158 



GLEAJ^INGS IN BEE CULTURE 



and treating the remainder with a new rem- 

 edy, I have been able to keep this disease 

 in cheek. If there is any thing which tends 

 to propagate foul brood it is, in my opin- 

 ion, a wet and cold summer, when but little 

 honey is being gathered. Under these con- 

 ditions the bees seem to lose both heart and 

 energy, and the disease spreads like wild- 

 fire through the whole apiary unless preven- 

 tive measures are taken. 



During the latter part of the season rob- 

 bers were exceedingly troublesome, especial- 

 ly when removing supers. The robbing 

 tendency was indeed so bad that most of the 

 work accomplished had to be carried out in 

 the evening, when flying had ceased for the 

 day. The honey was extracted at night by 

 the aid of a powerful lamp, thus avoiding 

 any excitement in the apiary. At the last 

 extracting I found it a good plan to stack 

 up all the supers of wet combs until the 

 bees had been fed up. They were then 

 placed on the strongest hives to be cleaned 

 out. From the best colony I took 50 lbs. of 

 run honey, but the average yield was only 

 about 10 lbs. per hive, while another apia- 

 rist with nearly 200 stocks did not harvest 

 more than half a ton of honey. 



Owing to the shortage, honey has been 

 in good demand, though the price is not 

 much liigher than last season; and until the 

 public ceases to treat honey as a luxury 

 rather than a necessity the price in a poor 

 year can not be advanced much without in- 

 juring the sale. The wholesale price in 1- 

 Ib. screw-top bottles ranges from $1.92 to 

 $2.16 per dozen, according to quality, and 

 sells retail at 101/2 to 24 cts. per jar. 



FEEDING SOFT CANDY. 



My 80 colonies in ten-frame hives in Sep- 

 tember were found so destitute of stores 

 that it took 500 lbs. of sugar boiled to syrup 

 to feed them up. The feeders I use are 

 lever-lid cans with about twenty small holes 

 pierced in the lid. Owing to the chilly 

 weather some refused to take down suffi- 

 cient syrup, and to these were given a large 

 cake of soft and " buttery " candy. This is 

 made by bringing a quart of water to the 

 boil, and adding 12 pounds of refined cane 

 sugar, a teaspoonful of cream of tartar and 

 a little salt. Allow it to simmer for ten 

 minutes, remove it from the fire and stir 

 until it begins to thicken, when it is poured 

 into molds. This candy is beautifully smooth 

 and soft; and as it will keep in this condi- 

 tion for months it is excellent for use in 

 queen-cages. 



For a serviceable hive-cover I use a flat 

 telescopic roof with a three-inch rim cover- 

 ed with painted galvanized iron. This, I 



consider, makes the finest covering, and it 

 lasts a lifetime. 



A COTSWOLD " BEE MISTRESS." 



In the accompanying photographs a good 

 idea may be obtained of a typical Cotswold 

 bee-mistress, with her quaint cottage and 

 row of skeps standing in a sheltered corner 

 of the garden. The hand of time has fallen 

 heavily upon the poor old bee-skep, and in 

 a few years hence this picturesque home will 

 have entirely disappeared from our old- 

 world villages. 



Cheltenham, England. 



A WOMAN WHO HAS BEEN"AIBEEKEEPER 

 NEARLY FORTY YEARS 



BY MRS. ELLA STACKMAN 



I am 61 years of age, and for over 39 

 years I have been engaged more or less in 

 work with the bees or in the workshop, and 

 sometimes with both. I began with four 

 colonies of black bees in the old American 

 hive. I purchased them of a neighbor who 

 was so badly stung by them as to fear to 

 have more experience with them. My hus- 

 band gave reluctant consent to my having 

 them, with the undei-standing that I should 

 have the sole care of them, and that he 

 should never be expected to have any thing 

 to do with them; and I well remember how 

 happy I was when they were ranged on a 

 plank behind the house, and I became the 

 proud possessor of them. With what de- 

 light I raised the cover which was over a 

 pane of glass at the back of the hives, and 

 looked into their little home, and how fer- 

 vently I wished that there were some way 

 that I could learn all about them! 



A short time aftei"ward I found a stray 

 leaf of Gleanings among some waste pa- 

 per. How eagerly I read and reread it ! 

 I sent for Gleanings and the ABC book, 

 and began to learn something of the habits 

 of bees. My husband, seeing the magazines 

 and books lying about, soon picked them up 

 and became interested, and, like the male 

 sex in general, assumed with my free con- 

 sent and aiDproval the leading part in the 

 business. So I shall say that we both began 

 to think that we needed a better hive, and 

 the combs built in frames. 



We sent for samjles of hives, and finally 

 adoi)ted tlie Langstroth. We have never 

 regretted our choice, and I still think it the 

 best ever. We chose the Hoffman L. frame 

 and the Miller wide frame for holding eight 

 4^ X 414 X 1% section boxes. 



My better lialf became more interested in 

 a herd of fine Jerseys twelve years ago. 

 when we left our village home, and moved 

 to the farm. He then turned over what bees 



