1^74 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



141 



Henri* of O i»ii in, 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



\TT]i:iEXI> NOVICE:— Owing to the unfavorable 

 •f J and unprecedented dry summer, we are not able 

 ^-k to give a very flattering report of our Apiary. 

 "We began the honey season with 31 very weak hives 

 and extracted 3365 lbs. of very nice honey, nearly all 

 Linden. One hive gathered" 165 lbs. in ten days and 

 carried it nearly three miles. We have increased to 

 75 colonies, mostly in good condition. Some are weak 

 but all strong enough to winter. We wintered 35 col- 

 onies last winter several of which were nuclei, with- 

 out loss, till they got the -warming out fever, which 

 was confined to the hybrids : the swarming out only 

 occurred when they" could not get natural pollen. 

 Hence the remedy is not to set out the weak stocks 

 until they can get" natural pollen, provided they can 

 be kept in a health}- condition. 



The Rape. 17 lbs.", was sown at different times in 

 -June, and came ap but was a total failure as I suppose 

 every thins else would have been this drv summer. 



"E. C Lakch. Ashland. Mo. Nov. 3rd. 1-74. 



It had not occurred to us before, that the 

 swarming out iu spring was particularly caus- 

 ed by lack of pollen, but from what we now 

 call to mind, we have no doubt that it is 'one 

 of the causes if not the cause. 



Our Green House is enabling us to study the 

 pollen question as we have never been able to, 

 ueretofore. As for swarming out in there, 

 5)less you ! wouldn't that be a joke for certain — 

 on the bees. So many reports have come in in 

 regard to Linden honey being brought long 

 distances, that we fear we shall have to admit 

 they do at times go 2 or 3 miles profitably. 

 The structure of these blossoms enables bees to 

 load very quickly, during a heavy yield. 



We are sorry to say that but few nattering 

 reports of Rape culture in this country have 

 vet been reed. 



DEAR FRIEND XO VICE :— We call you friend, but 

 seems to me I hear you say. who are you t Oh ! I'm 

 the chap that used to get the old American Bee Jour- 

 nal from the Post Office, tear off the wrapper, hunt up 

 Novice's article and devour it. yes fairly eat it. before ' 

 I'd go a step farther, and years" before I knew he had i 

 '. U." : to his name. Finally he got stuck up and start- 

 ed a Bee Journal "his self."* and we looked in vain for j 

 the old familiar name, till we couldn't stand it longer ; 

 and came pattering after Gleanings and the Photo, 

 with ye requisite 61.00. Lithograph received all O K. '■ 

 as also back Xo's of Vol. 1. and we have read "em all 

 too. Can't get along after this without Gleanings to 

 complete the list for we take ail the Bee Journals. 

 "Sow about flying bees in a hot bed. Am going to 

 .uake oue for" two or three stands, how do you, or i 

 would you ventilate it ? or does it need no ventilation ? 



Had one strong stock last spring, and one light one. 

 acreased by purchase and artificial stocks, all light. ; 

 fo 7 strong stocks, plenty of honey for winter, and 

 have taken 330 lbs. houey. ll^i lbs. from one. and also I 

 S frames of brood and honey from same one. How 

 will that contrast with Mr. "Adam Grimm's report of 

 •ks and -25919 lbs. honey? Oh! well, guess 

 you'll have to put us away down in the "wee" corner. 

 '. -end herewith a Photo", of self for your medley, if 

 it's not too homelv. Your friend W. M. Kellogg. 



Oneida, 111. Not. 5th. lS7i. 



P. S.— A kiss for "Blue Eyes." 



Some provision must be made for ventilation, j 

 ■ «r rather for reducing the temperature, in warm 

 weather at least. This was our greatest blun- 

 der for we made the gia-s the full size of the 

 room at first, and found it insufferably warm 

 inside while icicles were hanging to the eaves 

 <>u the outside. This to be sure was remedied 

 by a wire cloth door, but to prevent its being j 

 too cold when the sun had gone down, this 

 door must be opened and closed twice a day or . 

