28 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Jak. 



A QUEEN AND '2 I'B. OK BEES. 



fS^ HE season has closed, and has been a good 

 ^ one all together. Hut little fall honey, ex- 

 < cept buclivvheat. We started with i colo- 

 nies, and increased l)y natural swarms to T, 

 besides losing: two fine swarms. I boug'ht a 

 qiieen and '2 lb. of l)ees of A. I. Hoot, received 

 May 28. From these we have a fine colony that 

 g-ave us some surplus. We have 400 lbs. of honey 

 for our work. It is selling at only 10 cts. We hope 

 to make even a better record ne.xt year. 

 Philo, 111., Nov. 37, 18Stl. M. L. Bkewf.u. 



.SUM TOTAL. 



My crop of surplus for 1884 was i:J,.">00 lbs.: lor 1885 

 was l^jm; for 188(i was 1:5,45(1. A. B. Cheney. 



Sparta, Kent Co., Mich., Nov. 8, 188t). 



skven colonies. 

 This year 1 have got 800 lbs. of honey in one- 

 pound boxes from seven colonies of bees. 

 Orangeville, O., Dec. 1, 188K. P. Mover. 



TOO LBS. per colony WITH BLACK BEES. 



We beg-an this season with T good colonies and 

 ;j poor ones; increased to Ut, one of which abscond- 

 ed. We extracted about 3235 lbs. of honey, but 

 fed back about 75 lbs.; 16 of our colonies are 

 Germans, the other 3 arc hybrids. Supposing our 

 ;{ weak colonies to have given 135 lbs. of honey 

 (which estimate may be rather low), the other 

 yielded TOO lbs. to the hive. If you have heard of 

 any man in Ontario who has beaten us with Ital- 

 ian bees, you can let us hear of it through Glean- 

 iNOS. J. Fennell. 



Shelburne, Out., Can., Nov. 3(;, l«8(i. 



SWINSON'S REPORT FOR 1886. 



1 began the season with 66 colonies, separated in 

 four different apiaries. I ran all for queens and 

 increase. I bred American-Albino-Italians, Syri- 

 ans, and Carniolans. 1 sold 33 nucleus colonies, 238 

 queens. Received from sales of bees and queens 

 for the season, :|?375. I increased to 71 colonies, in- 

 clusive of sales. Nine-tenths of the ordei's were 

 for Italian queens. During May, and up to June 

 30th, ordei'S were plentiful; after that date I sold 

 but few riueens and no bees; 95 per cent of orders 

 were for untested queens. Honey-flow was poor. 

 All in fine order for winter. 



Abbott L. Swinson, 71—70. 



(Joldsboro, N. C, Nov. 35, 1886. 



•'NEVER OBLIGED TO REPORT A FAILURE;" 1S7 



LBS. EXTRACTED HONEY, AVERAGE, PER 



COLONY. 



1 commenced the season with 175 colonies in tour 

 apiaries, from three to six miles apart. Of these, 

 95 colonies were run for comb honey in 1-ib. sec- 

 tions; the average yield was 105 IVts., and increase 

 of bees to 145 colonies. The remaining 80 colonies 

 were run for extracting. The average per colony 

 from these was 187 lbs. In all, 175 colonies increas- 

 ed to 3TO; surplus honey, 35,000 lbs. Bees are all in 

 g'ood co7idition for winter; most of them have more 

 honey than is necessary. 



I have been engaged in bee-keeping for the past 

 eleven years in different localities in this State; 

 and although some seasons have been excessively 

 wet and cold, and others right the reverse, yet 

 I have never been obliged to report a failure. 



MaustoD, Wis., Nov. 17, 1886. F. McNay. 



BLACK BEES AHEAD. 



I packed my bees on summer stands last winter, 

 and left the packing around them until near swarm- 

 ing time, to prevent spring dwindling. The bees 

 began to swarm in May, and got nearly through by 

 the time my neighbor's bees commenced, which had 

 been in the cellar. A pai t of my bees are Italians, 

 which I got of friend Root; a part hybrids, the rest 

 blacks. The blacks and hybrids led off in swarming, 

 the blacks a little ahead, but not tnuch; but when 

 the Italians got at it they did not know when to stop. 



Now for the honey: The Italians were a long 

 way behind the others in the amount of honey gath- 

 ered, but tliey are much nicer to handle. 1 have 

 taken our frames of Italians several times with the 

 queen on it, and she kept right along laying as 

 though nothing had happeiK d. I used Root's 1-lb. 

 one-piece sections, and I don't want any other kind. 

 When filled with basswood hf)ney they are hard to 

 heat. I secured about 3300 lbs. of comb honey. 



.1. IJ. Whiton, 46— .50. 



Ithaca. Gratiot Co., .Mich., Sept. 38, 188fi. 



J)jY;SEIiK WD MY Ps[EI6JIB0R^. 



Their feet are swift to shed blood. There is no 

 fear of God before their eyes.— R<m. 3:15, 18. 



1^ N tlie night of Dec. 2i' (just after the 

 'Kl shortest day of the year had gone) I 

 ^ was awakened about lialf-past four in 

 ^^ the morning by the sound of fire-bells. 

 Now, ever since the burning of our 

 M'arehouse last March, the sound of bells in 

 the night starts me itistantly until T regain 

 consciousness enough to recognize that it is 

 not a tire-alarni. Tiiis time, however, it was 

 the lire-;i1arni for sure, l)ut there was not 

 any lire. 'Die cause of it was something as 

 follows ; 



About one o'clock, as the night-watchman 

 was passing along his beat on one of oui- 

 principal streets, two individuals approached 

 him. Tie supposed they were boys out late 

 at night, and accosted them pleasantly. 

 When close to him one of them quickly 

 swung a revolver up before his eyes while 

 the other held a club over his head, and 

 threatened to kill him if he moved or made a 

 sound. He was tlien l)ound and gagged, his 

 overcoat was tied over his head, and he was 

 led to the court-house, M'here about $40,000 

 was deposited in the safe of the county 

 treasury — the taxes that had been collected 

 preparaitory to being forwarded to Colum- 

 bus. There were live men all togteher. Three 

 worked at the safe while the two others kept 

 watch. Tliey were prepared with safe- 

 breaking tools, and i)lenty of dynamite; but 

 our safe was too well made for them to get 

 through in three hours' time. One of the 

 sentinels announced, somewhere about four, 

 that people were stirring, and so they were 

 compelled to give up the job. Our marshal 

 released himself in lifleen or twenty min- 

 utes, and gave the alarm, as before men- 

 tioned. The thieves escaped with horses 

 and buggies taken from our citizens. The 

 horses and buggies have been secured, but 

 the robbers are at large. 



I have often told you of talking to crimi- 

 nals, and men guilty of crimes of various 



