GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



Twenty-two stocks in spring— taken 11'20>2 lbs. ex- 

 iracteil honey, iSS;;.' lbs. bo.v honey, have now 46 strong 

 -stocks and 14 tiueen rearing nuclei and weak stocks. 

 Increased by artificial and natural swarming and lost 

 .ieveral natural swarms. M. I'AUSE. 



Flue liUitl", Ark. Nov. Una, 1874. 



I had it) stocks of bees last spring in Langstroth 

 hives, one-half of them were very weak. 1 got 1100 

 !bs. of box honey Irom 20 stocks, it was sold for from 

 CO'ij' to "iriJi CCS. per lb. I have iucreaseil my bees this 

 year to 4o stocks which I have put into winter quar- 

 ters with from 30 to :i'o lbs. each. 



Wm. J. Deuuick, Borodino, X. Y. Dec. 14th, '74. 



I had 60 swarms in the spring, some of them very 

 light in bees. 1 increased to lou, from natural swarm- 

 ing, and they made a little over 5000 lbs. of box honey, 

 including that not cap))ed. I hived no second swarms. 

 I used virgin (Jueens mostly, and cells. Oftea some 

 would be al)Out hatching; 1 would then put them in 

 after a swarm issueil. liees seem to be wintering well. 



D. C. McUaliiou.n, Hornellsville, N. Y. Feb. fst, '75. 



stick his head out at the ends, unless he sticks it in the 

 boxes ; but I forget vou are no box man I 



K.ll. Mellex, Amboy, Lee Co., Ills. 



32 swarms in spring, made 3000 lbs. surplus, increas- 

 ed to 50, (of course ic was all extracted) and have sold 

 it all for 15 cts. per lb. delivered on track. The honey 

 was nearly all from basswood, clover did not do much. 

 The fall was very ilry and the bees got very little after 

 basswood failed. . Don't know liow they will winter, 

 but they are ail right yet. 



James fecuxT, Epworth, Dubuque Co., Iowa. 



Last winter I i)ut up 68 swarms, all came through 

 alive but lost 4 which were Qiieenless; sold two more 

 Avhich left me 02. increased them the past season to 

 W swarms and got 2600 lbs. box honey and 600 lbs. ex- 

 tracted, for which I realized about S600.00. I sold 31 

 swarms for S7.50 each, so it leaves me with 68 swarms 

 again this winter, all of wliicli seem to be wintering 

 well. W. 11. Tenant, Eureka, Wis. Jan. 18th, '75. 



Began tlie season with about 20 stocks in poor con- 

 dition. Five stocks l^ueenless in spring, increased 

 them to 37 in fall, in apparent good condition to winter. 

 From 6 stocks ia non-s warmers, took .560 lbs. box hon- 

 ey; from the l.Oit, 110 lbs., from the poorest, 65 lbs. 

 IJuilt up and increased the remaining stocks, and took 

 760 lbs, liquid white honoy from them. Fed in the fall, 

 15 Ills. "A" sugar. Beared during the summer, 36 sur- 

 plus Italian Queens. 



J. H. Nellis, Canajoharie, N. Y. 



AVe have only extracted from 5 stocks this summer 

 as we thought best to "go slow and sure." Well, we 

 took from those 5 stocks over 300 lbs. of honey, and 

 increased them Co 13 good stocks witli i)lenty of honey 

 lor winter supplies, while our otlier 4 left for box hon- 

 ey anil natural swarms, iiave swarmed altogether too 

 much, an(t gave very liltie surplus. And worst of all, 

 some of the young swarms went to the woods, in spite 

 of all our endeavors to prevent them. 



li.A MiciiENiiit, Low Banks, Ont., Can. Oct. 10, '74. 



The summer was very dry, so there was very little 

 honey storetl. But the fall was unusually fine. Four 

 stocks tie voted to box honey, gave 128 lljs., an average 

 of 32 lbs. per stock. Nine slocks yielded to the ex- 

 tractor 741 lbs., an average of 82>i lbs. per stock. The 

 largest yield irom any one stock was 1.53 lbs. I in- 

 creased my 13 to 23 and tliey go into winter (juarters 

 in good condiliou with .50 lbs. of stores per hive. I 

 should have extracted a little closer, but was away 

 from home at the time it should have been done. 



Di£. \V. H. P. JoNE.s, Nashville, Tenn. 



