83 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June. 



MOM.Ell' '^O-laWMlf « 



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^i|]px EAR EDITORS:— Extracted honey taken out 

 m ■ before it was capped over, has injured the sale 

 ^•^i^ of a good article, nil extracted honey has injured 

 tliL' repulfition of comlj honey, and artificial honey 

 has nearly killed both. Therefore I shall use my ex- 

 tra sets of combs for new colonies of bees, thus (ioub- 

 ling my number of stocks and raise comb in i lb. boxes 

 exclusively. 



James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich., May 13th, "75. 



There you go frieiKl H., but we have seen so 

 many that had determiiied on "comb honey," 

 change their ininds about the time tlie bees 

 had got every thing fall and wouldn't "move 

 in" to the nice surplus receptacles, that we have 

 little fear that you will not do the same. Our 

 neighbors who have once had experience as to 

 what can be done with the extractor are very 

 much disinclined to allow their bees to hang 

 out and idle away their time in the old fash- 

 ioned way. Do you mean to intimate the price 

 and demand for .ywcxZ butter is ever spoiled be- 

 cause poor is to be found in the markets? By 

 the way which is most plentiful poor butter 

 or i)Oor honey V Again has the spurious butter 

 that has of late made its appearance, in any 

 manner injured the sale of a nice article V Are 

 not our bee-keepers borrowing trouble ? Who 

 is it that determines which is the good, and 

 which is the bad butter':* Why the people 

 who eat it of course. Even our 3)^ year old 

 Blue Eyes will tell you in a twinkling which 

 is the good "batto," as she calls it. Our friends 

 don't know honey yet; but bless you! they 

 will very soon learn to tell what kind they 

 don't wan't. 



We would ask those who complain that they 

 can't sell good, honey, if they have left it for 

 sale at every store and grocery for 10 miles 

 around 'r* When people get accustomed to 

 thinking that honey is always to be had at the 

 same price as butter or less, there certainly 

 will be no trouble in selling all that can be 

 raised. Again if you really are obliged to sell 

 it for 10 cts. per lb., and run a risk of getting 

 your pay at that, do give your neighbors a 

 chance at it at the same price. 



DEAR NOVlCK-.-I have in the hands of W. G. 

 Smith, of St. Louis, about (.oil lbs. of nice fall honey 

 gathered ))rincipally from Spanish Needle and Golden 

 rod, and put up in waxed casks of 10 and 20 gallons 

 each. He bays there is no sale for honey now in St. 

 Loiiis, and can't sell it. If you can assist me in dispo- 

 sing of it at 12)i cts. ))er lb. on board cars at St. Louis, 

 1 will recompense you for ail trouble. Sample sent if 

 desired. M. E. McMastkk, Shelbyville, Mo. 



P. S.— Address either mvself or "W. G. Smith, 



41i) North Main Street, St. Louis, Mo. 

 We have a sample of the Spanish Needle 

 honey sent us by some kinil friend, we can't 

 tell who now, and we like it very much, even 

 better than clover honey for a change. It is 

 dark but very thick. 



My merchant in New Orleans writes me he is selling 

 this spring some spendid lioney put up in very at- 

 tractive fancy jars in New York (that is he bought it 

 in NeAV York City) and that it sells very readily. I 

 sujipose it nuist be strips of nice comb put in and "then 

 tilled with liquid honey, lie doubts if anytliing as 

 attractive can be put up South. VVliat kind of jars 

 can they be ? Is there any thing better than "Masl)n's 

 Improved" self-sealing rouml glass Jars lor putting up 

 lioney and if so where can 1 get it ? Wm. II. W.\UE. 



Bayou Goula, La. May 1 1th, "7;'). 



Our friend Muth sells a very attractive jar ; 

 he seat us some samples which we tilled, but 

 they were gone so soon, we hardly had time to 

 see what they were like, sec his advertisement. 



We have preferred the Mason jar, because ev- 

 ery one linds them useful in "the household. 

