V2G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



Gleanings in Bee Culture, 



llnchiding Postage^ 

 For Club Bates see Last Page. 



IvrE3DI3Sr.A.3 OCT- 1, ISTS- 



Thon hast Ijeon liiithlul over a lew thingb, I will 

 iiKike thee ruler over many. -Mat., xxv, 21. 



AuE you "laithrul" willi your "lew" colonies ? 



We are lesting a "Kussian'' (Jueen. Particulars 

 ni.'.xt month. 



"To bee or not to bee," as the man said when he 

 got lionie ami lound a sv.arm of 'em settled on his 

 tront door-knob. 



Wk consider rubber gloves, or any other lor hand- 

 ling bees, worse than useless ; has any one found 

 iliflcrently ? 



W'li fear we have .been a little rough on friend Coc's 

 Apiary on jiage U'A. The complications we referred 

 to are the expensive ventilators, and the painted en- 

 trances. Q'he hives are very simple and cheap, for 

 comb honey. Yet we think Mr. Coe's claims in the 

 .1. U. J., much too strong. 



Vi'K are very :5orry indeed that we of necessitj- 

 ]ias»ed by some of oitr best friends in our recent trip, 

 init we had a special route to take, and only had 

 time to make very biief calls; besides had we un- 

 dertaken to call on all our friends in Michigan, we 

 >hould not have been able to get hon;e' before next 

 spring. 



IvV our absence IMiss A. occupied the "chair editori- 

 al," and has handleil the reins so well that we have 

 hai'dly an additional Suggestion to make, unless it be 

 tliat "A Mine of Sweetness" on page 130, should have 

 a nsore severe lebuke. It is one of a numerous class 

 of sensational items that are going the rounds of the 

 press, and are sure to be received in perfect good 

 iiiiih by a large class of jieople who have no means of 

 knowing the utter impossibility and alisurdity of such 

 .statements. 



Wi; were much pleased by a brief call from friend 

 Newman, of the A. B. J., a few weeks ago, and we 

 take pleasure in assuring our readers that he has a 

 sincere desire to make all matters of business perfect- 

 ly fair and satisfactory, and that when mistakes do 

 occur, they may rest assured the}' are unintentional. 

 >Vnd while we arc about it, we may say the same of 

 the Kdilors of the Mai/azine and ]\'urld; in our corres- 

 jionilonce with them, we have always found them 

 ready to stand a jiersonal loss, rather than to have 

 misunderstandings, and dissatisfaction. 



As friends Butler of Jackson, Townley of Tompkins, 

 I'rof. Cook, and the sisteis we visitcd,'all have suc- 

 cesstully jiracticed wintering by covering the hives 

 with a large box, and filling in bVtwecn with straw or 

 chair, it would be foUj in us to ignore such authority. 

 We will give an article on the sul)ject from Towiile.v 

 next month. Ho says the hives should be put up for 

 winter now, while every thing is dry, and that the 

 covering over ihem must be perfectly water-proof. 

 We verily believe that the trosts of October and No- 

 vember do mucli injury, so we are much in favor of 

 putting bees up early." \Ve would have all secure as 



soon as Nov. 1st at least. Now lest our beginners go 

 heavily on this ])lan, we will say that it is not oidy la- 

 borious with many hives, but really more expensive 

 than a bee-house ; and the untidiness incident to so 

 much litter is really much against it. The advantage 

 is that tlie bees areat all times ready for a tty, when- 

 ever the weatlier is propitious, as they are in the 

 house Apiarj', yet many reports of disastrous fail- 

 ures have been sent in, when every thing, so far as 

 we coukl learn, was as as Mr. Town'iey advises. 



Sept. 2S;?<,.— A frost liaving (;ut oil" all supplies du- 

 ring our absence, we found all brood-rearing stopped 

 ana no eggs or iarvaj to be lound in any of the hives. 

 The bees were so cross that it was almost out of the 

 (luestion to attempt to handle them, and robbers were 

 on hand at every turn. As it woidd take some time 

 to get feeders oil all the hives, we lilled 12 feeders 

 and placed them in the open air, to see if we could 

 noticed them into a better humor. We had hardly 

 reckoned on the force that 108 colonies coidd send 

 out, and came very near being frightened at the result, 

 but it all turned out well with the excei)tion ot many 

 bees that were killed in the cjuarrel to see whicii 

 should get most. To-day we have made a larger feed- 

 er, and leil about 2.5 lbs. of sugar in about two hours; 

 we made tlie syrup qviite thiii— sweetened water in 

 fact— and the result has been quite satisfactory. We 

 can now open hives without smoke, the tjueeug are 

 all laying ami pollen is coming in at a very satisfacto- 

 ry rate. If very thick syruii is used they gorge them- 

 selves, and theii get down in the dirt and are lost. 



t^cpt. •i'Jlh.—Onr out-door feeding is not very satis- 

 tory; so mucli excitement, results in the loss ol many 

 bees, yet tlrese may be only old ones. At present we 

 know of no method of feeding so sure and economical 

 both in time and sugar, as the Universal feeder. The 

 larger part of our colonies liave store>3 enough, and 

 as these only need a little to keep up brood-rearing 

 during this month, we supply this by feeding dry yel- 

 low sugar in the open air ; this proiiuces no unheal- 

 thy excitement. 



NOTES BY THE ^VAY. 

 Continued from page 12;5. 



20^/i. — Manistee. — Dr. Ellis commenced with 

 2 colonies in tlie spring, ami now has G in good 

 condition for winter, and lia.^ taken 135 lbs. 

 with the extractor, — this with !)lack bees. 

 They v/ere ted notiiing, and are building comb 

 and storing honey now. 



We pnrchased one of Perrine's tumblers of 

 honey at the grocer's ; price 40c. for about ^-4 

 lb. The li(iuid portion we judge to be princi- 

 pally glucose and sugar, but it is certainly 

 pleasant to our taste, and if honestly labeletl 

 and sold at a fair price, wo cannot see that it is 

 objectionable. 



)llst — Not to be impartial we should mention 

 that we have had an cxtremeli/ pleasant visit 

 with two remarkably intelligent sisters wiio 

 have recently' commenced to keep bees. Altho' 

 both seem to have their time fully occupied iu 

 the discharge of sucli duties as usnallj- pertain 

 to a life on tlie farm, they have tliis season se- 

 cured from lu colonies, 250 lbs. of beautiful 

 honey in small, light frames, 500 lbs. or over. 

 ext'd, and increased to 2(i stocks, most of which 

 have twice the amount of stores needed for 

 winter. As we estimate it, their receipts will 

 exceed expenses, — they have Icept accounts 

 very neatly, — more than $150.00, valuing in- 

 crease at $10.00 each. Their bees are mostly 

 line Italians, and some of the best are from a$l. 

 Queen I'rom our county. They have no clover, 

 but an abundance of honey Irom the tireweed 

 in the fall, and we were aslonislied to find this 

 honey very white, and of a pleasant taste. 

 The extreme neatness of their honey, — both 

 kinds, — when prepared for sale, and its beauti- 

 ful transparency and whiteness mivke lis feel 

 ashamed of our own. 



