-r2G 



GLEANINGS' IN BEE CULTTKE. 



SKfT- 



/loney in their liives. I don't tlilnk there has lieen 

 live ])onn(ls of surphis lioney taken within reacli of 

 fliis place. Still hopintr for sometliin.sr this fall. Tarn 

 yours etc. \V. O. Atkinson, Vermont, ills., July '29, '75. 



Yon should have cnrtafnecT the cellar as we 

 did the cider mill a^ year aij^o, see pasje 114, Vol. 

 3. Unless the cellar ofTered some sn'eat at- 

 traction, you could have kept them away by 

 out-dooi' feedinir. With a small number of 

 stocks, this is a very simple task, but with an 

 Apiary of ffO colonies, some of them so full of 

 bees tiiat they cannot all set into the hive, as 

 ours are now (Au,<r. 4th), it looks like rather a 

 formidable uudertakiiii; ; were they in need of 

 food however, we should not hesitate, but as it 

 is, their hives are pretty well filled with clover 

 honey. Too bad, isn't it y 



Some one asked the Editor of the EriiisJi Bee 

 Journal if he answered all the inquiries sent. 

 His reply was that he did not, for it would 

 take all the ro(jm in the Journal to answer 

 those who were too lazy to look over the back 

 numbers by aid of the index, etc. There may 

 (>e some truth in this, yet we do not feel quite 

 ri2:lit, to give any honest in(|uiry no answer at 

 all. Just listen to our next friend, who says 

 he has the back numbers with which he is very 

 much pleased. 



How would hives lonj; enough for '.'0 frames do ? 



They do "tip top," but are A'ery unhandy to 

 rarry about. 



Wlmt do you moan T)y a ilivision hoard, and how is 

 it use<l '-' 



A board to hana: in the hive as the frames do, 

 that it may be (;ontracted in size to "fit" the 

 colony. If two colonics are to be kept in the 

 same hive, this board must be "bee tight," 

 otherwise it may reach only within ^.4 or ^^' in. 

 of the bottom, and is then simply to keep the 

 Queen on a few combs, that she may fill those 

 she has /?/K «/Z»r(7rtrZ before the board is moved 

 back to allow her another. 



How do yon find out what the Queen is doing in the 

 hive, wheii she is laying, etc. ? 



Lift out the combs and look into the cell 

 and "Kee." 



In vour last issue Mr. (.'orbin sjieaks of fertile work- 

 ers ; 7i,o?t' /.s; i^^a/ ? I thouglit the Queens laid all the 

 eggs. 



So they do normally, but suppose a strong 

 colony are deprived of their (^ueen, and when 

 they have reared auotiier, siie is lost also ; they 

 have no eggs or brood with whicli to rear 

 another, and what is to be done V Now expe 

 rience has shown that whenever this occurs, 

 one or more ordinary workers will soon com- 

 mence to deposit eg'gs, as the Queen does, ex- 

 cept that these eggs are always scattered 

 about in an irregular manner, 8 or 4 in a cell, 

 etc. These eggs in time produce drones, per- 

 ha]is some smaller than natural ones, and the 

 colony soon perishes unless they are helped. 

 .Vow "the strangest part of it all is, that these 

 workers are treated as Queens, and it is con- 

 sequently very ditlicult to get them out and 

 introduce a genuine Queen. Hence the letters 

 I'eferred to. 



Are the tin trouglis for the frames to rest on, the 

 usual practice ? Is there any way to keep the ends of 

 the frames from slipping when you raise the quilt, 

 an<l are the frames spaced in the hive by the eye, or is 

 there no ))lan of notching at tlic ends to keep the 

 frames in their proi)er pla(^es;' 



In practice it is found to be very unwise to 

 have the frames at lixcd distances ; we want 



them to slide freely along the rabbets, or"tii2! 

 troughs" as you call them, and during a heavy 

 yielcT of honey, we freqnientl j space them so 

 that s or ;> frames occupy the spsce of I'O. Yoa 

 cfin dispen^i"- with the rabbets if you choose- 

 but after a hive has been in use several sea- 

 sons, and the frames gluecf fast in tJveir places^ 

 we think ycm yrill be glad to adopt the metal 

 bearings. 



('an j-oiT send me a;n extractor, knife, etc.. next 

 spring, and prepay ejrpress or frclgirt crharges, ami at 

 what price ? I think I will send you son?e subscrip- 

 trons after awhile. 



E. C. C < ).\;, Centervflle, Texas, July 11th, ".'i. 



We can prepay express charges, but not 

 freight ; expense will be iTctween 4 and iji^.OO 

 from here. As extractors are rather bulky 

 freight, the expense is not very raxTcb less thai? 

 by express, and tim'e of transit much Ioniser. 



Can you tell me who has empty combs for sale ? 

 Tlie people in this part of the countr.y nse old box: 

 hives r and wlien they take out the honev they smoke 

 and kill the bees with snlphin-;' ami what 1" want to' 

 do is to save tfie Vices and brood, and prrt them into- 

 movable conTb hives, and let them fill enfpty comb 

 witli s}-rup in Sept. Do you thmk that 1 can make it 

 work ? If I can. I can get bees. 



Wm. J. McDocGAL, EmporiiiTO, Fa.. July -ii), '75.. 



Most assuredly you can make it succeed, but 

 yon must commence at once, in fact August 

 would be a safer month to commence opera- 

 tions, than this. If you cannot get empty 

 comb, and even if you can, we think you could 

 make it work nicely to use the comb founda- 

 tions. By far the better way would be to pur- 

 chase the colonies outright, that tliey propose 

 brimstoning, jn'oviding you can gret them for 

 what the honey will be worth, .giving them 

 the hives back, after you have transferred 

 them. We liave made colonies thus at tw<? 

 ditferent time*, and all that is needed, is to get 

 them to rearing i)rood as soon as possible, and 

 also, be sure they g'et their sugar eyruji Avell 

 sealed titp in their new coralis, before* cool 

 weather. Jjate swarms and colonies that 

 evidently cannot winter, can be transferred inr 

 September with ease; the only trouble with 

 Mcwy ones, is that you will get the honey to 

 running and thus start robbing'. [As we did 

 last month.] 



If mj' memory senses me right, in the eitiforial col- 

 nnins of GLEANrN<;s. a year or two since, it was sug- 

 gested (es)ieciallv to avoid robbery) that honey be 

 extracted l)v moonlight. At (hat time I had never 

 seen an extractor. At the present time I am inclined 

 to the opinion that the Editor never had seen one— by 

 moonlight. Very truly, G. E. Cokbin. 



St. Johns, Mich.. Aug. .3d, '75. 



P. S.— Am well pleased witli the extn.ctor I bouglit 

 of you. Have taken with it, from eight colonies, about 

 1000 pounds of chince "white honey." I sold one col- 

 ony, tliree went to the woods, and 1 have ■.^2^now; alt 

 from the original eight colonies. U. (,'. 



Now friend C, if you have not tried extra(;t- 

 ing by moonlight, your opinion is very rash, it 

 not an unkind one." We did extract by moon- 

 light (only from the upper stories however), 

 and should assuredly do it again under like 

 circumstances. If you use plenty of smc^ke to 

 I drive the bees below, and then stand well at 

 one side when you shake the l^ees in front of 

 the entrance, U) avoid getting them on your 

 clothing, you will have no trouble at all. In 

 tlie extracting room of course a lamp must be 

 used, and the only annoyance there, was 

 caused by bees from outside occasionally fly- 

 ing in. 



