SOB 



GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTUBE. 



July 



How he made so much money was trading: honey 

 for furs; and, as he put it himself, It counted both 

 ways, and he told me that he would not live among- 

 the so-called civilized people on any account. He 

 spoke about a love disappointment which was the 

 cause of driving hini to live with the Indians, and 

 he afterward married an Indian girl, and claims to 

 be delighted with the life he is leading. He de- 

 clares that the Indians are more intelligent than 

 the white people; that every herb that grows, they 

 can tell what it is good for in the line of medicine, 

 and they caacure almost any disease. He appears 

 to be clear-headed and reasonable in his arguments, 

 ftnd states that any thing that is not known to the 

 Indians is not worth knowing. I am going to com- 

 municate with him, or endeavor to do so, as I am 

 greatly taken up with his ideas, especially about 

 bees* and am therefore anxious to attain all the 

 knowledge I possibly can, and have all faith in 

 what this man states. Why would not this work as 

 Well with bees as it does with flies and insects, 

 Vhich we See crawl out when the warm weather 

 comes? 



I am writing to McFadden today, but do not ex- 

 peat to get an answer before August, if then; but 

 when I do I will let you know, and I shall be pleased 

 to give you any further information that I can. 



McFadden was to leave for his home among the 

 Indians about the Stith of last month. 



G. Watson. 



Alliston, Out., Can., April 30, 1887. 



Thanks, friend W.; but I am afraid you 

 are placing too much faith in McFadden 's 

 statements. No doubt he has learned many 

 valuable facts from his Indian relatives by 

 marriage ; but when he declares broadly 

 that the Indians are more intelligent than 

 white people, we must considei- him care- 

 less and reckless in his statements, if noth- 

 ing more. If there is a man living who can 

 keep bees over winter, or even for one 

 month, in a chilled condition, we are ready 

 to pay the man for his services in perform- 

 ing the experiment. 



^ I ^ 



30,000 LBS. OF HONEY FROM 80 COL- 

 ONIES IN CUBA. 



VALUABLE ITEMS FROM A. W. OSBORN ; COM- 

 MENTS ON "OUR OWN APIARY" FOR 

 JUNE 1st. 



fRIEND ROOT:— Last year being a poor one for 

 bees, it was impossible to get more than 80 

 colonies in condition to store surplus, when 

 the winter flow began. After the heat of 

 summer had gone, the natural conditions for 

 the secretion of honey seemed more favorable, and 

 the 80 colonies we had in condition worked with a 

 vengeance, filling their top stories every week, for 

 nearly four months. At the end of that time we 

 had taken 30,000 lbs. of extracted honey from the 

 80 colonies. Now, friend Hoot, this amount of 

 honey was stored by hybrid bees— hybrids from the 

 Holy-Land and Italian queens, mated with black 

 drones; and another thing in their favor, my little 

 son, 13 years old, and myself, took every pound of 

 honey, and did not wear a hat or bee-veil. We have 

 now increased to 500 colonies, and still we use no 

 protection whatever. So much for the abused 

 hybrids. They get the honey all the same, and [ 

 would sooner handle our strain of bees, than any 

 pure race I ever saw. 



FOUL BROOD IN LARGE APIARIES APT TO REAP- 

 PEAR. 



In Ernest's report, June 1, I see that foul brood 

 has made its appearance in his apiary again this 

 spring. " Didn't I tell you so? " After many years 

 of experience with foul brood I have never seen 

 it cleaned out of a large apiary in any other way 

 than Are and water for the combs and hives, and 

 starvation for the bees. I do not say that it can 

 not be done, but I say I have never seen it. We 

 have seen reports where it has been done, but in 

 some of these I know there is room for doubt. I 

 can truthfully say, thei-e is none in this apiary. I 

 sincerely hope Ernest may clean it out. I would 

 not fool with it, but go to work and melt every 

 comb, boil every hive, and starve every bee that is 

 infected. In that way he will get rid of it. 



HOW TO USE HARD WOOD IN THE BINGHAM 

 SMOKER. 



The Bingham smoker, Ernest says he has a little 

 trouble with. After using the Bingham for 10 

 years, I will tell j'ou how I manage it. I use hard 

 sound wood, about like your hard maple. I saw it 

 up the right length for the smoker, and split it 

 about % or Vz inch square, and I prefer to have it 

 pretty much green— not left to season more than a 

 daj' or two, for in that condition it Will burn all 

 that is necessary, throw less sparks, and give a 

 much stronger and denser smoke. 



HOW TO START WITH GREEN WOOD. 



As I have told you before, our smoker is lighted 

 as soon as daylight, and does not go out until too 

 late in the evening to work with bees. Well, the last 

 thing to be done with the smoker at night is to see 

 that it is freshly filled with wood, then well blown 

 up and set down for the wood to season and char; 

 and when I think it is about right, I lay a little flat 

 stone over the chimney, and smother the fli-e. The 

 next morning I have a smoker full of as fine char- 

 coal as you ever saw. This charcoal lights very 

 easily when put on top of a few shavings, and will 

 start the green wood ofil in good shape. It is a 

 little trouble, I know; but I never knew a good 

 ci-op of honey secured without trouble. When T 

 keep my smoker well filled with green wood I am 

 not troubled with sparks. Take out that little wire 

 screen, between the bellows and fire-box, punch 

 out the wire cloth, and return the casing, to keep 

 the wind from coming out there: for if the wire 

 screen is left in it soon fills up from fuzz from the 

 bellows, and makes it work hard. 



QUEENS MISTAKING THEIR HIVES. 



As I have told you, our hives here are all painted 

 white, with no difference in looks at all, and set so 

 closely together that many of them touch one 

 another. When I expect a queen to go out I lean 

 an old weather-beaten board up against the white 

 hive, which makes an object that is easily seen, and 

 the queen marks her location by it. When I have 

 two queens go out of hives that sit very closely to- 

 gether, I put a board to one and a red tile to the 

 other (the tiles are about 16 inches long, and six or 

 eight inches wide. In this way the queens hardly 

 ever fail to get back to their own hives. 



About the workers getting mixed, or getting in 

 the wrong hives, and killing queens, that they do 

 go into other hives I have no doubt; but as to their 

 killing queens under such circumstances, I have 

 my doubts; for if such a thing were common, we 

 should have plenty of queenless hives; but we do 

 not have. 



