1386 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



of brood. This process gives excellent results, 

 and the little stock will work into a good one by 

 the end of the year. The harvesting and ex- 

 tracting of the honey is done very much as you 

 do it in your country; but of course the quanti- 

 ty per hive is considerably smaller, and a little 

 extractor called the Guinea is the favorite here. 



We have three main crops of honey; viz., fruit- 

 blossoms in the spring; white Dutch clover and 

 sainfoin in the summer, and heather in the autumn. 

 The former produces a dark strong-flavored mix- 

 ture, while the clover produces a flavor and color 

 similar to the sweet clover of America. The 

 heather is the most prized, and seldom if ever 



to take her course and supersede as required. 

 There are, of course, a few scientific queen-rais- 

 ers, but nothing as in your country. In the au- 



Manner of working two or more queens on the tiering plan, 



eitlier with one or four entrances. From 1893 edition of 



Modern Bee Farm. 



does the price exceed 25 cents per pound. It has 

 a reddish color, and is of a jeHy nature. It being 

 impossible to extract the nectar by the aid of an 

 extractor, the combs have to be completely smash- 

 ed up and the whole lot placed in a press and the 

 juice squeezed out. Very rarely, however, is 

 much of this honey gathered, as the weather is 

 generally unfavorable when the plant is in bloom. 



The working of the hive must necessarily be 

 confined to the four seasons. The bees are, of 

 course, wintered on their summer stands, and, 

 with plenty of overhead packing, consisting of 

 carpets, sugar-bags, papers, etc., and with 30 lbs. 

 of honey, they are safely housed against the 

 storms. If the colony has not sufficient of its 

 own honey, then it is fed up to this amount with 

 sugar syrup made as follows: White lump sugar, 

 10 lbs. ; water, 5 pints; X oz. salt; yi oz. vinegar, 

 and a teaspoontul of napthol beta. The latter is 

 for foul brood. The whole mass is thoroughly 

 boiled, and fed to the bees in a Canadian feeder 

 over the tops of the frames. 



Queen-raising is not practiced to a great extent 

 in England, many believing in allowing Nature 



Double two-story stock hive with Wells' perforated divider be- 

 tween. From 1893 edition Modern Bee Farm. 



tumn many people send wagonloads of hives to 

 the heaths and commons for the heather harvest, 

 and excursions are planned by associations to 

 have a day among them, when useful information 

 is imparted by the experts. The railway com- 

 panies also have a special rate for the conveyance 

 of such traffic. What we lack is more favorable 

 climatic conditions; and if we had weather simi- 

 lar to yours we could, 1 have no doubt, hold the 

 first place in the world in the art of bee-keeping. 

 I should mention, with regard to the dual sys- 

 tem, which some of your bee-keepers are advocat- 

 ing, that we practiced that years ago but discard- 

 ed it. We called it the Wells system, but, of 

 course, the queens were kept apart by means of a 

 perforated dummy. 



Queen-excluder, fitted in frame, shown under super crate common 

 to both sides. From 1893 edition Modern Bet Farm. 



UNITING WITH SWEETENED WATER. 



In uniting two hives of bees did you ever try 

 soaking them with a spray of sweetened water 

 till they were all dosed in good shape .? 



H. J. WiTHERELL. 



Glenmary, North Falmouth, Mass. 



[This is an old and very common practice. It 

 is no better than a little smoke, and not so con- 

 venient. See editorial on uniting, Oct. 1, page 

 1178.— Ed.] 



