176 



THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



MANAGEMENT OF BEES; 



OR, PLAIN COMMON SENSE THK SECRET OF SUCCESS. 



Messrs. Editors : — Last spring I had fifteen 

 swarms of bees, valued at ^90; from these I received 

 twenty-four young swarms, and thirty-four boxes of 

 honey. I have now sixteen swarms,' valued at $9G, 

 and have sold about .$160 worth of bees and honey. 

 The honey used in the family, if sold, would well pay 

 for all the trouble of hiving, &c., — leaving a ue'tt 

 profit of $166. 



I practice the following plain rules in manage- 

 ment : When the bees are swarming, I keep at a 

 distance, and let them come out and alight quietly. 

 t then get them into the hive, and remove thera to 

 the bee-house as soon as possible. Since I have 

 practiced the above, I have not lost a swarm by 

 flight. My hives hold thirty-six quarts, dry measure, 

 which is small enough for first swarms for wintering. 

 The inside of the hives, old or new, I always make 

 rough with a scratch-awl, before putting the bees in, 

 as they cannot hang to a smooth surface, but drop 

 down, rush out of the hive, &nd leave for parts un- 

 known. This is the reason why so many swarms go 

 off after being hived. I let down the bottom board 

 at once three-fourths of an inch in front, and let it 

 remain the year round, as bees need as much air in 

 winter as in summer. I let my bees stand in the 

 same place through the winter that they occupied in 

 summer, for the reason that it is natural for them to 

 live in a dormant state a portion of the winter, and 

 after passing through this ordeal, they come out 

 much more vigorous than when wintered in the cel- 

 lar or chamber. 



For Wintering, I select swarms that are numer- 

 ous, and about equal as to numbers, always killing off 

 the large heavy and small, light swarms. I never lose 

 any by the moth, for I winter none that are not nu- 

 merous enough to cover the combs. About twelve 

 or fifteen swarms in ordinary, and eighteen or twenty 

 iu the best seasons, are as many as should be kept 

 over on any farm, as an over stock proves a failure 

 on the whole. 



Box honey should always be drawn before buck- 

 wheat is in blossom. Bee-hives should face the south 

 or east, where the morning sun will strike them and 

 Btart the bees early, as one hour in the morning is 

 worth three iu the afternoon to collect honey. 



There are a large number of works extant on this 

 subject, but they are of no practical utility to any 

 one. They are generally got up to accompany some 

 particular patent hive, the production of some specu- 

 lative genius, whose writings and invention show that 

 he is totally ignorant of all knowledge pertaining to 

 the wants, nature or habits of the hcrcy bee. 



Brandon, Vt. W. L. B. 



Z-} MANAGEMENT OF BEES 



Messrs. Editors: — There are some things in the 

 management of bees that I do not agree with your 

 correspo^ndent, Mr. Howe. In the first place his hives 

 are too large, and the chamber worse than useless. — 

 I have tried many kinds of hives, including several 

 patented ones, and my experience is, that a square 

 hive a cubic foot in the clear, is better than all the 

 patent hives that the community were ever humbug- 

 ed with. There should be one or more holes in the 

 top for a super hive or store box I have found it best 



to take a common water pail for them, one that the 

 hinges are on the sides, so that the handle can be 

 slipped over out of the way. This inverted on the 

 top of the hive with a stone to keep the wind from 

 blowing it away till the bees seal it down, completes 

 the arrangement. My beees will ordinarily fill two 

 of these pails in a season, and when full you have^ 

 the honey in a nice portable shape. 



My reasons for disliking the chamber hives are, 

 that if they are made in the best manner, there will 

 be crevices by which the bee moth will enter and 

 wind up, and your hives will soon be full of worms. 

 These objections will apply with the same force to 

 structures for bee houses. My experience has been, 

 that bees do better in the open air without anything 

 around them, except some screen to keep off the cold 

 winds, than they do in bee houses, or under trees, or 

 any thing of the sort. The fact is, in this latitude the 

 great thing we have to guard against, is the bee motL 

 If we can keep this pest away from our hives, all 

 other difficulties are easily guarded against, and the 

 simpler we have our " fixings," the less we shall be 

 troubled. 



My hives stand upon a stool about two and a half 

 feet from the ground, in my ^-arden, without anything 

 around them, and these so managed have always been 

 free from worms. I raise my hives about halt an inch 

 from the bottom board in the summer time, to give 

 them air. This can be done by placing a small block 

 under each corner, or what is better, drive four nails 

 in each corner and have holes in the bottom board 

 or stool, by which they can be lowered do»vn in cold 

 weather. 



Bees if rightly managed and taken care of, can be 

 made very profitable as well as furnii-hing a delicious 

 beverage at all times of the year. F. W. Lay. 



Greece, JV. V. 



HOEING COEN IN DRY WEATHER 



Messrs. Editors: — It seems to be a prevailing 

 opinion with many farmers, that time spent in stir- 

 ring the soil in time of a drouth is as good as lost. 

 This is an error. Observe as you walk forth on a 

 summer's morning, after a plentiful fall of dew, the 

 beaten path at your feet, which is quite dry, while 

 the grass at the sides is dripping with moisture. The 

 reason of this is plain : the air circulates freely in 

 the grass, and deposits the water it may contain 

 readily, whereas, on the path, it had ro effect. Now 

 apply this reasoning to the soil, and on the fame 

 principle the advantages will be plain — for it is evi- 

 dent that the soil which is kept loose by frequent 

 plowings will receive the greater supply of water, 

 which is the one thing needful in a drouth. As an 

 example of the benefit of stirring the soil in dry 

 weather, I will state that my father last summer had 

 three fields of com, planted in ground of about equal 

 quality, and they all received about the same amount 

 of tillage, except that one field was plowed over just 

 before harvest, while it was impossible to plow the 

 others on account of the press of work, and after 

 harvest it was too late, and when the corn was husked 

 the one field yielded at least ten bushels more per 

 acre than the other two — and it" there was any dif- 

 ference in the soil, the largest crop might have been 

 expected from the two, as the one had been cropped 

 the two previous years. Stephen Poweks. 



WaUrford, Washington Co., Ohio. 



