GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May. 



[For Gleanings.] 

 ABOUT MIVES ETC. 



CY G. M. DOOLIXTLE. 



WK have niJin}- inquiries in regard to onr views 

 about hives and as most ofour correspondence 

 (•ome>. from those who take Gleanings, we 

 Will answer through its i)ases. 



Quinbj', LangUroth, Gallup, and others have told us 

 that the'brood chamber to any hive should contain at 

 least iiW) cubic inches. Let lis look for a moment and 

 see If they are correct. A hive containing 2000 cubic 

 inches will give U5 about lo50 square inches of comb 

 which is 450 inches more than the best Queen we ever 

 had, would keep occupied with brood for two months 

 iu succession. An average of (Jneens will not occupy 

 over 800 square inches with brood for any length of 

 time, therefore it will be seen that we have 550 inches 

 that will be filled with honey and pollen; and we are 

 told by those same writers that Ihis same honey is to 

 Ije use'il to wintsr the bees on. Now if we hive a new 

 swarm in a brood chamber of 2000 cubic inches and 

 the season is good, in three weeks they will have 400 

 square inches of comb lillcd with the best of lioney. 

 This is not in salable form unless you use the extract- 

 or and in thivt case you neetl a hive larger than 2000 

 jnchos. So each year your bees are wintering on about 

 25 lbs. of the choicest of honey, worth at least if put in 

 boxes S'> 25, while $2.00 worth of sugar syrup would 

 winter them .just as well. Thus, year after year we 

 are losing S4'25 per swarm by using a brood chamber 

 of 2000 cubic inches when working an Apiary for box 

 honey. 



In order not to get any pollen in our boxes we will 

 allow 150 square inches of comb for that and tlie little 

 honey they always will have in the upper corners of 

 the frames, so we have 9.50 square inches comb space 

 or 1451 cubic inches, as the right size for the brood 

 chamber when worked for box honey, regardless of 

 what fetyle of frame is used. We preter the Gallup 

 frame to anv other but siiould not advise any one that 

 had from MO "swarms upward to change frames, if ihey 

 were movable in any sense ol the word. The cap and 

 sides of the liive can be made as large as you choose, 

 yet we prefer box room of from 60 to SO pounds capac- 

 ity. In one of our articles we say if the bees swarm 

 they do well, but forget to say that we never allow 

 but' one swarm from any hive, for with asecond swarm 

 goes all prospect of box honey from the old stock. 



Our bees hive come through the winter in fair con- 

 dition considering that our stocks were very light in 

 bees last fall and tliat we have had an unusually se- 

 vere winter. We have lost two outright, one being 

 Queenless and the other dying of dysentery. One 

 swarmeil out the lirst warm day leaving plenty of 

 hriiod, pollen and honey and went in vvith another 

 .Svvarm. Comb; were all clean and bright and the 

 swarm was an average one. Can any one give a satis- 

 factory reason for sucli proceedings ? We found a 

 number that were Queenless and united tliem with 

 others so we have at present 92. As we have worker 

 comas for only about 75 or 80 hives, we shall eventually 

 uni e them down to that number. We do not allow 

 over one or two square inches of drone comb to each 

 hive (unless it is to some favorite Italian Queen) and 

 when we get all straight worker combs we are sure of 

 them as long as we wish to keep bees, only as tliat 

 tlreaded disease foul brood makes its apiiearance. 

 JIow often has our heart been made to ache by being 

 obliged to destroy our nice combs; those we have 

 spent much time to make perfect as we could wish. 



Dear readers, those of you that never saw a cell of 

 foul brood, you do not know how to pity tliosc that 

 have annually to destroy the combs of from three to 

 ten stocks. 



Let every one sending out Queens be very careful 

 not to send a drop of honey from a foul brood stock, 

 as most Apiarians are careless with such honey as 

 they receive with Queens, and one single drop taken 

 to li hive will eventually ruin that stock. 



Borodino, N. Y. April tith, 1875. 



should always look the neatest and cleanest of 

 of any thing in a country store, and you must 

 make it your business to keep it so, it' your 

 merchant won't. 



