54 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULTURE. 



JaK. 



meal, cooked sweet and Irish potatoes, bread, meat, 

 —in fact, all refuse of the table. Last summer T 

 bought stale crackers, and fed my young- carp, and 

 found it a good investment. 



All ponds want to be kept opened in winter, in 

 order to give the flsh air. My friend Mr. Walker, 

 of this place, lost all his carp, save twelve, by his 

 pond freezing over last winter. I am often asked, 

 " Will they bite a hook? " I think, friend R., if you 

 had seen me throwing them out hist summer you 

 would have thought so. It's the finest sport in the 

 world, no mistake. It is the cheapest and best meat 

 grown. W. S. K.\i.er. 



Andersonville, Ind., Dec. 2.5, 1884. 



Friend K.. you have given us some very 

 valuable facts indeed ; but tlie most impor- 

 tant to me just now is, liow many fish do 

 you keep in a pond of tlie dimensions you 

 give ? Not many, a yard long (or pretty near- 

 ly that), I should say. Where land is valua- 

 ble, it is a question as to how large the ponds 

 need to be. Yours is not very much larger 

 than our own : but I am told that 100 five- 

 pound fishes woidd overstock our pond. 

 Perhaps abundant feeding would remedy 

 this. Can you tell us about it V In regard 

 to directions for constructing ponds, instead 

 of mailing them singly to all who are inter- 

 ested, why not let us^ have the matter and 

 have it published V I will pay you for it ; 

 and if there is not room enough in (iLean- 

 IXGS, we will add some additional pages. 



MY FIRST REPORT. 



SOMETHING FRO.M A CALIFORNIA ABC SCHOLAR. 



§TARTED in last springwith one swarm that we 

 had had for two years, and never got any 

 thing from. I didn't know any thing about 

 bees, so I lost a lot of honey, I'm sure. Well, 

 when the bees began to swarm 1 began to get 

 interested. Though not knowing how important it 

 was to have them in movable-frame hives, I put the 

 first nine swarms in box hives, which I haven't got 

 a thing from, except some more swarms. After 

 this we got seven more swarms, one of which we 

 bought, and put all these into good frame hives. 

 From the seven last swarms (some of which came 

 out as late as August) I got 90 lbs. of comb and 230 

 lbs. of extracted honey, and 3 of wax, which I think 

 is a pretty good show for such late swarms. Now, 

 how much would I have got from the eight early 

 swarms and the old stand, if I luul init them all in 

 good frame hives? 



There is a great deal of comb honey yet in the 

 nine box hives, but I am waiting till I transfer them, 

 to take it out. They are all "plum full," and some 

 of them are very large boxes. I am waiting till 

 fruit-bloom begins, to transfer them, and then 1 sup- 

 pose I shall have a practical lesson on the folly of 

 putting swarms into box hives, by the trouble they 

 will give me. About five of the swarms we got 

 were traveling across the country, and were at- 

 tracted to our bees, and settled near them, and we 

 caught them. Runaway swarms have to travel a 

 long way across the country hero before they find a 

 resting-place, as there are no woods or hollow trees 

 for them to get into, so they just have to go till they 

 get into some crack in the roof of a house, or some 

 one hives them. We have two such swarms in our 

 house, where we can't get at them. They were too 



sharp for us, and got into the cracks before we 

 could hive them. Now, if my report is too long, 

 just cut it short here and there. I am an A B C 

 for the last G months only. Alfred W. Hind. 



Anaheim, Cal. 



Why, friend IL. how many swarms did 

 you get from that first one you started with, 

 pray tellV Your letter reads as if you built 

 up that big apiary from that one colony in 

 the spring. Yor say further along, howevei'. 

 about five of those swarms Avere traveling 

 swarms. May be that accounts for it. You 

 do not tell us. either, how many you have 

 now, but 1 should think California must be a 

 pretty big place to keep bees. 



-^A "^ ^ 



HOW A DISABLED SOLDIER SUCCEEDS 

 IN BEE-KEEPING. 



A HOME .MADE FOOT-POWER .SAW. 



HIS has been the hardest season on bees and 

 Irl^r bee-keepers for many years. Great num- 

 bers of colonies are starving to death now, 

 simply because their owners were too care- 

 less or too stingy to give them the food that 

 they could not get for themselves. I had the care 

 of about 20 colonies. Some belonged to my neigh- 

 bor. I transferred the most of them during fruit- 

 bloom, and from the 20 colonies, not a single swarm 

 issued. I took no precautions whatever to prevent 

 swarming, only giving room in surplus department, 

 while about all of my neighbors who use the old box 

 hives got from one to four swarms to the colony; 

 but I think it my turn to smile as their little colo- 

 nies are now swarming out, and starving, while my 

 hives are full of bees and honey, and in good trim 

 for a long winter sleep. 



I was not able to buy an extractor, consequently 

 got but little honey; a few colonies give .50 lbs. in 1- 

 Ib. sections, while others, apparently just as strong, 

 gave no surplus at all. Now, I suppose I am mak- 

 ing a contribution to your waste-basket; but I will 

 have my letter so large that it will not slip through 

 the "holes in the basket" that I was reading about 

 in "hints " in Gleanings to-day. 



I have finally got my foot-power saw completed. 

 I ordered the saws, mandrel, belt, and files from 

 your house; they all give splendid satisfaction, ex- 

 cept the belt; it was too good, and I took it to the 

 harness-maker and had it trimmed down about one- 

 half, and now it is all right. I should like to tell you 

 how I operate my machine with two blocks of wood 

 and two straps, and get up a I'ate of speed that 

 makes my neighbors almost fear to come in the 

 shop; but you, 1 fear, would think I was exaggerat- 

 ing. I commenced early New Year's morning, full 

 bent on making a Simplicity hive, as per instruc- 

 tions in the ABC, and I succeeded admii-ably until 

 I came to take ott the strip that goes under the 

 cover, then I found that my6-inch saw set close to a2- 

 inch pulley would cut only a little over I'i inches 

 deep; but in order to get my hive made, I sized the 

 lumber to IP.i inches which worked all riglit, only it 

 leaves the lid '.i inch shallower than it should be. 

 I believe that, (>ven with my disabled limbs, I can 

 cut out two complete 2-story hives in a day, and 

 that, in comparison to last season's slow work by 

 hand, and the assurance that every hive I can pos- 

 sibly make is just as good as the cash, is very 

 cheering indeed to a poor and disabled soldier, and 

 I shall always feel indebted to you, friend Root, for 

 the good and practical instructions I have gained 

 from your writings. A. B. Herman. 



Burnettville, Ind., Jan. 3, 1885. 



