1874 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



123 



[For Gleanings.] 

 REPORT OF OUR APIARY FOR 1S74. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



SE^jKjaE had a very cold and backward spring. 

 w# Snow was three inches deep the lirst of May 

 WW and noon examining our hives the 4th of May 

 [which was the first day we could do so) we found 

 them with no brood and but lew eggs. We gave them 

 the best of care in our power and by the tune apple 

 blossoms opened we had them in qtiite a prosperous 

 condition, although yet few in numbers. Apple blos- 

 soms furnished an abundant supply for brood-rearing, 

 and some of our strongest stocks made a gain of from 

 12 to 16 lbs. We always have a season of scarcity be- 

 tween apple and white clover, and by the time white 

 clover opened, which was about the 18th of June, our 

 honey in the hives was nearly exhausted. As white 

 clover was nearly all killed by freezing weather last 

 spring, bees did not get any more than they consumed 

 until sumach and whitewood opened, which was July 

 1st. and lasted but four days as it came on wet then 

 and continued so until the 16th of July, at which time 

 our hives would not average 2 lbs. of honey in the 

 hive; a week of rainy weather at that time would 

 have starved the whole, without .the aid of the bee- 

 keeper. Basswood opened the Kith but bees could do 

 nothing on it until the 19th on account of high wind 

 and rain. Then came 7 days of lair weather, then 

 three of rain and then two more of fair at which time 

 basswood was gone, making 9 days of basswood. 

 Teasel yielded very sparingly bat from buckwheat we 

 got 900 lbs. of surplus which was the most we ever 

 obtained from that source. 



Thirty seven out of our 50 stocks we worked exclu- 

 sively for box honey and the remainder we devoted to 

 improvement of stock and increase. We have at 

 present 100 stocks in fair condition for winter and 

 have sold 3674 lbs. box honey or a fraction of a pound 

 less than 100 lbs. to each old stock worked for box 

 honey. We sold our white honey, (2774 lbs.) at 28)4 cts. 

 per lb. here, and the dark at 20 %.. Extracted is worth 

 but 12 cts. with us, but as we have none the price will 

 not affect us any. 



We should be pleased to hear a report from those 

 large hives and prolific Queens down in Kentucky, 

 kept by Mr. Adair. 



How many of the readers of Gleanings have been 

 troubled with their bees persisting in building drone 

 comb ? We never saw such a year. Some of our new 

 swarms built ten full frames of" drone comb before we 

 could get eight worker built. We lirst commenced to 

 cut it out but they would build it right back drone, so 

 we adopted a new plan; we let them have it and kept 

 shoving it out putting empty frames in the center and 

 by the time they had 4 or 5 drone combs nearly built 

 they would think it was time to build some worker. 

 We" think a great deal of nice white drone comb for 

 boxes, and in order to get it so, we opened each new 

 stock every four days and what combs had larvae in 

 we took out, and left the others in until next time 

 round. When they would not build worker any long- 

 er we filled out the hive with worker combs from our 

 nuclei. Mrs. Tupper and others tell us to make our 

 new swarms by taking full frames out of several old 

 stocks and putting empty frames in their places 

 thereby making a full stock at once. We have found 

 ourselves often wondering at such advice as we never 

 have been able to get one square inch of worker comb 

 built under such circumstances. 

 Borodino, N. Y. Oct. 12th, 1874. 



In reading the first half of the above we had 

 almost concluded our friend was going to be 

 a candidate for "Blasted Hopes," but "shades 

 of Huber!" we certainly know nothing of bee- 

 keeping if it be possible to get 2774 lbs. of box 

 honey from 37 stocks in but little more than 

 nine days yield of honey. Again the 13 remain- 

 ing were increased to 50 ; this is not so very 

 difficult if the season were fair, but friend D., 

 you certainly had a good yield from some 

 source for more than the time specihed, or else 

 you possess some secret method of getting 

 honey not yet given us through the Journals. 

 We'll have to pay you York State fellows a 

 visit and learn something if we are so far be- 

 hind. Seventy live lbs. each during the bass- 

 wood yield would be overs lbs. per day, lor 

 9 days, box lioney. Saving all the nice white 



drone comb for box honey is certainly a very 

 important item. 



OUR OWN APIARY. 



\VX/f' K lluve to-day, Oct 0th, commenced go- 

 Xpjj ing through the hives for the last time, 

 inspecting bees and stores, cutting winter 

 passages through such combs as have none, 

 etc. "We find that our quilts are always kept 

 above the frames far enough to allow a bee to 

 pass, by little projections of propolis, comb 

 etc., so we shall not think it necessary to lay a 

 stick across under the quilt. We find some 

 sealed brood in the hives but no eggs. They 

 are bringing some pollen now ; this will prob- 

 ably be kept until spring. 



We are enjoying ourself hugely just now in 

 making a Glass House, (we'll have to stop 

 "throwing stones" will w T e not?) it is simply a 

 wooden structure 8x13, set in the ground 2 1 ,, 

 feet, and the dirt thus removed is thrown on 

 the north roof (which is of boards) and banked 

 up at the east and west ends. The south roof 

 and south side are to be all of glass. We pro- 

 pose to make this an experimental "hospital" 

 for bees that get uneasy in winter, or for very 

 weak ones in spring. 



Oct. 15th — We have had two severe frosts, 

 and as usual we find a few dead bees bro't out 

 of most of the hives afterward. We presume 

 these bees have been caught away from the 

 cluster, and in drawing together as the cold 

 increases they found themselves separated by 

 an entire comb, and being too much chilled to 

 go around or over the top, they are frozen. In 

 front of one entrance to our Standard hive we 

 found the Queen, dead among a small handful 

 thus brought out. 

 Alas, our 70 colonies, are already, only 60. 

 Oct. lQth — Another frost, and another Queen 

 found in front of the hive. Our subterranean 

 Green House is nearly finished. Although the 

 day has been only tolerably warm, the ther- 

 mometer showed the temperature of the air 

 inside to be 115 degrees, about two o'clock, 

 and we have not had the glass washed yet 

 either. We have been of the opinion that bees 

 would thrive even during our hottest summer 

 months providing honey was yielding plenti- 

 fully but whether they will rejoice at the 

 temperature mentioned is more than we can 

 say just uow r , but we assuredly will test the 

 matter. 



Oct. IWi — To-day being warm and pleasant 

 we have looked up the cause of the loss of the 

 two Queens. Our Standard hive contained 

 two colonies ; it came about in this way : P. G. 

 some time in June petitioned her choice of a 

 nice lot of Queen cells just built, and combs 

 of brood sufiicient to start a colony in the 

 "Standard." Mnch was the bantering and jo- 

 king in regard to her ability to choose a cell 

 that would produce the finest Queen, and when 

 it really resulted in a crooked one, while all the 

 rest were fine and shapely, of course the crook- 

 ed Queen w r as a standing jest. She became 

 fertile and in due time laid eggs, but she made 

 so slow progress that a division board was 

 inserted, an anger hole made in the back end 

 and a ucir Queen reared. This last proved 

 very prolific and so rapidly did she fill the 

 combs that her colony in a short time eclipsed 

 [Continued on page 125.] 



