lJ7tJ 



(jLEiLNlNGS LN BEE CULTUilE. 



Dec. 



only one tier on each side so as to leave an alley- 

 way in the middle, so 1 can inspect thera at any 

 time I may wish, for I always go into the cellar 

 twice a month to see that all is right as to temper- 

 ature, mice, etc.; and at these limes T can not help 

 looking- at the little fellows, for the fun it gives mo. 

 I know some insist that this is all wrong-; but I 

 could never see that it did any harm ; and even if I 

 did, I doubt if I could deny myself this pleasure, 

 for ] keep l)ees for pleasure as well as profit, often 

 thinking- that the pleasure part pays the better. 

 Well, after all are in, the cellar is closed, when it is 

 managed as I told you about last winter. 



G. M. DOOI.ITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., Nov. 26, 1886. 



Friend I)., in regard to raising tlie bottom- 

 boards for wintering, I would add tliat 

 friend Bingham, at the Michigan State Con- 

 vention, stated that he did not l^now of any 

 other one thing that had given so good re- 

 sults as raising combs two inches or more 

 from the bottom-board. This allows dead 

 bees and debris to drop down through out 

 of the way ; allows plenty of air to pass all 

 around under the comb, and seems to be a 

 safeguard against the etfects of dampness 

 and impure air. lie uses this space below 

 the combs, whether they are outdoors or in 

 the cellar; and he has of late been very suc- 

 cessful in wintering with little loss. 



OVER 20 TONS OF HONEY, AND HOW 

 TAKEN. 



When Honey is Suflaciently Ripened to Ex- 

 tract. 



VALTABr.?: .SUGGESTIONS FHOM E. FHANCK. 



JTz FTEK selling off 5-5 colonies of bees we had 39"> 

 il& colonies to commence with in the spring. 

 jSk We increased by dividing until we had '>07 

 ''^■^ colonies in the fall. Wo commenced to ex- 

 tract honey .Tune 3d, and tlnished on the .5th 

 of July. Amount of honey taken was +2,489 lbs.— 

 an average of very nearly 108 lbs. per colony, spring 

 count. The bees were in six apiaries— one apiary 

 at home; the other five were from 4 to 7 miles away, 

 in different directions. We worked one apiary a 

 day every day except Sundays and the 3d day of 

 .Inly. But all the boys were hired to work on the 

 •Uh of .July, or the day on which the Fourth would 

 be celebrated, as this year it came on Sunday. Boys 

 don't like to miss the Fourth of .Tuly, and so they 

 proposed to have mo let them work three apiaries 

 in two days, and then have the day gained to go to 

 the celebration. I agreed to that. Now, if ever 

 you saw a set of boys woi"k to gain time, you can 

 form some idea how those boys worked. 



On the first day of .July we were up and off', and 

 drove ."> miles to the yard to work; got there as soon 

 as it was light enough to work. We put up the tent 

 and extracted 1800 Ihs. of honey, and then drove 

 home, unloaded the honey, ate our dinner, and then 

 drove to another yard, .5 miles away in another di- 

 rection; got there at ."i o'clock p.m. Wo worked 

 half of the bees, and then drove home wiih 1200 lbs. 

 of honey. The amount taken, after live o'clock, by 

 daylight, made 3000 lbs. extracted in one daj', and 

 we drove 20 miles in going and coming to and from 

 our work. 



The next morning al daylight lonnd us 7 miles 



from home at another yard where we extracted 1400 

 lbs., and drove back home to dinner. After dinner 

 we drove back to the yard that was half worked the 

 day before, and took 829 lbs., and were homo again 

 before sundown, having taken out that da.v£229 lbs., 

 and traveled 24 miles. I think that was pretty good 

 work for boys. I ran the exti-actor both days my- 

 self—a two-comb machine. We keep one extractor 

 at each yard during the honey-harvest, and don't 

 move them from one yard to another. 



I make our own extractors, as 1 can not buy one 

 to suit me. T make them in the winter, when 1 have 

 plenty of time, then they don't cost as much money 

 out as it would to buy them. From the time that I 

 commenced to use the extractor up to the year 1884, 

 we emptied the combs once in 10 days; but the three 

 last years we have emptied them just once a week, 

 or 7 days. We find the seven-day plan decidedly the 

 best one. We get more honey, and I can not see 

 but it is just as good. This dry season we could 

 have extracted as often as four or five days, and 

 the honey would have been all right. Last year 

 was very wet, and our honey was about one-fourth 

 capped when we extracted it, and the honey was 

 rather thin. This year the combs would be, on an 

 average, three-fourths capped, and were thick— in 

 fact, thick enough as fast as gathered. Another 

 reason why 1 like the seven-day plan is, we are not 

 troubled with the bees getting the swarming fever. 

 They get their combs just nicely filled in our large 

 hives, in seven days, and then we come and empty 

 the honey. The queen then has room to deposit her 

 egg.s, and the bees have plenty of room to store 

 their hone.v; and then they are all happy and con- 

 tented, and won't swarm. AVe use the Langstroth 

 hive, three stories high, for the extractor, with 

 eight f lames in each story, and we don't think it is 

 any too big; and, by the way, we are wintering 

 some of them three stories high outdoors— the top 

 story a solid block of honey. 



We don't practice any method of ripening our 

 honey liy artificial means. We take our honey-bar- 

 rels right into the field with us; fill them, drive in 

 the plugs, take thera homo, and store them in our 

 honey-house, standing on end, with the plugs up. 

 We put the honey in through an inch hole, with a 

 funnel. We pack the barrels away without loosen- 

 ing the i)lugs, just as they come from the fields, and 

 I think the honey keeps better than it would to give 

 it air. It is put in warm, in the heat of the day, 

 and will not swell by cooling. Keep it tight, and it 

 will, I think, retain its flavor better than to give it 

 air. I know the honey will remain longer withoiu 

 candying if kept tight. 



REPORT FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS. 



Average amount of honey obtained the last 4 

 years is 103 lbs., spring count. 



No. colonies spring of 1883, 211. Average. 104'., ll)s. 

 1884, 285. - 100 



188.5,320. •' 91 



1886, :595. " W>< 



Average amount for the four years, 103 

 For so large an amount of bees for so long a time, 

 wo think that is a pretty fair report. The bees 

 hav(^ all been wintered on their summer stands, 

 with a steady increase in the number of colonies. 



THE RECORD OF TWO STUDENTS. 



As 1 said at the beginning of this article, we sold 

 .55 colonies, last spring, to a couple of our students, 

 one of them buying 4 and the other 51. The boy 

 who bought till' four got 117 11)8. average of honey 



