.50 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



help of my boys, made 750 bushels of corn, 18 tons 

 of fine millet haj-, and 10 bales of cotton, and five 

 tons of cotton seed. Since readin<r your article on 

 page 789, Nov. No. Gleanings, on carp-ponds, I 

 have thoug-lit a g-ood deal abont carp - raisinj? in 

 connection with bee culture; but I am somewhat 

 doubtful as to success in this section, for there are 

 no running- streams in this portion of the country. 

 We construct artificial ponds, or tanks, as we call 

 them liere, by levees across ravines. Such ponds 

 fill up during the rainy season; but the trouble is, 

 during the long- droughts the ponds get very low and 

 muddy; though common fish live and do well as 

 long as there is any water in the pond. Perhaps 

 some of the readers of G leanings can tell us wheth- 

 er carp will do will in small tanks. S. F. Dellis. 

 Hubbard City, Te.xas, Dec. 27, 1884. 



MRS. hunter's success IN MICHIGAN. 



In the spring of 1879 I bought my first swarm of 

 bees. Have sold in all, since then, 2500 lbs. comb 

 honey, at an average of U cts.,-!|?350; 2C0 lbs. ex- 

 tracted at 10 cts., .?20. Have received for taking 

 care of bees for neighbors, f30; Isold 23 swarms 

 without hives, at an average of S5, SIOCOH; have on 

 hand 20 good swarms, with hives, racks, sections, 

 comb fdn., etc., enough for another season, all of 

 which I value at S^2C0, making a total of .*7f 0.00. 



Paid for the first swarm, and since, as needed, 

 for hives, fixtures, sections, comb fdn., queens, ex- 

 tractor, winter-bo.xes, and help to pack them in 

 chaff for winter, $100, leaving a net profit of ^e.X'.'.O. 

 I have never fed sugar, but have fed honey; per- 

 haps that accounts for the small amount sold. I 

 have tried to prevent swarming, and have never 

 lost a swarm by wintering or disease. 



Mrs. IM.uiY HuNfER. 



Vicksburg, Mich., Dec. £9, 1884. 



FROM 153 TO 190, AND 12,C00 LBS. OV HONEV. 



We inclose the following as our report for 1884: 

 March, 1884, 153 colonies; Nov., 19) colonies; ex- 

 tracted honey, 12,030 lbs. We had a very unfavora- 

 ble spring, though a great amount of bloom. The 

 weather was too cold and wet. Our honey was 

 gathered in May and June, from horsemint blocm, 

 and in July from the mesquite bloom. The uics- 

 quite yields fine honey, and the yield from that 

 source this year is the best I have ever seen. In 

 consequence of the scarcity of money, sales are 

 slow, notwithstanding honey is now the cheapest 

 food that can be bought here. Our honey here is 

 always of fine quality. We use the Simplicity hive 

 and the "tiering-up" system. Our bees are Italian, 

 native, and hybrid. The Italians have this year 

 shown great superiority over the native brown bees. 

 Our only "winter trouble" here is to keep down 

 robbing, and supply food if needed. For the latter 

 l)urpose we keep combs of scaled honey. No frost 

 yet, and bees carrying in pollen. Plenty of drones 

 yet. In consequence of the drought (no rain since 

 the 28th of May), our bees have gathered no honey 

 since July. I should state, that the mesquite glo- 

 ries in dry weather. W. A. McPhail. 



Gallinas, Texas, Nov., 18.'^4. 



FROM 70 TO 1.55, AND 80C0 I.IIS. OK IIONKV. 



Bees have done well this year, took more than 8300 

 lbs., nearly all extracted, from 70 colonies, spring 

 count, and increased to 155 colonics; the honey is 

 first quality; no basswood this year. 



Minesing, Ont., Dec. 19, 1884. S. H. Kerfoot. 



FROM 60 TO 80, AND 4C03 LBS. OF HONEY. 



I am a beginner in the bee business. I began 

 with 60 swarms last spring; that number is now in- 

 creased to 80, with a surplus of 4000 lbs. of good 

 pure honey. Geo. Hoar. 



Maple Landing, Iowa, Dec. 31, 1884. 



another "stunner" from CALIFORNIA. 



We have 7£2 stands of bees, all in L. hives, and 

 46,000 lbs. of honey. My partner and myself, with 

 the assistance of our wives, extracted in one daj' in 

 July, 4500 lbs. of honey with an 8-frame extractor. 

 My friend and neighbor, Mr. R. Wilkin, has gone 

 east to trj' to sell his 50 tons of honei'. 



Ventura, Cal., Dee. 15, 1884. L. E. Mercer. 



^EP0]^¥g DlgC0ai^^6ING. 



^ir.60 IN FOR HONEY, AND S^S.OO OUT FOR SUGAR. 



f^% EES did very poorly here this year. I got on- 



pt ly $12.60 worth of honey this whole year, and 



Y^ I fed ?;45.00 worth of sugar— nearly 700 lbs. 



■^^ How is that for profit? 1 thought I should 



make something out of my bees this season, 



but I worked hard all summer and got nothing but 



bees. I increased from 38 to 82; and when I had to 



go to feeding 1 united them down to 68. I think 



they will go through the winter all right, if it is not 



too long. Malinda A. Wilkins. 



Seneca, Kan., Dec. 23, 1884. 



REPORT FROM A BOX-HIVE MAN. 



I live in Belmont Co., O. Last spring I bought of 

 you20or 25doll-:'rs' worth of Simplicity hives. Igotto 

 use only one, as my bees did not swarm. I wintered 

 15 colonies last winter. None of my hives have 

 movable frames. I simply have boxes in upper 

 hive for surplus honey. My 15 colonies made about 

 200 lbs. of surplus last summer, and one swarm of 

 bees. Last season Avas too dry for bees. I took a 

 box of honey the other day that was probably made 

 from tobacco-blossoms. There were four or five 

 acres of tobacco on the place. The boys said the 

 bees worked on the tobacco last fall lively. The 

 honey I spoke of is very peculiar. It is not good. 

 I sold a few boxes of good honey the other day for 

 12'2 cents a pound. There are but few bees in this 

 neighborhood. Honey is mostly made from white 

 clover and poplar and linn. Er.\stus Moore. 



Beallsville, O., Dee. 2J, 1834. 



THIEVES IN THE API.\RY. 



I think you will have to put my name in Reports 

 Discouraging. I lost 25 colonies during the winter 

 of 1883, commencing the season of 1884 with 11 small 

 colonies. I increased to 27, but reduced to 21 for 

 winter; made about 25 lbs. of beeswax, and about 

 2 J lbs. of comb honey. Nov. 3, in order to put the 

 capon the rest, some generous brother stole the 

 very best colonj- (the only one that had made anj* 

 section honey), cut out the honey, and left the hive 

 and bees on the ground. My wife and I picked up 

 the bees, and thawed them out; and as we could 

 not find the queen, we united them with another 

 colony. Bees arc all right at date; have all in chaff 

 hives; fed 75 U)s. of granulated sugar. I am not 

 discouraged, but hope to do better next time. The 

 spider plant did well. The bees worked on that 

 when they could not get much else. Wm. Cook. 



Watervliet, Mich., Jan. 5, 1885. 