Last year I tried small frames poniething like Har- 

 bison's^ only I had them so that the bees could work 

 all ways through them—could tier them up etc. It 

 was on a Quinby hive or ratiier frame, jiut small 

 frames on sides "and top, got between OOand 100 lbs. of 

 comb honey and one swarm of bees besides. I shall 

 try them several ways the coming season. The best .1 

 have done with boxes is about tlie sanie as above. My 

 frame Is 14x10 inches, inside measure— have three New 

 Idea hives— l>e(!K swarmed oui of them while I was ex- 

 tracting in spite of all I eoulil do. How'-* that? -never 

 saw such a season for swarming i-eturiicd most of 

 mine. 1 have only 26 swarnr^ and do not want to in- 

 crease if 1 can help it for 1 cannot attend to them. I 

 wlnt(M' in a large i-el!ar and lose no beex keep U]) my 

 <'xi)('riiiients winter as well as summer that's half the 

 fun. J\Iosr of my frames are >o idaced that the boxes 

 <-ome up pluini) agai.ist the nxlx of frame ; and iire just 

 as ckwc to the biood as those on top and in fad tlic 

 gui.K' comb 1s a good deal iieiircr, and no live c:!,! 



now TO FLV IJEES IN' A ItOOM. 



In the spring of '73 bought two colonies of bees, 

 having jjoor health thought the attention to them in 

 tlie oi)en air would be beneticial; finding the business 

 so pleasant and profitable concluded to make it a per- 

 manent business, and have given m\' whole attention 

 to it. Increased my two colonies "to ten, bought 12 

 more, making in all 22. All came out good in the 

 sjiring of '74, and I got 2100 lbs. box honey and 400 lbs. 

 extracted, and increased to 47. I have now 65 colonies 

 in my cellar all in good condition exceiit one. which 

 showed signs of dysentery. I gave them a fly, and 

 this is how I did it. Took )jine strips one inch squ.are, 

 made a frame 4 feet square and 'li-i tieep; covered 

 sides with news-papers tacked on, spread papers on 

 the carjiet of sitting room near south witidow. Set 

 my frame on it covering the top with mosquito bar, 

 set hive outside with entrance opening into it through 

 a hole cut in paper. Waited until bees were all quiet 

 then warmeit up room to 65^, standing thermometer 

 against hive; all flew well for Ave hours, cleaned out 

 their hive, and as darkness came on, all returned to 

 hive again, making it a perfect success. The papers 

 were badly soiled. Shall serve the rest the same if 

 necessa»-y. By flying them this way with but a tri- 

 fling expense you need not lose a bee. Winter my 

 bees in cellar with dirt walls, temperature 40 to 45 , 

 cellar very dry. I use Langstroth hive, got most of 

 my honey in 20 lb. boxes, two boxes cover a hive— not 

 quite as salable but I get good deal more honey in 

 large boxes. Box honey average'^, me 24c. i)er'lb.. 

 extracted 20c. per lb. Extracted only to give room for 

 the Queens to lay. 



D. Bassfoki), Watertown, Wis. Jan. 25th, 1875. 



P. S. — VV"ould not advise any man to fly bees in the 

 sitting room without the full consent ofhis better half. 



BASSWOOO OR I.IlVOEiV ; STAKTING 

 A I'LANTAXIOIV. 



sifi IIAVE no Linden seed on hand at present. The 

 I'll seed should be planted in tlie fall or kept in damp 

 ^ sand and i)lanted uarly in spring. As a general 

 thing the seeds are about two-thirds bad. I think 

 cuttings are best to raise plants from. They nearly all 

 grow, if rightly handled. I sell the cuttings in spring 

 at 30 cts. per 100. free bv mail. 



Thomas J. Ward, St. Mary's, Vigo Co., Ind. 



The above answers many inquiries. In the 

 foil of 1871 we gathered and p'auted about a 

 half peck of basswood seed, according to the 

 directions given in Fuller's Forest Tree Cultu- 

 rist. (So few of these came up that we never 

 used them at all, preferring to get our 4000 for 

 the 10i.< acres fioin the forests. We have rea- 

 son to think that basswoods grow better when 

 partially shaded, than in the open ground. On 

 a part of our lot, there are about 50 large white 

 oaks; we at first hesitated about planting the 

 the young trees among these, but now And 

 those among them, have made the best growth 

 of all. Perhaps many of our readers have no- 

 ticed the rank vigorous growth that these trees 

 often make when young, where they stand in a 

 thicket of bushes and briers sometimes in fence 

 corners. Shading the ground around the roots, 

 from the hot sun, when young, we think per- 

 hai)s an important item. Although we have 

 never tried cuttings, we think it probable they 

 would answer excellently. A tree on one of 

 our streets that was planted out with some 

 maples about seven years ago, blossomed last 

 year for the first tfme, but it was takeu up 

 when so large that it did not begin to grow, 

 until about three years after transplanting. 

 For reasons mentioned, we should advise close 

 planting at first, say 10 or 12 feet apart, on a 

 l)lan similar to the one given in Vol. 1, pages 

 2 and 2;"), for locating hives -in the Apiary. 

 When the trees get crowded, thin out. The 

 1 tiiiiber will soon pay all expenses. 



