654 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



struck in the jar. Swarms often leave an 

 entire frame on the south side unoccupied, and 

 often a row of section boxes on the soutii side. 

 On sultry days, the bees of my small hives are 

 the first to lay out. We have had a dry hot 

 summer so far this year. On some hot days 

 almost all the bees of some. of my small hives 

 will be clustered on the ouiside of the hives, 

 leaving little more than a corporal's guard on 

 the sultry inside, while; the large hives will 

 have a good supply of bees at work on the in- 

 side. 



We have been having a splendid flow of 

 honey-dew for the past five weeks. Honey-dew, 

 by the way, is the staple honey of this section, 

 and it is a fine honey too. Although this 

 honey-dew is abundant, there is much com- 

 plaint of bees hanging out on the outside of 

 their hives doing nothing. I attribute this to 

 the heat. I have overcome it in my apiary by 

 piling up supers on my hives until the bees quit 

 hanging out, placing as many as three supers 

 on one hive before any had sealed honey in 

 them. I do not know how this will affect the 

 filling-out of section boxes, but it put an end to 

 loafing in all my hives but one. That one I 

 divided. All my bees are now working in the 

 most approved style, and are just piling up the 

 honey. One of my nearest neighbors has fif- 

 teen stands of the Kretchmer pattern, about 

 lOxl:.', inside measure, and 14 to )8 inches high, 

 with quite small entrances. With their top 

 boxes they resemble, in pattern, a collection of 

 thermometers, and are about as susceptible to 

 heat. In ordinary seasons this neighbor has a 

 good surplus of honey to market; but this sea- 

 son his bees are spending their harvest time in 

 assembling on the outside of their hives. A 

 committee of ventilation, consisting of the en- 

 tire house, are giving their owner neither 

 swarms nor honey. 



Last year I put some swarms in hives with 

 walls two inches thick. They did much better 

 than those in common hives. They even built 

 comb and stored honey in ^March last. This 

 year I am making hives of two-inch oak plank 

 doubled, making the walls of the hive four 

 inches thick. I put 43 feet, board measure, of 

 lumber into one hive. The lumber costs me 

 only $5.00 per 10(K) feet. If my theory is correct 

 about the bees requiring a comfortable shop in 

 which to do the most successful work. I think 

 my four-inch walls will be a good Investment. 



Flowery, Ark., July 26. 



TlIK EIGHT AND TF,N FRAME rUSCUSSION; A 

 MATTER OF LOCALITY. 



I am quite interested in your new Dovetailed 

 eight-frame hive. I think the difTerence be- 

 tween eight and ten frames is somewhat a 

 matter of locality — that is, of pasturage. In 

 Passaic Co., N. J., our pasturage is rather poor 

 but quite steady, and thns far I have found 



that ten frames give the best resnlt; but I 

 have had good results with smaller hives. 

 Paterson, N. J., July 30. John Phin. 



[You are correct: locality has much to do 

 with the matter. — Ed.] 



■ I ^ 



BEE-KEEPING IN CUBA. 



ITS WONDERFUL RKSOUKCES; A BIG RKCOKI) 

 FROM A WRITKI! OP THE OLD .JUVE- 

 NILE GLKANINGS. 



Bji Fred L. Cvaycvaft. 



Mr. Root.'— Having been here long enough to 

 form a definite idea of bee culture and its re- 

 sources on the island, I take this means of an- 

 swering some of the letters of inquiry that I 

 receive in regard to bee-keeping in Cuba. 



My experience here is that, although the 

 price of honey is less than in the United States, 

 one can produce it enough cheaper to offset the 

 difTerence in price, as the wintering problem is 

 unknown here, and the advantage of being able 

 to have 400 or 500 colonies in one apiary greatly 

 lessens the expense. Another important point 

 to be considered is the certainty of getting a 

 reasonably good crop of honey; and the bee- 

 keeper can count the number of colonies he has, 

 and be able to tell very nearly the number of 

 tierces of honey he will get. 



I have never heard of the " campanilla," or 

 bellflower (the chief honey source), being a 

 failure; and it is not necessary to consult the 

 rain-gauge to find out what the honey crop is 

 going to be, as drouths are uncommon here, 

 and it would take a very severe one to hurt the 

 campanilla-vine. 



During nearly three years' experience here I 

 have never found it necessary to feed a pound 

 of honey or sugar; and at the present time the 

 bees are getting enough to work very well on 

 comb foundation, although this is considered 

 the worst season of the year for bees. 



My report is as follows: Beginning in Oct., 

 1891, with 1<) colonies, all very weak, none of 

 them having over seven combs, I have increas- 

 ed them to 3(X» colonies and extracted .58,000 lbs. 

 of honey. I might have got more last year, but 

 did not have time to attend to them as I should 

 have done, and had only about 1(50 colonies 

 ready for the honey -flow, as I had to superin- 

 tend the work on a soo-acre farm. 



I do wish to say a word in favor of the 

 leather-colored Italians, as my experience 

 proves them to be superior to the five-banded 

 or golden Italians, for they seem to be hardier 

 and stronger, and the queens remain more 

 prolific than the others during cool weather, 

 which is very important here, as the honey- 

 (low comes during the winter months. I still 

 have some of the "golden" Italians in the 

 apiary, but am replacing them as fast as pos- 

 sible; for the practical honey-producer who 

 wants to see the most gold at the end of the 