Money is usually (luitc scarce during this 

 iQonth iu the Northern Stales, and it often 

 coinraanls a good price. If we are to supply 

 the people with it the year round, somebody 

 most probably will have to keep a little over. 

 Take good care of that Jumi^ iimrket, friends ; 

 sec that tha jars are neat and clean, and that 

 y>>ur dealer, or commission man does not have 

 th;^ wrapping off from too many at a time, nor 

 allow them to get soiled and dusty. Honey 



Pertaining: to Hee Ciiltxii'e. 



[We resijectfuUv solicit the aid of onr friends in 

 conducting this (lci)artment, and would consider it 

 a favor to have them send us all circulars that have 

 a deceptive appearance. The greatest care will be at 

 all times maintained to prevent injustice being done 

 any one.] 



^M'lTCHELL has taken out another patent; 

 iL\/lJli it is on his 50c. bee hive. As an indi- 

 vidual right to use this is included for the 5 oi* 

 $10.00 that he receives /roz/i eacli person for the 

 lesson of two hours given the "class," he has 

 the excuse to offer that his '-right" is an equiv- 

 alent for the money received, even if the in- 

 struction is worthless. 



It seems almost hopeless, the task of 

 convincing people that there are no great mys- 

 teries, or secrets connected with bee-keeping, 

 but that success is only attained by honest 

 hard work, which these traveling secret and 

 patent venders are too lazy and dishonest tor 

 accept. Even ministers of the Gospel — by the 

 way it seems as if they of all others, were the 

 very easiest prey for such men — are really pay- 

 ing a premium to such vagabonds for going 

 about the countrj^ If we are to l)elieve Mitch- 

 ell's new circular, he has actually induced a. 

 Rev., from Elmore, O., to act as travelling agent 

 for him. If our Clergymen wished to learn 

 Greek or Latin, would they pay their money 

 to some travelling man who promised to teach 

 it to them in a couple of hours? We cannot 

 see that bee culture differs very materially. 

 As we have said before, we feel confident that 

 you are at liberty to make any thing needed in 

 a bee liive, without paying any body for a 

 ri.fiht to do so. 



JSv «; s> <) 1? t lif; ^j^ii <e ^o 11 s? .ia ,§;• I ii /^''® 



vjP sold in spring of '74 down to 1:3, from these I took 



Sl 832 lbs. extracted honey which I sold for S127.33 



r^ Box honey in frames 1117 lbs 222.99 



Broken comb honey 174 lbs 27.44 



Sold 19 colonies for 151.75 



Wax 30 



Total : . . .S529.81 



Paid out for Queens 7.00 



Balance $522.81 



I still have an increase of 4 stocks, and I have made 

 no account of about 300 lbs. that we used and gave 

 away. My bees had only comb enough in the spring 

 to 1111 their hives and two upper stories besides. 



In the spring of '73 1 took my lirst swarm and cared 

 for them to Ihe best of my ability and sold in two sea- . 

 sons, $l'.'.>.oo worth of hoiiey and increase. We have 

 had a very good season here. I have a way of, what I 

 call, keeping the bees' ambition up to its highest pitch 

 in the honey season, that is of ke('|)ing them trying to 

 lid so.ne i)lace according to their (•;i|)acity. For box 

 honey I start them at one end and so follow along 

 toward the other. If it is a medium swarm they will 

 have some finished by the time they reach the last 

 end and with a division board I can make them think 

 a little more will linish the whole job, and often I let 

 very large swarms build for weaker ones to linish. 



I can have swarms of not more than two cpiarts lill 

 their stent for tlie extractor, side by side with very 

 large swarms. I give every one room according to 

 their ability. 



I winter in a cool and very dry cellar. But Mr. Ed- 

 itor l)?es want the room in which they are kept, well 

 ventilaK^d as well as the hive. J. L. Lkwis. 



West Windsor. Eaton Co., Mich. Ja:i. 21th, 75. 



