1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



541 



moving the old liive to a new stand, and hiv- 

 ing the swarm in it. They liad a new loca- 

 tion, even if they did have their old hive 

 and partially lilled sections. Sometimes 

 giving a large amount of room in the brood- 

 apartment seems to satisfy them. At other 

 times, nothing short of a new location will 

 answer ; but when they ((re satistied, they go 

 to work with such a vim that it seems as if 

 it were worth while to humor them some. 

 In friend Terry's new book on horses and 

 cattle, he tells us how he got large yields of 

 milk from an eccentric cow. He conceded 

 to her whim, and she paid him by a great 

 yield of milk ; and altogether it paid to let 

 her have her own way. Is it not often the 

 case with a colony of bees, when they want 

 to start out in a fresh home? 



MARKETING HONEY. AND ITS WIN- 

 TER CARE. 



THE UESULT OF OPEN WINTEUS. 



fHE same g-cucral rules which jruidc us in mar- 

 keting extracted honey are applicable in the 

 case of section honey. It should be made 

 attractive to the eye and satisfying- to the 

 taste, and should bear the name of the pro- 

 ducer upon each packaffc. The gTcatcst care should 

 be taken to prevent the surface of the comb being: 

 soiled or broken. If so disfigured, it should not he 

 put upon the market unless it can be sold without 

 the producer's name. The sections themselves 

 should be scrai)ed and sandpapered till they shine, 

 and the crates should be either white and clean, or 

 nicely stained or painted. Each package should 

 " set off" its contents. Honey should not be sent 

 to market in the half-stories, or cases of the hives, 

 but in nice white crates made for the purpose, with 

 glass at one side at least. There is a great deal in a 

 show of honey, and so the more of tliesc crates 

 piled up in a window the better, because the honey 

 is made more attractive, as also more conspicuous. 

 The winter care of honey is important. Extracted 

 honey, if not kept in a constantly warm i)lace, will 

 granulate; that is, it will become hard and white, 

 and appear much like lard. Many people think this 

 change in honey is a sure sign of adulteration, and 

 begin to talk of sugar, but such poor creatures do 

 really deserve our pity. But we must overcome a 

 just contempt on our part before we can bestow 

 such a sympathy. To reliquefy honej' it is only 

 necessary to warm it slowly and thoroughly. Pro- 

 ceed as follows: 



Take a tin or iron vessel of sufficient size, and 

 place inside it a woodcMi block or light iron grating 

 of some kind, about half an inch high, and large 

 enough to support the vessel containing the honey. 

 Place this latter vessel upon its support, and till the 

 outer one with lukewarm water as high as possible 

 without covering the honey. Remove the lid from 

 the honey, and place the whole affair over a slow 

 fire; keep the water just under the boiling-point 

 till the honey is all melted. Seal uj) again while 

 warm. Section honey should be kept where it is 

 dark, dry, and warm. The light will spoil the color 

 of the capping; damp will burst the cells and sour 

 the honey; and cold will granulate the honey. 



The winter of 1884 was so severe that our bees 

 neither required nor could get much care. The 

 greatest trouble in open winters is on account oj' 



the tendency bees have to tiy when the weather is 

 unsuitable, and the constant uneasiness among 

 them. They are disturbed every few days by the 

 heat, and do not really settle down quietly enough 

 to winter well; and as a consequence of all this they 

 consume far more honey than is good for them- 

 selves or their owner; and often, before the latter 

 is aware, the honey is all used up and the bees 

 starved. 



Another trouble consequent upon the large con- 

 sumption of honey is a great tendency to dysentery. 

 Our endeavor should be to keep the temperature of 

 the air within the hive as unvarying as possible. 

 With bees packed in the cellar or bee-house, we 

 shall have little trouble; but with those in the 

 clamp it is another matter. During severely cold 

 spells the hive-entrances should be kept almost 

 closed; in "reasonable" weather they should be 

 wide open; and during mild spells, open, and shad- 

 ed from the sun so as to keep the air as cool as pos- 

 sible inside the hive. During warm sijclls, when 

 there is no wind, and when the air is really warm, 

 leave the entrances open and unshaded for a few 

 hours each day, that the bees may tly. At all limes 

 keep the entrances clear of dead bees, snow, ice, 

 etc. Protect from all wind, and give the bees candy 

 during Hying spells, when short of stores. Don't 

 let them starve. Mathi.vs Schneideu. 



Mclvor, Mich. 



^ — • — ^m— 



WHAT KILLED FRIEND MILLER'S 

 FIGWORT? 



A YOUNG LAUY SHOOTS THE BEES. 



Xj ike Rip Van Winkle I have been sleeping for a 

 l^j while, but not for twenty years, so far as be- 

 ^rT ^"^ heard much about the bee-business is 

 "^^ concerned, so here 1 come again. I think I 

 can guess what killed Dr. C. C. Miller's flg- 

 wort. Last year about this time I had several rows 

 of flgwort in my garden. It was in its second year's 

 growth, when 1 noticed it looked yellow and sickly, 

 and did not seem to grow much, when one day I 

 was hoeing in it and discovered that something was 

 working at the roots; and on further search I 

 found the roots were nearly all eaten away by a large 

 v.-orm which, on first sight, almost any one would 

 take to be the common cut-worm that is so de- 

 structive in gardens and cornfields; but on a clos- 

 er inspection they proved to be a different species 

 altogether. They were a light pink, or Hesh color, 

 and from one inch to an inch and a half long, and 

 their work was different fro:n the cut-worm, as 

 they went inside of the Stalk near the ground and 

 then went down into the roots, Avhich they ate out 

 clean, excepting the bark. They seemed to prefer 

 two-year-old roots rather than one-year ones. 



As soon as I made :his discoveri' I began digging 

 up all of the plants, and could find generally from 

 four to eight, and in one case I took as many as 

 fifteen worms from a single hill. This disgusted 

 me with the figwort, so I dug up all I had, and don't 

 let a stalk grow since, although thousands of young 

 plants are coming up all the time now. 



The other day, as a bee-man a couple of miles 

 from here was going to the field to work he told 

 his daughter, a buxom lass of 18, that a certain 

 stock of bees didn't act right, and told her to watch 

 them, and if they swarmed, an<l tried to go off', to 

 shoot them, looking at his wife, and laughing as he 

 said it, but never dreaming she would <lo any thing 



