ijOO 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



tion. 4. It has been claimed, that, no matter how 

 poor the season for honey, there are apiarists so 

 skilled in the business that they always get a lair 

 crop of honey. This claim will not now be sustain- 

 ed, since thousands of powerful colonies this season 

 have failed to gather more than enough to supply 

 their immediate wants. This would not be so had 

 there not been nectar in the bloom, accessible to 

 the industi-ious workers. 



Now, I will admit that, by supplying a colony 

 with combs of honey, or by heavy feeding, thereby 

 keeping the combs in the brood depjirtmeut tilled, 

 that, if there should come any thing of ayield at all, 

 it inu!?t f;<) into the surplus boxes; but this line of 

 management is next-door neighbor to feeiling bees 

 to obtain surplus. If supplying the bees with su- 

 gar syrup, both for summer and winter consump- 

 tion, taking as surplus all the honey they may gath- 

 er, is the proper thing to do, we had better go at it 

 at once. Should this become the practice of all 

 bee-keepers, it would be a poor season indeed that 

 would not supply our markets with all the honey 

 needed; but where would be the market that would 

 take all that would be offered, at any thing like cost 

 of production, in seasons of bountiful honey crops? 



While on this subject I want to say that it will pay 

 to feed a little in seasons like the past. It is poor 

 economy to permit bees to run so low in stores 

 while rearing the brood that thi y must gather in the 

 harvest. They must not reaili that point where 

 they will feel the pinch or the need of putting ei- 

 ther themselves or their larvie on half-rations, nor 

 of curtailing the queen in the full capacity of egg- 

 production; for if this state of affairs should exist 

 for even a short time, it is very diaastrous, and will 

 tell fearfully on the pocket of the apiarist. 



Last spring I bought 2b colonies, mostly in box 

 hives. Some of them were heavy ; and when trans- 

 ferring them in April, many of their combs were 

 solid with honey, and these bees never felt the 

 pinch of hard times that came to bees that were 

 light in stores in the month of May and first half of 

 June. The result of this liberal supply of old honey 

 was, that these colonies were in the best possible 

 condition to take advantage of every light yield 

 that did come, while the bees that were forced to 

 use sparingly of stores seemed to require several 

 days of honey-gathering to put them in good heart. 



I had 90 good colonies to commence the season 

 with. These were divided into three apiaries— one 

 at home, thirty, and two out-apiaries of thirty each. 

 All were arranged for extracted honey, the frames 

 in surplus department mostly being filled with 

 foundation. 



White clover did not yield much; but red clover 

 did fairly well. Basswood did well for but a few 

 days. 



From the two out-apiaries of 60 colonies I extract- 

 ed 1100 lbs,; and from the home apiary, which is in 

 the valley near the river, no surplus of white honey 

 was taken. 



The first of August there was very little honey in 

 the hives, but the combs were full of brood. About 

 this time we were making inquiry as to the price 

 of sugar and the number of barrels it would take to 

 put the bees in shape. Soon after this, some timelj' 

 showers brought out a profuse bloom of smartweed, 

 and this was followed by a good bloom of goldenrod, 

 and from these sources it was gratifying to see the 

 brood-combs filling up to the bulging point with a 

 rich golden-colored fall honey. 



Aster yielded ivell, and kept brood-rearing going 

 till the last of October. Our bees are now in the 

 best condition for winter. 



LE.SSONS LE.\KNED. 



This season has proved to me two heretofore un- 

 settled questions: 1. The superiority of the Italians 

 over the native, or blacks; 2. That bees will not fiy 

 so far in search of honey as some say they will. 

 My home apiary is near the Ohio River, where 

 there is quite a good deal of fall bloom, and these 

 bees tilled their combs so full I had to remove three 

 or four from each hive, putting in their place emp- 

 ty combs, while one apiary, three miles from this 

 fall bloom, gained very slowly, and had to be partly 

 supplied for winter from the home apiary. During 

 clover bloom this same out-apiary, only three miles 

 away, yielded a surplus of over 500 lbs. of honey, 

 while the bees at home stored no surplus. 



From what I can learn, the honey crop of this 

 State is very light. The drought, which has been so 

 general, has left white clover in a feeble condition. 

 The prospect for the season of 1888 is not flatter- 

 ing; however, if all goes well we shall be on hand 

 when pollen comes again, full of hopes and expec- 

 tations as usual. J. A. Buchanan. 



Holliday's Cove, W. Va.. Nov. 1.5, 1887. 



Friend B., the point j^ou make, about 

 keeping colonies in spring with abundance 

 of stores, is a good one. I have seen just 

 such cases as you mention ; and although 

 considerable has been said at times about 

 there being too much lioney in the hive in 

 the spring, 1 can not remember that I ever had 

 a good strong colony that had too much 

 stores. It may have seemed so during March 

 and April ; but just before clover opens, 

 when the hive is full of brood from one end 

 to the other, these great heavy combs get 

 used up in some way. 



THE BUNDLE OF HERBS HUNG UP 

 IN THE GARRET, ETC. 



ONE OF THE FRIENDS TAKES ME TO TASK. 



fRIEND ROOT:— You or your informant cer- 

 tainly made a mistake in reference to "that 

 bundle of herbs hung up in the garret," 

 spoken of on pages 826 and 833. Such things 

 certainly are valuable agents in the remov- 

 al of various ailments of the human system, just 

 as much so as is cayenne pepper (capsicum), may- 

 apple root (podophyllum peltatum), of which po- 

 dophyllum is made — one of the best purgatives 

 and renovators of the system there is in vegeta- 

 ble materia medica; and the two combined are 

 speedy and very efHcacious in their effects. 



Of catnip, I will quote the following, from Dr. 

 John A. Gunn's " Newest Family Physician" (as- 

 sisted by Johnson A. Jordon, M. D., and several 

 scientific writers of the highest cininenco*: "Catnip 

 —(Nepcta caUnia), or catmint.— It is a native of 

 Europe, but has become naturalized in this coun- 

 try. The leaves and blossoms are the jiarts used. 

 Medical properties and uses: Catnip is a diai)horet- 

 ic; that is, it promotes perspiration; and tonic, if 

 taken cold. It is also slightly diuretic, emmena- 

 gogue, and anti-spasmodic. Catnip tea is good for 

 the flatulent colic of children; it is also an excellent 

 drink in fevers, to promote perspiration, and to in- 

 duce sleep. A warm tea of catnip and saffron is 



