1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



529 



since 1877; and surely it ought to yield honey one 

 year in three at least. Disappointment was again 

 our lot, for although there were 50 acres within the 

 range of our bees' flight, still they got scarcely more 

 than enough to supply the demands of the brood. 

 Thus one season for honey closed, with no surplus 

 except from basswood. Asa result, we again have 

 to report a poor season, yet not a discouraging one 

 by any means. We have taken, in comb honey, 3532 

 lbs., and extracted S12, or 4344 lbs. in all, which gives 

 us an average of a little over t>2 lbs. for each stock in 

 the spring. Our bees have increased from 70 to 112 

 stocks, in fair condition for winter. Last year we 

 gave, as an average for the past 7 years, 00 lbs. per 

 stock, and were in hopes, by having a good year this 

 season, we might bring it up to an even 1C0 for an 

 8 years' average; but we have gone the wrong way. 

 and so have to chronicle, as our average yield per 

 stock for the past 8 years, 865£ lbs., nine-tenths of 

 which has been box honey. Now, there are three 

 requisites toward securing a large yield of honey in 

 a good season; a fair yield in a medium to a poor 

 season, and a little in a very poor season. First, and 

 most important, is the man, or apiarist. The man 

 who knows just when and how to do a thing, so that 

 everything is done at the right time, and in the right 

 place, and also knowing how to use, and having all of 

 the modern appliances for successful honey raising, 

 will rarely have cause to complain of his poor suc- 

 cess. Second: A race of industrious bees, whose 

 queen shall keep the combs well occupied with brood 

 at all times, till the honey harvest closes for the sea- 

 son. To this end, one should breed only from queens 

 thatgivethe bestresultsas honey-gatherers. Third: 

 A hive that is adapted to the natural instincts of the 

 bee, and also easy of operation for the bee-keeper. 

 For box honey, the boxes should come close to the 

 brood, so that no space of heavy wood or sealed 

 stores intervene between the surplus arrangement 

 and the brood. For extracted honey, a hive should 

 contain at least 3500 cubic inches of space, all in one 

 apartment. The idea is simply this: If our bees 

 and ourselves are always in readiness for a yield of 

 honey, and there are but five days' yield in the whole 

 season, we can secure something; but if not in read- 

 iness, the five days will pass and we shall get noth- 

 ing. G. M. Doolittle. 

 Borodino, N. Y., Oct., 1880. 



Many thanks, friend D. On page 386, Oct. 

 No., you say you will go into winter with 100 

 colonies, and now you say, when you opened 

 up for the spring you had 70. Many of our 

 A B C class would, 1 am sure, like to know 

 just how you disposed of the 30. Did you 

 sell any? How many were lost in winter, 

 and why were they lost? or did you winter 

 all, and make the 70 strong by doubling up? 

 We are anxious about this, because we wish 

 to know if it really pays to double up in the 

 spring, even when we are not obliged to, to 

 make all of them come tli rough safely. We 

 are right in thinking you will have no ob- 

 jection to enlightening us on these points, 

 are we not? 



«»♦♦« 



FROM AN IOWA A B < BOY'. 



jp SEE some slim reports from Iowa. My success 

 and experience for the last year has been thus: 

 Put 63 colonies in the cellar, all in good condi- 

 tion; took out 53 colonies in good condition. One 



afterward proved to be queenless; had 18 in box 

 hives; sold two box hives in spring; transferred 

 four; added queenless colony with one transferred; 

 commenced summer campaign with 50; had about 

 100 swarms; put back and doubled, so that I run to 

 90, or 40 increase. I bought a tested queen of J. C. & 

 H. P. Sayles; introduced her the 11th day of June; 

 tried all Bummer to get eggs from her, but didn't 

 succeed until the first of August. A few days after 

 the August No. came to hand, I put July and August 

 Gleanings together; i. e., how to raise queens. 

 The first colony that I put to work (1 followed the di- 

 rections to the letter), raised or started me 37 queen- 

 cells. I sorted them at five days, and hatched 25 of 

 them. I started two other colonies a few days later; 

 they produced me It cells. I hatched 39 queens; suc- 

 ceeded in getting 23 fertilized. I introduced nearly 

 all of them by placing the queen with her little 

 swarm of bees in the middle of a queenless colony. 

 With one they killed off her attendants, but saved 

 her. 



I introduced one unfertilized queen to a colony 

 that had been made up of odds and ends, and for 

 several days queenless. They accepted her "without 

 a word." 



From 41 swarms runtoextrac!edhoney,l have taken 

 3700 lbs.; from 28 swarms, and all new and strong, I 

 got 1000 lbs. comb honey in section boxes. 



I raised my queens by the use of my extracting 

 colonies. Of course, I had to divide up several to 

 make 37 or 39 nuclei. 



I tried to keep from swarming by cutting out 

 queen-cells; failure, failure. 



Four swarms alighted together one day. I made 

 three swarms out of them; saw one queen as I 

 placed them and kept watch of the other two. One 

 had no queen, and was leaving hive. I hurried and 

 got a card with sealed queen, and opened the hive 

 and gave 'em a puff or two of smoke in the mouth of 

 the hive in order to turn the stampeders. I then 

 put in the card, shut up hive, and in two minutes alt 

 was right. They stayed and did well— made about 2.i 

 lbs. comb honey surplus. I was taking out black 

 queens one day. One I didn't find. Next day, about 

 noon, I found her with a double handful of bees un- 

 der the back part of the hive. She had ran out and 

 was afraid of being captured if she went back. 



BLACKS OR ITALIANS; WHICH ROB THE WORSE? 



You say your boys say they wish all black bees 

 were out of your apiary; Italians don't rob; blacks 

 do. Have Sayles send you a queen, and if they can't 

 outrob your blacks, why, then they are not like mine. 

 I have i queens from them, and 85 to 90 colonies of 

 blacks. The Italians monopolize the whole robbing 

 "biz." They are a success!!) I'll have some hy- 

 brids next year for them to "buck" against. I use 

 the "Humbug Golden Bee-Hive." I got 1300 lbs. of 

 extracted basswood honey; 1500 lbs. of extracted 

 buckwheat. The rest Is white colverand mustard. 

 Haven't " writ" this for Gleanings. I only wanted 

 to put in my say. B. F. Little. 



Brush Creek, Iowa, Oct. 6, 1880. 



Pretty well done, friend L. Perhaps you 

 have got hold of a strain of Italians especial- 

 ly given to robbing. Try it during a season 

 when blacks are robbing and starving, and 

 Italians are all off at work in the fields, and 

 I think you too will decide, that if all your 

 bees were full-blooded Italians, you would 

 have peace and quietness instead of being 

 so constantly annoyed. I did not mean to 

 pronounce the (iolden hive a humbug neces- 

 sarily, but rather the man who tried to make 

 out he had any right to forbid your making 

 such a movable-comb hive if you wanted to, 

 or that he had invented any essential thing 

 about it. 



