248 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr 



there is any, when bees can find absolutely nothing 

 upon which to work. Suppose at the poorest time 

 in the season there is enough to keep only two 

 colonies busy, then different times aggregating 

 four or five weeks when 15 colonies can be kent 

 busy, a lew weeks when 40 colonies have all they 

 can do, and so on, till we find a few weeks of clo- 

 ver when 100 colonies have all they can do. I think 

 it is pretty evident that the two colonies occupying 

 the whole field during the entire season will make 

 a better average yield than the 100, and as you di- 

 minish the 100 your yield will gradually increase 

 till the number gets down to two. Understand I 

 don't say there will be any immense difference be- 

 tween 100 and 75, but still I think there will be 

 some difference, and in making our plans we may 

 as well keep in view the principle that the smaller 

 the number the better chance each colony will 

 have: C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



PURCHASING BEES. 



QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 



T AM requested to answer some questions in 

 ijjp Gleanings, by one who says that he is a be- 

 ^ll ginner in bee-keeping, he having been induc- 



"*■ ed to go into the same by getting hold of a 

 sample copy of the above-mentioned paper. 

 In reading it he was seized with what is known as 

 the "bee-fever," so has concluded to purchase 

 some bees. He has subscribed for Gleanings, and 

 thinks that I am just the one to answer his ques- 

 tions. In this last I think he has made a mistake, 

 but will try, in brief, to do the best 1 can. He first 

 asks what price he ought to pay for a colony of 

 Italian bees in a movable-frame hive. Much de- 

 pends upon the season of the year, and the condi- 

 tion of the colony. They are usually sold at from 

 $4 to $ 6 in the fall, and from $8 to $10 in the spring. 

 The reason for the difference in price is that, of 

 late years, there seems to be much risk in winter- 

 ing, nearly 75 per cent of the bees throughout all 

 the United States being lost during one or two of 

 our worst winters, while the average loss for the 

 past fifteen years has not been much less than 

 twenty per cent. If ten or more colonies are pur- 

 chased of one party, the price should not be above 

 the lowest figures given, for each colony. In an 

 average season, and in a favorable locality, such a 

 colony of bees should give 50 pounds of honey, be- 

 sides one good swarm. The honey would readily 

 bring ten cents per pound, or $5, and the swarm 

 should be worth $4 without the hive, in the fall, 

 which would nearly give the purchaser his money 

 back, even if he lost the old colony, or fifty per 

 cent of his bees, during the next winter. 

 diseased bees. 

 He next asks, "Are bees subject to disease or 

 epidemics?" There is only one disease of any 

 account among bees, aside from our wintering 

 troubles, and that is termed "foul brood." The 

 cause of our wintering troubles, " doctors " do not 

 agree upon, some claiming that continued cold 

 causes it, others that it all comes through the pol- 

 len which the combs contain, while others talk of 

 confinement, dampness, lack of ventilation, etc. 

 Whatever may be the cause, our greatest mortality 

 occurs during the latter part of a long, steady cold 

 winter, an open winter being favorable to the suc- 

 cessful wintering of bees, as the present season is 



proving. Foul brood is of a different nature. The 

 character of the season has nothing to do with it. 

 So far no one knows the cause, except to guess at 

 it. However, all agree, that the disease is carried 

 in the honey. One bee-load of honey taken from a 

 diseased hive to a healthy colony is sure death, in 

 time, to that colony; so the greatest possible care 

 should be used, where a colony is discovered hav- 

 ing the disease. For symptoms and cure, see late 

 volumes of Gleanings. 



COST OF HIVES. 



He next says he thinks of making a hive " 14 x 22 

 x 11, with an outer shell for chaff, the whole to be 

 covered with tin, and painted," and desires to 

 know about what the cost would be. I should 

 guess about $4.50 for a single hive; while if 10 to 25 

 were made, $3.75 each ought to buy them, includ- 

 ing frames, sections, and all. But let me ask. 

 " Why make such a hive?" It is out of the regular 

 size, and could not possibly give better results than 

 any of the hives now in use. There are four styles 

 of hives in general use; the Langstroth, Quinby, 

 Gallup, and American, any of which would give as 

 good results as the one spoken of, and at much less 

 cost, while any of them can have the chaff box fixed 

 on the outside of it. Besides, all of the sections, 

 frames, etc., to these hives fit the shipping-cases, 

 extractors, and other conveniences, manufactured 

 by most of our supply-dealers. A complete Lang- 

 stroth hive can be bought for about $2.00. It is one 

 of the mistakes made by many beginners, in think- 

 ing that they can get up a hive " just a little better 

 than the older heads have done," thus causing 

 much complication in our business. 



HONEY YIELD. 



Then he wants to know, "Flow much honey 

 should an Italian colony average annually? " Very 

 much would depend on the location and manage- 

 ment. Taking the United States together, the 

 average yield among specialists is about 50 pounds 

 per colony, spring count. Some years give double 

 this amount, others very little or nothing at all. 

 My average yield, for the past 16 years, has been 

 not far from 80 lbs. to the colony, which I had in 

 the spring. Best average (1877) was 166 pounds; 

 poorest, about 30 pounds. 



ALSIKE CLOVER. 



Next he asks, " Does"alsike clover suffer from 

 drouth? " To about the same extent as does red 

 clover, as it has a very similar root; but no kind of 

 clover is infallible as to its honey yield. Very dry 

 or very wet weather is against the secretion of nec- 

 tar in flowers, and especially are cool or cold nights 

 damaging. The last, in my opinion, are the cause of 

 more failures of honey than all other causes com- 

 bined, unless it be weeks of cloudy, rainy weather, 

 together with high winds, which prevent the bees 

 from leaving their hives in search of stores. 

 There is an occasional season, when bees are kept 

 at a loss in some localities, as all bee-keepers are 

 willing to testify— seasons when they hardly get a 

 living during the summer months, saying nothing 

 about laying up stores for winter. However, the 

 alsike clover is about as sure a yielder of honey as 

 any thing which we have. 



WAX-MOTHS. 



"Is there danger of losing colonies by moths or 

 other insects?" is the last question. The larva of 

 the wax-moth is about the only real enemy which 

 the bees have in the inseotline. These feed upon 

 the combs, and burrow through them, and in very 



