1874. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



74 



FRIEND NOVICE:— I took my bees out of the 

 house March 2nd, ami found the entire one hundred 

 stocks I put in last fall all right. That's pretty fair 

 for bees that were mostly wintered on natural stores, 

 i~ it not ? You had better look after that " Sugar Diet" 

 or I may be induced to get a wind-mill or two, and 

 start a rival to Gleanings, to advocate "Natural 

 Stores." Jamks Bolin, 



West Lodi, Ohio. March 17th. 1874. 



Three cheers for friends H. and B. If we 

 ■can't swing our hat over our own success, Ave 

 certainly will at every such report, and we 

 only hope it may get swung all to pieces, 

 ['cause then we'll have a new one,] during the 

 next month. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



se&ftOULD hives of the "Simplicity Persuasion" 

 $*// do for frames like mine 123a' x 14, out-side 



measurements ? How would you keep the 

 frames of such size from swinging together, and 

 against the side of the hive, without tacks ? How do 

 you manage when your hives get so full of brood by 

 ■extracting, there is no room for honey? I lind the 

 only remedy to be boxes. What per cent of your dol- 

 lar "Queens may be reasonably expected to be pure ? 

 Wyoming, Wis. K. L. Joinkk, 



The frames would have to be made with 

 considerable care that they might hang plumb, 

 we have used them 12 inches deep and found 

 them to work nicely with nothing to keep them 

 iu place, at all. We believe those who handle 

 many frames, very soon reject all nails, staples, 

 and every thing of the kind as too troublesome, 

 besides they are entirely unnecessary with 

 ordinary workmanship. In place of the boxes 

 we would use an upper story, or increase the 

 width of the hive on the New Idea plan. Our 

 $1.00 Queens should be at least half of them 

 "good for 3 banded bees." In the neighborhood 

 of Shaw & Sou, last fall, so far as we can learn 

 they proved nearly all pure. 



DEAR "NOVICE" :— I have received a specimen 

 copy of your " Gleanings," the reading is good, com- 

 position done well, the press work— allow a suggestion 

 in regard to that, a little more " impression" and then 

 "feed" up to your "guides" so as to get a " register" 

 « m the "head rule." When I chance to hear of an 

 Apiarian interested in Printing or vice versa, I claim 

 a right (not patented) to be impudent; the latter "is 

 one of whom 1 am which" hence the liberty of criti- 

 cising "Gleanings." Enclosed (you have found 

 previous to the present reading of this sentence) a 

 card that 1 have just completed for you, accept as a 

 token of appreciation of your efforts to promote 

 ;•• sugar syrup" and) apiculture. Of course they do 

 not come under the head "of its being sincerely wan- 

 ted," (quotation from "Gleanings") but then you 

 can put my name down on the subscription book, ami 

 I will pay when I rentier the " fat" from the "ckust" 

 of our old " Pi" and sell for soap-grease. 



Novice can honey be extractod from the comb be- 

 fore it is capped by the bees, and be considered pure, 

 or in other words during the Linden or Basswood 

 harvest, can it be thrown out as fast as the combs are 

 tilled before the water has thoroughly evaporated, 

 and in such cases is it not liable to sour in the jars ? 

 Will itpav a person with 7 or 8 hives to purchase an 

 extractor? 



Leavenworth, Kan. Alonzo Baddbrs, 



Give us the criticisms by all means, we value 

 them more than we do commendations. We 

 know the register isn't good and we keep try- 

 ing to do it better. It takes "home-made" 

 printers a little time to grow into good ones. 

 Thanks for the cards, we have put your name 

 down of course. 



You can of course extract the honey before 

 it has been gathered an h<>>ir if you like, and it 

 will be pure honey, bill it is thin like sweetened 



water and has a raw taste and will most as- 

 suredly sour. 



If left until the bees just begin, to cap it 

 over it will be all right, and in no danger of 

 souring, and we thus save much labor in un- 

 capping. We should use an extractor if we 

 were never jjoing to have more than one hive 

 of Italians ; if we did not make the honey pay 

 for it the first season, we would the second. 



In regard to the raw, unripened honey : we 

 think, but are not positive, that evaporation 

 in a slow oven will give it all the good qual- 

 ities possessed by that ripened in the hive by 

 the bees. An ingeniously written article in 

 the Rural N. Y. for Feb. 14, would imply to 

 the contrary, but we must think it more theo- 

 ry than actual practice. We will try and 

 make some careful experiments in the matter 

 at the proper season. 



I don't think it would be an easy thing to brush the 

 bees off the combs of a hive running over with my 

 cross hybrids. If I conclude to make an Extr. I will 

 send to "you for inside work. Will a molasses barrel 

 sawed in two do ? 



Gallupville, N. Y. B. Finch, 



When they are busy gathering honey they 

 seem to care but little about being shaken and 

 brushed on'; at any other time, you would be 

 likely to have trouble. 



A molasses barrel will answer every pur- 

 pose, but it is hard to clean, and heavy to lift 

 around. Honey soaks into wood (unless it is 

 waxed) and we think you will find an Extr., 

 all metal, rather preferable. 



Do you think small O ll cens as prolific as large ones, 

 and small workers as good honey gatherers as larger 

 worker bees ? Would not wire cloth do instead of 

 tin, for the bee-feeder ? How many holes to the 

 square inch is necessary for the perforated tin ? 

 Please speak of this, unless you prefer not to give it 

 to the public. 



Will it do to use vinegar or cider barrels for honey 

 if they are scalded with lye water and then painted 

 over inside with wax and rosin as von describe ? 



Roseville, Ills. Mas. S. J. Axtell, 



We remember one small Queen that was 

 quite prolific. At some seasons all Queens 

 are small, yet we think those uniformly large, 

 generally most prolific. We have one or two 

 Queens that reared small bees, and although 

 well marked they did not seem so industrious 

 as others, and were never very profitable 

 stocks. About perforated tin — see page 34. 



Wire cloth will answer but it is liable to 

 get bent out of shape easily, and cause the 

 feeder to leak. All we know on Bee-keeping 

 or in fact any thlnr/ else is cheerfully at the 

 service of our subscribers; we only regret our 

 inability to give better advice on many points. 

 We should have no fear in using the barrels 

 if they were first made dry and then perfectly 

 coated with wax. They must be very stout, 

 and should be iron bound for honey is very 

 heavy. 



I ree'd a letter from my wife in 111. that one of my 

 Imported Queens was dead, the combs were as clean 

 as they were in the summer, no signs of any disease, 

 but a mouse had eaten in atone of the mortises in the 

 top bars ami had eaten all of the bees on the bottom 

 board, but hail not eaten any of the combs, there were 

 not 12 bees alive, now <lhl that mouse kill that swarm 

 or ili'l he cat the bees after they were dead ? 



Yours truly, D. A. BkOCKWAT, 



P. S.— They had lots of Sugar Syrup left. 



Mice raise "hobb" with our surplus combs 

 when any honey is left in them, but we have 

 never known them to kill bees; still such re- 

 ports ate current. Wire-cloth is a preventive. 



