1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



29 



been made a success? At half the price you 

 mention, it seems to me it would be a won- 

 derful achievement, and speckled trout 

 would sell in our city markets at good prices 

 in immense quantities, without doubt. By 

 all means tell us how your experiment turns 

 out. It seems to me you are starting in 

 pretty heavily, if it is indeed an entirely 

 new industry. 



THAT NAMELESS BEE-DISEASE. 



I had some questions to ask, concerning- one 

 swarm, but I see you have satisfied me in a late is- 

 sue of Gleanings, except dates. Yours is August 

 38, mine is July 3. One queen, with 1 lb. of bees, 

 boug-ht July 3, has all the symptoms named in that 

 piece, that unknown bee-disease, and it is fast 

 dwindling away. I don't think there are bees 

 enoug-h left to make one pound. Thej^ have been 

 thinning their ranks for six weeks. I have been 

 watching them very closely, and never, in all ray 

 experience in 35 years, have I seen any thing like it. 

 It produces such odd-looking, mangled bees. Some 

 look like beetles and flies, small head and neck, and 

 shoulders large; black and shiny abdomen. 



Spencer, Ohio. W^m, Dague, Sr. 



FROM 39 TO 51, AND 3100 LBS. OF HONEY. 



Y report for 1885. I went into winter quar- 

 ters in the fall of li-^St with 47 colonies, and 

 came through with 31— three-fourths of 

 them very weak. I sold two, leaving 29 to 

 commence the season with. I increased to 

 51 and got 3100 lbs. of surplus honey, extracted, ex- 

 cept 150 lbs. comb honey. Nearly all is sold at 10 

 and 13»2 cts. per pound for extracted and 15 to 20 cts. 

 for comb. Bees have plenty of honey of a good 

 quality for winter supplies. L. G. Purvis. 



Forest City, Mo. 



FROM 15 TO 48, AND 3500 LBS. HONEY. 



This is the way our bees panned out this year. 

 Spring count, 15 colonies. Increased to 48, and 

 took 3500 lbs. surplus honey— 1800 comb, and 700 ex- 

 tracted, worth on an average 15 cents per lb. In- 

 ci-ease of bees, 33 colonies, at SfS.OO per colony, 

 $165.C0; 2503 lbs. honey at 15 cents, 8(375.00; total, 

 $540.00, or $36.00 per colony. I attribute much of 

 this success to sweet clover. E. W. Pitzer. 



Hillsdale, Iowa, Dec. 25, 1885. 



ver), and the Langstroth chaff hive. Our spring 

 dwindling Vvas mostly of those wintered in the cel- 

 lar. Ila Michener. 

 Low Banks, Ont., Doc. 4, 1885. 



FROM 84 TO 129, AND 9,)0J POUNDS OF HONEY. 



I commenced the season with 84 colonies, all 

 blacks but 6. I increased to 129. and took 9O0O lbs. 

 of honey. I have about 120 hybrids and Italians 

 now. The black bees did no good this season. The 

 spring honey crop was a failure, but wc had a 

 honey-flow in the summer and fall. 1 am very well 

 satisfied with the season's work, but count it about 

 half a crop. 3— D. M. Edwards, 84—129. 



Uvalde, Tex., Dec. 2, 1885. 



FROM 18 TO 51, AND ICOO LBS. OF HONEY. 



Our bees were reduced to 18 swarms last spring, 

 and nine were weak. We increased to 51 good colo- 

 nies, with abundance of natural stores for winter, 

 and have taken about 1000 lbs. of honey, mostly ex- 

 tracted, clover and basswood, and some fall honej\ 

 I like the Syrio-Italians, large red clover (pastured 

 for seed it has smaller heads than the small red clo- 



5000 LBS. OF COMB HONEY FROM BASSWOOD. 



With the aid of vei-y fine weather I have secured 

 about 5000 lbs. of basswood honey in sections— a 

 very light crop, though it is one of the poorest sea- 

 sons we have had for years. Our basswood began 

 to bloom on June 14, and I saw this day on the high- 

 est ridges trees which had not bloomed, and they 

 were full of young buds. A. W. Cheney. 



Kanawha Falls, W. Va., July 10, 1885. 



FROM 83 TO 160, AND 3500 LBS. OF HONEY. 



I Started this season with S3 colonies of pure and 

 hybrid Italians; increased by natural swarming to 

 160 colonics (did not accept any after-swarms). 

 Amount of surplus, 2300 lbs. of white-clover honey 

 in l?4-lb. sections, and 130ft lbs. extracted. This was 

 a poor season, too wet and cold. I have now 140 

 colonies all ready for cellar, but we are having very 

 mild weather. Last year bees were taken into cel- 

 lar Nov. 3J, and wintered very well. 



W. Addenbrooke. 



North Prairie, Wis., Dec. 4, 1885. 



A good report from VERMONT. 



I commenced bee-keeping in the fall of 1884, by 

 buying two swarms of black bees in Langstroth 

 hives. One died out in the winter. The other came 

 out all right; swarmed once, and made 68 lbs. of 

 surplus. The new swarm made 30 lbs. of surplus, 

 besides enough to winter on. They had only one 

 frame of comb, no fdn. I bought five swarms of 

 Italians this fall at ^6.00 a swarm. If they live this 

 winter, I shall get foundation another spring. 

 There are acres of raspberries about here. 



Barre, Vt., Nov. 33, 1885. H. W. Scott. 



FROM 10 to 30, AND 400 LBS. OF HONEY. 



Here is my report for 1885: I purchased this spring 

 ten colonies in movable-frame hives, paying $45.00 

 for the ten. The hives were not the same size as 

 the one I use, so I transferred most of them to the 

 standard Langstroth hive. These bees were most- 

 ly hybrids, with one pure Italian and one black 

 stock; every original stand cast one swarm, but I 

 did not allow them to cast any more than one. The 

 Italian stock was the first one to swarm; and from 

 this swarm and the parent stock I got over 100 lbs. 

 of comb honey. My total yield was 300 lbs. comb 

 and 100 extracted, and increased from 10 to 30, good 

 strong colonies. I introduced five of A. I. Root's 

 dollar queens, of which I lost two in introducing. 

 I took a case of comb honey and a few jars of ex- 

 tracted to our county fair, and was awarded first 

 premium on comb and second on extracted. The 

 premiums amounted to six dollars, which was quite 

 a help to one just starting in the business. This 

 has been a very poor honey season in this county. 

 Bee-keepers who had a large number of stands did 

 not get any surplus, so I am well satisfied with my 

 gains, and am thankful. Harry Lathrop. 

 Browntown, Wis. 



128 LBS. OF BUC'KWHEAT FROM ONE POUND. 



I bought one pound of silverhull buckwheat of 

 you last spring, and I thrashed 128 lbs. from that 

 one pound. My bees went into winter quarters iu 

 good condition, and with plenty of stores. 



Blairtown, Iowa. O. P. Nichols. 



I should think the above was a very ex- 



