188B 



GLEANINGS IN fiEE CULTUtifi. 



5^3 



al frames with eg'gs, some frames having brood 

 ready to seal. On looking- further I found a )iatc}>cd 

 queen-cell on the piece of larva, and also a small 

 Unfertilized black queen which would have come 

 out only yesterday. Does this happen often? and 

 why does the queen not tear down cells'? I found 

 the other queen I bought of you doing so. As this 

 hive belongs to a Iricnd who does not know much 

 about bees, he might ucciise nie of knowing nothing 

 of bees, and say it was my fault. 



(i. WlEDKltHOI.I), 11 1:2. 

 Vonkers, N. Y., .Tune -22, 1886. 



Friend W., as a rule the introduced queen 

 will destroy tlie cells, but there are occasion- 

 al exceptions, like the one you mention. 

 They are so rare, however, that We seldom 

 take the trouble to destroy the cells unless 

 the queen is one of special value. 



SH.\I.I. WE PHACT1CE AIITIFICIAL SWAIiMINO? 



My bees do not swarm as I think they should, so I 

 tried artificial swarming en one and have a good 

 young swai-m from thice frames of brood; but the 

 process is too slow for me. I swarmed them >uiy 

 3()th, and can't e.xpect tl:e queen to lay before June 

 30th. Would it not pay better to buy queens to 

 start with? I am using the American hive, but 1 do 

 not like it. What hive do you recommend for a be- 

 ginner? E. T. Case. 



Nunda, N. Y., June 18, 1SS6. 



Friend C, the matter yon mention is so 

 fully discussed in the A B C book I do not 

 think it is best to take space to go over it 

 here. Circumstances must determine wheth- 

 er it is better to buy queens or I'aise tliem. 

 The fact that the Langstroth frame is so uni- 

 versally in use would be a sullicient reason 

 for adopting that in preference to any otlier. 

 and I certainly think it gives as good results 

 as any other. 



A FIVE-CENT PACKAOE OF COMB UONRV. 



Since trying the I'^g-inch sections in crnti s. 1 sun 

 so well pleased with them that 1 think I shall hence- 

 forth use them almost exclusively. The c( ml. s arc 

 as nice and straight as I have ever had them, even 

 with separators attached; and as they do not hold 

 80 much they can be retailed for 15 cts. or less, and 

 a great many more can be sold. Dealers say. if 

 they can notget any thing so as lo sell it cheap, they 

 do not want to handle it at all. If the peoi)le want 

 small packages, and arc willing to pay the dili'er- 

 ence in price, why shall they not have them? I 

 have long thought (and do not know but that 1 shall 

 soon try it) to have comb honey in five-cent pack- 

 ages, so as to take the jihice, in a measure, of the 

 filthy candies. The way 1 should try would be to 

 have a nice thin comb built in a regular frame, and 

 have little tin sections, or something of the like, and 

 just press them in and let the bees fill them. T3ut 

 may be some one has tried and abandoned it, long 

 before I was a bee-keeper, though I became one not 

 many years ago, when I was only si.x years old. 

 Christian Wic('ki;ssi:i{. 



Marshallville, O., June 31, 1886. 

 Frjend W., this matter has been pretty 

 thoroughly discussed. I do not think you 

 want any tin at all about your sections. It 

 does not answer well, and it strikes me we 

 had better not undertake making a package 

 of comb lioney at a less price than a dime : 

 and I believe that many experiments seem 



to decide the best way to do it would be by 

 having a thin section. Make it the standard 

 size, 4i X 4i inches, but let it be thin enough 

 to hold 10 cts. worth. Perhaps I inch, the 

 width of our brood-frames, would be about 

 right. In selling sections of honey at a uni- 

 form price, the difiiculty seems to be in hav- 

 ing them all alike. If they are made thin, 

 as above, of course we do not want to use 

 separators; and the result will be, that some 

 w'ill be heavier than others. Perhaps it 

 would not matter if they were. We are now 

 getting IS cts. a pound on our wagon for ex- 

 tra nice white comb honey in sections. They 

 are seven to the foot in width, and the price 

 runs from ITj to 18 cts. Since you suggest it, 

 t th'mly believe that a ten-cent package of 

 comb honey is going to be a big thing. On 

 our wagon we endeavor to have goods sold 

 at 5 ami 10 cts., even change, as much as 

 possible. 



WHY IS IT THAT MY BEES DO NOT DO AS WEI^i AS 

 MY NEIGHBOII'S? 



Now I wish for a little advice about ray bees. I 

 commenced the season with .5 colonies, and have in- 

 ci'cased so far by swarming, to 13; but they haven't 

 made a pound of surplus honey, yet there is a plen- 

 ty of blackberry and raspberry flowers here, and it 

 seems as though they could do better. My hives sit 

 on a level p ace, on good sawdust mounds, all in 

 line, ten feet between hives each way, and close to 

 a nursery of young apple-trees. They all face the 

 east, and are in Langstroth hives. 



BOX HIVES vs. MODEIiN BEE-KEEPING. 



Last summer I got from one hive about 20 one- 

 pound sections of surplus honey, which is the high- 

 est 1 ever got from one hive. I hardly ever average 

 more than 5 lbs. to the hive, while only two miles 

 away from me, in the same valley, a man who has 

 about 40 colonies has already taken off nearly 400 

 lbs., and e.vpects to make about f400 or $.500 from 

 the 41) or :>0 colonies. What is the matter with mine? 

 He keeps his hives ou stands about two or three feet 

 from the ground, and the bees he keeps in old-fash- 

 ioned square bo.x hives. If you can give me any 

 advice on the sul)ject, I should be very much oblig- 

 ed to you. I have never yet made enough to pay 

 for the time 1 spent among them, to say nothing of 

 the expense of the hives. I wish to make some- 

 thing on them if I can. W. H. Phentiss. 



Prentiss Vale, Pa., June 31, 1836. 



I think, my friend, tluit the hives or the 

 way in whicli they are lixed has little or 

 nothing to do with the amount of honey re- 

 ceived by you and your neighbor ; for al- 

 though he is only two miles away, there may 

 be a very great difference in the locality. 

 This is easily shown by planting hives at 

 different poiiits in your immediate neigh- 

 borhood, say from two to live miles apart. 

 You will iiild that some will do a great deal 

 better tlian others. 



SPACING THE FRAMES TOO FAR .4PART. 



I know you must be very busy while this enor- 

 mous honey -flow is going on; but! must ask one 

 or two questions. May 31st I put a primari' swarm 

 in a Simplicity, with 9 frames equally spaced, save 

 two, they being too close. 1 covered them with 

 new canvas, glossy side down. June :Jd, Vi days aft- 

 erward, 1 found the cloth being adherent, seven 

 framis tilled, other two partly, but many of them 



