1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



HP, 



ADULTERATION OF COMB HONEY. 



A. B. J. must have been hoaxed in regard to the 

 seizure of Thurber's sections; it never took place. 

 One is in the hands of Professor Redwood, Public 

 Analyst for Middlesex, and he told us, on Wednesday 

 last, that, judging- by taste and smell, he should de- 

 cidedly say the contents were not honey, but that it 

 had answered every chemical test for honey that he 

 knew of; he had, however, not done with it and he 

 still thought his taste and smell could not so decided 

 ly err, but, up to that time, he could not say the 

 stuff was adulterated. The winter has been very 

 fatal to bees here; most of their stores are con- 

 sumed, and it is too early to feed. 



John Hunter. 



5 Eaton Rise, Ealing, London, Eng., March 3, '79. 



If it is in the power of a chemist to decide. 

 it seems probable that very little adulter- 

 ated comb honey has ever been on the mar- 

 ket ; it may be there has never been a ft), of- 

 fered for sale. 



to prevent increase, but they run up to 54, after los- 

 ing 2 Italian swarms that went to the woods, and 

 doubling up 10 others. Last fall, to reduce my num- 

 bers, 1 doubled down to 21. I am forced to do this 

 for the want of time. In the spring and fall, at the 

 very time my bees need attention, the business in 

 my office is pressing. I commenced for curiosity, 

 amusement, and to supply my table, and would like 

 to keep within these bounds; but if I do I have got 

 to learn some new way of doing it. 



In August. 1877, 1 bought of Dr. Brown, Ga. an Ital- 

 ian queen, the first I ever saw, and introduced her 

 without difficulty. Last season they swarmed 8 

 times; I saved 6 swarms and 2 went to the woods as 

 mentioned above. I find them more troublesome in 

 hiving than the blacks. One of those that went to 

 the woods left a frame with eggs and young bees, 

 that I had given them. A black swarm coming out, 

 I put them in the same hive, and they went to work. 

 Nearly every Italian swarm, 1 would have to rehive 

 before I could get them to stay. 



Yours Kcsppctfully, L. G. Rucher. 



Patrick C. II., Va.. March 15, 1879. 



BARNES CRANK ATTACHMENT TO THE FOOT POWER 

 SAW, ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE, &C. 



I am pleased with that saw set; it is the very thing 

 that I wanted. I am making honey boxes with the 

 Barnes foot power and the hand crank attachment. 

 I could not get along without it. 



I wanted just 55 colonies to start with in the 

 spring, and packed that number, thinking I could 

 winter them as safely as my shaep or other stock: 

 but, alas! I find 2 are no more, and one of them had 

 such a nice Italian queen that I raised myself! 



The honey is all gathered here in a few weeks of 

 a long season. I am well aware that bees only do 

 their best, in times of general prosperity; now, I 

 want to know when to sow rape or some other hon- 

 ey bearing plants, in order to bridge over these pe- 

 rods of dearth and idleness. 



Jacob Childs. 



Amherst, Wis., March 22d, 1879. 



I well know how desirable it would be to 

 bridge over these seasons of scarcity, but I 

 fear it will be a difficult matter, to get up a 

 field of rape, or anything else, that will do it. 



I do not wish to discourage such experi- 

 ments, but I do not wish you to get too en- 

 thusiastic, and then be disappointed. 



Bees have suffered severely here this winter. 

 Those however who prepared for winter properly 

 have met with but little more than usual loss of 

 light swarms; but those who still adhere to the old 

 style "no protection principle" of wintering have 

 m.3t with severe losses. Well, the careful ones will 

 have all the more room. We have at last a law to 

 "Prevent the Adulteration of Honey." Let us hope 

 it will be effectual. William Harwood. 



Newterg, Mich., March 15th, 1879. 



Good for Michigan! Now hunt up the cul- 

 prits, friend II., and do not be behind about 

 putting your law in force. 



