GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



sizes, covered Avith rough roofs on which 

 tar paper was tacked. In every direction 

 was a display of old carpets, cast-off cloth- 

 ing, bedquilts, blankets — every thing. I 

 never saAv sucli a medley. It outrivaled the 

 apiaries of box hives and hollow logs that 

 Avere common several decades ago, and may 

 now be seen in a few remote farming dis- 

 tricts. But this apiary was not chaotic 

 on account of neglect nor of a lack of 

 knowledge. It represented skill of the 

 highest type. Mr. Vanderwerken has 

 silenced Mr. Hutchinson's slogan. Mr. 

 Hutchinson advocated, "Keep more bees." 

 Mr. Vanderwerken says, "Take better care 

 of those you have. Keep them warm and 

 they will work." Within this conglomera- 

 tion of packing boxes and old bedquilts 

 were the best and finest ten-frame dovetail 

 hives. Mr. Vanderwerken uses the boxes 

 merely as an outer shell within which he 

 puts strips of waste paper secured from a 

 local printing-house. Some of the hives 

 were packed with leaves, but most of them 

 had the paper trimmings which, he as- 

 sured me, are better than leaves. Many 

 of the hives have three or even four stories, 

 making as high as forty frames, and every 

 frame is loaded to its utmost capacity with 

 pure honey. The twenty-two colonies in his 

 apiary are unquestionably in a finer con- 

 dition than those in any other that I have 

 ever visited. Although it was a warm day 

 in the first week of September, he was 

 applying the carpets and bedquilts and 

 tar-paper roofings, and various other forms 

 of protection, as liberally as one might ex- 

 pect to see with the thermometer below 

 zero. My pupil has taught me what most 

 of us are slow to learn — that, if we keep 

 the bees warm for the whole twenty-four 

 hours, they will work for tAventy-four 

 hours. 



In his apiary there is no desertion of 

 super or upper story on cold nights; the 

 bees keep hustling every -minute. Then, 

 too, this efficient beekeeper has learned 

 the secret of the survival of the fittest. Only 

 the very best queens are tolerated in his 

 apiary.' He has rejected and selected until 

 there he has obtained the highest eft'iciency 

 in bee work. The combs Avere beautifully 

 clean, and in perfect condition; and, best 

 of all, the bees Avere Avorking. 



Mr. VanderAverken takes care of his bees. 

 He has a strong affection for them, and he 

 has so experimented, so gleaned from the 

 experiences of others, and Avithal put so 

 much thought and labor into his apiary, 

 that I aAvard it the first premium, notwith- 

 standing its someAvhat ragged and unat- 

 tractive appearance. I am glad to ac- 



knowledge that my unexpected pupil has 

 become one of the most efficient teachers 

 in the art of honey-producing, and in en- 

 thusiastic admiration for the wonderful 

 Apis mellifica. 



Arcadia, Sound Beach, Ct. 



[The tAvo illustrations shown herewith, 

 and the cover picture for this issue, serve 

 to finish the introduction of Mr. Vander- 

 werken, and to prepare the Avay for his 

 article which follows. — Ed.1 



BEEKEEPING IN CONNECTICUT 



Honey from Clover of the First Year's Growth 



BY E. VANDERAVERKEN 



Our season just past proved a good one. 

 Goldenrod did not yield as Avell as it has 

 in some years; but the clover yield was 

 the best we have had for some time. Some 

 have declared that the first year's growth 

 of white clover does not yield nectar. Now, 

 we have had absolutely no clover for two 

 years, and yet this year it yielded the best 

 in a long time. Mr. Coley, who is the most 

 extensive producer in the State, having 350 

 colonies, says that the clover yield was the 

 best he has seen for years. 



Mr. Allen Latham's specialty is sumac, 

 as there are great fields of it around him. 

 This, however, did not yield in our locality 

 as well as usual this year, and I think Mr. 

 Latham says the same of his locality. 



I have not done any extracting yet, as 

 I want to get all the aster honey I can 

 away from the bees, as it has not proven 

 to be the best Avinter food. My colonies 

 are in fine condition. I have twenty-two 

 in the home yard, and six outside. Mr. 

 Bigelow says he can not see how I get 

 such strong colonies. I had one swarm 

 which came out this season which I am 

 afraid I can not get into a ten-frame hive. 



For winter I use the sealed super cover 

 or pasteboard over the hive, and over this 

 I put a case packed with dry leaves or thin 

 shavings of paper, which I get at a pub- 

 lishing house for 60 cts. a bale. I leave 

 the entrances wide open. Some make the 

 mistake of closing the entrances, and the 

 hives get cold and damp, and there is too 

 much mold. I have never lost a colony by 

 my method; but sometimes one will show 

 an unusual death rate. When this is the 

 case I wait for a warm day, open the hive, 

 take out three or four combs of honey, and 

 replace it Avith combs of syrup made as 

 thick as honey in the same number of 

 combs. If the hive is damp I change the 

 combs of bees to a dry one and pack 



