754 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



give to all had I their ears at this time so I 

 could tell them. Bat it would not be in ac- 

 cord with the knowledge of such men as P. 

 H. Elwood, Capt. Hetherington, and other 

 practical bee-keepers of Eastern New York, 

 to say that no section honey, or very little at 

 most, could be secured by colonies not having 

 laying queens, for these parties have secured 

 tons and carloads of comb honey in just that 

 way — that is, by having the honey stored in 

 sections while the colonies have no laying 

 queen. I do not recommend such a pl^n, for 

 with me better success is obtained where the 

 colonies have laying queens ; but I know these 

 gentlemen have eminent success in their local- 

 ity in this way. But I have a batch of queen- 

 cells from which the queens are just ready to 

 emerge, and I must attend to them. But be- 

 fore going allow me to suggest that you try 

 making just one colony by the plan given, an 

 hour or so before sundown, next year, and see 

 if it will not work, even in your locality. By 

 so doing not nearly so great a force of the 

 field bees from the old or removed colony 

 would be thrown with the combs of brood and 

 queen on the first day. 



■'^ffMmiM 



mi^kM¥^m 



TOO MUCH BROOD IN AUGUST; WHAT TO DO. 



I wish you would tell me what to do with 

 my bees. They are getting just enough to 

 make them rear brood. The frames are 

 crowded full, and no place for the honey, if 

 there were a surplus. I am afraid they won't 

 get enough for winter; if I could take the 

 queens away for a week they would fill the 

 hives; but it is a lot of work. I never saw so 

 many bees raised before at this time of year. 

 If you can suggest a remedy I wish you would, 

 for I am " stumped." J AS. Humbert. 



Bingham, Mich., Aug. 28. 



[I would not stop the queens' laying if I 

 could as well as not. Let them fill up the 

 brood and get a good ready for winter. If 

 you have plenty of bees I think you will get 

 fall pasture. If you do not, then I would 

 feed them sugar to winter over. When you 

 get more bees than you want, they ought to 

 sell at-a good profit. If nobody around you 

 wants bees, advertise them next spring. With 

 your bee cellar I think you can winter them 

 with little chance of loss, especially if thev 

 are rearing lots of brood from now on. Make 

 your colonies all very strong when they go 

 into winter, and you need not lose more than 

 one or two in a hundred. If the bees get the 

 brood-nest so full that there is really no room 

 for storing honey, I would let them into the 

 upper story or take out some combs of brood 

 and swap them with some other hive for "an 

 empty comb. You can probably do this for 

 quite'a while without opening up the upper 

 stories for room at this season of the year. — 

 Ed.] 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COLONIES. 



IMr. Root: — I have just been out among the 

 bees and I find some stands that were given 

 sections filled with foundation and baits early 

 in the season, that have not put up one pound 

 of honey. Adjoining them are other stands 

 that have been worked for extracted honey, 

 that have given me over 20Q pounds this sea- 

 son. Now, I do not claim that these are av- 

 erage colonies ; on the contrary they are the 

 exception, but show that, while some bees 

 will put up a large amount of surplus, others 

 will produce nothing My comb honey has 

 come from the strongest swarms. The quan- 

 tity produced is so small in comparison with 

 what other swarms have given of extracted 

 honey that there is no comparison in profits, 

 hence I claim that with me 5 cts. for extract- 

 ed honey is more profitable than 25 for comb, 

 and there is all the difference between nothing 

 with a colony of sluggards to 200 pounds and 

 over with a strong colony of rustlers. 



E. H. SCHAEFFLE. 



Murphys, Cal , Aug. 20. 



[This is in reply to the statement that Mr. 

 Sciiatffle had exaggerated the possible differ- 

 ences between two colonies. — Ed.] 



"THE EX LIGHTNING OPERATOR." 



I am surprised to see such a statement in 

 your columns, and am sure that you owe the 

 "lightning operator" an apology at once, and 

 especially so to show to your readers what 

 doctors are, even if they do have government 

 handles in front of the "Dr." Mr. Howe's 

 health is now as good as ever, and has been 

 .since last October. He is now <■ aring for about 

 1000 colonies of bees. In fact, be is still the 

 the same old lightning operator that he used 

 to be, and I can tell you that he is a hummer 

 for a little man just in his thirties. If you 

 don't think so, come down and run with him 

 some; and if you are not "lightning" you 

 will wish you were somewhere else. 



W. W. SOMERFORD. 



Caimito, Cuba, Aug. 11. 



[Mr. Somerford refers to a statement over 

 the signature of Harry Howe, published a 

 few weeks ago, to the effect that he was suf- 

 fering from heart trouble, and was under the 

 care of a U. S. Army Surgeon in the General 

 Hospital. This item cam^ to me through the 

 general avenues of our office, and, not notic- 

 ing the date, I supposed it was fresh news, 

 and published it. But the fact was, the letter, 

 evidently a "stray." was a 3'ear old, and now 

 Mr. Howe writes that he is fully recovered, 

 and says the "joke is on me." I have no 

 apology to make beyond the foregoing state- 

 ment, and, on Ihe other hand, I wish to con- 

 gratulate Mr. Howe on his speedy recovery 

 and return to good health — Ed.] 



GETTING COMBS BUILT DOWN TO BOTTOM- 

 BAR ON HORIZONTAL WIRING. 



Referring to Dr. Miller's Str.iw, page 625, 

 and j-our comment, I wire horiz'>ntally, and 

 have no difficulty in getting Hoffman frames, 



