1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



59 



%&ad§ of %vam, 



From Different Fields. 



BEES AND HONEY ACROSS THE WATEH. 



^nj? SAW some lino specimens of honey in Glass- 

 )?([ gow, but no bees. In Scotland, there are mil- 

 s=*l lions of acres of heat her, rich in honey, which 

 goes to waste, for want of bees to gather it, the cli- 

 mite being; too cold for them. In Paris, I found but 

 a limited quantity of honey, and only 5 black bees 



working - on some ginger cake; and I could get no 



information about bees or honey. Yet there was a 

 fair specimen of it on exhibition, but not equal to 

 Hctherington's, of Cherry Valley, N. Y., at Phila- 

 delphia. 



But there was a splendid exhibit of wax from Ita- 

 ly, consisting of a slab about 6 ft. square, 1 foot in 

 thickness, and white as this paper; on the top was a 

 full grown lion, of yellow wax, with eagles' wings, 

 couchant; around and on the slab was white and 

 yellow wax in bars, and almost every conceivable 

 shape. I g-ave it up. O. E. Wolcott. 



Byron, Mich., Dec. 2, 1878. 



BEE HUNTING AND MOVING BEES IN THE FALL. 



1 have cut several bee trees this fall, the first of 

 which was a large rock oak. The entrance of the 

 bees was 50 ft. from the ground, just above the 

 comb. The cavity was 19 in. in diameter, and 8 ft. 

 in height, and every bit of space was filled with 

 comb, but only half the combs were filled with hon- 

 ey, as it was just at the beginning of buckwheat 

 bloom, which is the main supply in that section. It 

 contained about 100 lbs. of honey. I transferred the 

 bees to a Langstroth hive, and they are doing well. 

 Is it possible for one queen to utilize such an 

 amount of comb? 



This wa.s about 20 miles from Lewisburg, where 

 buckwheat is largely cultivated. The principal 

 honey supply here, near Lewisburg, is white clover. 

 Do you think it would pay, or would it be advisable, 

 to ship bees there after the clover is gone here, 

 which is before buckwheat blooms? We can ship 

 by freight at reasonable rates. Could we not obtain 

 a double honey harvest in this way? 



W. E. Yoder. 



Lewisburg, Pa., Dec. 16, 1878. 



It will pay well, many times, to ship bees 

 in the fall where buckwheat is raised large- 

 ly. One queen furnished all the bees doubt 

 less, but she would have done better with 

 but a small part of the comb. 



LETTER FROM A BOY. 



1 bought a hive of bees this fall that I paid $1.00 

 for, and it weighed exactly 87 lbs. I think I should 

 like to get some more at the same price. They were 

 in a box hive. I took two boxes off the top, that 

 weighed 25 lbs. The comb was somewhat black, as 

 I don't think the man I got them of, had taken off 

 the boxes for some time, and the bees had to store 

 honey in it and then eat it out. Mr. Wheeler, our 

 bee man in this town, said t he boxes were not worth 

 taking- off; but 1 didn't think my folks thought so. 

 lie said it was a good healthy swarm. They are not 

 pure Italians but hybrids. I hope you will read this 

 letter as I am a small boy of 13 years. 



New Ipswick, N. H. John M. Burton. 



Of course. I will read your letter, and be 

 very glad to get it, for we do not have many 

 Y.\ year old --bee men." 



(iETTINfi NATURAL COMB FOIt STARTERS. 



After 1 Hiking over the last three volumes of 

 GLEANiNfis. Magazine, and American lire Journal, I 

 find no place to inform me how to get the bees to 

 make comb to use for starters. Of course, drone 

 comb would be preferable, but anv nice white comb 

 will do. I want it to use next spring-, in time for the 

 honey harvest. Please inform me particularly. As 

 to-morrow will be Christmas, permit me to wish you 

 and yours a happy Christmas. Bees are doing well. 

