F.875. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ul 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



/iJP'JjAX 1 divjile a large swarm of bees at this time of 

 'Mjj the year, and build them up for wintering, that 

 >s^' is. got lia'Mi lo raise bees bv fee<ling sugar svru]) 

 ill .Septe/nber aiul O<.;tober so that I v. ill have "two 

 -•swarms liavjjig bees enoJigii to winter well, n^ far as 

 bees are coJicernL^l y I have Ji! swanus. 1 lost all but 

 «>ne last spring. jukI that was (Jueeuless in the spring. 

 I bouglit 3 goo<l swaniis in May. in box liives; irans- 

 lerre-i them, and in June divideil theui. in Julv they 

 were running over witli Lees, and all oast.a swann, afl 

 are now full of bees and honey; when I look into the 

 hives 1 wish 1 JkkI an extractor, for there is honey to 

 gallier, buttheyliave plenty, and won't work in boxes. 

 ^^'. A. AJ)AJl.s, l-.asion. Wis., .SL'i)t. (ith, 1875. 



With a hive of 10 combs well rilled witli hon- 

 ey and pollen, we think jou would be <juit« 

 .safe iu dividing, say as early a.s the rtrst week 

 ill Sept. If von have empty combs to rill out 

 both hives, and a fertile Q"eeu to give the 

 iiueenless part, it might safely be done even 

 •2 weeks later. This is rather uus^ife work for 

 a ))egiuner, and where combs are to be built, 

 it should all be attended to iu warm weather; 

 it is true that by eery lil)eral feeding we may 

 have combs built even iu Nov.. ; butlt is quite 

 c-xpeusive business, so much of the feed is con- 

 sumed iu keeping up the requisite temperature. 

 Wt once tested the matter by giving one colo- 

 ny a Ixirrd of sugar in Oct. audNov^ 



property ? 

 are jjeddle* 



Of course we mean the rit^iits tliat 

 about to individuals. 



\ 



I lost .3 stands last winter, ami the 3 that J had left 

 I Increased to 10 stands, Iroiu them I took 200 lbs. of 

 <.-xtracted honey. , Mks. E. liiTLEK. 



Scotlville, Ills., Sept. 24Ui, "75. 



I startetl last spring with 20 colonies, nine of them 

 ui okl boxes, have increased to 50 good onea, all in 

 b'lnu'S double wailed hives. I would not have a board 

 hive as a gilt if 1 could get Finn's. 1 am sometimes 

 tempted to smile at your discussions on wintering, 

 and your hostility to those horrible uatents. Friend 

 -Novice, how about those metal corners ■' are thev not 

 patented .-• But enough of this now, jieihaps voii will 

 iiear from me again, if I have lime. I have taken 1100 

 ibs. extracted honey, could have done better had I 

 not been loo much occupied in other aflairs and neg- 

 lected my bees. Hope lo be able lo attend to their 

 wants better next lime. The clover and linden were 

 failures oa account of wet weather, and the h.mev has 

 ficen gathered suice the middle oi August from'wild 

 lowers. Yours in sweetness, JAtou J. KisiiK. 



Adelphi, Iowa, Sept. ICth, '75. 



Almo.st all valuable implements, and man- 

 ufactured articles in common use, are patent- 

 ed, and no one, so far as we know, has ven- 

 tured to intimate that there is anything wrong 

 ;iijout it. The only question is, is it right to 

 peddle individual town.ship, county, and state 

 rights about among the people ? In fact, is it 

 right to sell your fellow men anvthing that 

 you feel sure will be of no use to them 'i ' 



Such rights have been sold in our own town 

 for the past 20 years, to our knowledge, and 

 although bee-hive rights are gone by,*" rights 

 for fences, patent well-diggers, etc., etc., have 

 been sold within the past few days, and the 

 money has invariably been paid by men who 

 could illy afford to lose it, yet it has been all 

 tins time only a continual loss, for not a sin- 

 gle one of the "great inventions" has ever 

 proved to be of any value. One after another 

 has l^eeu dropped, and yet the same people 

 Irequeutly waste their hard earnings in the 

 same manner again. Have not the evils of 

 this kind of traffic left their marks iu every 

 community iu the laud ? and do such rights 

 ever prove to be of permanent value like other 



.\ WOIJI) ABiX'T MK IIIUAN. 



