f.^To. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE GULTUTIE. 



1(17 



DKAIl NOVICK;— This is the worst season in Cin- 

 vt-iiiiuili Uitit bee-kec'iiois have exjierieJiceU since 1 

 iuineil U>e Irateiiiily seven >ears ujjo. Soine ol my 

 niwfi haven"! .;. iioiuhI ol'honey, aaul at the sawic tiaiie 

 \l seejus 4IS U i never JkmI such columes reaiiy lor 

 work ; lor the last wee.k some ollheni have been Jiill- 

 Ui-j: the ilrones, so taking everylliiu;,' iQgeiher the 

 laosjie+a Is rjillier gloomy. So«ie Aviaries situated 

 near liiwleji proves have done very well, and ojie 1 

 know ol lias satheretl a gootl sii,l).l)ly lu-iii rasi()berries. 

 1 am soing to leed all 2uine 'jnongh to iJisurc tJiem 

 against want or lamine, and 1 thinii iJje lall jiasiure 

 >\iU be .good, lor J am >uro weeus never had such a 

 good linie to .gro>v in as ihey have iimX ilus swnnuvr. 

 Migar as a winter leed will run a good eJiance ol being 

 tested in this ]iart ot the eoiuilry. Winierin.g hjis lost 

 its dread around here since the introduction ol' mats; 

 .my 4(1 liives (ranie Uirough willt the W^ss ol two (.Queens. 

 1 should like to know how your hive di'l with the 

 mat on. II. K. (Uj;kv, Oiiiciiinati, <)., July 13, '75. 



The colaiiy covcrod by tlie Jiuit wiittcred 

 .■•ijually as well ^is tiiosc covered with quilts, 

 Imt uu better ; -vve iioti-c^i oite peewliarity of 

 the mat, however ; an lifting it up, tlie Dees 

 were always fouud clustered ^v) it, while with 

 ihe quilts, they were elust^ered down aniouy 

 tlie coaiibs. As itll colonies hnviu^ (luilts or 

 juats were perfectly drj and clean, it was hard 

 to decide ia favor of either. 



jiet the comb loundations advertised in this 

 niuuber. It is some bother to fasten tiieiii in 

 the frames, but wheu you (dice get them, they 

 ■are bcdniij'nl. 



I am taking one t)aiTel ol'honey per day. 



U. A, JoNKS, Tecuniseth, Oni., *.'aii.,July l.i, 'ifi. 



The most prolilic t^iieen in my Apiary will be tliree 

 years old next October— you just ouj^lit to see her 

 spread h-ersell'. SJie .<^eems to bid tleliance to "bee 

 disease," cold winters, springs or anything else. 1 

 liave introdu<^e-il tliree virgin (Queens tills spring safe- 

 ly -lost one; cause, r-iii.sed~the Jioney boani whicli ex- 

 cited the bees, and -dropped herin" while they wei't; 

 excited, the otJiers J let erawl in at a hole in the 

 honey bOiinU T. <4. jNlciiAW, Monmouth, Ills. 



Apoors(jAson iai this locality lor bees; li'uit blos- 

 .scuis were all killed. There were no locust blossoms, 

 .and wiiiie clover, wJiicli is our juain depejul&nce in 

 this section lor surplus honey, has amounted to noth- 

 ing, but we expect it next yt^ai- by the <|uaiitity, so we 

 are keeping in good sjjirits with the expectation of a 

 ijig HoAN ot Honey in "Tb. 1 think if Novice had been at 

 -uiy place this season I cciiiu have convince^l him 

 in regard to my bees liaviug; too much po.llen. Jt 

 would Jiave taken auore Uian savaal -storniv days to 

 rtiiiove it. 1 had daughters of imported (Queens too. 

 JMy locality is diller(tnL iroui yours, j ou have to use 

 aneal lor e;u'ly pollen, I do noi; theyeolleet it on tlie 

 iirst lair days ox spiing tiiat iliey can lly. Wliy do not 

 Dees gather moic jjoileu than they need, as well as 

 (they yatJier more fioiiey ih;ui they need y 



~' A. J. tiSHEK, East Liverpool, < »., .July 15th, '7.5. 



