44 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April. 



DEPOSITORY OF 

 BLASTED BOPIB] 



Or Letters From those ivlio have made Bee 

 CHiIture a Failure. 



f] O the Editor of Gleanings :— We have lost 15 

 " colonies out of 57, and what is more, several oth- 

 — I ers are so weak in bees, we fear we shall lose 

 more. Can you give us any advice ? 

 From your old friend, Novice. Medina, Mar. '24, 1*74. 

 Yes. Stop trying to teach others how to 

 winter bees, until you can winter your own wit/t- 

 o at loss ; meanwhile listen to those who do do it. 



I put into winter quarters 4.'! colonies, took out 27 

 alive, probably will not get over 20 through till fruit 

 blossoms appear. Father put in 38 colonies and took 

 out 5 alive. In every case without an exception those 

 that are alive, are those that were strong in the fall. 

 Probable cause of their death was dividing and subdi- 

 viding to raise Queens last season. Now sir if I don't 

 have strong swarms after this, I am mistaken. 



We have just got our high board fence done around 

 them, and think it will be a great help. lam not at 

 all discouraged yet, but, sometimes get a little blue 

 over it. 



Father and I will have 40 to 50 swarms to commence 

 with; he has purchased 12 swarms to-dav and will 

 get more. 1 never saw bees carry in rye meal as fast 

 as they have in the last few r days, "little and big 

 swarms, and the Queens are doing their best; no de- 

 serting yet. It hemp will supply bees with pollen we 

 shall raise it. Just got some seed to sow. 



Chatham Center, O. March 19, 1874. F. R. Shaw, 

 That's the tune to wind up with, friend S. 

 If some of our "hopes" are "blasted," we ain't 

 " licked" by considerable. It may be well to state 

 that both S., and ourselves used stoves in our 

 bee houses when the weather was quite cold, 

 while the rest of our Medina bee-keeper's used 

 none : we are the only losers ; Dean, Blake- 

 slee, Shane, Daniels, and Parsons, have all 

 done well, the two former losing none. If our 

 "tinkering" with stoves shall prove a warn- 

 ing to others, we don't know but we "feel 

 happy" after all. 



I'KOBLEJTI SO. 



HT'S been a long while coming but here it is ; 

 ; we wish our readers to get at it, just as we 

 did. We wish friend P. lived near us that we 

 might compare notes with him as we are 

 almost "in the same boat;" besides we really 

 have much sympathy and respect for all hott- 

 est preachers, but not for the class who 

 put Rev. before their names simply for a lever 

 to help them sell goods, as one of their number 

 once expressed it ; but our friend has the floor ; 

 we're rather backward — never "talk" much. 



MR. NOVICE. Dear Sir : — 1 wish to ask you a few 

 questions. Four years ago 1 commenced bee-keeping. 

 First year increased from 12 to 20 swarms, lost all but 

 one first winter— dysentery. Made of that one left, 

 and one more bought in spring, 8. Sold the 8 in fall 

 because had to move, (am an itinerant Preacher.) I 

 now have only 2 swarms, wish to build up an Apiary 

 of 50 to 100. 1 would build up to that, this summer 

 and sell % of them in fall if 1 could, as bees are nearly 

 all dead around here and would sell well, 1 think. 



Now how shall 1 do? Shall I use lull swarms, or 

 Nuclei? or shall I use both? I suppose I should use 

 some full swarms but what 'proportions f 



And :n<jw comes the Problem past. 



Will it pay to use syrup to make combs when there 

 is no pasturage? or will it be cheaper to buy combs? 



I am located IX miles from a Basswood grove. 

 Would bees do well that distance? or would it not be 

 better to move a lew of the strongest swarms to the 

 edge of the grove during the Basswood > ield ? 



How would it do as the Basswood harvest com- 

 mences, to strengthen some few of the strongest 

 swarms in two story hives, or long Gallup hives, and 

 take them to the grove dining the harvest and ex- 

 tract as often as possible? z. D. Paddock, 



Light House, Ills. March 13th, 1874. 



Since our losses we are getting afraid to 

 advise, but will hazard this much: f We would 

 use only full strong stocks, and do all our 

 dividing by taking a full comb from each ami 

 making a strong stock at once; then when 

 you are compelled to stop on account of win- 

 ter, you are all right. 



From the experiments we made in artificial 

 comb built on foundations, we think nice 

 combs can be made by feeding sugar, cheaper 

 than they can be bought, see page 4. A very 

 little feeding will keep comb building going 

 on, in warm weather. 



In regard to the Basswood grove ; Italians 

 will work very well 1}. 2 miles. We should 

 say, take all or none, and be constantly with 

 them wherever they are. 



HOW TO tIAKI A WAX EXTRACTOR. 



fjAKE this paper to your tin-smith. Tell 

 him to make a bottomless tin dish, (with 

 a close fitting cover,) about 9}. 2 inches high by 

 12 1 ;, in diameter, as seen at A." 



It will be observed that the bottom td^v has 

 a rim attached, tapering inward, this is to be 

 made just right to lit inside of a common tin 

 pan, which we use to generate the steam. 

 B, B, is a plain basket or can, made of coarse 

 perforated tin ; it has strait sides and bottom, 

 and joints are simply lapped and soldered; 

 size is 8I-4 high, by lCb) 4 in diameter, this is to 

 hold the comb or cappings. Now. if this were 

 simply suspended inside of A, the wax when 

 melted would run down into our tin pan boil- 

 er. To prevent this we have a tin plate C, 

 11% inches in diameter, with a rim l} a high 

 around the edge, held permanently by three 

 supports soldered from it to the outer case A, 

 (besides spout D,) so as to hold it sufficiently 

 on an incline to allow the wax to run out of 

 the spout D. Now when we have three sup- 

 ports fixed in this pan in such a way as to 

 hold our comb basket B, B, in a level position, 

 and exactly in the middle of A, (the back edge 

 E, nearly touching the bottom of the pan C,) 

 it is done. The spout D, only projects about 

 l'.j inches, but another one about inches 

 long is made to slip over this, to carry the wax 

 oil' from the stove into a proper receptacle. 



The whole arrangement is to be kept in the 

 honey house set over a common tin pan as 

 mentioned, and the cappings, waste bits of 

 comb etc., are thrown into it as they accumu- 

 late. The short tube D, must be kept tightly 

 corked to keep out bees, and to keep in the 

 honey. When the comb case gets full, lift it 

 off the pan containing the honey that has 

 drained out, and set it over a similar one con- 

 taining; boiling water on the stove. 



By having them made at home you save 

 freight, but if your tinner can't make them for 

 $3.00 tell him we will. P. G. says they should 

 have "ears" to lift them by. 



