Off 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JuLt. 



don't really see how it comes, but as they all 

 came there honestly, we will try and be con- 

 tent without intiniriuii- into the matter. It 

 may be the Automatic swarmer has been at 

 Work "on the sly." For the last ten days the 

 yield has been from 3 to 41.2 lbs. jier day, and 

 the suspended hive y-ot so full of bees that we 

 removed 4 combs, bees and all, gave them a 

 Queen that a friend swapped us for a Medley, 

 and now they are a fair colony, too. We have 

 not as yet .commenced extracting, or rather 

 have taken out but little. In conse(iuence of 

 o'ur frequent rains, the clover honey is ([uite 

 thin, and has a raw taste ; and we are deter- 

 rrtinc'il our honey this season shall be as good 

 as that in the coml). We have ))een waiting 

 for them to cap it, until the combs are all tilled 

 with brood and honey, and now we really have 

 no alternative but to put on the upper stories, 

 and make use of our stock of reserve combs 

 that have been idle for two years. In using 

 the upper stories this season, we shall work a 

 little differently. We have been in the habit 

 heretofore of raising up some of the brood 

 combs ; now we allow them to remain in the 

 lower story, shut down close, until every comb 

 is rtlled, and they just begin to get crowded ; 

 then if upper combs are put on they are filled 

 with honey very speedily, and not much brood 

 above. The brood does no particular harm, 

 yet it is much easier getting the bees off from 

 combs that are all honey. Also, by using our 

 drone combs above, and putting at a distance 

 of about 3 inches from center to center, we get 

 as much honey by handling only 7 or 8 combs 

 as We would otherwise with 10. These very 

 thick combs can l)e kept expressly for the pui*- 

 pose, and it is just the nicest fun to see our 

 light extractors relieve them of their weighty 

 contents. Our colony of sick or jerking bees 

 IS rather on the irain. Although no parasites 

 are visil)le on them, their behavior was such 

 that we gave their hive a good dusting with 

 tobacco, feeling that "we must do something," 

 a,s people often do when they take medicine. 

 Although tiiey are improving, We really can- 

 not think their treatment has much or any- 

 thing to do with it. 



June 2~}th — Our suspended colony is the life 

 of the Apiary. Although we divided It as 

 mentioned on tlie 14th, they gathei'ed 6-*4 lbs. 

 yesterday and this morning sent out a rousing 

 swarm. It had rained during the night, and 

 they being vicious hybrids, we expected some 

 show of stings, for they in their want of Avis- 

 dom entirely overlooked the ingenious Auto- 

 matic Hicdnner, and clustered on a limb that we 

 did not wish cut oft'. We thought of a veil, 

 but finally approached them with a clothes 

 basket, and directed Mrs. N. to spread a sheet 

 over it just as soon as we shook them 

 all in. This she did, and then, in accordance 

 with urgent advice on our part, beat a precip- 

 itate retreat. Now these very bees behaved in 

 the most exemplary manner only day before 

 yesterday. When we were extracting, but this 

 morning they excelled all hybrids, in giving 

 those peculiar hissing stings that fetch blood 

 lit every puncture. They "don't hurt" now, 

 but they did an hour ago, ami We are now 

 thinking Whether it would not have been bet- 

 tei" to have Hftw&d off the limb and to have 

 taken them down (juietly. If it were not for 



the Automatic swarmer, we certainly would 

 "saw off" that Queen's wings, and perhaps 

 while we are about it, the wings to the whole 

 troop of the eccentric royal daughters. We 

 put them into the Quinby hive, and now for 

 "box honey" once more. 



June 2C)th — Mr. Blakeslee says ?m suspended 

 hive has furnished bees for five nuclei, and yet 

 he has been obliged to take away all their 

 combs but two, to prevent swarming. In 48 

 hours after this they gained fifteen lbs., al- 

 though they had to build the combs to con- 

 tain the honey. A friend suggests that the 

 swinging about in the wind is analagous to 

 their native homes in the forest, and this ac- 

 counts for their unwonted activity. Fifteen 

 lbs. in 3 days is rather a strong argument in 

 favor of box honey. Both colonies are con- 

 fined to a one story Simplicity L. hive, as our 

 scales only have a capacity of 62 lbs. 



Gleanings in Bee Culture, 



Publisbed Monthly, 



-A.. I. I?.OOT. 



EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



MEDINA, OHIO. 



[Including Postac/e.] 

 For Cliib Rates see Last Page. 



3s<a:Ei3i3sr.A., j-ctl^st i, isTS. 



And thou Shalt take no trift; for the gift bUndeth 

 the wise, and 7ierverteth the Avords of the righteous. 

 Exodus, xxiii, 8. 



A. B. J"., for June was on hand about the first of the 

 month, but Magazine not until the liith, and World on 

 the 22nd. 



Mk. Meukiam wrote on the Kith, that one who 

 would induce Eastern people to sell out and go to 

 California to keep bees, ought to be "hung." 



THE (Jueen received from Dadant appears to be a 

 young one ; this is quite an item, for if we are to keep 

 one on hand to sui)ply larva; for Queens, one 2 months 

 old, is worth double one that is 2 years oUl. 



Some Summer rape and Chinese mustard were sown 

 in our garden, it seems to ns not more than 30 days 

 ago, yet both are beginning to blossom already. II" 

 honey alone was the object, it seems these seeds 

 might be sown even during July and August. Bees 

 arc too buSv on the clover to visit tbem now. 



We really do not wish to be vmder the necessity of 

 lumbering up every Issue of Gleanings with a list of 

 the wares we keej) for sale and the prices of the same. 

 Can yon not be a little nlore careful of the price lists 

 we mail you once a year or oftener, dear friends 'f 

 W^e wish to devote these pages to some better purpose 

 than a constant repetition. 



C. E. PoTTEu, of Watkins, O., and others, are in- 

 formed that chloroforming bees to transfer them does 

 not wo* k well in pi-actice. If stupefied, they would 

 remain in their cells where they would be sure to re- 

 ceive injury. We much prefer to have them alive and 

 callable of heing driven out of the way by proper ad- 

 ministration of smoke. 



