have made as complete 

 failure as you ever heard of. I have one 

 colony less than half I commenced with last 

 year : paid for two queens and lost both. 1 

 now write you thinkinsr you can put me 

 right." 



