1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEi<: OULTUKE. 



185 



A TOTAL FAILURE. AND I,OSS OP OVER $3(10. 



T STARTED in spring' with ;i() colonics— 10 strong 

 1^ and 10 from very weak to inodiwm; increased 

 ^i to 4S. iiicludiiifi- tive nnclei. I sold five nuclei' 

 ■*■ H colonies, and about $a;i.00 wortli of queens, 

 which left me 40 colonies, and 1 did not get 40 

 lbs. of hone.v from the 40 colonies in 1886. 1 am out 

 about $125 in honey, and about *2U0 worth of time. 

 We have had a failure in the honey-crop every 

 .year since I have been in the business. I wish you 

 and Dr. C. C. Miller had got a law i)assed in 1882, 

 prohibiting anybody but you two from keeping 

 bees. 1 should have been about $;500 better otT. 



Jno. W. Martin. 

 Greenwood Depot, Va., Jan. 1.5, 1887. 



A KIT SUB.IECT FOR BLASTED HOPES. 



Since I am writing, I will hand in m.v report for 

 the past year. 1 had, to go into the winter of 188,'i, 

 14 Stands in Simplicity hives. All came through 

 strong and healthj-. The^' commenced swarming 

 early; increased to SV. Up to July 1st my bees did 

 well; but from that time on they rather went back; 

 and by the 1st of October there were scores of bees 

 starved to death. 1 lost none, l)ut doubled back to 

 24; took 15(1 lbs. of comb honey from 14 colonies, 

 spring count, no extracted. My bees are all right 

 yet, but rather poor for so many stands. If you 

 have Blasted Hopes yet, you might put a few like 

 me in for a while, .iust to see how we would like it. 



FairHeld, Pa , Jan. 1, 188T. J. A. Kime. 



1)11) NOT PAY. 



I do not like to report discouragingly lor the bee- 

 business, but I am afraid 1 shall have to, as my 

 loss in e.xperimenting during the past year will be 

 over $100. J. C. Frisbee. 



Suffolk, \'a , Dec. 27, I88t). 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



PATENTED IN THE UNITED STATES— THEIR 

 I)ECRE.\^^E. 



E are indebted to the British Bee- 

 Journal of Feb. o for the following 

 item in regard to the decrease in the 

 numlierof patents on hives issued 

 in llie United States from year to 

 year, up to and including part of 1886: 



Your n-adeis may not be aware that the specifica- 

 tions (ii piiii nts taken out in all countries where 

 there is .i p;t'eni-law are filed and can be inspected 

 in the lil)r;ii\ at the Patent-Office, Chancery Lane, 

 witlim.'t |)ii\nicnt ot any fee, simply by signing 

 j'our nil me :iii>l address in a book as you enter. 

 Theri' is mIso a library of the scientific books of 

 all countries. 



After the little business I had at the Patent-Offlee 

 this weeiv was done 1 amused myself looking at the 

 places and specifications of some of the American 

 bee-hives. Seeing 1 rom the general indexes the 

 great number of hives that had been patented In 

 the I'liited StJites I thought it might be of interest 

 to your readers to know the number of patents tak- 

 en out under the heading " bee-hives," not includ- 

 ing extractors, feeders, smokers, etc., and I count- 

 ed up tlie numbers, which areas follows:— From the 

 commenccmenr up to the end of the vear IST^i. 591; 

 1874, 22; 1875. 17; 1871). 22; 1877, :W; 1878. :«; 1S7!1, IS; 

 1880, 12; 18S1, 10; 1882, 8; 1883, 16; 1884, 8; 1885, 20; part 

 of 1886, 6. Total, 816. 



You will see that the year 1886 is not yet complet- 

 ed, but up to the lat(?st returns the enormous num- 

 ber of 816 patents have been taken out for "bee 

 hives." I examined about 30 of the most recent 

 ones, and I should much like those gentlemen who 

 consider that we get all our best ideas from Amer- 

 ica to spend a da.v there in search of ideas worthy 

 of imitation, and I feel convinced that, whatever 

 their opinion of the superiority of Americian appli- 

 ances liai! pri'viously been, he will go away sur- 

 prised to find that ari.y one would ever patent the 

 rubbish he sees illustrated and described there. 

 Upon incjuiry of a patent-agent, I find a patent costs 

 more than hei-e, since the alteration of our patent- 

 law. John M. Hooker. 



WILL THE THE NEXT VEAR'S HONEY CROP FOR 

 CALIKOHNIA BE A FAILURE? 



1 am in receipt of a letter dated Feb. 5, from my 

 agent at San Buenaventura, Cal., stating that, up to 

 that time, the rainfall in Southern California for 

 this winter had been less than two inches. He says 

 that, unless the rain comes soon, the California 

 honey-crop will be a failure, as it takes from 10 to 18 

 inches to insure a crop of honey there. 



While this is bad luck for our brothers across the 

 continent, it may help to advance the price here; 

 and let us try to make what is their unavoidable 

 loss our material gain, and not be led to sell our 

 honey at a low figure by those who wish to buy on 

 the strength of " an immense crop in California." 



Wyoming, N. Y. G. W. Stanley. 



MOVING BEES. 



Fricitd Root:— I wish to ask a little advice in re- 

 gard to moving my bees. I have about 70 colonies 

 to move al)0ut 225 yards south of their v'resent 

 location. The la.y of the land is about the same; 

 viz., sloping southwest, but the new locution is 

 much steeper ground, and the location of the hives 

 will have to be in an altogether ditferent shape 

 than they are in at present. The bees are all in 

 Sim])licity-Langstroth hives, and contain from 4 to 

 20 frames each. What I wish to know is, how to 

 move them with least lost, the best time in the 

 spring to doit, and how to do it with the greatest 

 ease. I am not very strong physically. If the 

 editor, or .-vny of the readers of Gleanings, have 

 any suggestions to offer they will be thankfully 

 received. Subscriber. 



New Brighton, Pa., Jan. 24, 1887. 



It will be a little difficult, my friend, to 

 have your bees adhere to their new location, 

 unless the weatlier should favor you. If 

 they can stand on the new site, say a couple 

 of weeks, wlien there is no weatlier permit- 

 ting them to Uy, most of them will return to 

 their new location. If, however, a warm 

 day occurs shortly after moving them, so 

 many bees will be lost it may l)e the ruin of 

 a go(,(l many of your colonies. It is a very 

 ditficiilt matter iiideed to move bees short 

 distances, unless the weather hapjteiis to be 

 favorable, as above. For fiirtlier remarks 

 on this sul)ject. see "Moving Bees.'" in the 

 A 13 C book. 



IMI'ORTEL) yllEENS FRO.M 1!) A N( ( INCI NI. 



I have read .your answer to Mr. HudsoiL in the 

 Dec. Isl No. 1, 1886, page 046. 1 thank you lor what 

 you have written of me, and please hiar wh>' you 

 are Quite right in so thinking. 1 do not charge 

 more for Australia (proportionally) than for other 

 countries, on account of difficulty of transporta- 

 tion. 1 have arranged, with my .Australian pa- 

 trons, one price for every town and every month, 

 and the price is as low as possible. In fact, we 