BEE KEEPING IN VIRGINIA, SOURWOOD HONEY, &C. 



I am very well satisfied with my last season's work, 

 and could have done better, but run short of hives, 

 sections, &c. I sold my honey at home and at Dan- 

 ville, at fair prices; for that shipped, parties paid 

 for boxes and shipping. I sold several lots to par- 

 ties here who shipped it to their friends at a dis- 

 tance as presents, and for the novelty of the thing. 

 The honey was the prettiest I ever saw; the comb 

 and honey were made entirely from the sour wood. 

 The comb was very white and tender. My bees have 

 wintered well on the summer stands. I have lost 

 none yet. Thfy have been busy fora week gather- 

 ing pollen and some honey. I have lost only one 

 stock by death and 2 by going to the woods in the 4 

 years I have been keeping bees. Last summer T 

 worked 51 colonies. I started in the spring of 1875 

 with one, very poor swarm, in a log gum. had 

 only one swarm in 1876, and run vip to 10 in the 

 spring 1877, one of which was robbed and died, leav- 

 ing 9. T worked that year to prevent an increase, but 

 they run up to 21. All wintered well, so that in the 

 spring of 1878 I commenced with the 21, and worked 



TRIALS IN QUEEN REARING. 



I have tried queen rearing on a small scale this 

 year, but have not been very successful. When I 

 formed my nuclei, I did not put enough bees in them 

 and all the queen cells were chilled except one (the 

 weather was a little cool), so but one out of 5 hatch- 

 ed. I then put in another lot of cells, but 2 of the 

 nuclei had by this time got fertile workers, and 

 would not accept them; so I did not find it as easy 

 to rear queens as I had imagined. 



Clint Bybee. 



Glasgow, Ky., June 1st, '79. 



MTCE, LOOK OUT FOR THEM. 



You can give mc a smaR corner in Blasted Hopes. 

 I packed 215 swarms away for winter, in hopes that 

 I would be able to winter them all; but the cover 

 of one of them got moved a little to one side, the 

 mice got in, and yesterday, when I overhauled 

 them, I found a nest of mice instead of a live swarm 

 of bees. So you see, my hopes are blasted just a 

 little. Wm. L. King. 



Benton Harbor, Mich., March 7th, '79. 



unseasonable swarming. 



The Corey smoker you sent me is a gem. I sent 

 for it for a neighbor. We feel like throwing away 

 ours, and sending for a Corey. 



A neighbor had a colony of bees swarm on the 

 14th of this month and go off, leaving a colony still 

 in the hive. The day was the warmest of the month. 

 Is this not rather unusual? What could have been 

 the cause? J. B. Cooper. 



Coles Station, 111., March 24, 1879. 



A natural swarm in March is rather an 

 unusual occurrence, and the only one I ever 

 heard of before was where the bees had se- 

 cured stores largely, by robbing other hives 

 that had died out. 



Was not something of this kind the case 

 with the one you mention, friend CV 



dysentery caused by disturbance in cold 

 weather. 



I want to tell you what success I have had in win- 

 tering my bees. 



I started into the winter with 26 colonies and 

 have lost only one swarm yet. I had them packed 

 in chaff hives of my own make, with 3 inches of chaff 

 on each side, a 3 inch cushion at each end, and a 4 

 inch cushion on top. The swarm that I lost, was 

 lost by my own fault. I looked into them perhaps 

 12 to 18 times through the cold weather, and I think 

 that was the cause of their death. Disturbing them 

 so often threw them into dysentery. The balance 

 of my bees look all rieht. C. E. Waldo. 



Grand Ledge, Mich., March 33, 1879. 



We have pretty fair evidence that disturb- 

 ing bees in cold weather sometimes brings 

 on dysentery, but it is equally certain that 

 it does not always have this effect. When 

 any disturbance — such as moving them to a 

 new location — causes them to fill themselves 

 with honey, this honey sometimes causes 



