1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



147 



have done this year. Last spring, I bought two 

 swarms of bees in old hives, transferred one into 

 that ehaff hive I had of yon, the other into a Simplic- 

 ity hive. The ehaff hive gave me 120 of those nice 

 little section boxes, well tilled. I took 4(1 well filled 

 ones from the Simplicity hive, and Hi boxes from 

 my first swarm. I have now in all six good swarms. 

 I got a package of honey plant seed, and planted it 

 last fall just about the time the ground froze for 

 good. This spring, good, nice plants came up. and 

 have been in full bloom. Alhijn R. Bodge. 



Exeter, Me., Oct. 6, 1879. 



OCTOBER SWAKMS. 



Did you ever hear of October swarms? One came 

 to us on the 7th of Oct. We are ABC schol- 

 ars, and it was a new thing to us, but we think it 

 was because we got a Simplicity hive of you, and 

 some of the bees in the neighborhood became dis- 

 gusted with their box hives, and filled their sacks 

 with all the honey they could carry, and thought 

 they would risk the winter on that, if they could 

 only get into such a nice and convenient home as 

 your Simplicity hive furnished. 



Chas. Ahlstrom. 



Calcutta Kan., Oct. 11, '79. Mrs. Ahlstrom. 



If I mistake not, Mrs. A., somebody has 

 reported a bona .tide October swarm, issuing 

 because of the warm weather and an abund- 

 ant pasturage ; but the one you mention I 

 fear came out for want of stores, or from 

 some other cause of dissatisfaction. May 

 be it was because you had a simplicity hive, 

 and they wanted to move in and try it ; if 

 so, I hope you will take good care of them. 



AN A B C SCHOLAR IN YORK STATE, AND THE NEW 

 WAY OF MARKETING HONEY. 



I began bee keeping a year ago last April, with 13 

 swarms, part blacks and part hybrids, 8 in L. hives 

 and 5 in old box hives. Two were so weak they 

 gave neither swarms nor surplus honey, yet 1 doub- 

 led my stocks, and came out this spring with 21 

 good swarms. The last of April and fore part of 

 May they did nicely, for I kept them well closed up, 

 spreading the brood as they grew stronger, till the 

 last of May, when new swarms began to come out. 

 Then we had several, successive, killing frosts that 

 set them back badly, but they began a paying busi- 

 ness again about the middle of June, working 

 bravely. But, by reason of the cold and drouth, I 

 suppose the nectar was not as abundant in the 

 flowers as last year, and though the quality of the 

 honey is good, the quantity is reduced greatly. I 

 took off 725 lb. section boxes last year, having 26 

 swarms in the fall. I took off a little less than 700 

 this year, having 17 swarms. I use the chaff hives. 

 The little industrious bodies seem proud of their 

 nice, white houses. When some of my friends come 

 and find me in the apiary they say, "Why, you have 

 a real city here!" 



I am selling honey in the home markets for 15c to 

 20c. Twenty-four of the nice white combs in your 

 style case make a beautiful picture, and looks much 

 more inviting than the old fashioned boxes holding 

 4 to 8 lbs., or perhaps ragged and broken combs as it 

 comes from the brimstoned hive, as some even yet 

 offer it. A. L. Tuttle. 



South Edmeston, N. Y"., Oct. 7, 1879. 



PERFORATED TIN SEPARATORS. 



Is there any such thinjr attainable, as light, perfo- 

 rated tin, suitable for comb separators? It should 

 be thickly perforated with holes, sav 3 4 inch in size, 

 so as to form a ininh separator only, and not a bee 

 separator. This will give a free circulation of heat, 

 air, and bees. 



GOOD REPORT FROM MINNESOTA. 



This has been one of my best honey seasons. I 

 had 1*00 lbs. of honey, 1300 lbs. being box honey, 

 from 30 hives of natives. I hud 24 stocks in the 

 sprinp, most of them weak. Hives now arc very 

 full of honey for winter. J. W. Murray. 



Excelsior,Minn., Oct. 7. 1879. 



I am glad to hear of a Bfood honey season 

 somewhere, friend M. I have never before 

 heard of perforated separators, and they 

 must necessarily be considerably more ex- 



pensive than our common tin ones. How- 

 ever, if they would give as much better re- 

 sults over our common separators, as the 

 common separators do over none at all, it 

 would, I think, be a good investment. In 

 friend Nellis 1 price list, he illustrates per- 

 forated tin for separating drones and queens 

 from workers, and perhaps this will be just 

 about what is needed. At least we can make 

 the experiment with it. A 14 by 20 sheet 

 costs 30c, which is about four times the price 

 of our usual separator tin. 



ANOTHER APOLOGY TO OTJB CLERKS. 



I have found 5 sets of metal corners in an "out of 

 the way" place, and as they are wrapped in the 

 same paper as last lot you sent, I am inclined to 

 think they are those I claimed as missing. You 

 may therefore charge me with 5 sets metal corners. 

 I have had no reason to change my mind regarding 

 the other parts. 



WHERE DID THE BEES GO? 



Last June, I bought an Italian nucleus, with 2 

 frames of brood, well covered with bees, and a young 

 and vigorous queen. I added one or two frames of 

 black brood. The queen commenced laying at once 

 and all went well. But, on looking yesterday, I 

 found only about ] i pint of bees. The queen is 

 large and all right. I find a few eggs. Every thing 

 seems to be all correct, except there are no bees. 

 Can you give me any reason for such dwindling? 



Bloomfield, Ct., Oct. 7, 1879. Anna L. Gray. 



Well I declare, friend Anna, we are get- 

 ting so many apologies and acknowledge- 

 ments from those who have blamed our 

 clerks, that I shall be afraid to scold the boys 

 and girls as severely as I have heretofore. 

 Imagine me holding up a letter to a clerk and 

 insisting that he or she did not put the cor- 

 ners in the package, while he or she declares 

 they certainly did. 



"But," I say, "you must be mistaken, for 

 if Miss Anna did not find them when the 

 package was opened, they certainly were not 

 put in," and off I go, thinking that a clerk 

 who gets paid especially for being sure that 

 things are rightly put up should not make 

 such annoying mistakes. 



Lo and behold ! your card comes, and it 

 transpires that you were mistaken, and I 

 was also mistaken and harsh, when the poor 

 clerk had done his duty, in regard to the 

 corners at least, and he was right, and I 

 wrong. I know mistakes are expensive, and 

 that they cost precious time and money, but 

 while we resolve to be ever so careful m the 

 future, shall we not also resolve to be slow 

 in blaming those with whom we have to do V 



I do not know where your bees went, 

 friend Anna, unless they got out of food and 

 almost starved, or else swarmed out for some 

 reason, and only the queen and a part of the 

 bees got back. Did you keep a careful watch 

 over them every day ? When building up a 

 weak colony, we should look at them at least 

 as often as once a day, on an average. 



NICE COMB HONEY FROM THE SOUTH, AND COM1J HON- 

 EY WITHOUT SEPARATORS. 



[ had a few shipments of comb honey from Di. 

 O. M. lilanton, of (ireenville, Miss., which is most 

 certainly some of the prettiest, whitest, and most 

 regularly built comb honey raised in the South for 

 years. 1 have some of it at our Exposition, where it 

 is not surpassed by any. Our friend Hill supplied 

 me, ;is usual, with a large lot of choice comb honey, 

 as did also another one of our neighbors, It. Cramer. 

 There is no difference, with these folks, how much 

 honey their bees will bring home, every comb they 

 build is a perfect one, without the aid of separators. 



Cincinnati, O., Oct. 7, '79. C. F. Muth. 



