GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



J. E. Crane 



I IF T I N (£ § ' Middlelmry, Vt. 



G. M. Doolitlle tells us, page 

 796, Oct. 1, that after much exi^er- 

 imentiug he prefers to space 

 frames IV2 inches from center to 

 center. The same here, and we 

 have used them so for the last 

 thirty or forty years. 



There are some unpleasant things about 

 inspection work ; but it is by no means all 

 unpleasant. There are some very pleasant 

 things, and the making of some charming 

 acquaintances and forming some lifelong 

 friendships are not the least of them. 



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Mr. Chadwick calls attention on page 

 703, Sept. 1, to the wide difference in the 

 price a certain consumer paid for peaches 

 and what the producer received. There is 

 evidently something wrong in our methods 

 of the distribution of farm produce. 



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I began to wonder, as I looked over 

 Gleanings for Oct. 1, whether there would 

 be any extra copies to be had, and felt 

 quite relieved when I found that several 

 thousand extra had been printed. They 

 will doubtless all be wanted, as well as a 

 good deal of extra honey to go with them. 



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On pages (563 and 664, Aug. 15, Mr. 

 Ponder gives some good advice about selling 

 honey. Advertising in newspapers, he tells 

 us, has always been a failure with him. 

 Getting bottled goods into wholesale houses 

 has been his best method for this class of 

 goods. Same liere. 



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The statement of Mr. T. Rayment, page 

 711, Sept. 1, in regard to the loss of pollen 

 while worldng a certain variety of eucalyp- 

 tus, reducing a strong colony to a mere 

 nucleus, is of gi-eat value. The substitute 

 of the white of an egg stiiTed into pulver- 

 ized sugar, he tells us further, is the best 

 substitute for natural pollen — a fact many 

 of us are interested in knowing. 

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Nearly 175 recijDes for the use of honey 

 in the Oct. 1st issue, but one good one was 

 left out, and I will give it now. 



Ambrosia. — Take equal weights of choice 

 butter and well-ripened, fine-gTained, gran- 

 ulated alfalfa or clover honey (other honey 

 of good quality will answer) ; place in a 

 warm room to soften, then work them to- 

 gether until of even color. Mold to suit. 



This makes one of the most delicious spreads 



that I know of for bread, warm biscuit, or 



griddle cakes. 



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The editor, page 697, Sept. 1, inquires 

 whether " those large quadruple winter 

 cases or tenement hives " have made good. 

 1 raa-de a large winter ease for twelve hives 

 a few 3'ears ago, with heavy packing, but 

 do not find any appreciable difference in 

 wintering over those wintered in single 

 double-walled and packed hives except that 

 it makes more work. 



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Reference is made, page 741, Sept. 15, to 

 the introduction of virgin queens. For 

 many years we have practiced introducing 

 nearly all our queens as virgins into full 

 colonies. We have noticed a gi'eat differ- 

 ence in different seasons. Some years, not 

 more than five or eight per cent, while in 

 other years from ten to fifteen per cent fail 

 to give an account of themselves. 



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Page 730, Sept. 1, T. J. Frost describes 

 his hivestand, which is called " a new hive- 

 stand."' It is a very good stand, but is not 

 new, as I have had such a stand in use for 

 more than forty years — yes, many of them; 

 but after many years' experience I prefer a 

 front entrance on the bottom-board where 

 one may see at a glance what is going on 

 or what is going in and out of the hive. 



* * * 



Louis Scholl tells us, page 659, that 

 " Bulk comb honey and chunk honey are 

 two different things." Please tell us once 

 more just the difference and we will sit up 

 and take notice. We made a lot of supers 

 last winter to be filled by the bees so we 

 could cut it out and sell in pails ; but many 

 of the combs are so filled with bee-bread, or 

 have been occupied with brood, that we are 

 extracting them. 



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A few weeks ago I was asked to visit a 

 yard of bees some miles away. The pro- 

 prietor feared he had foul brood. He said 

 he had fifty colonies in the spring in very 

 good condition, but they began to die in 

 May, and he had only twenty left and had 

 failed to secure more than a few cases of 

 surplus honey, although the season had 

 been very favorable. I found no foul 

 brood, but learned that a good deal of 

 spraying had been done in his immediate 

 vicinity. 



