1885 



GLEANINGS IN HEE CUJ/rLUiJ:. 



FROM 80 TO 136, AND 4003 LBS. OF HONEY. 



I have had good luck with my bees this year. 1 

 wintered 80 stocks; put 13" into the cellar Nov. 15; 

 sold about 4000 lbs. extracted honey for 10 cts. per 

 lb. This has been a very good season with us in this 

 county. Dr. George Duncan. 



Embro, Canada, Dec. 18, 1884. 



FROM 25 TO 30, AND 1540 LBS. OF HONEY. 



My honey report for the season is as follows: 1.540 

 lbs.; 700 extracted, the rest comb. I had a good fall 

 yield; had 10 swarms in August; one on the :2d of 

 September. I put them all back, as I do not wish for 

 increase. I had 35 swarms, spring count; lost none 

 in wintering; gone into winter quarters with .30 

 swarius, all in good condition. J. D. Hutchinson. 



Windsor, N. J., Dec. 19, 1884. 



FROM 17 TO 35, AND 700 LBS. OF HONEV. 



Two years ago last spring (April) I took four col- 

 onies. That year I had an increase of live; win- 

 tered well. The season following, my colonies 

 numbered 22, of which I sold Ave, wintered 17. Now 

 I have 36 colonies— perfect success. Notwithstand- 

 ing the frost on the 31st of May, and the blight of 

 flowers, I drew over 700 lbs. of pure honey. I have 

 not learned to feed as yet. How many colonies 

 must one need, to afford a foundation machine? 



Killbuck, N. Y., Jan. 23, 188.5. M. E. Folts. 



Friend F., your last question would de- 

 pend somewhat on the price of wax in your 

 vicinity, and whether you work for extract- 

 ed or comb honey. At a rougii gues.s. 1 

 should say it would pay a man to have afdn. 

 mill when he reaches as many as .50 colonies, 

 providing, of course, that "he has leisure 

 time in the winter, or during stormy days. 



nor can they be revived after being thus ex- 

 posed to a temperature of more than some- 

 where about 10 degrees below zero. Perhaps 

 I have not got the nimiber of hours and the 

 number of degrees exactly right, but it is 

 something near it. Perhaps somebody else 

 can put the figures a little more definitelv. 



I^EP0r^¥g DipC0a^36IfI6. 



to work up his wax. 



FROM 20 to 60, AND 200 LBS. OK HONEV. 



I began with 20 stands, spring count, and but 6 

 strong ones. My bees died off in the spring with 

 the "dwindles." I increased to 60 good full colonies 

 in July. I tried my new Novice extractor, and 

 found it to be very satisfactory. I got about 200 

 lbs. of honey, dark, but well tasted; did not get any 

 section honey, hence my bees are in debt to me by 

 S!156.00. The flow of honey was limited all the sea- 

 son. I sold several queens, and some of them 

 could not be bought for $5.00 now. My bees are all 

 on summer stands on wide L. frames, and plenty of 

 good goldenrod honey to eat. 



REVIVING FROZEN BEES. 



They had a nice fly yesterday, and the snow was 

 all over the ground, and several bees perished in 

 the snow. Last evening I picked up about 30, which 

 were frozen stiff, and they nearly all revived. 1 

 have them in a cage. 1 went out early this morn- 

 ing, and with my penknife cut several bees out of 

 the ice, and brought them in, and five out of twenty 

 revived and are in the cage doing well, after having 

 been frozen in the ice for 14 hours or longer. 



My extractor has never thrown any honey out 

 over the top yet. 



I expect to run for queens this season, as I have 

 several orders for queens and nuclei hives, to be 

 filled the first of March. H. J. Hancock. 



Siloam Springs, Ark., Jan. 28, 1886. 



Friend II., the bees that fall on the ice 

 will come to life if they are warmed up be- 

 fore they have been there more than from 24 

 to 48 hours ; but after that length of time I 

 think you will tind they can not be revived. 



FRO.M 3 to 8, NO HONEY, LOST 4 BY MOTH, AND 2 BY 

 MICE. 



f'OU say that all interested in bees should send 

 1) in a report, good or bad. My report is as fol- 

 lows: Started in spring, 18S4, with 3 colo- 

 nies; increased to 8, with no honej-, scarcely, 

 and plenty of moth to fight; and with all the 

 care I could give I lost 4 by the moth, as I think, 2 

 by mice, and 2 I don't know how. Right here I 

 should be glad to have some light, for last season 

 was a peculiar one among bees here. One friend 

 lost 10 out of 23; one lost 15 out of 16, and so on all 

 through this section. I am under the impression 

 that the queens got destroyed in some way or other. 

 In all of mine I don't think there was as much " bee- 

 bread," as it is generally called, as would fill one 

 side of a frame full of comb. If nothing happens, I 

 will stai-t with Italians in the spring. You can put 

 me in Blasted Hopes for the present; have never 

 had occasion to use my extractor that I got of jou 

 early last season. Jas. A. Staff. 



Moscow Mills, Mo.. Jan., 1885. 

 Friend S.. Italians would have been a great 

 deal better to battle with the moth ; but I 

 think had you given them proper care, even 

 the common bees would have held their own. 

 The entrances to your hives should be so 

 small that mice can not get in. 1 think a 

 little more experience will enable you to 

 come out all right, and I hardly think the 

 scarcity of pollen had any thing to do with 

 it. Queens often disappear during a severe 

 dearth of honev. The remedy here would 

 be to feed, and f am inclined to think prop- 

 er feeding woiUd have saved your whole 

 eight colonies in your warm climate. 



THE SIMPLICITY HIVE, 



and the DESIRABLENESS OF AN 8-FHAME SIMPLI- 

 CITY HIVE, ETC. 



HAVE used the Simplicity hive for the last five 

 years. Before that I had used two kinds of 

 patented frame hives, K. P. Kidder's and W. H. 

 Lee's. I had also used three kinds of unpatent- 

 ed hives, the straw, the box, and the tub, the 

 latter being made by sawing a hollow basswood log 

 into convenient lengths, and nailing a piece of 

 board over one of the ends of each. 



The Simplicity is the best hive that I have any 

 knowledge of, and may be the best In the world; 

 but I do not consider it perfect. I think it would 

 be better if it were smaller. Its length or depth 

 could not be changed without changing the size of 

 the frame, but it could be made narrower, and 

 would then be large enough for any common swarm. 

 An uncommon swarm could be given an extra top 

 story. The advantages that would be gained would 

 be reduced cost, increased warmth, and more sur- 

 plus in xipper stories. The only objection that I 



