1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



587 



I commenced the season with 18 fair colonies; in- 

 creased to 12, and took about 600 i}± sections, and 

 about 150 lbs. extracted. I had made calculations 

 for a much larger yield; but our calculations so of- 

 ten fail! It has been a very dry summer, and is so 

 at present writing. I did not get any white honey. 



HONEY FROM THE LEAVES OF THE CATALPA. 



I came very near forgetting to tell you about the 

 catalpa-tree. It belongs to the family of Btynouias. 

 There are about 6 trees just around me. They are 

 planted for ornament. It was rich in honey this 

 year, both in the blossoms and on the underside of 

 the leaf. At the axles of the main ribs, the leaves 

 are large. The drops would be large enough for 2 

 loads, I should judge. And did the bees work on 

 them? I should have been very much pleased could 

 you have stood underneath those trees and heard 

 their merry hum; but you would have had to be up 

 nearly as early as you were on the morning that you 

 found out about the Spider plant. It would have 

 dispelled some people's notions about plants aud 

 flowers secreting honey only from the blossoms. It 

 is the last tree to leaf out in the spring. 



W. G. Saltford. 



Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Sept. 28, 1880. 



On receipt of the above, I wrote friend S. 

 as follows: — 



If it has not ceased when you get this, I would 

 take away all the comb, aud give them empty ones, 

 and feed them on granulated-sugar syrup. 



Here is his reply concerning both items: 



Please find inclosed a part of the leaf I told you se- 

 creted the honey. They are a little touched by frost 

 now. Their right color is a deep green. The colony 

 I wrote you of dwindled down so they are on three 

 combs. 1 fed them as directed, and I think it has 

 checked the disease. Thanks for information. 



I packed some of your chaff hives last fall with red- 

 cedar sawdust, the cushions as well, and I don't be- 

 .lieve I lost a single bee. The enameled cloth was al- 

 ways damp whenever I looked in, but no frost. This 

 is my second summer with bees, but I have never 

 lost a colony, either by robbing, swarming, or other- 

 wise'. I shall try to winter 42. All praise due the A 

 B O and the journals. W. G. Saltford. 



Poughkeepsie, N. Y/., Oct. 1?, 1880. 



We have the catalpa-tree in our town, but 

 it has, so far as I know, never produced any 

 honey. The above facts, and a host of oth- 

 ers, seem to indicate, pretty conclusively, 

 that almost every plant in the vegetable 

 kingdom may, at times, be in condition to 

 secrete honey, and, more wonderful still, it 

 may come from the foliage instead of from 

 the blossoms. I have many times seen bees 

 prying around on the underside of leaves of 

 different kinds, as if they were in search of 

 something, or had at some time found some- 

 thing there that they remembered. The 

 leaves sent show a black spot at the place 

 where the large veins branch out. To be 

 sure that there is no microscopic insects 

 that have contributed to the production of 

 the honey, a careful microscopic examination 

 would be well, and I have given the dried 

 leaf to the boys, but they can not detect the 

 remains of any such agency.— In regard to 

 the bees: I think most diseases of that na- 

 ture may be cured, or at least benefited, by 

 a diet of pure sugar. 



HOW TO KEEP BEES. 



SOME OF FRIEND MUTH S IDEAS. 



fjiHERE is, in my estimation, no hive which com- 

 bines so many advantages, and has fewer ob- 

 jectionaole points, than the Langstroth. The 

 only objection made to it has been, that the frames 

 are too shallow for a successful wintering— an ob- 

 jection which hundreds of us, for years past, have 

 proved to be no objection at all. We winter bees in 

 Langstroth hives as successfully as bees are win- 

 tered at all; and Langstroth's disciples are counted 

 among the most successful bee-keepers iu the coun- 

 try. The shallowness of the broad-frame, with the 

 honey-chamber immediately above, imitates nature 

 the nearest, and is, consequently, apt to give tho 

 best results. We must keep in view, that not win- 

 tering alone is our object, but a full honey harvest. 

 Give me, therefore, a shallow frame— a frame just 

 deep enough to insure successful wintering. 



Bees, if left to themselves, keep their brood close 

 together, and store their honey above. It should bo 

 our aim in early spring to get these few frames, 

 composing our brood-chamber, filled with brood. By 

 the aid of division-boards, wo can give our bees just 

 as many combs as they can well cover. They can 

 control their temperature better in a smaller apart- 

 ment, and breeding is promoted. Their frames will 

 be tilled with brood from end to end and from top to 

 bottom. When without division-boards, we- find 

 small patches of brood in perhaps twice the number 

 of combs, but amounting to not half the quantity of 

 brood. We should at no time allow a vacancy in 

 any one of our hives, if we care for the welfare of 

 that coiony. 



When using division-boards we have to examine 

 about once a week, and add an empty comb as the 

 number of bees increases. Division-boards should 

 not touch the bottom by V 2 inch, as bees will help 

 themselves lively from combs of honey hung on the 

 other side of them. Our few frames being tilled 

 with brood at about the beginning of the honey har- 

 vest, we may put our section boxes on. One at a 

 time is porhaps best, adding another just as soon as 

 a lively progress is noticed. We have then large 

 colonies, and may not only expect large returns, but, 

 as there-are so many young bees hatching all the 

 time, the queen is kept busy refilling with eggs 

 those cells just vacated, that no swarming fever may 

 turn up if tho necessary room to store honey is giv- 

 en above. 



When the queen has the necessary room to depos- 

 it eggs, and the bees have the necessary room to de- 

 posit honey, no swarming will take place. This we 

 may set down as a rule. But there is no rule with- 

 out an exception. A queen may be crowded for 

 room when a comb filled with honey is on each side 

 of the brood. No difference how many empty combs 

 hang on the other side. So may bees, especially 

 Italians, be crowded for storeroom if we don't give 

 one full comb above, serving them as a ladder to run 

 up on. C. F. Muth. 



Cincinnati, O., Oct., 1880. 



PKGPAKED PAPER FOR SEPARATORS. 



E commenced experimenting with paper for 

 mm separators in 1871, and, although we had 

 tried every thing we thought suitable for 

 the purpose, we never fully succeeded until we 

 coated tho paper with shellac. We have thoroughly 



