GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



t*t> 



eokiv coLrMN. 



/ip^NE of my honey customers here, a wholesaler 

 l(| J) tol<l me the other day that he bought 100 cases 



^^ Philadelphia (so called) white clover honey, but 

 that he could not recommend it any more since he 

 knew my honey, and that he would buy no more Phil- 

 adelphia honey when his present stock was gone. 



Char. F. Mlth, Cin. O. 



Now is it not possible for the people to be- 

 come so well posted on honey, that 'twould be 

 .as easy to palm off a poor article of butter, as 

 honey*. Butter makers well know that a poor 

 article when thrown into market, finds its lev- 

 <-l right speedily. Why is it not so with hon- 

 ey ? 



You are welcome to the jar of honey, we have 30 

 more, it will kill the bees in winter, and hurt them 

 any time, so will any honey that has fermented, and 

 any honey will ferment in summer unless kept very 

 ■cool, I do not know from what source it was obtained. 

 We are putting up honey in glass tumblers with paper 

 ■covers, one side is covered with wax. and made fast 

 -at the top with the same, it works first rate. 



We had a curiosity to see some really ^ww 

 honey — we don't get any here — and the above 

 was rec'd in reply to some of our queries in re- 

 gard to it after receiving it. It certainly is 

 poor and what surprised us was that our 

 *' slow oven" process did'nt make it good. In 

 regard to fermentation, we think our friend is 

 wrong ; we believe neither honey nor syrup 

 •can ferment unless it is too thin, i. e. coutaius 

 too much water. We feel quite certain our 

 Medina Co. clover honey as we now extract it, 

 can not be made to ferment in any weather un- 

 less water be added. 



I have l^een melting candied honey and was just 

 thinking how nice the double tin hive for Queen 

 hatching would be for this purpose, 



R. Wilkin, Cadiz, O. 



.-... Thanks for the idea ; by having a molasses 

 gate attached to one corner, candied honey 

 could be "jarred," quite expeditiously and the 

 even temperature, that cannot exceed boiling 

 water could not possibly injure the color nor 

 flavor of the honey. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



T */!([ have been a constant reader of the A. £, J. and 

 ~*~J an) so well pleased with your way of talking on 

 Bee-topics that 1 have long felt an inclination to write 

 to you on the subject, but when I read in the. Nov. No. 

 thai you had more friends than you desired I conclud- 

 ed to w;ii* a while. A few days "before Christmas the 

 Dec. No. came and in a fe w minutes I had your explan- 

 ation. Now that the hoiidax s are over and I have en- 

 tirely recovered from the effects of the gayeties there- 

 of, I write, and if I prove tedious please charge it to my 

 interest in and love lor Bee-keeping. 



Permit me to indulge in a little personal history for 

 I love to tell what a great benefit this business" has 

 been to me. Mv habits were sedentary and in the 

 spring of '71 my life seemed only a question of lime 1 

 and a very short -pace of time ; but it was not so. lor I 

 took the advi< i a sensible Physician who prescrib- 

 ed "little medicine, generous diet, plenty of sleep, and 

 an interesting light out-of-door occupation.™ I engaged 

 hi Bee-keeping frith my Brother who did all the hard 

 work but in the Winter of "7'2 he moved away since 

 which time I have had to "row my own boat" with 

 not even a sisti r : i suggest and assist as "Nellie'" does 

 "Cyula.'' My Fatherls an old farmer and will not 

 Iook at Bee-seeping through my spectacles. I never 

 owned many colonies; lost four "ninths during the win- 

 ter and spring ■ ;' '7.5, the remaining live ninths were 

 very weak, : i irned ;> lesson there. 



Although the past season seems to have been quite 

 unfavorable I have no idea of retiring from the Apiary 

 but hope for better seasons and intend making an hon- 

 est effort to make this business r mi n rative tLi s year ; 

 and think it necessary to have an extractor. Brother 

 and 1 used the Melipiilt— of course i do not want it— 

 I have seen two cylinder machines but it seems to me 

 they were both unnecessarily heavy and inconvenient- 

 ly large. Tell me in what particular your S(i & $10 ma- 

 chines differ. I want a good durable machine but 

 the leanness of my portemonnaie forbids my buying or- 

 namental things, well as J like them. Do you consider 

 diluted honey objectional as spring feed ? 



An Interested Bee-keeper. 



Hendersonvillc, Tenii. 



Our friend is not the only one who feels she 

 is much indebted to bees for a longer lease of 

 lift, and also for having given a new zest to the 

 pleasure of living. Our cheap Extractor is 

 the same as the other excepting the outside can 

 which is neither as convenient nor durable. 

 We know of no objection to feeding honey in 

 the spring except want of economy, when su- 

 gar is so much cheaper. 



Yes. I want Gleanings of course, would not be will- 

 ing to do without it. I have all the Numbers published 

 in a little book now with index, and I must say, that, 

 among all the back Nos. of the four Bee Journals I 

 am taking and all the books I have on the subject, 

 there is not to be found so much useful matter in so 

 small a compass as in Gleanings. 



I have been keeping from 50 to 60 swarms of Bees 

 here for the past four years, and have lost over half 

 each winter on the average, but at this date every 

 swarm is lively and seems perfectly healthy under the 

 straw mats on summer stands. 1 have never used the 

 mats before this winter. 



I believe the merits of catnip as a honey producing 

 plant have not as yet been fully appreciated, particu- 

 larly if it is grown- on good ground and cultivated. I 

 cultivated a small patch in my garden last summer 

 and my bees were swarming on it from the 25th of 

 June to the middle of Sept. almost three months, and 

 there was not a day during the whole time so stormy 

 that they were not on it some portion of the day. I 

 have raised plants the past season to cover nearly an 

 acre, which I shall transplant and cultivate carefully. 

 1 have sowed a large amount of the seed on waste 

 places about for two years, but the bees do not take to 

 it any thing like they do where it is on better ground 

 and cultivated. Will try to give you seme results 

 next season. It is my opinion that the catnip will out 

 do Linden altogether coming as it does and lasting 

 through the whole season of scarcity. Qninby says: 

 " If there is any one article I would cultivate exclu- 

 sively for honey it would be Catnip." 



M. Nevins, Cheviot, O. 



Give us the results of the " Catnip planta- 

 tion" by all means. Even if a failure you 

 should have the hearty thanks of all Bee-keep- 

 ers. We are very much inclined to agree with 

 Gallup that a brisk growth brought about by 

 cultivation or other causes is almost essential 

 to the secretion of honey, and with the catnip 

 if we are correct our only hope of making the 

 project pay is the honey it produces. 



Dk.vh Novice:— As I have been dabbling a little 

 with bees for many years, and reading the A. li. J. for 

 two years, to see who was the biggest fool, and could 

 get up the most complicated Intricate and difficult bee 

 hive and moth cage, and as they are still getting new 

 patents 1 fear I shall never see the end, so" I have con- 

 cluded that one practical man (If he be a Novice] is 

 better to consult than a host of theorists ; so I have 

 concluded to try Novice. 



B. T. Talbot, Viola, lowa. 



We have experimented considerably, and find 

 Adair's drone trap to be worthless-; his close tilting 

 section hive an Intolerable nuisance, and find that his 

 new idea hive will not do what is claimed for it. It 

 will not prevent the building of drone comb, and is 

 enough to wear the patience of Job, to handle the 

 frames frequently; besides it is too revolting to hu- 

 manity to be compelled to brutally murder our inno- 

 cent pets: and altogether too barbarous to tie tolerated 

 at a'il in this enlightened age. 



Dr. E. (' Larch, Ashland, Mo. 



