1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



mercury standing at 50°— pretty cool business. It 

 was a very bright sunny day, with the snow melting 

 away. I interposed by placing wire cloth over the 

 entrance, to prevent any further ingress. I expect 

 to find the bees dead. I was afraid it was too cold to 

 open them to see what condition they were in. 



E. L. JonNSON. 

 Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 28, 1883. 



AN A 1? C SCHOLAR 53 YEARS OLD. 



I commenced bee-keeping last spring with one 

 swarm, as an experiment, for 1 had never kept bees. 

 I think they were weak, for there could not have 

 been 3 quarts of bees in the hive; had scarcely any 

 honey, and had to be fed; but I think I did not feed 

 late enough, for I could not get the sugar. They did 

 not swarm, made no surplus honey, filled six combs 

 half way down with honey, capped; size of comb, 

 13x14, and only about doubled the quantity of bees. 

 But I am not in Blasted Hopes; but, on the con- 

 trary, I am getting the " fever," and shall send for 

 more bees in the spring. Bees are all right to date. 

 There was a profusion of wild flowers hero, and why 

 did my bees not swarm? They were brought a dis- 

 tance of 35 miles. I am ignorant of modern apicul- 

 ture; have never seen an extractor, smoker, or any 

 of the modern implements of apiculture. 



DRONES — -■VRE THKY NEEDED IN EVERY HIVE? 



Will bees \lork as well in the absence of drones as 

 when they are present? I have not seen a single 

 drone about my hive during the season, and there is 

 no drone comb in the hive. 



I don't know of another swarm of bees within 30 

 miles of here, and if mine should abscond, they 

 would be forced to come back, for there are no hol- 

 low trees for them to go into; the largest timber 

 here is second growth cottonwood. 



Empire. Dak., Jan. 17, 1884. Andrew Craig. 



Friend C., the bees work all right with 

 no drones in the hive, although it has been 

 surmised that they work with more energy 

 when at least a few drones are present ; and 

 I am inclined to think that this is the case. 

 I think your bees would abscond all the same, 

 even if there are no trees for them to go in- 

 to, for they often build combs in the bushes, 

 especially with a climate as warm as yours. 

 If your locality is a good one, your swarm 

 did very poorly. I should say the queen was 

 not up to the average. 



CALIFORNIA SAGE IN THE NORTH. 



Please answer through Gleanings, will California 

 sage grow here in 40° north latitude, or h^ve you ever 

 heard of any being tried? .1. G. Norton. 



Macomb, 111., Jan. 18, 1884. 



I have been told, friend X., that California 

 sage would not grow with us. We have 

 raised a few plants, however, but I kept 

 them mostly indoors. Can any one tell more 



about it ? 



TARRED TAPER FOR BEE-HIVES. 



I want to know if a house, covered inside and out- 

 side with tarred-paper board, would be frost-proof ; 

 also would the tarred paper affect the honey in any 

 way? I want some place to keep honey in. 



Bunker Hill, 111., Jan. 18, 1H81. Geo. Drew. 



I do not think tarred paper would do the 

 honey any damage. It might, however, give 

 it a taint, if just put in, and the honey were 

 put just next to it. 



IP EXTRACTED HONEY IS 8 C, AND COMB IS 15 C, 

 WHICH SHALL WE RAISE? 



I commenced operations in the spring of 1883 with 

 98 colonies. Natural swarming commenced June 3, 

 and in a short time they increased so rapidly we 

 could not get hives ready fast enough, so com- 

 menced doubling, or putting two swarms together, 

 and put about 120 swarms into 75 hives, which made 

 them strong; consequently, from doubled swarms I 

 got a nice lot of comb honey in 1-lb. sections. The 

 Blue Ridge is a good locality for swarming, but does 

 not always prove so fruitful as it has the past season. 

 1 raised about 2000 lbs. of comb honey — 1500 in one- 

 pound boxes, 500 in old-style five-pound boxes. I 

 never raised any extracted honey; would like to 

 have advice in regard to raising honey for the mar- 

 ket. Will extracted honey pay as well at 8c. as comb 

 honey at 15c. per lb? Our honey is principally made 

 of blue thistle, white clover, and sumac. 



TIME OF BASSWOOD BLOOM. 



We have some basswood which blooms about June 

 25, and lasts 10 or 12 days. My bees have been very 

 much neglected in the past, having a stock farm of 

 about COO acres to claim my attention; consequent- 

 ly, bees have to be put off for a more convenient 

 season. T. Wm. Fleming. 



Paris, Fauquier Co., Va., Jan. 18, 1884. 



Friend F., I presume there will be a good 

 many different opinions in regard to your 

 question ; but as you state it, I think I 

 should work for comb honey. If extracted 

 honey brings 10 cts. by the barrel, then I 

 think I should raise extracted. I should like 

 to hear from friend Doolittle in the matter, 

 and as many others as have an opinion to offer. 

 This is certainly a very important question. 

 Perhaps wisdom would dictate that you 

 should produce both, until your market has 

 given a decided answer as to which is prefer- 

 able. 



R. A. I. ROOT:— As you say you are in my 

 debt five cents, you will please send me a 

 dinner-horn — a good one that my wife can 

 blow. Inclosed find postage for same. 

 Brick Church, Tenn., Dec. 11, 1883. 



Friend —whafs your name ? —when I was 

 a small boy, my father used to tell me, in a 

 joking way, about driving so far that we 

 came to the "jumping-off place." Now, 

 when our clerks read your letter as above, 

 they thought they had come to the jumping- 

 off place, sure, for there was no way in the 

 world they knew of to get a bit further, till 

 we got the postal card below : 



I wrote you for some of your goods about three 

 weeks ago, and have not been able to hear from you 

 since. Please write me if you received the money 

 or not. W. G. Bcrgess. 



Brick Church, Tenn., Jan. 8, 1884. 



Why, bless your heart, friend Burgess, we 

 got the money, to be sure, and you can not 

 think how happy it makes us to think we are 

 now able to send right along that dinner- 

 horn for your wife to blow on. When 1 

 think of your having been without your din- 

 ner all these long weeks, or at least until this 



