1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



675 



comb honey. R. Wilkin has one of the Shuck re- 

 versible hives, which I have been examining. I 

 think I should like it as a brood-chamber, to be used 

 with the T super. Where can I get a few of the cast- 

 ings for the Hetherington reversible frame, shown 

 on page 514? I wish to get as many reversible hives 

 as I can this winter, and then select from them the 

 one that I consider the most practicable for comb 

 honey. I think it will be a long while before we get 

 a more convenient hive for extracting from than a 

 common L. hive. L. E. Mercer. 



San Buena Ventura, Cal. 



I am exceedingly glad to see you give the 

 above testimony in regard to the benetits of 

 reversing. The same thing came up a year 

 or two ago. But so many of our good bee- 

 men have abandoned the reversing business 

 entirely we were almost inclined to think it 

 was a mistake. Very likely many of them 

 never tried it. You ask why we do not try 

 it here. Well, the truth is we seldom have 

 our hives so crammed and loaded with hon- 

 ey as they do in places where there is a 

 greater honey-yield, or where there ate not 

 so many colonies kept in a place. I think, 

 friend M., if I were you I would experiment 

 a little more before going largely into rever- 

 sible hives. Our friend E. H. Cook, of the 

 Bee-hive, says he always regarded the re- 

 versing craze as a " harmless lunacy." Will 

 he try it a few times and see what he thinks 

 of it? Perhaps he has ; if so, we will take 

 it all back. 



A DEAF AND DUMB BEE-KEEPER. 



I have been keeping 7 swarms of bees. I am deaf 

 and dumb. 1 learned to handle bees about 3 years 

 ago. I can tell signs of bees swarming out of the 

 hives. I can't hear any humming, but my eyes see. 

 I watch them every morning. I study your ABC 

 of Bee Culture. I should like to keep a good many 

 swarms of bees. Last week I took 35 sections of 

 white honey. I expect to take about 75 more this 

 week. Edson Hulett. 



Pawlet, Vt., July 22, 1889. 



We are glad to hear from you, friend H. 

 We have at different times had quite a few 

 bee-men on our list who were deaf and 

 dumb ; and, strange to tell, they are almost 

 always good bee-keepers. What they lack 

 in hearing, they somehow contrive to make 

 up by sharp seeing. 



SWARMING OUT, AND FORMING THREE CLUSTERS. 



Quite a large swarm came off from my Heddon 

 hive (I have only one of them) three weeks ago last 

 Sunday morning, and settled in three separate 

 clusters on a small peach-tree. I hived them all, 

 in one hive, a one-story chaff, and they went right 

 to work and have been doing well. How do you ex- 

 plain three separate clusters from one swarm? 



Indiana, Pa., July 23, 1889. W. B. Marshall. 



Very likely there were three queens, one 

 in each cluster, and two of them, no doubt, 

 were virgins, which went out with the 

 swarm. The circumstance is nothing un- 

 usual. 



REMINGTON'S PHARMACY ; MORE GLUCOSE 



NONSENSE. 



On pages 675 and 676 of Remington's Pharmacy 

 the following is found. I give it verbatim, and you 

 can draw your own conclusion, and remark there- 



from: " It is not known whether honey is secreted 

 by the bee or whether it exists ready formed in 

 plants. The nectaries of flowers contain a sweet 

 substance which is extracted by the insect. Large 

 quantities of honey are obtained from California, 

 the Southern States, and the West Indies. A still 

 larger amount, however, is manufactured by flavor- 

 ing and coloring artificial glucose." * * * * "Owing 

 to the difficulty of obtaining pure honey in large 

 cities and towns, its place in many officinal prepara- 

 tions has been filled by substituting syrup or gly- 

 cerine." Geo. F. Williams. 

 New Philadelphia, O., July 22, 1889. 



That is the kind, friend W. Pitch into 

 the cyclopedias and pharmacies, and dig up 

 all their false statements. Ami now let us 

 all go for the publishers. Can you not give 

 us the address of the publishers, and the 

 date when it was put out? The closiug sen- 

 tence is pretty cool indeed. Will the phar- 

 macy please tell us the name of the city or 

 town where pure honey is not to be had ev- 

 ery day in the year, and in any quantity? 

 If our cyclopedias and such like books of 

 reference are going so much on the Rip 

 Van Winkle style, they will soon find that 

 our progressive American people will leave 

 them high and dry on dusty shelves, unused 

 and uncared for. 



KEP6TO ENceaRTieiNG. 



Plenty of honey; from 14 to 31 colonh s, and 800 

 lbs. of honey; best ever known here. 

 Thornville, O , July 26, 1889. Geo. Beagle 



I started with 19 colonies and now have 43. Have 

 taken off 6U0 lbs. of section honey. 

 Little Rock, 111., Aug. 5, 1889. Jesse Brady. 



I have 12 colonies of bees. They are doinjr finely. 

 Honey is only 8 and 10 cts. a pound for the hot 

 clover. Newton Nixon. 



Olds, Iowa, Aug. 6, 1889. 



We had 13 colonies in the spring, which have in- 

 creased to 70. Though the season has been very 

 dry, we have extracted a little over 3600 lbs of hon- 

 ey, chiefly clover and basswood. Fanny Pond. 



Bloomington, Minn., July 30, 1889. 



NO LOSS FOR THE LAST FOUR WINTERS, AND HON- 

 EY COMING IN AT IRE RATE OF 5 LBS. PER 

 DAY, ON THE SCALE HIVE. 



Vou will have to put me in Reports Encouraging. 

 I have wintered in the cellar four winters without 

 the loss of any bees. I had 17 colonies, spring 

 count, for 1889, and have had IS new swarms. I use 

 the Heddon method of hiving on the old stand, and 

 do not have any after-swarms. My hives were full 

 of honey when set out of the cellar, and have con- 

 tinued so up to basswood bloom. They put in a 

 larjre amount of honey from the basswood, which 

 closed a few days ago; but the honey-How still con- 

 tinues from other flowers, Myscale hive indicates 

 about 5 lbs. per day, of fine white honey. The hon- 

 ey-flow will continue here until frost comes. Cue 

 swarm came out, and it left without clustering. 1 

 followed them to a hollow tree, about half a mile. 

 I have Italians and hybrids. The Italians are the 

 best honey-gatherers with me. J. ROUSE, 



Camdon, Minn., July 27, 1889, 



