8fi 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



August. 



drowned and killed, if for no oilier reason. I 

 Those who are anxious to increase the number 

 of their colonies in the fall, or to rear Queens, 

 should keep them busy on the dry sugar, if 

 possible just as soon as the yield of honey fails, 

 for they are quite apt to make bad work when 

 first disappointed in getting their customary 

 daily stores, unless carefully watched. 'Tis 

 true we must expect to feed our neighbors' bees 

 as well, but is not this preferable to having 

 our bees annoy other neighbors? 



We do not think any method of feeding in 

 the Live cau answer the same purpose, for 

 whatever is in the hive is theirs already, and 

 'tis "bee like" to feel that "the more they have, 

 the more they want." 



"N >w see here Mr. N., you have written as 

 though 'twere possible to make a one story L. 

 hive hold a whole colony the season through. 

 What is to done with the surplus bees and 

 brool ?» 



"Why make new colonies when the hive gets 

 too full, of course." 



"But suppose the Apiarist has as many as 

 he wishes already?" 



"Sell 'em." 



"So you would have the production of new 

 colonies always go hand in hand with surplus 

 hooey?" 



"Or rather we would simply make the sug- 

 gestion." 



" 'Twere much better as a suggestion than 

 given as a part of 'How to Conduct an Apiary.' " 



In one case we are dependant on a single 

 Queen for the peopling of perhaps 30 combs, in 

 the other only 10 ; now if a 30 comb hive gives 

 3O0 lbs. surplus, will not the other give safely 

 100? in the former case the whole is depen- 

 dant on the caprice of a single Queen, and 

 Queens are capricious in regard to the number 

 of eggs they lay, at least we find them so. 



Our Queens sometimes lay 2000 eggs per clay 

 for a short time ; but so far as keeping them at 

 work at this rate is concerned, we have not 

 been able to come any where near it. 



In conclusion we would say that we consid- 

 er the Standard hive by all means preferable, 

 when one is commencing anew and can choose 

 that as well as any other ; also, for a hive that 

 can be used to allow all of the Queen's proge- 

 ny to labor without increasing the number of 

 stocks, we should give it the preference unhes- 

 itatingly, over a two story hive. 



Friend Muth of Cincinnati, who has had 

 much experience, advises that honey be run 

 into large cans, milk cans for instance, and 

 allowed to stand several days to settle, and al- 

 low of what scum may rise to the surface being 

 skimmed off before barreling it. This will 

 mike some additional trouble, but may be 

 quite an important item; we hav^ not as yet 

 been able to give the matter a careful test, but 

 will say this much, that our honey has always 

 had a bad habit of expanding when it candies, 

 so much so that it generally oozes out around 

 the mouth of the jars, in a very untidy and in- 

 convenient way. If, as friend M. thinks, this 

 can be remedied by allowing it to stand, and 

 removing the scum etc., we should certainly 

 do it. Will our friends please report. 



Again, we last season recommended using 

 half rosin with the wax for waxing barrels, and 

 we thought we had given it a thorough test, 



for the honey had no rosin taste even after be- 

 ing several months in the barrel ; but this 

 spring having occasion to use a barrel that 

 had some honey candied on its sides, we found 

 on pouring it out after it had been standing in 

 the sun until melted, that it had a considerable 

 taste of resin. In view of this we think bees- 

 wax alone had better be used. If it is made 

 very hot and not less than K, gallon used, 

 'twill take but little to make airtight. 



Ol'H. OWN APIARY. 



TJ2JF AD we not grown sober and steady of 

 JjiZLj late, we presume we should now be sail- 

 ing our hat on account of the sudden, very 

 welcome intelligence given us by the bees, that 

 the basswood trees were loaded with honey. 



We had abandoned all hope of doing more 

 this season than to build up our shattered col- 

 onies, but to-day, July 6th, we have taken more 

 than half a barrel of nice thick honey, and 

 during the whole time we were extracting, not 

 a robber interfered with our work. It really 

 seems like old times. Not even smoke was 

 required until we came to our natural swarms 

 of common bees. And by the way, that re- 

 minds us that we haven't told about this same 

 good fortune of ours. It was June 25th, and 

 we were all intent on our July No. you see, 

 when a neighbor persisted in wanting to see 

 Novice. His first remark was, "Well Mr. N., 

 if you were sick you would send for the Doc- 

 tor would you not?" 



Novice replied that he probably should, men- 

 tally feeling that he hadn't time to be sick "no 

 how" just then ; but his face became genial in 

 an instant when the Doctor — for he it was — 

 suggested that "no one was sick, but that a 

 huge swarm of bees were clustered on a bush 

 in his garden and he thought the only proper 

 thing to be done was to send for — " 



"Are they hanging in the sun?" interrupted 

 Novice, for the day was an intensely hot one 

 and it was near noon. When informed they 

 were, he waited only to get two perforated tin 

 cases out of the wax extractors and started 

 for the "big swarm of bees." Alas for human 

 hopes ; when he arrived at the bush, the bees 

 had decamped and nothing remained but to 

 go home again, mentally avowing that he 

 would next time collect his scattered wits five 

 minutes quicker when told a swarm of bees 

 were to be had for the hiving. 



Worst of all, he had planned just which emp- 

 ty hive, in the shade of an especial grape vine, 

 they were to occupy, and he couldn't quite give 

 it up ; so when informed after dinner that 

 some workmen had hived a swarm in a box. 

 and wanted to sell them to him, he made such 

 rapid strides for them that, in less than half 

 an hour he had them all fixed in their shady 

 home, and rejoicing over their treasures of 

 partly filled combs, among which had been put 

 one of unsealed brood, to be sure they did not 

 desert. The men who hived them were also 

 rejoicing over $2.50 which they received just 

 for putting them in an old box. Before dis- 

 missirig them, we may add that they have al- 

 ready yielded in ten days enough honey to pay 

 first cost, and so we may consider it a pretty 

 fair investment. We at first considered this to 

 be the truant swarm of the forenoon, but ou 



