18 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



about enough to keep them in good breeding: con- 

 dition. We saw that there would be a fair yield of 

 honey from basswood, so, as nearly as we could 

 guess, about ten days before the basswood opened 

 we caged L60 queens, to test our last year's theory. 

 The result was, we got 11,830 lbs. of honey— about 

 274 lbs. average, and I should think that % of that 

 honey came from the 1">0 colonies where the queens 

 were caged. Remember, our average last year was 

 12 lbs. We came to the conclusion that we should 

 cage queens again to increase our honey crop. We 

 think it is a good thing if it is rightly managed, any 

 year. 



The cages we used were made of wire cloth, about 

 ;i inches long, % inch wide, and % thick. One end 

 was plugged with a wooden stopper, V% inch long; 

 the other end was just pinched together after the 

 queen was in the cage. The cage containing the 

 queen was hung by a fine wire between two combs 

 in the hive from which she was taken. The bees in 

 the hives feed the queens in the cages. Out of the 

 150 queens so caged, three died; 147 were alive, and 

 in good laying condition. Some of the cages had 

 eggs in the lower end, \ inch deep in the bulk — 

 more than the size of the queen. I don't know 

 whether the bees made any use of the eggs or not, 

 as we kept one or two combs of young brood in the 

 hives, from other colonies; but I know that bees 

 will sometimes take eggs from a caged queen, and 

 raise queens from them. I don't think they will 

 use them to raise workers to any extent. How 

 long did we keep the queens caged? About 20 

 days— 10 days before the basswood opened, and 10 

 days after. We destroyed all queen-cells when we 

 caged the queens, and again in 10 days we destroy- 

 ed all queen-cells. After the queens had been lib- 

 erated about a week we examined all the bees we 

 had, to see if all had laying queens, and found all 

 the queens that had been caged were laying nicely. 

 Now, 1 don't want it understood that I advocate the 

 caging of queens, except under certain conditions. 

 When one has all the bees he wishes to keep, and 

 wishes to prevent swarming, then he should cage 

 the queen— after the colony is very strong and 

 about ready to swarm. Of course, the queen-cells 

 must all be destroyed. We have often caged a few 

 queens, but never as many in one season as we did 

 this last one. E. Fkance. 



Platteville, Wis., Dec. 15, 1888. 



The idea of caging queens at a certain 

 time in order to increase the honey-yield, 

 comb as well as extracted, has been recom- 

 mended and practiced to some extent for a 

 good many years. Some have claimed that 

 caging queens would put a stop to honey- 

 gathering, or, at least, to a certain extent; 

 but my experience has been that, where the 

 queen is removed entirely, the bees ceased 

 work. Leaving them caged in the hive as 

 you have done, however, would probably 

 make little if any difference with their ac- 

 tivity as honey-gatherers. Now, in case 

 there had been an unexpected tlow of late 

 fall honey, might not your experiment have 

 resulted in a big loss ? As our business 

 has been for years selling bees by the pound, 

 it lias been a hard matter for us to accept 

 the idea of repressing brood-rearing in any 

 way ; but as you state it, it seems to me 

 very likely there might be a positive gain in 

 the amouiit of honey secured, and a positive 



saving in regard to the amount of sugar 

 that must be bought for winter. We should 

 be glad to hear of the experiments of oth- 

 ers in this matter. 



RAMBLE NO. 10 CONTINUED. 



A NOVEL METHOD OF PEDDLING HONEY. 



HNCLE JOHN runs his colonies for the produc- 

 tion of comb honey. His son Cyrus, not 

 having much love for the busy bees, at- 

 tends to the farm, and makes gardening 

 a specialty. The products of the garden and 

 the apiary And ready sale at hotels and to the 

 boarders themselves; for about 20 miles from the 

 head of the lake, nearly every point and island has 

 a hotel or several cottages upon it. For instance. 

 Ripley's Point has a hotel— Horicon Lodge— and a 

 dozen cottages. During the camping season these 

 must be supplied with vegetables, etc. Mr. Cyrus 

 A. supplied a few of these resorts, at first with a 

 row-boat; but seeing an opening for a little expan- 

 sion in the business he fitted up a boat with a kero- 

 sene-engine. This pretty little craft will carry 17 

 persons, or over a ton of supplies. Every Wednes- 

 day and Saturday the boat is loaded with a miscel- 

 laneous cargo of potatoes, onions, celery, and 

 every thing from the garden; and last, but not 

 least, a few crates of honey. The voyage is then 

 made from point to point, and the entire day is 

 spent in disposing of the cargo. 



PEDDLING HONEY WITH A STEAMEH. 



Comb honey finds ready sale at 1(5 cts. per lb. Mr. 

 A. was selling his honey off nicely at 15 and 16 cts., 

 when, upon his next trip, he found the market de- 

 moralized, and the bottom knocked clean out by an 

 outsider running in a load of honey and selling it 

 for 10 or 12 cents per lb. In consequence he is 

 strongly in favor of co-operation, or the buying of 

 all of these stray cheap lots, or, what would be bet- 

 ter, the purchase of their entire stock of bees. 



Extracted honey can not be sold at any price, 

 owing to suspicion of adulteration. Even comb 

 honey in regularly filled sections is looked upon 

 with suspicion; and city people, before purchasing, 

 want to prod a jack-knife into the center of it to 

 test it. / 



While extracted honey can not be sold, there is a 

 call for maple syrup, and it will be purchased and 

 greedily eaten, and hardly a word be said about its 

 purity; and we all know that maple syrup is adul- 

 terated as much if not more than honey. Is honey 

 held more in suspicion because the busy bee and 

 the production of honey calls forth sensational 

 lies, and syrup free from it, because the noble 

 maple can not be so much lied about? Another 

 question that is beyond my solving is this: Why 

 will people use some articles of diet that are gross- 

 ly adulterated, and know it, and refuse articles like 

 honey, against which they have only a remote sus- 



