1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



295 



proved to be beneficial, among which I may mention 

 movable frames, comb I'oundatian, honej'-extractor, 

 smoker, veil, slow feeder for spring- and rapid feeder 

 for fall, division-boards to contract brood-nest, and 

 last, but not least, pure Italian bees in well painted 

 chaff hives, in the shade of trees. 



Notwithstanding I have had uniform success in 

 wintering bees in the house-apiary, I wish to class 

 It among the things I do not recommend on the 

 score of economy and convenience. I keep bees 

 only In the south side, and it is more work to care 

 for them than for an equal number in hives. You 

 had better invest your money in chaff hives. I want 

 no bee-bench, bee-shed, nor bee-house of any kind. I 

 want no queen-excluding honey-boai-ds, no sections 

 larger nor smaller than one pound, no reversible 

 frames. I fill my wired frames clear down to the 

 bottom with foundation, and there is no necessity 

 of reversing them to get them filled with comb; and 

 if the honey in brood-combs is uncapped when the 



has not exceeded one-fourth that amount. On the 

 whole, I believe I have received just about a fair 

 compensation for the money invested and the time 

 devoted to bee culture, and am fairly satisfied with 

 the result, as I expect to earn about a hundred 

 cents to get a dollar out of any legitimate business. 

 Although this article is already too long, I wish 

 to refer to one feature of the work in our apiary, 

 and that is, it is largely done by women, which dem- 

 onstrates that women can adapt themselves to the 

 business, and become successful apiarists. Mrs. 

 Hains and her cousin. Miss Bennett (wlio, by the 

 way, are treasurer and secretary of the Progres- 

 sive Bee-keepers' Association, which holds its next 

 meeting- in this place May 6th) have almost exclu- 

 sive charge of the queen-nursery, as well as other 

 departments of the work. Tnexpei'ienced persons 

 would not hesitate to pronounce them wasteful in 

 the extreme should tliey witness their selection, or, 

 rather, rejection, of all small and medium sized 



APIARV BELONGING TO .J. li. H.\INS, IJEDFOItn, Olllll. 



sections are put on, the bees will remove the hon- 

 ey as fast as the queen needs the room. 



In addition to the apiary illustrated above, I have 

 six others, in adjoining towns, aggregating about 

 200 colonies, and they are managed for comb honey 

 principally, while my borne apiary, which is kept as 

 near a hundred as circumstances will i;ermif, is de- 

 voted to queen-rearing and the production of ex- 

 tracted honey. 



My winter loss in my home apiary is usually 

 about ten percent, comiKised largely of united nu- 

 clei. My report for the winter past is as follows: 



Of 86 stocks on summer stands, lost 4; of 2.5 in 

 house-apiary, lost none; of 18 in cellar, lost half. 



I have purchased about as many bees as 1 have 

 sold during the last sixteen years, in which time I 

 have increased from 3 to .'iOO stocks. The largest 

 yield of honey obtained from one stock in one sea- 

 son was 130 lbs. The average yield, year after year. 



qufcncclls— a rule which they rigidly enforce, be- 

 lieving that none but the most perfect ai'C worthy 

 to bear the title of royalty, and that, through care- 

 ful selection, we may expect to come the nearest 

 to realizing the hopes of all bee-keepers, which is, 

 securing the best possible race of bees. 

 Bedford, Ohio, Apr. 1, 1S86. J. B. Mains. 



Friend II., I am very glad indeed to hear 

 that your apiary is managed by women. 

 Perhaps this has something to do with the 

 neat and tidy appearance it presents. I re- 

 member Mrs. Ilains quite well ; and, if I re- 

 member correctly, she does not look as if the 

 duties had been so arduous or fatiguing as 

 to wear her out, either mentally or physical- 

 ly. We should be very glad indeed to have 

 some reports from either of the ladies. I 

 fear we are not having so many communica- 

 tions of late from the other sex as we used 

 to have in former volumes of Glkanings. 



