h86 



(4LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



and so would soon gain universal confidence. Asum- 

 maiy would take fir less room in your valuable pa- 

 per, and the reading- would take far less time of 

 your readers. 



I am glad to outline this scheme for Gleanings, 

 for I believe it has great merit, and I should like to 

 know what others think of the plan. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



Friend C, 1 have seen a good many just 

 such cnses as the one you mention ; and this 

 is one of the causes of this trouble so much 

 talked about for a year or two back, of hav- 

 ing our markets demoralized by bee-keepers 

 who are not posted, and do not know what 

 honey is worth. Such a man will carry liis 

 crop into town ; and even if there is a great 

 scarcity, he will, without consideration, fur- 

 nish honey at what he received the year be- 

 fore ; and then every other bee-keeper who 

 thinks of asking the "proper price will be ac- 

 cused of wanting to cheat. I do believe 

 that this matter of statistics will do very 

 much to cure this class of evils; and. in 

 fact, the fresh live reports we have had 

 from our city commission merchants for a 

 year or two back have been starting life in 

 this matter. You are doubtless right in re- 

 gard to the plan of taking up the work, and 

 we enter into it with all our 'hearts. As our 

 first honey comes from the extreme South, 

 we might start the thing, say away down in 

 Florida, just as soon as they get their very 

 first honey in February, or perhaps even in 

 January. Now, who is there among our 

 friends in Florida who can report new^ hon- 

 ey first? The present scarcity and high 

 prices will be an excellent time to get them 

 started. I do not suppose that new honey 

 will compare at all in prices with new straw- 

 berries and such like rarities ; but if the 

 honey is well ripened, and the source good, 

 I think it ought to bring enough to pay for 

 shipping North. 



RECORDING THE CONDITION OF OUR 

 HIVES. 



FRIEND SWINSON'S PL,AN, AND HOW HE TRACES 

 THE PEDIGREE OF HIS QUEENS. 



SN page 832 Ernest says, " If any of our readers 

 know of a better system, different from the 

 slate tablets and tacks, for recording the con- 

 dition of the hive, let us hear from you." I 

 will try to make plain the plan that is used in 

 the Tar-Heel Apiaries— one that I have used for the 

 past three years; one that I think perfect in every 

 respect, and which saves me much trouble and ex- 

 pense of time, etc., besides giving me a great deal of 

 satisfaction. 



1. I went forward and placed a number on every 

 stand that I had prepared for a colony of bees. ;2. 1 

 procured me a pocket note-book, of a suitable size 

 for convenience; and on every page, at the head, T 

 placed numbers to correspond with ench number of 

 the stands 1 had made for bees, ranging in my home 

 apiary from 1 to 100. Every colonj- that is jjlaced on 

 stand 59, during 1887, becomes No. 59, and remains 

 so as long as it occupies the stand of that number. 

 The same is true of every queen that is so placed; 

 but each removal of a queen, hive, or other change 

 made, is duly recorded, with the date of the change. 

 Thus, if 1 change, on June 1st, the queens of colo- 



nies Nos. 3 and 10, under No. 10 I say, " I give queen 

 No. .J? to No. 2, and put No. is here, June 1;" and 

 under No. 2 I say, " 1 give queen No. ,,-s to No. 10, 

 and put No. jg here, June 1." You see, I use a dou- 

 ble number. For instance, in number J?, the nu- 

 merator, or first number, indicates the stand where 

 the queen now is. The other number, or denomi- 

 nator, indicates the number of the queen's mother. 

 To make it more plain I will give the record as made 

 for 18b7, of stand No. 22. 



Frame, new eggs. No. 0, Mar. 30. Hcd (hatched) 

 q. Apr. 13. Eggs, Apr. 27. Sent to G. W. Shearer, 

 Apr. 28. F. 39 with cell, Apr. 29. Hcd May 2. Eggs, 

 May II. Sent to B. Barnes, May 11. Fr. No. 11, with 

 cell, May 11. Hcd May 16. Eggs, May 25. Sent to 

 H. P. Faucett, May 27. Gave hcd q. No. 70, May 30. 

 Gone June 1. Cell49 will hch abt. June 10. June 1, 

 hcd June 7. Gone June 17. C. 30, June 17; hcd June 

 21; laying, and to Ch. Patten, July 4. C. 60, July 12, 

 killed. C. .IS, July 16. Patten's proves to be a fine 

 tested (J. C. gone July 22. F. .55, July 25; gave hcd 

 q. No. 16, July 26. Eggs, Aug. 5. Tested, and to C. 

 D. Duval, Aug. 26. C. 49, Sept. 6, etc. 



This plan gives me a correct account of every 

 change made, and the record is made at the time the 

 change is made, the bopk and pencil being kept in 

 my pocket at all times when working in the apiary. 

 Of course, the record could be made more full. It 

 can be looked over in the office, and the condition of 

 every hive and nucleus in the apiary learned before 

 going out to work, and know just what colonies 

 need attention, the nature of it, how long it can be 

 delayed without loss, or how soon it should be at- 

 tended to, even though you are a mile or more from 

 the apiary. 



My plan of numbering queens is this: Take No. j? 

 for an example: No. ■" is bred of No. H, and No. IJ. 

 is bred of No. .52, a selected Syrio-albino, sent me by 

 Tinker in 1886. Then, again, take No. ^i, one of the 

 finest queens I oversaw. She is bred of No. J?; ^2 

 of ?f ; V? of II; ll of jj; 'H of No, 47, the first albino 

 queen I ever had, and bought in 1884. By this plan 

 of numbering it is almost impossible to err, or to 

 get two queens of the same number, though they 

 should occupy, during the season, the same num- 

 bered stands as U and X} both occupied (stand No. 

 17), and though both bear very difi'erent numbers, 

 being very distinctly bred queens. By my plan you 

 need not see a colony or any part of it, to know its 

 condition, as a rule, if the record is cori-ectly kept at 

 each examination or change; and then in after- 

 years I can refer back to these old records, and see 

 any record made by any particular colony — whom 

 certain queens were sold to, their age, quality, etc. 

 Abbott L. Swinson. 



Goldsboro, N. C, Nov. 17, 1887. 



Thanks, friend S. I am aware that some, 

 and perhaps a good many, use some such sys- 

 tem as yours for recording the condition of the 

 hives. Notwithstanding there are good bee- 

 keepers who do use the book method, its ad- 

 vantages never seemed to me to be impor- 

 tant enough to adopt it. It is occasionally 

 convenient to have all the hives numbered ; 

 for instance, you can tell yoiu- apiarist that 

 hive No. 27, we will say, has neither queen 

 nor eggs, and wants to be supplied with 

 both. lie can go riglit to the hive in ques- 

 tion, without being told what part of the 

 apiary, in wiiat row, or near what pear-tree 

 it is. Another feature of this book system 



