238 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[April, 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Questions Answered by Gallup 



About the extractor, &c., it appears that com- 

 paratively few liave yet learned the use of the 

 extractor, and quite a number of those that al- 

 ready have one scarcely understand its great 

 utility. I have quite a number of letters stathig 

 that they had always supposed that their local- 

 ity was not a good one for surplus honey, but 

 by following my instructions they now readily 

 report surplus by the thousand pounds ; and 

 have come to the conclusion that all that is ne- 

 uessary is the requisite knowledge and practical 

 experience, and I am asked questions by the 

 hundred. Now I shall endeavor to answer some 

 of them through the Journal. One prominent 

 question is : How much comb is required to give a 

 stock abundance of room- to work to the best advan- 

 tage iiL a large yield of honey. 



From my last season's operations I have come 

 to the conclusion that it requires just (or there- 

 about) twice the amount of comb that the 

 qneeu occupies with brood. For example, a 

 queen that occupied 16 of my combs required 

 '62, combs. One occupying 2G required 52 to 

 work to the best advantage. I had in my yard 

 three New England queens of the extra light- 

 colored variety. They would only occupy six 

 combs, the best I could do for them ; conse- 

 quently my standard hive of 12 combs was 

 plenty large enough and to spare for said stocks. 

 As my combs are small there is but little danger 

 of breaking or cracking them in the extractor ; 

 even the newest combs could be handled with 

 proper care without breaking. I do not use any- 

 thing to keep my frames at the proper distance 

 apart in the hive. They are made so that they 

 hang just where they are placed on the rabbits 

 or cleats, all nails, screws, wire, staples, bits of 

 tin or zinc, or any sucli contrivances are a perfect 

 nuisance, and in the way when we come to handle 

 the combs in and out of the extractor-, and espe- 

 cially when we are in a hurry (and we are 

 sometimes in a hurry when the honey is coming 

 in by the ton). 



And again we do not like, and never did, 

 combs fixed at permanent distances in the hive. 

 We like the genuine Langstroth principle of 

 movable combs, because they are movable in the 

 fullest sense of the word. Others are only par- 

 tially movable. Understaiul, we are now giving 

 our opinion not yours. Furthermore, neither 

 Mr. Langstroth nor any of his agents ever at- 

 tempted to bribe us to use or recommend his 

 principle of movable combs. (Mr. Editor, we 

 are now answering questions, so you will allow 

 us considerable latitude.) We could empty any 

 comb that had sealed brood in it without dis- 

 turbing or injuring the brood in the least. 

 There was none of the honey thin enough to 

 sour, either in 1870 or 1871, with us. 



Now, here comes a tough one ; not a tough 

 one to answer, but a tough one for people to be- 

 lieve. In a good yield df honey how much icill a 

 good swarm store 'per day ? Now before answer- 

 ing this question I will ttate that I have sent an 



article Tor publication setting forth the facts 

 about our immense yield for eisiht days the past 

 season, and that was what I call a good yield. I 

 now hrmly believe that I can get up stocks in 

 my twin hive or any hive on that principle that 

 will store at such a time Irom 40 to GO pounds 

 per day. Now don't call me a liar yet ; get up 

 as strong a stock as you ever saw and then place 

 feeders enough in your yard containing liquid 

 honey, all they can carry away, and give the 

 bees abundance olroom, without crowding, and 

 abundance of comb to store in and you can lorm 

 an approximate idea of the state of things for 

 eight days the past season. 



Mr. llosmer at Cleveland gave an account of 

 one stock storing 58 pounds in one day. I saw 

 and became partially acquainted with him at 

 Cincinnati, and I call him as candid and truth- 

 ful a gentleman as I ever came across. (Mr. 

 Hosmer's statement is included in the list of 

 questions, ) and is fully entitled to credit for his 

 statement. 



Again, do you believe that Mr. 11. can winter 

 a pint of bees and bui'd them up to a swarm in 

 the spring ? I certainly do. Have I not told 

 you in the back nvunbers of the American Bee 

 Journal of successfully wintering less than a 

 pint. I think I have. It requires e.xp<rience 

 and skill. The inexperienced had better not 

 venture too far in that direction. It also re- 

 quires young bees reared in the fall to winter 

 successfully in such small quantities. 



Which is the most proiitable — box or ex- 

 tracted honey? I will answer in this manner : 

 Where the main supply is white clover, which '^ 

 comes in gradually and continues quite a length 

 of time, it may be most profitable to work lor / 



both box and extracted honey, but here where 

 our main supply is from basswood and it comes 

 with a rush and then is over, we cannot get it in 

 boxes. We will say if from a good stock we 

 get 50 pounds in boxes (that is old-fashioned or 

 standard stock) we can safely get oOO pounds 

 with the extractor or in that proportion, or five 

 to one ; now reckoning CO pounds at 20 cents 

 per pound is $12, and i>00 pounds at 10 cents is 

 ^'SO. 15 cents is the lowest we have sold any of 

 our extracted honey. We go in for the extracted 

 honey and the extractor. We also go in for 

 supplying honey so cheap that it will no longer 

 be a luxury, but eveiy one can use it. Millions 

 of tons ot it are going to waste for the want of 

 intelligent beekeepers to superintend the bees. 



E. Gallup. 



Shading in the Winter.— Mr. Taylor says : 

 — '• Where the hives stand singly, 1 have always 

 seen the advantages of fixing before each a 

 wooden screen, nailed to a post sunk in the 

 ground, and large enough to throw the whole 

 front into shade. This does not interfere with 

 the coming forth of the bees at a proper tem- 

 perature, and it supersedes the necessity of shut- 

 ting them up when snow is on the ground. This 

 screen should be fixed a foot or two in advance, 

 and so as to intercept the sun's rays, which will 

 be chiefly in winter towards the west side." 



