1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE (JULTURE. 



269 



of two cases of honey which the producer knowe to 

 be exactly alike, so far as <iuality, tlneness of flavor, 

 etc., are concerned, from some cause, one will be 

 cleaner and clearer white than the other — at least 

 nineteen out of twenty customers will select the 

 clear white, even at a better figure. 



I think there are many more important thing's to 

 consider in reg'ardto the future honey market than 

 leaving- perfectly capped sections on the hives for 

 any length of time, as to our success in general. I 

 fullj- agree with friend Hcddon, on page .54, in re- 

 grard to a special convention, as" there is much else 

 to look after." C. W. King. 



Kalamazoo, Mich., Feb. 10, 18.S. 



Friend K., although there is a great deal 

 ill what you say. I feel quite certain that the 

 quality of hone\ is much improved by being 

 left a month ortwo in tlie hives. Basswood 

 honey, for instance, is unpleasant to many 

 people, when first gathered. This is the 

 case, even if it is capped over. Let it stand 

 in the hive, however, until fall, and it in- 

 creases in density, becomes daiker colored, 

 and loses the rank green basswood taste, 

 becoming mellow and rich. I would not, 

 however, think of treating sections of hon- 

 ey in this way. People who want old ripe 

 lioney had better have it extracted, or. if 

 you choose, have such honey built in regular 

 brood-frames, and then cut it out in chunks 

 to put on the table. Wlien sutficiently ri- 

 pened, even basswood honey will get so 

 thick that an extractor will hardly throw it 

 out. and this kind of honey is tlie sort that 

 pleases me. In transferring colonies in the 

 spring we often get hold of nice chunks of 

 this old ripe rich honey. I do not know 

 that anybody has intended to recommend 

 this sort, however, to put on the market. 

 You are right in thinking that people will 

 take the white clean honey every time. 



FOUL BROOD. 



HOW TO DETECT IT IN ITS EARLY STAGES. 



Tjp S spring is at hand, and as 1 understand it is 

 giJ^ generally admitted to be hard to distinguish 

 ^^ foul brood in its first stages from chilled 

 ^^^ brood caused either by carelessness or igno- 

 rance, the following way will enable even 

 the novice to detect it at its start. At this time its 

 spread, and often a general epidemic among the 

 bees in a large territory, may be avoided. In 

 March or April, according to locality (and about the 

 time when bees are looked after for other purpos- 

 es), is your opportunity. Good colonies will have 

 large sheets of brood in the center, just hatching 

 out. Now, if in such sheets any cells remain un- 

 hatched. with the well-known little hole in the cen- 

 ter, they may be, almost to a certainty, put down 

 as having foul brood, and you had better stop all 

 exchanging of combs, and prepare for the worst. 

 It is too late when you i;an smell it outside or at the 

 entrance, and such cases can occur only when a 

 colony has not been opened for a long time. It 

 costs but little if any more time to keep a lookout 

 for it, when your eye is once accustomed to it. In 

 case the disease is introduced by the feeding of but 

 a little affected honey, as is generally the case, and 

 therefore is. as yet, local, it may often be got rid of 

 by cutting out the affected cells. In cases like the 

 above, where every doubtful cell is carefully cut 



out, and no new ones are appearing in about ten 

 days after, and there is still doubt, a good plan is to 

 put the colony to the swarming-test, which is as 

 follows: Keep the brood-nest contracted; feed, if 

 not much honey is gathered, and thereby compel 

 the bees to swarm. This they will do generally, 

 providing it is in the swarming season. As foul- 

 broody bees are not supposed to swarm, this would 

 prove their health. C. H. Luttgens. 



Hamiiionton, N. J., Feb. 17, 1887. 



A CAVE FOR W^INTERING. 



QUEENS FHOM THE SOUTH NOT INFEUIOK TO 

 NORTHEKN-BRED QUEENS. 



T HAVE a cyclone cave, 6 x 9, excavated in the 

 M[ side of a hill, or knoll, deep enough so that the 

 ^l top of the cave is level with the surface of the 

 ground, and it is grassed over as any lawn 

 should bo. This cave is lined with large sheets 

 of tin, 7 X 9, top, bottom, sides, and ends, then ceil- 

 ed up with pine lumber. There is a small ventila- 

 tor on top, (i X fi inches, and a trap-door. For 87 

 days the snow has covered the door and all, and 

 sometimes the ventilator. Of course, the cave Is 

 very dry within. In this cave there are 40 colonies 

 of bees, in Simplicity hives, piled four and five 

 deep. Between eacii hive is spread one thickness 

 of new coarse muslin. One end of each hive is also 

 raised one inch from the other. Now, I should 

 like to ask, will the bees in the cave live? If they 

 do, will they be in good condition in the spring? 

 If the bottom hive and the one next above it shut 

 tight together, as some of these do, what will be 

 the effect on those two hives? The temperature of 

 the cave in winter, when no bees are there, varies 

 from 34 to 40°. 



THE DIFFERENCE 15ETWEEN THE ITALIANS AND 

 THE BLACKS. 



My bees are within one- or one and a half miles 

 of bee-pasture. What honey the blacks do store in 

 sections is capped very nicely— nicer. I believe, than 

 that stored by Italians; but my blacks do not make 

 the amount of honey Italians do; so from my 

 limited experience I have to say, that, surrounded 

 by white clover or timber, blacks will store as 

 much, perhaps, as Italians. But where honey 

 must be carried any great distance, I believe the 

 Italians far excel the blacks. I have had some ex- 

 perience with different strains of Italians; that is, 

 in the last two seasons 1 have received by mail, 

 from different States in the Union, over 50 Italian 

 queens. I had an idea that queens from the South- 

 ern States would produce bees less able to with- 

 stand the cold of our Northern winters, and be less 

 ambitious. I am now satisfied, however, that this 

 is a mistake. Last summer I had some dealings 

 with our friend I. R. Good; and from him I obtain- 

 ed 10 nuclei from his apiary in Middle Tennessee. 

 Those bees would be the first out in the morning, 

 and the last in at night, rain or shine. This may 

 not prove anything, perhaps; yet I am perfectly 

 satisfied that Southern bees are not lackingin am- 

 bition when moved to the North. My first queen 

 came from E. M. Hayhurst, Kansas City, Mo. At 

 that time there were only three or four pure 

 Italian queens in my vicinity. Wishing to liave a 

 few Italian bees of my own rearing, after the 

 black drones were about all gone I bought one 

 dollar's worth of Italian drones from A. I. Root. 



