18S0 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



515 



houses, but I think we find, sometimes, on 

 looking back, that our happiest days were 

 passed in the old house. Fix up the sur- 

 roundings; have every thing well eared for, 

 of course ; but if I were going to "drop in," 

 I think I should like to come just as you are 

 now, and have a real good time wheeling 

 the twins around your nice broad yard. 



WISCONSIN AHEAD! 



A ROUSING REPORT FROM ONE OF OUR OLD CON- 

 TRIBUTORS. 



^jDITOR OLE ANINGS:-I hope you art- not go- 

 fU_] \ ing- to put every one in the "Blasted" depart- 

 ment this year— at least, you needn't put us 

 there. Some of the bee-keep°rs around here say 

 this wasn't much of a year for honey; but I think 

 the following 1 record, showing- the daily increase in 

 weight of one colony of bees for 4S successive days 

 will show that, if they failed, it was not by any defi- 

 ciency in the yield of honey: 



DAILY INCREASE IX WEIGHT OF ONE COLONY FROM BASSWOOD 



July 1 2 3 i 5 6 7 8 9 111 11 1 



Pounds •;'.. 6 v m 1'.. l:>'.< km l : 10',< 7 IV, 6 3 



July 13 H 15 16 17 is 19 20 21 22 2 



Pounds.... •"> i's. 3 1 4J6 4 1 1 r>'.. :t 



July 24 25 " 26 



Pounds 5 3 i 



FROM WILD FLOWERS. 



July... 

 Pounds 

 August 

 Pounds. 



28 



29 



:«> 



31. 



FROM BUCKWHEAT. 



4 :t>, 

 16 17 

 21-2 2 



Aug 



Pounds .. 

 August . . 

 Pounds. . 



You will sse by this that they gain3d207 lb3 , or a 

 little over 4J4 lbs. per day for 48 days, and they con- 

 tinued gaining slowly until frosts, about Sept. 10th. 

 This was an Italian colony in a two-story Lang- 

 stroth hive, 10 frame3 bslow, and only 8 above. 



We commenced this season with 44 good colonies 

 of Italian bees in hives, with good straight comb3 , 

 almost all built from fdn. We have taken from 

 them 4700 lbs.; 3000 lbs. of basswood extracted, and 

 1700 lbs. comb honey in sections. We # also had 20 

 strong colonies of black bees, which we got of a 

 neighbor last winter. They were in all kinds of 

 patent hives with movable combs— at least, they 

 would have been movable if they hadn't been waxed 

 to the hive, and tho CDmbs alt built crocked. We 

 took as good care of th?m as possible, and got only 

 about 250 lbs. of honey, and no increase. Our Ital- 

 ians increased abDut one-third. We have sold about 

 1000 lbs. of basswood honey in sections for 18c, per 

 gross, and about 1700 of extracted for 10c. Our bees 

 are all strong, hives heavy with sealed honey, and in 

 good condition for winter. The 12th of July was said 

 to be the hottest day ever known here. The hive on 

 the scales gained 31 lbs., and there was no mistake 

 about it, for I watched them from 1 to 7 o'clock, and 

 they gained just 4 lbs. per hour. We also weighed 

 twoother hives; one gained 21 and theother 28V4 lbs. 

 We also weighed another colony that was making 

 comb honey in one-pound sections. They gained 12 

 lbs., and they must have built combs for all of it, for 

 their hive was full, and they had been working in 

 boxes about two weeks, and I gave them only a 

 three-cornered piece of fdn., about one inch on a 

 side, for starters. This colony made over 100 lbs. of 

 comb honey in one-pound sections, and several oth- 

 ers made as much. Our best yield of extracted 

 honey from one colony was 250 lbs. 



Frank McNay. 

 Eau-Galle, Dunn Co., Wis., Oct. 18, 1880. 



Many thanks, friend M. I am very glad of 

 your report, for I have begun to fear some of 

 our friends might get discouraged, and hard- 

 ly take as bright a view of our industry as it 

 justly merits. Your yield has been indeed 

 wonderful; and, while much may be due to 

 your locality, I am sure much is due also to 

 your management. The colony that gave 

 ihe great result was a two-story hive, strong 

 with Italians at the commencement of the 

 season, and the swarming impulse was kept 

 down constantly by a faithful use of the ex- 

 tractor. N ow, boys, look out that you are 

 ready for it, when God sends you such a har- 

 vest as he sent friend M. this season. Will 

 others from that locality please report? We 

 would like to know how much is due to the 

 bee-keeper, and how much to the locality. 



REPORT FROM "NEIGHROR H." 



S it is fashionable for bee-keepers to make re- 

 ports, we hand you ours. We started in the 

 i spring of 1875 with one swarm of Italians, 

 and have now 108. After looking it over, D. A. 

 Jones gave his opinion there was not a better apiary 

 from one swarm in live years in the U. S. 



We wintered 56 swarms last season, and lost none: 

 sold $535 worth of queens and pounds of bee«, and 

 fed about $15.00 worth of maple and grape sugar. 

 We winter our bees on their summer stands, and 

 have never lost a swarm in a chaff hive. We think 

 queens reared in September or October are prefer- 

 able to any other, as they lay later in the fall and 

 earlier in the spring, giving lots of young bees to 

 work on willow, ground ivy, soft maple, and fruit- 

 blossoms. We had ten frames in each hive by the 

 first of April this season, and had to divide to give 

 queens space to lay in before apple-blo«soms were 

 over. There was a splendid yield of red-alover hon- 

 ey this year, and the Cyprian and Holy-Land bees 

 worked rather the best on it. 



CYPRIANS AND HOLY-LAND BEES. 



We had the pleasure of a day's visit with D. A 

 Jones, and found him to be one of those practical, 

 common-sense men that one never tires of listening 

 to. He is enthusiastic over Holy-Land and Cyprian 

 bees; and, as far as my experience goes, it will bear 

 him out in his opinion of them. One good point in 

 their favor is, they can not be robbed. The Cyprians 

 will "strike till the last armed foe expires." It is 

 laughable to see them clean out a band of robbers. 

 In appearance, the Cyprians are a little lighter-col- 

 ored than Italians, with a bright gold shield between 

 their wings. The Holy-Land bees have whitish 

 bands and light gray bodies. The queens are very 

 small when first hatched; long and slim, with dark 

 rings when full grown, and the most prolific layers I 

 ever saw. '-Neighbor H." 



Medina, O., Oct. 25, 1880. 



I presume our supply dealers have by this time, 

 settled all differences amicably, ready for another 

 season's business. 



Just 5043 subscribers this 20th day of Oct. One 

 more month, and then comes the tumble; but you 

 see we got over the 5000 this year, any way. 



In ordering goods from the counter store, if you 

 wish quite a number of articles it will save time to 

 mark the number wanted, right opposite the article 

 on the price list, and send it to us, and we will send 

 you a new list by return mail; or, to save postage, 

 lust tear out the leaf containing the articles wanted. 

 We ciin not well make mistakes then, and it saves 

 labor in writing the names of so many cheap articles. 



our homes in book form. 

 Part First, of the above, a book of about 50 pages, 

 with a neat paper cover, will be ready to mail in 

 about two weeks. The price will be 13c each, or 

 $1 35 per doz. by mail; by express or freight, with 

 other goods. 10c, or $1.00 per dozen. The books are 

 to be strongly bound, and nicely printed on good pa- 

 per; and if you wish to lend them to your neighbors, 

 I hope they will last a good while. 