FRIEKJ) N()VIOK:-We confe.-s to a feeling of 

 inideaiu. satishn-tion in peru.Hng the good wor.ls you 

 speak o! our adopte.l staie-JMichignn in lasKii.iiAN- 

 .1 ?•• 1. '*'»■"'>■ '' wni'-nonwealth, whether viewed in 

 the hght ol her natural advantages, line climate or he 

 weal h,enterpr,.se and general enlightenment of her 

 people. Indeed, in our somewliai extensive travel- 

 no o her section ol „ur country pleases ?« so well, 

 lint lest some ot your leaders may obtain an errone- 

 ous impression in regard to our state as being a i)ara- 

 dise lor bee-keepeis, we oJler a few ihomghts as 

 additional lo your "Notes by ihe Way." 



Ailozen years ago, tliere coidd hardly have been 

 lmiu<l in all ihe country between the Atlantic and 

 J acilic a more lavorabie location lor the ajiiarian. 

 but the sad havoc which the circular saw has made in 

 the graaul old poplar and linden forests, anu the con- 

 sequeui change of climate has reduced the leally lii-i 

 class bee sections to comparativelv a verv few and 

 these are constantly growing less." Nine' \ ears a^o, 

 the hndeu would have furnished ami.k erni.loymeiu. 

 lor a thousand stocks (no exaggeration) uhere we 

 now write; now the fall llowers are our main depen- 

 ( ence, which materially reduces our prolits irom the 

 Apiaiy. 



Then our peculiar situation— between the srcat 

 lakes— gives u.s a very humid atmcsphere, which 

 makes successiul wintering by the ordinary method-, 

 quae out of the question, indeed, lor profitable bee- 

 culture, our native state-New iork. presents lar 

 greater inducements to the apiarian now, than Mich- 

 igan does, or (in our opinion) ever can. 



We give you these ideas, based on actual expeii- 

 ence, not to discourage a single person even irom 

 engaging in our "lasciuating jjursuit" here in the old 

 l^euinsular .Siate," but simply as a statement of lacts, 

 that vour readers may not entertain ihe notion that 

 Michigan IS a paradise for the apicultuiist. 



c .V, TT ,,. , "HkUUEUT A. IJlliCll. 



South Haven, Mich., Oct. 4th, '75. 



From the Syracuse Journal of Sept, 'Z^ih, 70. 



A SWEET SIGHT. 

 HOW THE liLSV 1!EE IMFIIOVED THE .SHINING HO IK. 



Mr. G. M. Dooliltle, of Borodino, brought to this 

 city yesterday, four wagon loads of pure and beautiim 

 honey, which he sold to jMr. lloberts, grocer, in the 

 Myres Block, lor tweutv-live cents per pound. 'Ihe 

 combaiMl weight of the packages was 7,(00 pounds, 

 amounting in money to ;J1,7.30. it was handsomely en- 

 cased in -.'.O-lO small boxes, with glass in either side, 

 showing the while covering rf the cells, anti thev 

 were packed in cases ready lor -shipment. Of this 

 amount, 4,&78 pounds were produced by forty-six 

 swarms of bees owned by Mr. Doolitile, who for a 

 number of years has been much interesteil in the sub- 

 ject Ol bee culture. A year ago he possessed one 

 hundred swarms, which came irom two swarms lie 

 obtained in ISfW, but the number was reduced bv 

 more than one-half by the very cold weather of la.M 

 April. N ow the inunber is one hnnrlrcd and eiglit. 



With the exception of Mr. X. N. Betsingor of Mar- 

 cellus Falls, who has two hundred and tweuty-two 

 swarms, Mr. Dooliltle is without doubt the most ex- 

 tensive as well as one of the best informed bee culiu- 

 risto in tlie couutv. 



The season with us has not been very good, tlie 

 spring was late and cold, heavy frosts in "June, but if 

 my bees had been fed in the spring, thev woulil have 

 given a good yield ol honey, but I could" not be with 

 them much oi the time ana thev were verv bad about 

 robbing, and i dare not leed them withoui giving the 

 cai-e. 1 hail 4!) stocks in the spring, in<'reased t) 10!" 

 by natural and artilicial swaiming— took 2000 lbs. ex- 

 tracted ana 1.500 lbs. box honev. My box honey was 

 about 1000 lbs. less tlian I expected. Honey was quite 

 plenty nut it was so cold they could not store it in 

 boxes. 1 run only ,8 hives for extracted hoiiev, got 

 200O lbs. from the eight— uoirt extract brood t'ombs. 

 Have now got an imported (^ueen, but her workers 

 are not near as large as the ones 1 had before. Would 

 it be a good plan to breeii from them next year ? they 

 seem to be so small and not as good color as the ones 

 1 have now. My bees are in rather poor condition for 

 winter, they have too nnicli lionev, am! I linu it a 

 great task to extract so late in the "season from hy- 

 brids. Yours truly, Eewis Keli,e"v. 



Smyrna, Mich., .Seiit. 20th, '75. 



