744 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



compact dry mass of about the size of a large hazel- 

 nut. The juices were seemingly all extracted. 

 Duncan, 111., Sept. 1, 1887. W. H. GuAVES. 



HOES THK Hf)T SUN PREVENT BEES FLYING AFTER 



NECTAR, AND SO REDUCE THE AVERAGE 



YIELD I'ER COLONY? 



Does the hot sun jjrcvent bees from going a long 

 distance foi- pasturage? My reason for asking this 

 ijuestion i.s, that, about two miles from my apiary, 

 the bees did well, filling orate after crate with fine 

 white comli honey, while my bees did not gather 

 any at all, and some would have starved had I not 

 led them. The sun has been very hot this summer, 

 so I concluded that bees could no4 fly in the hot sun 

 any great distance, and return to their hi\es safely 

 with a load of honey. I agree with youabout founda- 

 tion. I have a mill for making the Hat-bottom 

 foundation, but 1 shall order one of the other kind 

 next year. J. P. Caldweli,. 



San Marcos, Texas, Aug. :.'f, 1KS7. 



Friend ('.,1 Jiave sometimes thought tliat 

 tlie bees seemed to think it was too hot to 

 work, even when honey was to l)e had in 

 the fields : but afterward I lia\ e had reason 

 to conclude that honey was to be had only 

 by very great toil, or that it was not to be 

 had in paying (]nantities, except in the cool 

 of the morning or toward evening. Many 

 plants, like the spider plant and the Rocky- 

 Mountain bee-plant, yield nectar only dur- 

 ing the niglit i tlien^ore when himey comes 

 from such sources, the bees are necessarily 

 idle during the heat of the day. 



•IHA1 KREK AUX'ERTISEMENT ; A RARE CHANCIE. 



In looking- over back numbers of f^LEANiNGS I 

 Hnd no answer to Mrs. Chaddock's advertisement. 

 Now, 1 haven't the mule nor enough honey; but as 

 .vou are so liberal with " ads.'" I should like to make 

 ati offer, (iet one, two. three, or a dozen, to join 

 with you. Pack in your Saratoga a few blank- 

 ets, all your old clothes (none of your Sunday go 

 to meetin's), iilate, ciip, and saucer (tin will do), 

 knife, fork, cott'ee-pot, frying-pan, and some good 

 coffee. A keg of butter and can of lard will not be 

 out of place. Procure a small tent — a large one is 

 not necessary. Come down here on the coast, and 

 camp out; go Hshing; go to the oyster-bar; roast 

 and eat oysters; hunt shells on the beach; pull off 

 your shoes, and wade in the surf. Wade in the 

 water generally; fall down; get wet; get up, and go 

 on as if nothing had happened; live out of doors; 

 (;atch flsh, oysters, clams, and you will go home 

 next spring a new woman. W. ,1. Driimrioht. 



Sarasota, Fla., Sept. (i, 18,^',. 



Friend 1)., the picture yon present is so 

 exceedingly tempting that I am afraid there 

 may be a good many besides Mrs. Chaddock 

 who will take you up, and, of course, we 

 shall come to you lirst to be initiated. If 

 you mean we can gather oysters ourselves, 

 and roast them on the shell, it would be a 

 big temptation to at least one individual ; 

 for my memory does not cling to any dish 

 ever invented for a hungry man that will 

 compare with oysters from the sea-coast, 

 served up in that manner. The getting wet, 

 and going on as if nothing had happened, 

 would suit me to a dot. My wife -would 

 soon protest, however, because of my undig- 

 nified appearance. 



THE HONEY BUSINESS. 



Can a market always be found for all the honey 

 a man can raise? What is an average yield for a 

 hive, and what money will it bring per pound? 

 What is the first cost of hive complete, including 

 hives, bees, etc.? Is honey-raising a pretty safe 

 j thing to go into, or are there any great risks attend- 

 ing it? As clerking does not agree with me, I may 

 have to go into the country, conse<)uently I should 

 like very much to hear from you, as I am much in- 

 terested in the subject. Alfred Kagret. 



Baltimore, Md., Aug. 2:i, 18H7. 



Yes, sir, you can find a market for all the 

 honey you can raise. The crop this year 

 has been very light, and prices have come up 

 considerably. There is demand for it all 

 over the country now.— An average yield, 

 per colony, of extracted honey, would be 

 about 7-5 lbs. Of comb honey, about -50 lbs. 

 The latter will bring from 12 to 20 cents, de- 

 pending upon the quality. The former, 

 from 10 to Jo cents. The business of honey- 

 producticm has some risks attending it. The 

 first and greatest is the danger of losing a 

 large percentage of the colonies during 

 winter. In (tidinary seasons, with good 

 care, the number of" colonies lost during 

 winter should be very small. Another draw- 

 l)ack to the business is an occasional poor 

 season, like the present one. I believe, how- 

 ever, that the honey business has no more 

 risks or drawbacks than ordinary occupa- 

 tions. It is light work, and healthful. More- 

 over, it is an exceedingly interesting study. 



cell-building. 



I have one colony of hybrids I don't understand. 

 Some two weeks since, I began to stimulate them, 

 as there was nothing for them to gather in the 

 woods, and since that time I have cut out seven 

 queen-cells, and they have three or four cells now. 

 They have a nice young queen, only two years old, 

 and as fine a lot of brood as you ever saw. Nor are 

 they crowded for room. Some of the sheets of 

 comb have nothing in them at all. 



Veedersburg, Ind , Seiit. 8, 1887. A. H. Heath. 



I should be inclined to believe that your 

 stimulative feeding caused the bees to make 

 preparations for swarming, as you said they 

 were building queen-cells. It is possible 

 the queen was defective in some way, and 

 the bees were building cells with the view 

 of superseding her. 



(iR.\PEVINES AND CLOVER. 



I have about one acre of land planted with Con- 

 cord grapes, ten feet apart. I find the shade of the 

 vine a great advantage to my bee-hives, of which I 

 have 40 or 50. lam preparing to sow a bushel of 

 alsikc clover instead of red clover on my farm, with 

 timothy. I have had no experience with grapevines 

 and clover on the same land. Will they do together? 



Wm. Connell. 



Davidson Kiver, N. C, Aug. 2, 1887. 



Friend C, if your vines are only ten feet 

 apart you do riot want any thing whatever 

 occupying the ground between them. I am 

 not an experienced grajie-grower, but I 

 think the clover would be as detrimental as 

 so many weeds, and you certainly can not 

 get a good crop of grapes froni a weedv 

 vineyard. 



