568 



GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



tense drought that prevails, yields scarcely any 

 honey. Strong- colonies, devoted to extracted hon- 

 ey, are gaining very slowly. Colonies run for coml) 

 honey are doing nothing, except that some of them 

 are putting a little into the brood-chamber. Ordi- 

 nary colonics are not gaining at all; and many, I 

 think, have less honey in their hives than they had 

 in the spring. I have heard of several cases where 

 bees were found starving during what is usually 

 our best honey-How. 



As a matter of course, there has been little or uo 

 swarming. Only one colonj^ in my apiary tried it, 

 and that, on being returned, thought better of it 

 and did not repeat the attempt. All colonies are 

 unusually weak. Unless we have heavy rains soon, 

 heart's-ease will fail, and with it our only hope of 

 anj' income from bees this year. 



What is the lesson to be learned from this? Dark 

 as the prospect is, it is not without some points of 

 brightness. In the first i)lace, the markets will 

 probably be cleared of all of last year's honey. 

 This of itself is by no means a small thing in the 

 establishment of better prices for this year's crop. 

 Only those who have had a large experience in sell- 

 ing direct to retailers can have an adequate idea 

 of the depressing effect on the market exerted by 

 even a small quantity of unsalable honey. I can 

 recollect instances where it would have paid me to 

 have bought out a retailer's stock of honey at his 

 own price, rather than let it remain on his hands, 

 spoiling his trade, preventing the sale of other 

 honey, and lowering its price. Now, if those who 

 have any honej' for sale this year would onlj- hold 

 it back until the market is bare of all old hon- 

 ey, and the demand for new begins to be urgent, 

 they might realize almost, if not quite, as much for 

 their short crop as they would have for a full one: 

 at the same time preparing the way for better 

 prices next year. Honey will probablj- be in great- 

 er demand this year than last, for the same drought 

 that made a failure of the honey crop produced a 

 great shortage in the yield of small fruits, so that 

 there should be an unusual demand for honey as a 

 table-sauce. 



Many bees will probably starve the coming win- 

 ter, which, I think, will be a good thing for bee- 

 keeping as a whole. In fact, I know of only one 

 thing that would do moi-e to put bee-keeping on a 

 soiuid and remunerati\e basis than a wholesale 

 reduction of the number of bees kept, and that is a 

 corresponding reduction in the number of careless 

 and incompetent bee-keepers. I know this idea is 

 not popular with some, but it is my honest opin- 

 ion. 



Although many of those who meet with losses 

 will become discouraged and give up the business, 

 there will be enough who will go at it again to make 

 the trade in bees and (jueens good. 



Look at it which way we will, I think there is 

 much of encouragement to the careful and energet- 

 ic apiarist. The present loss may be hard to bear; 

 but when all things are considered, it may give 

 greater results than a more apparent success. 



So failure wins; the coiistqiieiKc 

 Of loss hccoines its recoiiipcnse. 



At any rate, good management will go far to re- 

 trieve our losses and prevent them from becoming- 

 defeats. Stick to the bees, then, and give them the 

 best of care. If there is any chance for a fall crop, 

 be sure that the bees can ma.ke the most of it. 

 Above all, be sure that your bees go into winter 



quarters in as good condition as you know how to 

 put them. To insure that, begin now. 

 Dayton, 111., July 14, 1887. J. A. Green. 



Fiieiul G., you are on the right track, I am 

 sure. Tlie siiort crop has brightened things 

 here at the Home of the Honey-Bees al- 

 ready. The hivge lot of glassed sections 

 of honey we have been trying in vain to 

 sell for two years is now almost gone, and 

 probably will all be gone before this reach- 

 es our friends. Every thing in the shape of 

 honey, that has been standing idle for years 

 back, most of it, is V)eing moved off at a 

 price that pays cost, interest on the capital 

 that has been lying idle, and a little more. 

 Tlie scarcity of fruits in our own town has 

 started a brisk local trade. For some years 

 back I have been In the habit of enjoying 

 droughts or excessive rains; tliat is, so far 

 as 1 can enjoy any thing that harms my 

 neighbor, for these tilings mean better prices. 

 The dry weather has spoiled most of the cu- 

 cumbers in the gardens of Medina, and, as a 

 consecjuence, we are getting extra prices for 

 the product of our vines ; and thus, you see, 

 the money we put into sub-irrigation a year 

 ago is beginning to come back ; and the cu- 

 cumbers planted over those bog-holes are now 

 booming. The real wide-awake bee-keeper 

 need not be worried nor troubled. But w^e 

 sliould also learn a lesson by having a little 

 aliead to carry us over bad seasons. And we 

 should learn a lesson about being in a hurry 

 to make investments and to enlarge our bus- 

 iness. Go slow and go sure. Keep in mind 

 all the while tliat sickness, drought, floods, 

 and tornadoes may be expected at almost 

 any time. If they do not come, all right; 

 and when they do come, you are, at least in 

 a measure, prepared for them. 



EXTKA-THIN FOUNDATION. 



C. C. MIT.LEK DISCUSSES THE WIDTH Of SUPEUS, 

 ETC. 



Jo FEW years ago I tried some e.vtrathiii li^ii- 

 Ss bottom ft)undatioii. and decided against it. 

 K Afterward 1 ti-ieil some extra thin with nat- 

 '^ ural base, and was not pleased with that. 

 This year I decide d lo use some Hat-bottom 

 thin, in spite of any objections, because I thought 

 there could be less objection on the y>iivt of consum- 

 ers to the thinnest foundation (I use sections full 

 of foundation), and because the thinnest foundation 

 would cost less per section, even if it cost more iter 

 pound. I have not had an opportunity to test it 

 this year in a full honey-How, for the worst drought 

 ever known here has prevailed, and on the 20th of 

 July there is less honey in the hives than when 

 taken from the cellar. Only a very few colonies 

 have stored anything in s.UJers, except some in the 

 bait sections. But what little observation I have 

 been able to make agrees with my former observa- 

 tions— that when bees have in their possession ex- 

 tra-thin foundation they are liable to dig holes in it 

 and tear it down at the sides, at such times as they 

 are storing little or no honey. I am inclined to the 

 opinion, that, when honey is yielding well, this ob- 

 jection may not hold; but there are so many times 

 when the difficulty may occur that I think I never 



