1886 



GLEANINGS IN J3EE CULTUUE. 



ers hoTT they manage to get good prices for their 

 honey, and never meet with losses. Is there any 

 sure waj' to find out on sh"ort notice if a man is reli- 

 able and honest? E. Franck. 

 Phxttevillc, Wis., Mar., 1886. 



Friend F.. you have given ns just tlie in- 

 formaticni wanted. See page liTH. Your 

 honey, tlien, nets you, even in your largest 

 lots, not less than 7 cts. — I am surprised and 

 greatly pained to tind that you have been 

 made a victim of George \V. House. For 

 more than a year I have been telling him we 

 should have to publish him if he didn't stop 

 purcliasing honey for which he didn't pay. 

 It is a very difficult matter for an editor to 

 decide how far he should bear with a man of 

 this kind before warning tlie bee-friends 

 against him. Mr. House purchased honey 

 in the same way from several other bee- 

 friends, including Mr. Clialon Fowls, of 

 Oberlin, Ohio. His plan is to give his note, 

 when his note is good for nothing. He has 

 obtained more credit, from the fact that he 

 has been a prominent writer, and a promi- 

 nent worker at bee-conventions. You did 

 exactly the right thing, friend F., in giving 

 the whole transaction, and I hope no one 

 will trust him again after this public ex- 

 posure. You ask if there is any way to lind 

 out on short notice. It is a little difficult 

 with bee-keepers, as they are not quoted in 

 our commercial reports as men who are in 

 mercantile or manufacturing business. You 

 can do this, friend F.: Drop a postal card to 

 us ; or, if the case is urgent, telegraph. 

 Had you sent us a telegram before you 

 shipped that honey, we would have wired 

 you back instantly, " Lender no circum- 

 stances trust the party a copper." Mr. II. 

 has been making promises all along to settle 

 up all these matters ; but I had no idea that 

 he had purchased from any one any such 

 sum as you mention. 



FIFTEEN TONS OF HONEY. 



HOW FKIEXD COGGSIIALL MANAGKS. 



fRIEND ROOT:— Mr. E. France, page I;i2, gives 

 you his method of handling apiaries a\vay 

 from home. I have lour apiaries. One is ten 

 miles awa3', the others are two or ti\ o and 

 three niilcs respectively. For this purpc so I 

 usually lease plats of ground for three years, and 

 hire the man who lives ihere to hive the swarms. 

 Let me say, here, that fifty or sixty colonies in one 

 location will gather more honey than 2C0 colonies, 

 year in and year out. 



I advocate mixed farming, and extracted and 

 box honey in the same yard. There are always 

 some colonies that will not work in the boxes read- 

 ily, and some that are not strong enough. What 

 extracted honey I get from these is clear gain, and 

 they are the better for it, as it gives the queen a 

 chance to lay. A good way to keep the qut^en be- 

 low is to lay thin pieces of boards over the frames, 

 say 3 pieces ,5 inches wide on a Langstioth hive. 1 

 would put them close together at the back end of 

 the hive. This helps, also, to keep honey below for 

 winter stores. 



1 hired my help by the day for about a month last 

 year, except those I hired to hive the swarms. 

 These latter did not take olT any honej'. I had over 



23,000 lbs. of extracted and 800'J lbs. of box honey. 

 One day, with the help of a man and a boy in the 

 forenoon, and a man and myself in the afternoon, , 

 I took 3100 lbs. of extracted honey. 



For a honey-house I have a building 12X16 and 8 

 feet high, boarded up and battened, with shingle 

 roof, and with matched flooring. Such a building 

 can be put up for f30, made out of hemlock lumber, 

 with third-class shingles. I have the door where I 

 carry in the honey, on a level with the ground sur- 

 face, so I do not have to step up when I am carry- 

 ing in a load of honey. 



I always have a stationary extractor arranged so 

 lean draw the honey at any time; also a can for 

 the storage of extracted honey, with a faucet, 

 and set high enough to run under a barrel. A 

 cheese cloth, fastened on a hoop, fits the storing 

 can. This strainer can be taken and rinsed in two 

 minutes. I use, also, a strainer, or cullender, made 

 out of a tin pan set on a tin bucket, and placed 

 high enough so I do not have to stoop to work. I 

 have a place arranged to set the combs just as high 

 as the extractor, and as close as possible to the ex- 

 tractor. Each barrel, as it is filled, should be mark- 

 ed with the grade, when it is rolled away from the 

 storing-can, and a wire gauze nailed over the hole. 

 I always fill from the head, and I usually leave 

 the honey in the honey-house until I draw to the 

 depot. In the winter I get oak barrels that 

 hold 3.50 lbs., and wax them by taking out the 

 head, and, with a swab, I wax every seam or 

 joint. I use rosin, two parts, wax and tallow one 

 part. The whole secret is to have every thing ready. 



I see Mr. France has a boy to carry three combs in 

 each hand. He should have a carrying-bo.x, so a 

 boy could carry 8 or 12 combs. He then could ac- 

 complish as much again work in the same time. 

 Here 1 am telling how other people ought to do. I 

 Intended to tell how I did. 



MY STOVEPIPE SMOKER. 



The smoker that I use is a stovepipe, 7 in. long, 

 with a bottom in ; a hole cut in the side with a slide 

 to shut it otf; a hook on one side, and a handle riv- 

 eted on 6 or 8 inches long. Hang the smoker as 

 thus constructed on the windward side of the hive, 

 with some fire and chips in it. The beauty of it is, 

 you can burn any thing, and you do not have to 

 keep blowing it. 



I bought some of your brushes; they did not an- 

 swer my purpose, so 1 got some flue broom-corn 

 brushes, made 9 in. wide at the brush end. I have a 

 loop cord on it, and put it around the neck. Let it 

 rest on the left shoulder, and allow the brush to 

 hang by the right hand. It is always at hand wher- 

 ever you are, and you do not have to stoop to pick 

 it up. It is wide enough to clean a Langstroth 

 frame of bees at one or two sweeps of the brush. 



I will say to those who contemi)late adopting the 

 reversible hive and frames. Go slow. 



18— W. L. COGOSHALL, 220—400. 



West Groton, N. Y., Mar. 4, 1886. 



Thanks, friend C. Facts like the above, 

 from practical honey-producers, are what 

 we want. I would put in a caution, how- 

 ever, against the use of rosin. Years ago 

 we decided that any admixture of rosin with 

 beeswax would, in time, give the honey a 

 slightly resinous flavor. — Your stovepipe 

 smoker is pretty nearly the Townley smoker, 

 described in the ABC book. 



