1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



987 



hives did not fill the bill with me, for I had read 

 father Langstroth on the Hive and Honey-bee. I 

 commenced to read the American Bee Journal. I 

 read every book in the English and German lan- 

 guages within my reach, and was an interested 

 reader of every periodical on the bee-question, as 

 they, one after another, made their appearance. 

 The Bienen-Zeiturig, Salzburg, Germany, with its 

 able editor, Schmidt, was a great source of informa- 

 tion, as well as the American Bee Journal under 

 Wagner. I have read, and still have, each issue, be- 

 ginning with the very first of each. It is due to my 

 friend Hill, Mt. Healthy O., that I adopted the 

 Langstroth hive. Hill was my first tutor in scien- 

 tific apiculture. 



(HAS. F. MUTH. 



You may remember yet, Brother Root, that I was 

 one of the first warm advocates of " extracted 

 honey." My labels read to-day as they did in 1869— 

 " Pure machine-extracted honey. "^ You remember, 

 perhaps, also, the objections of old to the words 

 " machine extracted." We have had for years, per- 

 haps, as large a home trade for extracted honey as 

 any house in the country. My first tin honey-ex- 

 tractor was made in 1869 by H. W. Stephenson, of 

 our city, after the pattern of a wooden extractor 

 made for me the previous season by Prophetor 

 Bros., coopers, of our city. During the season of 

 1870 I sold my first four tin honey-extractors to bee- 

 keepers in this neighborhood. 



My apiary has been, since 1861, on the roof of my 

 house, and the average number of colonies per 

 season is about 45. The largest average yield per 

 colony in a season was 198 lbs. of extracted honey, 

 all of which was gathered during 26 days, in the 

 month of June. My largest crop in a season was 



between 60U0 and 7000 lbs. So you see I was one of 

 the first to make good use of the honey-extractor. 



This neighborhood has been visited by foul brood 

 for the last eight or ten years, and our ardor as 

 bee-keepers considerably dampened thereby. The 

 study of the cure of foul brood has been an expen- 

 sive experience to me. I have cured hundreds of 

 colonies, but I can not prevent reinfection, and I 

 have come to the conclusion that the cheapest and 

 best remedy, after all, is the brimstone-pit, and wip- 

 ing out of existence the stand, hive, combs, and all, 

 on first discovery. Chas. F. Mdth. 



Cincinnati, O., Oct. 22, 1889. 



FLORIDA. 



APPURTENANCES AND METHODS NOT NECESSARILY 

 SUITED TO THE SOUTH. 



R. ROOT:— Gleanings reaches us regular- 

 ly, is looked over closely, and then careful- 

 ly read and thought over. I have been a 

 reader of its teachings for about 14 years. 

 I have always found something in each 

 number, which, practically applied, has proved to 

 be worth the yearly subscription price of one dol- 

 lar, or, for the 12 years' reading, $288. This may ap- 

 pear to many a high estimate of its value, but 1 am 

 sure I should much regret to be set back in the 

 A B C of 14 years ago for the sum of $288, and I 

 think I speak the thoughts of many others of its 

 patrons and readers. 



There are a great many of the thoughts, theories, 

 and appliances, used, recommended, and put be- 

 fore the bee-keepers, that are entirely useless to us 

 in this climate. The problem of wintering is a 

 great study. The care and cost, and the loss, are 

 often great, even after all the precautions taken to 

 make it a success; also spring dwindling, and a suf- 

 ficient amount of stores to feed them until they 

 can secure their living— all this is superfluous 

 reading to us here. 



LARGE VERSOS SMALL HIVES. 



There is much speculation about large hives vs. 

 small hives. Much of this appears very useless argu- 

 ment. The farmers of the country could, with equal 

 claims over the officers of agriculture, advocate 

 large horses in Ohio when small ones in the cotton- 

 fields of the South would be far more economical, 

 and so with hives. Location, source of honey, sea- 

 son, climate, all these may and do certainly and 

 practically, and with a view to economy of the bee- 

 labor, and that of the man, make a difference in the 

 working size of a hive, as necessary as the differ- 

 ent places where they are in use; hence the argu- 

 ments appear useless, and the talk about a "stand- 

 ard " hive would be like a standard plow suitable 

 for all climes and soils. But when real, practical, 

 scientific, and natural subjects are made a basis of 

 argument, then the interest is aroused all through 

 the fraternity, and goodwill be the result. This, 

 then, brings out thought, and reason from cause to 

 effect. Such reading is very desirable; gives use- 

 ful instruction, when personal arguments about 

 "the hive I use "are of very little value to the 

 practical honey-producer who thoroughly knows 

 the flora of his location, and adapts the hive he 

 uses to the profitable production of honey. The 

 best argument is the honey produced. The hive is 

 a very small part of the necessary elements of sue- 



