1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



i want it. As the result of this I got a crop of 

 honey while my neighbors all around me se- 

 cured absolutely nothing. They took the 

 ground that it was folly to waste so much 

 money for sugar for feeding the bees when they 

 brought no returns last year, lint I took my 

 chances, and. as a result, the sugar has been 

 paid for several times over." 



The syrup cost him, we will say, perhaps 

 three or four cents a pound; and the honey he 

 will sell will probably bring thirteen or four- 

 teen. His neighbors' bees, probably, bee for 

 bee, gathered just as much honey as his: but 

 it all went into brood-rearing and the brood- 

 nest. Mr. Hoardrnan's all went into sections; 

 and not only that, he had more bees as the 

 result of the sugar-feeding, to gather the crop 

 when it did come. 



All of this was interesting to me; and. so to 

 speak, I sat at the feet of Boardman as he went 

 on to tell some more interesting observations. 

 Said he, turning the subject slightly, "A good 

 deal has been said 'along the line,' to quote 

 Doolittle again, of bees gathering honey from 

 only one source at a time. I believe there is a 

 good deal in this. When food of any sort comes 

 into the hive, especially if it is fed to them, the 

 tield-bees at once try to find in the fields the 

 peculiar scent of this food. If bassvvood honey 

 comes in, they will abandon the clover and 

 hunt for the strong minty flavor of the linden. 

 Why." said he, " at one time I put a little vine- 

 gar into my sugar syrup, in my earlier experi- 

 ments, to prevent its granulating. This syrup 

 I fed to the bees, and shortly the bees pour- 

 ed out from their hives pellmell for the bung- 

 hole of my vinegar-barrel, which was empty. 

 They never before had shown a strong liking 

 for that barrel. I was somewhat astonished, 

 but at that time I did not know how to account 

 for it. At, another time, to prevent the wooden 

 part of my feeders from becoming atlected by 

 the weather I dipped them in linseed oil. When 

 th^y were dry I fed the bees from them as usual 

 with ordinary syrup. At this time I was paint- 

 ing my house, and, quite to my astonishment, 

 the bees showed a wonderful liking for the 

 paint on the house — something they had not 

 done previously, although painting had been 

 going on prior to the time of soaking the feeders 

 in linseed oil. The fact is." said he, *' the syrup 

 rrobably incorporated a slight flavor of linseed 

 oil from the wood of the feeders. As soon as 

 food was given to them they rushed out, as 

 they always do when fed, to find the source of 

 that peculiar flavor; and, of course, they found 

 it on the freshly painted sides of the house." 



It was now dinner-time, and I was given an 

 opportunity to wash up after my dusty ride. 

 While in the wash-room I lieard Mrs. Board - 

 man say, "Dear mel you will talk Mr. Root to 

 death." 



Mr. B. laughed, and repeated to me what 

 his wife had said. 



•• Why," said I, " that is just what I came for; 

 and Mr. Boardman seems to be so full of prac- 

 tical e.xperience that I xvdiit lo hear him talk." 



"Yes." said she, smilingly; "but when he 

 gets a going he does not know when to stop " 



"Well." said Mr. Boardman. apologetically, 

 "it is not often I have a chance to talk bei'-; 

 and when one from Rootville comes I feel like 

 letting him have ail he wants." 



At the table the subject turned to foundation- 

 making, and I asked him if they had had any 

 dithculty in making it. and how they managed 

 to cleave the sheets from the rolls after they 

 were run through; for beginners, and those 

 who make foundation. in a small way. generally 

 have a gooi deal of trouble "along this line." 



" We have no particular trouble. We simply 

 cut olt a little narrow strip, run it into the mill 

 backward— that is, turn the mill backward- 

 feeding the sheet in at the front side. This 

 little strip is run in just far enough to leave 

 about an inch sticking out. Into the bac^ side 

 we run a full-length sheet, turning the mill in 

 the right direction. The end of this sheet 

 sticks to the little sheet run in backward; and 

 as it comes out on the other side an attendant 

 pulls on the edge of the strip not embossed, and 

 pulls out not only the little strip but the long 

 sheet adhering to it, practically free from the 

 rolls. In this way we run through all the 

 sheets. I discarded the long laborious job of 

 picking the sheets, to say nothing of scratching 

 the faces of the cells." 



Perhaps I might remark, in passing, that, as 

 foundation - makers, we have no particular 

 trouble. Our mills are all geared to power, 

 and, of course, they can not be run backward 

 very well. The sheets are run in in the u-ual 

 manner: and if every thing is in right shape, 

 the temperature of the water right, from which 

 the sheets are taken, and the mill right, the 

 sheets will cleave with very little trouble; but 

 I have given that little kink of the trade, not 

 because it is particularly new. but because it 

 may be valuable to many who are making 

 foundation in a small way. 



After dinner we went to the apiary, where 

 Mr. Boardman explained the construction of 

 his feeder. He feeds almo>st entirely from the 

 entrance, and very successfully too. Although 

 there was no honf^y coming in from the field, 

 the bees were very quiet and peaceable; for 

 Mr. Boardman was still feeding slowly for win- 

 ter use. I do not know whether he is ready to 

 describe his feeder or not; but I have asked 

 him to explain it when he feels that he has it 

 fully perfected. As an entrance feeder I believe 

 it is the best one I have ever seen. It certainly 

 works beautifully in Mr. B.'s home yard. 



" Here," said Mr. B., advancing toward the 

 end of his winter repository, "is where I feed 

 the bees water— just clear water. This eff'ectu- 

 ally disposes of the trouble of bees drinking at 

 troughs and annoying horses." 