 We don't know of any other self- sealing jar 

 any better. 



[ DITORS Gleanings :— The time will soon be 



Ml here when those who allow their bees to jjwarm 

 I naturally'can look for swarms. And my advice 



Is to those to have cool and clean hives for them, then 

 there is not much danger that they will leave and go 

 to the woods. Some bee-keepers make such a big- 

 noise when their bees swarm that I would not feel 

 surprised if all their swarms would leave. 1 once 

 came to a neighbor when one of his did swarm, I 

 thought at lirst they would all go crazy, the wile had 

 a large liand bell, the man had an old fashioned din- 

 ner horn, one of the boys had an old scythe, and one 

 had a strap of sleigh bells, one of the girls had a tin 

 pan, and they made a noise that could have been 

 heard two miles oil' at least. The bees got settled on 

 a small ])each tree, the man placed a hive under them 

 and at the same time he had a watering pot ready, 

 ti.en he shook the bees down and did sprinkle about 

 ten quarts of water over them, and the next thing 1 

 heard of that swarm, was that it left for parts un- 

 known in the afternoon. I know one man that lost 

 one-fourth of all his young swarms every year ; they 

 go to the woods or fly to an empty hive somewhere 

 in the neighborhood, and I think I know the reason 

 why they go ; his hives are half rotten, one liangs for- 

 ward, the other backwards, some this way, and some 

 the other way, they stand in the shade under some 

 scrubby trees, and it rains, snoivs and blows right on 

 the hives the whole year round, so I think it is no 

 wonder that the young swarms leave. I think it is 

 with bees as with a man that lives in the country or 

 city and has got a house that is good for nothing. I 

 think he will not stay if he can get a better one, but if 

 a man has got a splendid house witli a nice yard to it 

 he doesn't like to move away, so it is with bees. If 

 they have got good hives and a watchful keeper to 

 hive them as soon as they have settled, there is not 

 much danger that they will leave. I never liad a 

 swarm that left. In the summer ot 1S73 I had a strong- 

 colony that would uot swarm. The bees were hang- 

 ing out as big as a small bucket. I came to the con- 

 clusion to smoke them in ; I did smoke them till every 

 bee was in, and in about two hours they did swariri. 

 In the summer of 1874 I tried the same thing again, 

 and they did swarm about one hour after I did smoke 

 them, and the swarms diil turn out just as good as any 

 other natural swarm that I had. 1). N. Keka. 



Sliimersville, Lehigh Co., Pa. May IJrd, 1875. 



We should never think of hiving any swarm 

 of bees without giving them a coml) of unseal- 

 ed larva\ It seems that bee-nature is unable 

 to withstand the temptation of unsealed brood 

 that needs care. In regard to making bees 

 swarm by "smoking them in," we can hardly 

 think such good news can be true invariably, 

 from what we know of the insects, however it 

 is very ^?asilj' tried, and if true will give friend 

 Kern a place among our benefactors by no 

 means to be despisetl. If we have among our 

 readers a person who allows his bees to hang 

 out, idly, we must think we have done our 

 part badly. Mr. Langstroth thinks, that noises 

 by drowning the note of the Queen, m<iy cause 

 a swarm to alight. 



J. P. MooiiE, of Binghampton, N. Y., sends 

 a description of what he calls the "Boss Feed- 

 er. ' It is on the atmosbheric plan, and is 

 simply a tumbler or glass jar of syrup inverted 

 on a piece of painted wire cloth. To hold the 

 wire cloth level it is tacked to a small frame, 

 and by setting this frame in the portico, and 

 making an opening to match the entrance to 

 the hive, they can be fed without opening the 

 hive. Wlien the feeder is to be replenished, till 

 it full, and hold a piece of tin over the mouth until it 

 is in [dace on the wire (doth. To make the feed come 

 <lown more rapidly, make a hole in the centre of the 

 wire cloth, nearly the size of a bee. 



