1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



85 



and-So's planer, and Mr. T'other man's 

 honey-pail, because he got up a better one 

 than I did. And then, again, I tell about 

 Mr. Somebody's something else, because I 

 thought it was a good thing, and you would 

 like to know about it. 



made all for one harmonious whole, and each for the 

 other's good. L. M. Rogers. 



Oneida Valley, N. Y. 



inORE ABOUT "THE OTHER SIDE." 



fRIEND ROOT:--WhileI entertain the highest 

 respect for your correspondents iu g-eneral, 

 — and W. Z. H. ia particular, I can not quite 

 agree with what he says in Gleanings, page 5, about 

 bees being kept only by those making it a specialty. 

 I am well aware, however, that those who devote 

 their whole time and attention to the business are 

 most likely to attain to the highest success. But 

 suppose we who have families depending on our 

 daily effort, having given it our whole attention, 

 shmiM fail in some seasons —like the past, in many 

 localities, for instance. All bee-keepers can not 

 make money at queen-rearing, for there would be 

 no customers. Neither have all of us the ability to 

 gain a living with the pen. I know it may be said 

 that no person should make a specialty of any thing, 

 especially bee-keeping, until he has tested his abili- 

 ty to master all its difliculties, and knows that he 

 can succeed. But I question if bee culture is not, 

 all things considered, more precarious than other 

 rural pursuits; and for this reason, if none other, is 

 it not desirable to combine it with some other occu- 

 pation ? 



Friend Hutchinson says: "The farmer was not 

 long in discovering that he could buy his honey 

 more cheaply than he could produce it; and, like a 

 sensible man, he dropped bee-keeping." Now, my ' 

 own experience in b^e-keeping in connection with 

 farming, and my acquaintance with others who have 

 had fair success in the two pursuits, leads me to en- 

 tertain a directly contrary opinion; and I shall have 

 to own that some of us, at least, have yet to make 

 this discovery. And in this section the number of 

 farmers that buy honey to use on their tables is so 

 few as to be hardly worth mentioning. OP course, 

 the two pursuits will need our attention at the same 

 time, and we will sometimes feel as if we ought to 

 be in two places at once; but if we are up and do- 

 ing, getting every thing ready for both farm and 

 apiary, that can be done beforehand, during the 

 leisure of winter, we may, by thorough and intelli- 

 gent culture, not only be sure of the substantial 

 products of the farm for our daily sustenance, but 

 also the luxuries of the garden, apiary (and poultry- 

 yard}; and in favorable localities and seasons, a fair 

 surplus from each, depending, of course, upon the 

 amount of energy we each possess, to take to mar- 

 ket. 



Of course, if cue?-)/ farmer kept bees, the country 

 would soon be overstocked; and it is equally true, 

 that if the bees now kept by specialists were spread 

 more generally among the farmers, the danger from 

 this cause would be much loss. Besides, the undis- 

 puted facilities which small farms afford for suc- 

 cessful bee culture, and the benefits arising from 

 the fecundation of the various flowers by the indus- 

 trious workers, are not to be overlooked in this con- 

 nection. Neither should farmers, those true lovers 

 of nature, be deprived of the pleasure which bee- 

 keeping affords: the drawing nearer, through a 

 knowledge of Its mysteries, to that Creator who 



ANOTHER REPORT FROM THE PER- 

 FORATEU ZINC HONE V -BOARDS. 



KEEPING THE QUEEN DOWN STAIRS, AND GETTING 

 ALL THE BEES UP STAIRS; A SUCCESS. 



USED the perforated zinc on 28 hives run for ex- 

 tracted honey; most of these were very strong 

 colonies, and were tiered up three stories high 

 in Simplicity hives. In some I confined the queen 

 to the lower hive, while in other hives I gave her the 

 range of two stories. In only two cases I failed to 

 keep the queen below, and in one of these I found 

 the fault to be in the way I had arranged the sheet, 

 and not in the sheet itself; in the other I am not 

 sure how the queen got above. In both cases she 

 did not get back until I ghook the bees off the combs 

 and let her run in at the entrance. I kept good pro- 

 litic queens in one story, with the hive full of bees 

 from below to the third story. At the same time I 

 had brood in all three stories when the zinc sheets 

 were not used. 



In an apiary, run for extracted honey, they may 

 not be desirable. On this point I am not decided. If 

 you wish to get below to cut out cells, get brood, 

 etc., you have the sheet to remove and replace, 

 which Is some bother. It gets kinked some, and 

 there are a few little pieces of wax to scrape off be- 

 fore it lies down smoothly on the frames. I got 

 them to keep the queen out of the combs until they 

 could be drawn out the desired thickness, and have 

 the satisfaction of fairly beating them. But still I 

 am inclined to think it would be as well to give the 

 queen a free range — have all frames tilled with 

 worker comb just a little thicker than the frame, 

 for convenience in uncapping. Your combs below 

 will have no honey in them, as the queen completely 

 monopolizes them, and the honey is shoved up stairs. 

 This will suit tnose who wish to feed their bees on 

 sugar, to take the place of natural stores. It takes 

 but a moment for the workers to pass through the 

 openings in the sheet, so I see no objection to its 

 use, except its cost, and the time required to re- 

 move and replace, in order to get at the brood when 

 you wish to. J. B. Colton. 



Waverly, Iowa, Jan., 1884. 



Many thanks, friend C, for your report. 

 I am especially glad to get it, because 1 felt 

 a little bad after having sold as many as we 

 have, to see such unfavorable reports in re- 

 gard to them as we have had once or twice of 

 late. AVe shall have machinery arranged so 

 as to perforate the zinc ourselves, and this 

 will very materially reduce the cost. In re- 

 gard to trouble in removing, is it more than 

 to remove any kind of honey-fcoards ? I pre- 

 sume that rubbing tlie sheets with a cloth 

 dipped in some kind of nice oil that would 

 not be olfensive to the bees would very ma- 

 terially lessen the building of comb on them 

 by the bees. Perhaps our finest sewing- 

 machine oil might answer well. If we could 

 reduce tlie chance to about the Siime it is of 

 their building on enamel sheets, it would be 

 quite a gain ; and besides, if they did build, 

 the wax would slip off with very little urg- 

 ing. 



