30 



" NOVICE'S " GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



please "correct us. We think (notwith- 

 standing that the extractor is a great in- 

 vention) that the majority of the honey 

 will be sold in the comb for a great many 

 years to come. Hoping you will excuse 

 this long communication, ami will think 

 the matter over favorably, 1 remain as ev- 

 er your friend, J. P. Mooke, 

 Binghamton, N. Y. 



A perusal of the above leaves us just 

 about in the condition we were the first 

 time we ever attempted to speak at a de- 

 bating society, viz: we could only think 

 of one idea., and ssme one who pitied us 

 called it a heavy one, as we hope the fol- 

 Jowingone is: Gctthin white-wood veneer 

 and make frames by folding up strips 

 about \\ or !•} inch wide; these frames to 

 be of such size that four or six would fill 

 a large frame. When these are filled with 

 honey and sealed up they can be removed 

 and sold singly or in boxes. As the 

 frames can be made for \ cent each or 

 Ifess, they can be sold honey and all. The 

 veneer can be purchased very cheaply. 



No. 47.— Does Mellilot clover blossom 

 the season it is sown ? Is Sweet Mignon- 

 ette a good honey producer, and can it be 

 profitably raised by the acre — that is, will 

 it pay? To make bee-keeping pay any 

 and every year, it needs other flowers than 

 white or alsike clover or basswood. There 

 is hardly a year that all blossoms yield 

 honey, and to have only clover and bass- 

 wood for honey producing is like some of 

 the Southern States planting only cotton 

 fp make money from. We need more 

 honey producing plants, and if there are 

 any that will pay to cultivate it will be a 

 step forward, &c, &c. I think you must 

 see what I am after. Can anything be 

 done ? Can the seed of Sweet Migntnette 

 be had in sufficient quantity to plant an 

 acre ? J. L. Thomson, 



Big Tree Corners, N. Y. 



Mellilot does not blossom until second 

 season, and with us. bees pay but little at- 

 tention to it. We find it one of the worst 

 weeds to "dig up" it has ever been our 

 fortune to encounter, and cannot see that 

 if differs materially from common sweet 

 elover.. B. IT. Stair & Co., 115 Ontario 

 *t., Cleveland, (.)., can furnish any qnanti- 

 ip of Mignonette seed, but we must think 

 such experiments risky, for nothing short 

 of acres of any plant would give a defi- 

 nite result. If .we select some plant that 

 will pay otherwise than as a honey plant, 

 we can go to work much [more safely. 

 For instance, large yields of honey are 

 obtained in Germany from the rape fields ; 

 in some cases the honey has-been known 

 to run out of the hives in the evening, so 



great is the yield. We give below a letter 

 from Messrs. Stair & Co., ree'd Feb. 20th: 



"We have heard summer rape very fa- 

 vorably spoken of as a honey plant. We 

 wish you would agitate that subject in 

 "Gleanings," and if it is worth while we 

 will give you modes of culture. We will 

 also buy the seed product up to 40 or f>0 

 bu. if any one wishes to try it." 



If a sufficient number care for the mat- 

 ter, we will give the further particulars in 

 our next. 



No. 48. — I ha\ c received nearly four thous- 

 and lbs. box honey, and five or six hun- 

 dred lbs liquid honey from seventy-two 

 stocks, with which I commenced lasi 

 spring : besides increasing my stock to one 

 hundred and twenty, an increase of forty- 

 eight. I expect to realize thirty-five cent* 

 per pound for box honey above expenses 

 of shipping, commission, &c. It is being 

 sold now in the New York market at forty 

 cents per pound, wholesale. I am very 

 sorry you have no better success in getting 

 box honey, usually I get about one-half as 

 much weight with boxes as with the ex- 

 tractor ; and box honey is worth about 

 twice as much as the extracted. This 

 year I have done better than this, getting 

 nearly as much cap honey as extracted. 

 James E. Crane, Bridgeport, Vt 

 Our friend certainly should be satisfied 

 with the prosperity of his apiary, and his 

 last item seems to favor Gen. Adair g 

 position, viz : "That it is possible for them 

 to build comb to contain the honey as fast 

 as it is stored, when every thing is most 

 favorable for such results." Our experi- 

 ence has been quite different, for we have 

 many times observed that the amount of 

 honey taken with the extractor is seldom 

 any tiling near what might have beat ob- 

 tained had it been used always as soon a« 

 the bees had filled (and partly sealed) 

 their combs, and before they began to con* 

 template swarming. However give us the 

 facts on both sides by all means. 



No. UK — Mr. Davis is rather ashamed 

 that he cannot make a better report of 

 swarms and suplug honey. But the fact i- 

 Mr. Davis was'tnken by surprise. He hod 

 calculated the tire had nearly destroyed 

 his apiarian prospects by burning out by 

 the roots every tree and bush in this* large 

 swamp, some L200 acres: and was not 

 prepared for such*^ wholesale swarming. 

 commencing in May and lasting until 

 September. Several went off, tor which I 

 was thankful, for I had my hay and grain 

 :o take care of, and |they came too thick 

 and fast, — seven or eight iifa'day and no 

 hives made you see. Old refuse combs 

 that set leaning against the hives would be 

 filled, all the boxes that I could get a 

 chance to put on atid some of the caps 

 were filled : some of (he m built comb in 



