392 



GLiiANiNCiS IN iJEE CULTUUE. 



JrxE 



fjround, and my bees were all lost, except a 

 few that I washed olf with water and dried 

 in the sun. in a box covered with wire cloth. 



HOW OIK FUIEXI) MRS. JENNIE ( ll-P PREVENTS 

 SWARMING. 



Tn the May No. of Gi-eaxixgs Mrs. Culp says, 

 "As my object was honey and not increase, I pre- 

 vented swarming." Now, that is just what I most 

 want to know how to do. Will she not tell me, 

 through Gleanings, just exactly hmv to do this, 

 and perhaps thus oblige others as well as myself 

 who arc just beginning? My two swarms of Ital- 

 ians have wintered through nicely in chaflf hives. 



Fluvanna, N. Y. Sarah M. Bentlv. 



We forwarded the above to Mrs. C'nlp for 

 an answer, and below is her reply : 



My method to prevent swarming is to keep queen- 

 cells pinched off, and give them plenty of working 

 room. This can be done by tiering up, if you have 

 the right kind of hive with movable frames, or by 

 taking frames of brood from brood-chamber, and 

 use them to build up weak colonies, then by giving 

 them room. This the sister can not do if she has 

 only two colonies. Jex.nie Cl'i.p. 



Milliard, Ohio. 



-MAKING SUGAR SYRUP WITHOUT ROILING. 



I will decide with jou as to making feed. 1 see 

 that some think they can't make it without boiling. 

 I will say, that that is all a notion. I have not had 

 much experience in bee culture, but I fed about 4 

 gallons of syrup last fall, and T never boiled it, and 

 it has not crystallized a bit. I think I can make it 

 every time so it won't, and without boiling. 



George M. Gaunv. 



Carver, Plymouth Co., Mass., May, 188.5. 



CALIFORNIA AND HER CAPABILI- 

 TIES. 



THAT 10,.");0 r.HS. COMB HONEY FROM IS STAl 

 COLONIES. 



SrPPOSE all the distinguished bee-keepers in 

 the world, except myself, were at New Orleans. 

 t I should have liked to be there too, but that 

 was impossible. I see by the papers that the 

 large honey reports for last year, from this 

 State, were doubted; or, rather, that many thought 

 there must be some mistake. This is nothing more 

 nor less than pronouncing them fraudulent. Now 

 I am going to show you that one of the reports was 

 true— true to the letter— except that it was not 

 big enough. 



Let me digress here, friend Koot, to say that I do 

 not believe that we yet half understand the capabil- 

 ities of a swarm of bees, in tiptop condition, and 

 Hoods of honey literally flowing down the moun- 

 tains, as it did last year! I believe the time will 

 come— and it may not be far away— when 1000 lbs. cf 

 honey may be got from a single colony and its prog- 

 eny, in a single season. Lunatic, eh'/ Well, there is 

 one consolation anyhow. The Stockton asylum is 

 full, and they have not commenced the new one yet, 

 and so they won't take me for a while. Hut, to re- 



in proof of the above, there were two of our hives 

 which gave us but about two section boxes— say 28 

 lbs., of honey. What their descendants did (if they 



had any) is more than I can say. These two hives 



i never swarmed that we knew of; and they made 

 only about 28 or 30 lbs. of honey each. Now throw 

 off the odd TO lbs. for this, and you will find the 

 average for each hive that did swarm was H.56I4 lbs. 

 I do not wonder that bee-keepers are astonished. 



, nor do I wonder that they doubt it. But because it 



I never ira*- done before, is no valid reason that it can 

 not be done. You are old enough, and I am old 



I enough to remember the time when, if we had gone 

 round telling people that the time would come when 

 we could talk to our friends .500 miles away, we would 

 both have been locked up as lunatics ! Here it is, you 

 see. Men make a high-water mark, as it were, in 

 their own minds. On this side of that mark lies the 



' possible; but beyond lies the impossible. But they 

 often have to move the mai-k a little more beyond. 

 So it is in this case. You will have to move the 

 mark, gentlemen, a little more beyond. Some of 

 these 16 hives gave much more than others, so I 



S must come to the conclusion that some of the old 

 hives and their progeny gave as high as 8i)f) lbs. of 

 honey. Push the mark a little furthel- on, gentle- 

 men. Who will say, knowing the past and looking 

 into the future, that no hive of bees and their prog- 

 eny will ever make lOJO lbs. of honey in a single 

 season'? 



And these are the dilatory, short-snouted, lazy 

 Italians. They sleep too late in the morning; in 

 fact, don't get up till after breakfast. They go to 

 bed before sundown, and can't snatch it from red 

 clover. Do they need some brown German blood in 

 them'/ What do they need? 



Now, dear friend Root, I want you to stand by us 

 in our trouble, and tell us what to do. Reading 

 over the advertisements in the bee-papers, we find 

 that we have not got the right kind cf bees at all. 

 We have not got " the bees for business." They get 

 up, and scratch gravel before daylight. They 

 can tly faster, dive deeper, claw out and carry away 

 more honey, than forty Italians. They never go to 

 bed at all— no, never wink an eye. They have the 

 hroH'u German blood in them. Shall we get them! 



Now let us go back to the honey crop. Below is 

 the certificate of Messrs. Hamilton & Co., that they 

 received in store from us 141 cases comb honey, 

 averaging 56 lbs. to the case, which is equal to ISStti 

 lbs.; now add 5'o cases here, .56 lbs., ;K)8 lbs.; 68 

 hives containing 60 lbs. honey in brood-chamber, 

 4080 lbs.; 1 ton of section boxes, which was unsala- 

 ble because the outer end was not sealed uj). They 

 are now on the hives again to be sealed up, 2000 lbs. 

 Total, 14,284 lbs. Now deduct amount produced by 

 the lower apiary, say ;J480 lbs. Product of the home 

 apiary, 10,804 lbs. 



Now besides this we sent two cases to the Light- 

 House, and one case to alady friend in Los Angeles; 

 these, making 168 lbs. more, were never counted. 

 Also some 10 to 15 gallons of strained honey, which 



j came from broken comb and crooked honey, that 



j was likewise never counted. Gentlemen may 

 stand aghast, and wonder what is coming next. 

 But I produce the certiticate of receipt in store. I 

 produce the certiflcatc of the men who hauled 

 the honey to town. I produce the evidence cf my 

 nephew, who helped to handle the honey, and who 

 is familiar with every mo\-e and motion from the 

 beginning to the end. 



I Now, gentlemen, go back to New Orleans and put 

 your wise heads together, and resohc that there 



1 " nn/«< be some mistake about it " Wliile you are 



