022 



Gleanings in bee cuLTuiiE. 



Aug. 



hives, sheds, etc. If it can be accomplished, 

 never mind tlie expense, but let us have a 

 glimpse of this f^reat dnban apiary. I read 

 your communication all through vvitli a very 

 strnns: furiosity to know where so much 

 lioney is disposed of ; and now if it is second 

 to none in the world, can't we have a sam- 

 ple barrel of it ? In our price list we adver- 

 tise clover and linden honey, and also Cali- 

 fornia honey ; why not let us say Cuban 

 honey also V 



THE PRODUCTION OF "WAX. 



How Many Pounds of Honey Does it Coat 



the Bee-Keeper for Every Pound of 



"Wax Made by the Bees ? 



SOMF. VALUABLE SUfJOESTIONS IN REOAllD TO THE 

 MATTElt, FKOM I'UIEND HASTY. 



fUIEND ERNEST: -Concerning yours of the 

 ;;.')th ult., about ray oxpeiiments to find how 

 many pounds of hoiioy make a pound of wax, 

 thei'o certainly were such published in 

 G1..EANINGS, but you fail to find them; and 

 \yith a hurried search T fail to And them also. Since 

 writing that article I have made more careful ex- 

 periments, which I intended to write up and lay be- 

 fore our bee-lseeping friends, but have never found 

 time to do so. 



I regard the doctrine, that a pounil of wax equals 

 £0 pounds of honey, as a monstrous and mischiev- 

 ous error, with no foundation to stand on but the 

 carelessness of observers and the sullenness of 

 bees when subjected to unnatural conditions. In 

 planning matters in my own apiary I consider a 

 l)ound of wax as the equivalent of about three 

 pounds of honey. T also heartily agree with Ihe 

 idea, first advanced, 1 think, by Mr. Doolittle, that 

 much of the comb actually built in an apiary is 

 built at no cost at all in honey. Just as the blood 

 of an animal supplies material for the growth of 

 what hair ho needs, and little or nothing would be 

 gained by obviating it, so the blood of the bee 

 probably supports the growth of a moderate num- 

 ber of wax-scales without causing any special de- 

 mand for food. 



It just occurs to mc to venture the remark, that 

 it is the white wax that costs, and the yellow that 

 we get free. When the bee eats honey and makes 

 a business of digesting it into wax, the scales are 

 white; but when he furnishes a few scales, while 

 consuming pollen freely, the scales are yellow. 



E. E, Hasty. 

 Richards, Lucas Co., Ohio, July 14, ISSfi. 

 Friend II., considering the suggestions at 

 the close of the above, that perhaps a mod- 

 erate number of wax scales do not cost the 

 bee-keeper any honey at all, may be you are 

 right in suggesting that a pound of wax 

 <l()es not cost more than three pounds of 

 Iioney ; then it would follow from this, that, 

 if li(|'uid honey is worth only 7 cts. per lb., a 

 bee-keeper could produce beeswax, at least 

 in moderate quantities, for 21 cts. per lb. 

 Now, tlien, where is the bee-keeper who has 

 ever done this, or who can do it, or will do 

 it y We will pay liberally for reports of ex- 

 periments in this line. And, friend Hasty. I 

 wish you woidd take time and write up the 

 article you allude to as above. It is indeed 

 a matter of great moment, not only in our 



country, but especially in tropical lands, far 

 away from civilization, where honey is 

 worth next to nothing. 



THOSE BOXES FOR FORMING NUCLEI. 



FRIEND DOOLITTI.E EXPLAINS. 



#^ EEING Ernest's article on page .IHO, regarding 

 (S|^) how he formed a colony tiy using one of the 

 V'jj boxes I have deseiibed for forming nuclei, 

 ■^ leads mc to give the readei-s of Gleanings 

 some of the uses I have i>ut these boxes to, 

 and to exijlaiii some points which I Fee Ernest and 

 perhaps some others fail to understand. I see Ei"- 

 nest thought it necessary to get his bees from several 

 dilferent colonies, while T get them from but one, 

 only in case of uniting nuclei in the fall or in mak- 

 ing very large colonics. The getting of the bees 

 from only one colony does away with much of the 

 labor, for only one queen has to be hunted, and only 

 one hive opened. 



Well, since I wrote regarding the plan before, 1 

 have found out another "kink " which makes this 

 the simplest plan of forming nuclei known, and in- 

 volving as little labor. Well, the "kink" is this: 

 I get the bees from the upper story of a two-story 

 hive, having perforated zinc between the hives. 

 Here I know there can be no queens; and to tell 

 the reader how easy it is done, I will go over the 

 ground a little the second time. 



Between the hours of 10 and 11 o'clock a. m. I take 

 my box and funnel, and go to one of these two-story 

 hiVes, open it, take out as many frames as I want 

 b(^es (which is generally not more than two), and 

 ,1ar tliein a little so as to cause the bees to fill them- 

 selves with honey, waiting a moment or two for 

 them to do so, unless T am to make more than one. 

 If more than one is to be made I pass on to another 

 hive and get out two frames from that, when I go 

 back and shake the bees down through the funnel 

 into the box, and close the hive. In times when 

 honey is coming in plentifully from the field it is 

 not necessary to wait for the bees to fill themselves, 

 for they are already pretty full of honey. The box 

 is now taken into the shop, and a cloth thrown over 

 it. Any room or shady place T find just as good as 

 a dark cellar, which T nt first recommended; and I 

 often set an empty hive or hive-cover over it and 

 leave it right in the apiary so as to save all extra 

 travel. 



In less than one hour these bees will almost "cry" 

 for a queen of some kind; but as they will some- 

 times cluster one if given too soon, especially 

 where virgin queens are u.sed, T wait till about two 

 o'clock, when they will fairly beg. I now get as 

 many virgin (picens, from four to eight days old, as 

 T have boxes of bees, and put in with the bees. I 

 do not "jumble " them up at all, as 1 used to, for I 

 find it is unnecessary. All I do in putting the queen 

 in is to set the box down suddenly, so the bees all 

 go to the bottom, and do this only to get the bees out 

 of the way, while I put in the queen. The box is 

 now left till near sunset, when the bees are all 

 clustered in the shape of a swarm. They are now 

 hived in a hive containing a frame of brood and one 

 of honey. To hive them I have the frames of brood 

 and honey set on one side of the hive,, together with 

 a division-board, when, with a quick jar, I dislodge 

 all the bees from the box on to the bottom of the 

 hive near the opposite side. T now (piickly slide the 