 • ftener. and even then we lose this volume of 

 rated air that is so much needed in the ni^ht : 

 'ime. Reasoning from this we presumed ma- 



king the binding much larger and having the 



glass only cover part of it would give a more 

 even temperature and also economize the sur- 

 plus heat famished during the day time. 



Our room now is something over 12x24 feet, 

 and all except the glass i- protected 

 inches of dry earth, all carefully roofed over, 

 to guard airain>i frost in winter. It - 

 answer as we had anticipated, but we e 

 report fully until colder weather. 



In regard to Grimms report : our Journals 

 have for years been teeming with rep' 

 great amounts of honey obtained from 

 sionally a single hive, or the product of a sin- 

 gle season. Certain parts of York State have 

 this season produced great results, yet for three 

 seasons previous they have not reported at all. 

 or at least but little worth mentioning. In 

 order to get at the real profits of bee-keeping 

 should we not have the average amount per 

 hive, and if we are to make an estin- 

 what can be depended on in the future, shall 

 we not also have reports every season ? Adam 

 Grimm has we believe always reported, and 

 has given us the benefit of the results of his 

 work poor seasons as well as srood one^. 



Also, if it be possible to secure #50.00 each 

 from 3 or 4 hives, or even half a dozen, it 

 will not pay us to spend our whole time on so 

 few. The bee-keeper who can so manage 50 

 colonies as to secure f 1000 from them per sea- 

 son, on on aft rage is in our opinion far ahead 

 of the one who gets *50.00 as the product of 

 oue hive in a dozen, once in 3 or 4 years. 

 Could our readers make as good a result on am 

 art rage, as the lady who writes the following — 

 really, we don't know what would happen, 

 only that we should feel quite happy to see so 

 many others happy. The 24 colonies mention- 

 ed were wintered entirely on coffee sairar. 

 Seepage 21. Feb. Xo. 



DEAR BEE KEEPING FRIENDS:— I commenced 

 my letter on a postal card but have laid it by. as not 

 half large enough to write what I want to. ' I wrote 

 you a letter last winter which was so full of -p ..' 

 as the old lady called it that I was heartily ashamed 

 of it afterwards, especially when the returning 

 card thanked me for my "good opinions, but really i 

 was sincere and I believe most any one else would 

 have been just as thankful as I was. I shoal 

 we. husband and myself, for last year we had a very 

 unsuccessful year and it was our first year with bees. 

 Just then came such a bundle of good things the 

 Gleanings that it gave me a great deal 

 hope, and I trust profit. Comfort, because thi 

 us we had been doinsr just about the best thing thai 

 could be done consule'ring the poor year: hope for 

 the future, and profit through the experience of oth- 

 ers. 



This year has been a very poor one for bees, judg- 

 ing from our neighbor's bees-, for I do not kn. 

 single colony kept on the old system, in box hives 

 with no care! that have siven their owner any surplus, 

 or swarms that have built their hives full of combs. 



We feel well repaid for the care we have given our 

 bees: each of the -Jlcolonies with which we started in 

 the spring has given us about 325.00. Husband says 

 no stock on the farm has paid so well for their care 

 and feed. We think it will pay well to raise catnip, 

 we ha>l a small bed of it which we set out in the spring : 

 the bee- swarmed on i: for weeks. Buckwheat din 

 well. Mr. Mel. ay says it seldom fails in this vicinity. 

 We sowed some three times, the first did not amount 

 to much, dry weather and .grasshoppers injured it 

 badly, but it gave a little picking for bee?. The two 

 • - 'wings did well. I think husband sowed them 

 from 3 to f weeks apart. We think we shall sow acres 

 to catnip and mustard next spring. Of our Bocky 

 Mountaiu plant only a few seeds came up. thi 

 do not swarm over it as they do catnip and buckwheat 

 or else it was because the plants were more 



Extracted honey retails here for 25e, an . 

 for 30 and 35, we are satisfied that we got ..- much 



