NOVICE'S GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



5H 



HEADS OF CiltAIK l'ROM DIIFf.lt- 

 EWT FIELDS. 



'|^l*'0. 77.— The "setting- of eggs" I received 

 Jjf Yl from you has hatched one queen, and 

 -' *' she is a beauty. You do not advertise 

 cure and fertile queens for sale : but what of 

 it. can't you send a fellow one? The honey 

 we are extracting now (.white clover) is so 

 'bin that I fear it will sour. Do you use a 

 SacchaTouieter to ascertain the degree of 

 your honey? What degree will keep and 

 what will not? Can you furnish me with 

 one? I think Mrs- Tupper was very much 

 mistaken when she said the extractor would 

 injure the brood if properly used. Mine 

 hatches all right. N. £• Prentice, 



Castalia, 0. 



Thanks, Mr. P. We have very few re- 

 ports of ''eggs for hatching" that are en- 

 couraging unless it he where they have 

 only been sent short distances. 



Cool nights may have caused the trou- 

 ble, and we not only regret the disappoint- 

 ment it has caused but will make good 

 the amount sent us when it has been a to- 

 tal failure if our friends will notify us of 

 the fact. 



Some have succeeded where comb has 

 been sent considerable distances, and if 

 we learn the secret of success invarinbly, 

 will try again all around. 



No saccharometer is needed at all. 

 Don't commence extracting until the 

 honey is partially sealed, and no fear 

 need be entertained of souring. 



We have at this date (June 20th), near- 

 lj' two barrels of the thickest honey we 

 ever saw, probably on account of the ex- 

 treme dry weather. 



No. 78. — I have two queens left, one hybrid, 

 with about a pint of workers, theother black, 

 with less workers. Isn't this a glorious start 

 for the first of June? Respectfully, 



R- J. McKee, Laingsburg, Mich. 



N. B.— You will think I write like an old 

 acquaintance. Well, having taken the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal several years, may I Ijot 

 slaim as much ? 



Bless your heart, Mr. McKee, and all of 

 the other unknown friends among our 

 readers, nothing gives Novice greater 

 pleasure (no, not even Urns of honey) than 

 to hear from friends that have followed 

 him througk successes and reverses for 

 years, and to hear that he has assisted and 

 made brighter the lives of others, is an 

 additional stimulus toward further experi- 

 ment. He begs us to add that your let- 

 ters are all read with the greatest of in- 

 terest even if they do most of them go 

 unanswered. In the attempt to have 

 them all answered through this depart- 

 ment, a pile has accumulated nearly suffi- 

 cient for the rest of the year; yet we 

 hope to get things in shape soon, that we 

 may be able to give our opinion, at least, 

 on all questions proposed, very shortly af- 

 ter they are received. 



Bee Hive Cottage, Milton. } 



Brisbare. Queensland. Australia, - 

 No. 79. March 22d, 181H. ) 



Dear Novice :— You will no doubt be a little 

 surprised at hearing from the folks on this 

 side of the River, but you see you arc no 

 stranger even in this sunny clime. Your 

 articles in the good old .Journal have often 

 cheered me up when I have been iuavery 

 low ker. However 1 lost sight of you tor 



two years after leaving England, and I began 

 to think I should never see your name more. 

 This is a splendid country for bees. No 

 wintering here, the bees are on the wing all 

 the year round. Thebeeis most certainly a 

 native of the tropics. My observing hive* 

 are 2 and 15 feet square ; containing only u 

 single card of comb. I simply put a bar 

 across the large frame to support the comb. 

 The hives open on each side. I raise hun- 

 dreds in them of queens. The bees are never 

 taken out; the winter, if it can be called 

 winter, is not severe enough to kiil bees even 

 in a one comb glass hive, in fact we have no 

 winter. We can raise queens and havo them 

 fertilized at any time during the year. Do 

 you want to know what I think of your new 

 hire ? Well, I have had timber cut for 20U 

 of them, and intend to give it the following 

 name : "Novice's" "Hive of Hives.', 

 J. Caruoi.l, Bee-Master to His Excellency 

 The Marquis of Normandy. 



Will our distant friend, if he does re- 

 ceive this number, please accept our 

 thanks for his kind letter? Does he get 

 honey the year round, too, and is the 

 quantity per colony per annum after all 

 much more than in our Own land of frost, 

 snow, rain and sunshine alternating ? 

 Verily, if Novice is going to be copied 

 thus far, it behooves him to tread careful 

 ly in new paths. 



No. 80.— Friend Novice :— In upper stories 

 of the Simplicity hive, my bees fasten upper 

 and lower frames together, I cut off all the 

 comb between but it made no difference ; can 

 you tell a preventive. Also to make nat- 

 ural swarms as early as possible. Should I 

 put on surplus frames as soon as the lower 

 story is filled or does it make no differance. 

 E. W. Poolk, West Richfield, 0. 

 We have more trouble in some cases than 

 usual this season of comb being built be- 

 tween upper and lower frames; we sup- 

 pose because the honey has been procur- 

 ed so slowly they have been averse to 

 building in the frames, but preferred to 

 lengthen out cells near brood and to 

 build between frames over the cluster. 

 After they can be got to work strong in 

 both stories they usually cease to trouble 

 in this way. Putting surplus frames 

 above generally delays swarming but not 

 always. Obliging bees to swarm for want 

 of room is at the expense of a considera- 

 ble loss of honey that they might other- 

 wise gather. 



No. 8]. — Don't the bottom board become 

 waxed up so that they are unfit for tops? If 

 so what is the use of making them just like 

 the top ? Would not a plain board with slats 

 on tho ends be just as good? Hew much 

 would you bevel the hives? Your descrip- 

 tions are not plain enough for many people. 

 As you move tho hive forward on the bottom 

 board, the back end of the sides raises some, 

 which will give a place for worms, unless the 

 bees wax it up, which they will be sure to do. 

 Have you used your style of bottom boards 

 long enough to know how they work ? I hope 

 your hive will work all right, for I like it? 

 simplicity and its general plan. Yours, 



La Fayette Nouris. 



We should seldom use one that had 

 done service as bottom board for cover, 

 yet we would make them all alike to avoid 

 having an extra different piece about the 

 hives, for instance, we might have in our 

 apiary more covers than bottoms, or the 

 reverse, and in making hives we should 

 he obliged to get out an extra set of stuff 

 for bottoms. We have aimed at "simplic- 

 ity" and brevity, It bevels are made 



