1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



695 



colony has made 42 boxes up to date, so you 

 will see it is not merely location. When I 

 g-et time I will tell you how I managed to 

 yet this crop if you wish me to. 



George B. Howe. 

 Black River, N. Y., Aug". 8. 



SELLING honey; BLOOD WILL TKLL; THE 



PERFORMANCE OF THE RED-CLOVER 



STOCK WITH LONG TONGUES. 



Friend Ernest: — I want to tell you how I 

 sell honey. As you know, at Bui¥alo I said 

 I felt sorry for a bee-keeper who could not 

 sell his honey. I formerly peddled it and 

 sold it almost any wa3' ever heard of, but 

 do not find it necessary to sell in this way 

 now. I will not leave my honey at stores 

 to be sold and then paid for. I sell it for 

 cash, and then the storekeeper will sell it, 

 as it is his, and he will wish to get his 

 money back. I think this plan works much 

 better than leaving around at different 

 stores to be paid for when sold. When sell- 

 ing the honey I always say to the party 

 buying, that, if he finds a box that is not 

 what it is represented to be, put it back in 

 the crate and I will paj' the money back. 

 I have sold tons of honey on this plan, and 

 never took a box of honey back. I think it 

 wrong the way some bee-keepers grade 

 their honey. I do not believe in facing hon- 

 ey. Sell it for what it is, and do not try to 

 sell it for Fancy if it is almost all No. 1, 

 for the few boxes of Fancy will not hurt 

 3'our No. 1. The beauty of it is, I never 

 produced enough to supply the demand. 



This has been one of the queerest seasons 

 I ever s^w. We had "Doolittle weather "' 

 up to the 28th of June. I was feeding the 

 first of June. There was lots of clover, 

 and it yielded well; but the bees did not 

 have a chance to get it. It snowed here 

 the 28th of June, and then we got a few 

 days of warm weather, then cold and hot. 

 Bees swarmed when it rained. I never saw 

 any thing like it. I had 70 colonies of those 

 red-clover or long-tongued bees. You see I 

 had bought 30 queens before Doolittle had 

 got that red flag out. They are almost all 

 from daughters of your old queen. I got 

 that one from you and the rest came from 

 L. H. Robey and J. P. Moore. I raised 

 some 30 myself, so you see my yard is near- 

 ly all that long-tongue variety. I can not 

 yet tell you just how much honey I will get, 

 but will have over four tons of as fine clo- 

 ver honey as you could wish for. It may 

 seem like boasting, but I think I have done 

 well considering the season. My best col- 

 ony has produced 192 boxes, and is working 

 in another super which I think they will 

 finish up, as they are well started in them. 

 I will report my crop later. You will see 

 by this I have not been disappointed in buy- 

 ing queens as Dr. Gallup has. These bees 

 worked on red clover when white clover was 

 most abundant. There are some black bees 

 kept just across the road, and their best 



WHAT TO DO IN SWARMING TIME WITHOUT 

 FRAMES OR FOUNDATION ; THE DELI- 

 CIOUS SWEETNESS OF NEW HONEY. 



An experience of mine may prove of in- 

 terest to you. For the lack of frames that 

 had been sent for but had not yet come, I 

 was compelled to dispose of two good strong 

 swarms by putting them in hives with only 

 two or three frames of old combs, the re- 

 mainder of the space being left empty, the 

 intention being to fill up with frames of 

 foundation as soon as my supply came to 

 hand. But the supply was so long in com- 

 ing that this intention could not be carried 

 out. In both cases new comb was built, 

 hanging from the under surface of the cov- 

 er, and in one the larger portion of the 

 comb so built had become detached and had 

 fallen down on the bottom-board. What 

 ought I to have done? What would you do 

 in such a case? I will tell you what I did. 

 Having received my supply of frames I got 

 two more hives ready, each with its full 

 quota of frames filled with foundation. One 

 of these I put on the top of the hive in which 

 there was that mess of soft new comb on 

 the bottom-board; having, of course, taken 

 the cover off first, and the other I used in 

 the second case in the same way except that 

 I placed it underneath instead of on top. 

 As the matter now stands, what will the 

 bees do? and what shall I do? Can you 

 tell me? At present both are quietly at 

 work. W. O. Eastwood. 



[Yon possibly did the very best that could 

 have been done under the circumstances, al- 

 though I might have done this: As soon as I 

 came in possession of the frames of founda- 

 tion I would have taken athin-bladed knife, 

 reached down and cut under those beautiful 

 combs that were all mashed down in a heap 

 on the bottom-board, and put them on a din- 

 ner-plate. Of course, if the combs have any 

 brood in them they ought to be fastened in 

 frames temporarily — at least till the brood 

 hatches out. After cutting oat all the bunch- 

 es of comb containing honey, and placing 

 them on a plate, I would have put the frames 

 of foundation in a brood-nest, alternating 

 them with the frames of brood already in 

 the hive. 



As to the chunk honey, there is nothing a 

 neighbor likes better than a plate of new 

 honey uncapped. The very newness of it 

 imparts to it a flavor that I think is very 

 fine. I like a little of it, especially when 

 it is in "white flaky" combs that Mr. 

 Hutchinson tells about. Often do I pick up 

 one of these chunks, lift my veil, and bite 

 into the honey as I would into a piece of 

 watermelon. Talk about delicious sweet- 

 ness! there is nothing any better, if one is a 

 little tired and hungry. — Ed.] 



