114 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Eeb. 



comb-building to the end of the season; but the 

 new colony got to business building comb, and put- 

 ting honey in it (and pollen too, sometimes), so that 

 my regular harvests in July were, figured in ounces, 

 3, 2i4,2, 3, 3'/:,5, 9, :{, 2. These figures were some- 

 what too large, as appeared when the wax was melt- 

 ed up; but they serve to give a general idea of the 

 secretion. About 5i4 lbs. of honey was taken with 

 the wax. Wax was taken in the same way from the 

 second colony as from the first. ] had hived them 

 on combs infested with drone brood, taken from a 

 colony afflicted with fertile workers; which perhaps 

 was not treating them fairly. The runs of honey for 

 July, as per scale, amounted to 25 lbs. 5 oz., only 3 lbs. 

 5oz. more than in June. This shows, again, that 

 the amount of wax produced does not always cor- 

 respond to the amount of honey brought in. 



There is chance hei-e for a little computation, al- 

 though of a very rude sort. 1'he colony may have 

 secured more honey than the colony on the scale 

 did; and the wax cut at the old stand was not kept 

 separate from that of the colony that was doing 

 most of the building; but we shall not be very far 

 off the track to say, that on an income of 20 lbs. of 

 honey, over and above what was taken away from 

 them, the bees in this hive made a pound and a half 

 of wax during the month of July. On the very wil J 

 supposition that they turned half their honey into 

 wax, a pound of wax is tho equivalent of six and 

 two-thirds pounds of honey. On the much more 

 reasonable supposition, that one-sixthof theirhoney 

 was used in wax secretion, and flve-sixths in brood- 

 rearing and for their own nutriment, a pound of 

 wax represents about two and a quarter pounds of 

 honey. 



On the 18th of August my new colony swarmed; 

 and August 29th it gave an after-swarra; so I then 

 had four wax-building colonies. These late swarms 

 I managed in a different way. The after-swarm was 

 allowed to have but one frame of comb, and the oth- 

 er one only two combs. Every bit of comb they 

 built was cut away. This was pretty hard on the 

 future prosperity of the colonies, as they could not 

 raise much brood, for want of comb to raise it in; 

 but it made them "scratch gravel" finely in the 

 business of comb-building. Of course, the way to 

 close up the season would have been to unite these 

 late colonies with the two earlier ones. I regret to 

 confess that I was slow in getting around, and did 

 not realize how soon they would be coming to want; 

 and when I finally locked to them, the weaker colo- 

 ny had all died of starvation, and the other one not 

 choosing to " die and make no sign," had swarmed 

 out and gone off. This loss should not be charged to 

 the experiment, but to the carelessness of the ex- 

 perimenler. 



Well, the grand total cf wax from one colony and 

 their increase was by weight, 3 lbs. J") oz. I "allow- 

 ed" that I had wasted about an ounce in various 

 ways, and called the result an even i lbs. The 

 amount of honey taken with the wax was 11 lbs. It 

 so happens that 11 lbs. per colony, spring count, was 

 just the average of my wh( le apiary. This particu- 

 lar colony would very probably have produced more 

 than 11 lbs. of surplus had they been run for honey, 

 however. Nobody to my knowledge had a goed yield 

 in this vicinity last year. In fact, those I know 

 definitely got about nothing at all. 



The ten pounds or more of honey I gave my wax 

 colony in the spring must be mentioned. I don't 

 think It increased the yield of wax materially; and 



at any rate the swarm that was lost may be called a 

 fair "stand off" for that. With a better season, 

 and the experience I have gained, I think I can do 

 better on another trial. 



It is well known, that estimating what can be pro- 

 duced by a whole farm from one hill of potatoes or 

 corn is a very unreliable computation; but some- 

 times such estimates have a certain value, if we eat 

 a sufficient number of grains of salt with them. To 

 figure on the present brood of chickens, 100 colonies, 

 run with equal success, would yield 400 lbs. of wax. 

 This at 33 cts. would be $132.00. The honey, 1100 lbs. 

 (pretty green), at 7 cts. would be $77.00. The increase 

 of 100 colonies would be $ C'). The total income 

 from wax and honey amounts to $209.00; not very 

 much for a season's work; but still, people have 

 done worse. If the fellow should winter with a loss 

 of not over 20 colonies, and sell the odd 80 for a fair 

 price, he would make tho year's ends meet nicely. 

 But right there, my countrymen, is a " pint " where 

 the apiarian shoe pinches. E. E. Hasty. 



Richards, Lucas Co,, O., Feb. 2, 1884. 



Friend Hasty, I am very much obliged in- 

 deed for the result of that experiment, al- 

 though I must confess I am greatly disap- 

 pointed at the result. I expected you would 

 get about 25 lbs. of vvax from a single good 

 colony, working that way during a good sea- 

 son, instead of a paltry o lbs. 5 oz. Howev- 

 er, if your whole apiary averaged only 1 1 

 lbs. of honey iier colony, it is, as you say, 

 not so very surprising. IIow many colonies 

 were there in your lield, prayV Well, even 

 if it does not pay to run colonies exclusively 

 for wax, at the present price of wax it cer- 

 tainly pays to save all the bits ; and one of 

 the chief charms of business to me is the ne- 

 cessity of being saving of every little bit 

 that may be converted into something valu- 

 able. 



THE NEW FACTORY. 



THE PLACE AVHERE WK LIVE, AND MINISTER TO THE 

 WANTS OF THE BEE-KEEPINO PUBLIC. 



IS not the picture a nice one, friends V I 

 thought the one we had iu 1878, when 

 we lust came down here by the railroad, 

 was just about as nice as any thing could be. 

 But our friends Murray & Ileiss, of Cleve- 

 land, O., who did the work on the engraving 

 we present you, fairly outdid themselves 

 this time, so it seems to nie. 1 sometimes 

 feel like rubbing my eyes, and wondering if 

 it is really possible that God has blessed my 

 boyish plans and projects so that this build- 

 ing is a reality, and not some transient 

 dream. The old building was lUO feet long 

 by 40 feet wide, and the boiler-house down 

 opposite the lumber piles made it a little 

 longer than the 100 feet. The new wing was 

 made to run out 8.') feet, so the front is 123 

 feet long, all together, and as I sit here by 

 the compositors' table and lo"ok away back 

 through the clerks' oflice, it seems like look- 

 ing down a lane, almost, or up a street. Sup- 

 pose you take a look inside with me. Let us 

 go in'by that door near where the man stands 

 with a load of bee-hives. Eliza has got 

 stands each side of the door, as you see, on 

 which to place new goods that come into 

 the counter store, or old goods as they be- 