 Could I not get them to build it during fruit blos- 

 soming and buckwheat harvest? Will want much 

 of it in June to use. A. Fahnestock. 



Toledo, O., Dec. 21, 1878. 



T 



Before we had the fdn., I used to save all 

 the little bits of white comb found about the 

 apiary, and in the course of the season, a 

 great many would be collected. Whenever 



found a colony building new drone comb, 

 it was carefully broken out and saved, of 

 course removing the frame, so that drone 

 comb building was stopped. If you put an 

 empty frame in the centre of any colony for 

 about 2-1 hours, you will get plenty of start- 

 ers, and willi a thin light comb guide, you 

 might get them right in the sections, thus 

 saving the time of putting them in. The 

 following is what friend Jjoolittle says, on 

 page 296, Dec. No. of 1876. Of course, 'these 

 directions are for the very few who decline 

 to use fdn. for starters. 



We should say starters cost not over 50 cts. per lb., 

 taking everything into consideration. Most of them 

 are built at times when the bees would not work in 

 boxes at all; namely, from apple blossoms, dande- 

 lion and buckwheat. This is the time to get your 

 comb for starters built, and we should consider it a 

 very poor apiarian that could not get a pound built 

 from each stock during the season, and not reduce 

 the amount of his box honey more than one per 

 cent. Buckwheat honey is at present wholly or 

 nearly unsalable, and with a good yield, 2 lbs. of 

 nice starters could be secured with ease from each 

 stock during its flowering. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., Nov. 15th, 1870. 



On the 1st of May last I had 26 swarms. From 

 them I have taken 1^20 lbs. of honey, half comb and 

 half extracted. 



I increased m y stocks to 46, and sold two; % of 

 my honey is sold at about lOctsperlb. Honey is 

 plenty about here, but I have sold mine all to citi- 

 zens. 1 have regular customers. Loads have been 

 brought in from the country, and sold for 10 and 12 

 cts., and retailed on the streets at that. 



My honey is nearly all clover with a little bass- 

 wood. 



70 lbs. to the hive ! is not that pretty good for the 

 city, in a location built up all around me, and with- 

 out having any trouble with my neighbors on ac- 

 count of bees ? N. A. Prudden. 



Ann Arbor, Mich., Dec, 1878. 



FREIGHTS ON HONEY, ETC. 



Bees did well this summer; I took 4500 lbs. from 03 

 swarms, and increased to 105 good smarms. They 

 are now all in the cellar. I sold most of my honey 

 in Philadelphia, at 15c, and shippedin yourshipping 

 cases by freight safely. The charges were 2c. per 

 lb. from here, while honey from San Francisco to 

 Philadelphia cost to ship only l^cts. How is that ? 



Sterling, Ills., Dec. 26, '78. A. F. Stauffer. 



I presume it comes about because the Cal- 

 ifornians have finally succeeded in getting 

 a special through rate on honey, in conse- 

 quence of their immense production. The 

 R. R. Co.'s very likely make a better profit 

 on that, at H cts., if ft is true they have re- 

 ally got it down so low, than on yours at 2 

 cts., because of the very large shipments. 



THE CARELESS WAY COMPARED WITH THE INTELLI- 

 GENT AND THRIFTY WAY. 



I have just got home from a 2 months' visit west, 

 where sickness, weather and weeds have made poor 

 crops of corn and honey. One man had 10 hives of 

 bees, and I saw the tall weeds standing thick, just 

 as they had grown, all around his hives. He said he 

 had taken only about 10 lbs. of honey from 

 them this year, but intended to brimstone one 

 swarm, and take their honey this month. 



On page 304, of Cleanings, my address was print- 

 ed Saxon, 111., when it should have been Toulon, 111. 



In Sept., I took 57 lbs. of extracted and comb hon- 

 ey, making 424 lbs. for the summer and fall, from 

 the -i stocks mentioned, besides increasing to 

 stocks. D. Tyrrell, M. D. 



Toulon, 111., Dec. 25, 1878. 