Quite right, friend F., a bee-keeper needs to 

 cultivate patience and equanimity-, he mast be 

 in leadiness to take care ol the honey wheu it 

 comes, and he must also be preijartd to make 

 the best of extremes of weather, failure of the 

 Jlowers to jield honey, etc., etc. iSo lon,g as 

 i)ees command the prices they do, colonies can 

 he. made at a good profit by sugar feeding ; 

 neither the Ijees nor their owner need remain 

 idle, and wheu you once get all hands btisily 

 .•It work, you may be agreeabh" astonished at 

 an unexpected liow' of honej*. Your abundance 

 ■<)f polkn will be of very great advantage, for 

 you can safely keep up brood-rearing uutil 

 quite late, and as has been fully proveu, see 

 j>ages .50, b-l, and 08, bees will rear brood in 

 abundance when confined in their winter quar- 

 ters, if supplied with plenty of pollen. Perhaps 

 we that are less fortunate can afford to pur- 

 chase it of you, if 30U will give 3 our bees einp- 

 . ry combs, and take out the tilled ones. They 

 can be safely kept over winter out of the hives, 

 and freezing does no harm. This would be 

 /asier and perhaps cheaper than meal feeding 

 and would enable us to be entirely independent 

 of unseasonable weather in spring, so far as 

 brood-reai'ing is concerned. With our house 

 Apiary, it would work beautifully. 



I ■commenced Um season with lour stands, ■•iallup 

 hives, -and they were very weaii. All the bees on one 

 stand, 1 could hold in my hands, and the otiiers cov- 

 ered about three frames each. 1 had not a lull sec ot 

 combs for any of the hives, and yet theyiill<<l ui> and 

 swarnicHl until 1 got about siek of the sw ai miiig. Have 

 increase<l to II stands and returned 3 more because! 

 had got no more empty hives. Just getting honty 

 enough to lieei) brood-rearing going nicely. 



WAX.Xi'JK SJi.NiOK, Kvansviile, ^V e.st Va., July la, ■7-'!. 



Under sucli circumstances had \'ou not bet- 

 ter raise and sell bees, rather than honey y 



DEAK XOVICE:— You are a brick! You have 

 made yourself immortal. Your JNIed ley has arrived; 

 'tis splendid, i greet all the laces introduced by you, 

 and say "here is jny hand."' "Some men are born great, 

 some "achieve greatness, and some have greatness 

 thru-st upon them," but you ac(;identally made your- 

 sell a great name, by studying up the Medley; every 

 bee-keeper ought to have it. 



W. W . sKixiwicK, lirauville, O., July lOth, '75. 



If our readers will excuse the above, we wiU 

 try to say no more about the Medley. 



EDITJJRGLEANINGl.S:— Please give your readers 

 the best jilan lor securing straight worker surplus 

 «,omb. C 



AVith aid of index, examine back volumes, 

 but if you want all worker comb, mathematic- 

 ally correct, better thau any bets ever made, 



I have fretiueutly read in order to get bees to work 

 in boxes louse small pieces ol comb— a belter plan 

 and especially when one has not the comb, is to use 

 wax gnides, then give ibem a ladder to climb up by, 

 starting Irom the entrance to centre ol lop of Ijox — a 

 small oue-hallinch piece of comb makes the best lad- 

 der—but a small tiuxeU stick wiU answer. By using 

 the ladder they will begin work much sooner, tliau ii 

 they have to ciimb the sides ol box. Try it and see 

 tor yourself. T. ■G. McGaw, Monmouth, Ills. 



As the Italians are quite disposed to begin 

 at the bottom and I)uild their combs upward, 

 we think t^ese "ladders" would be quite an 

 item, and tlie neatest and cheapest material for 

 them would undoubtedly be the comli founda- 

 tions. We presume Mr. Long will send these 

 by mail, and at ^1.00 per lb., they certainly 

 would be cheap enough for guides in boxes. 

 One square foot like the sample sent us, weighs 

 only 2}.j> ounces, so that we can calculate on 

 somethrng like 10c per square foot or $1.()0 for 

 comb foundations enough to till a single story 

 L. hive, as each L. frame (with the metal cor- 

 ners) contains jtist about one sciuare foot of 

 comb. We thiiik it very probable that the ob- 

 jection that has been urged that the Italians 

 "were more averse to working in boxes than the 

 blacks, is only because they do not go up to 

 the top of an empty box or hive, and hang in 

 clusters as the blacks do. :Mr. Langstroth re- 

 marked to us, that a strip of comb for a guide, 

 would be much more etiicient if placed on the 

 side of the box instead of along the top in the 

 old fashioned way, just l)ecause of this pecu- 

 liar trait of the Italians. In fact they will un- 

 der some circumstances build their combs up- 

 ward uutil they topple over from their weight; 

 when the blacks would have at once gone to 

 the top and built dowu\vard. 



