1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



197 



while all the darker combs, and those filled with bee- 

 bread, were left at home for our coasumption, to 

 be used in the shape of "strained honey," the 

 straining of which was the part allotted to mother. 

 This was done by chopping up the combs till every 

 cell was broken, and then putting into a bag made of 

 thin cotton cloth. This bag was now hung up close 

 by the flre, and allowed to drain all it would into a ves- 

 sel placed underneath it. The quality of ^3 honey 

 was pretty fair; and if no dark honey was in the 

 combs it would approximate very closely to our 

 white extracted honey. After all had drained out, 

 which would do so by hanging by the flre, a large 

 pan was placed in the oven, and several long sticks 

 placed across the top, when the bag was placed on 

 the sticks. The oven was kept as warm as possible 

 and not melt the wax very much, and in this way 

 quite a quantity of rather inferior honey was obtain- 

 ed, after which the bag and contents were placed 

 in a kettle of warm water and worked till all the 

 sweet was got out. This water was now boiled 

 down, and, when as thick as molasses, stored away 

 to make apple pies, etc., with. 



To look back now to my boyhood days, it seems to 

 me those pies, etc., sweetened with "honey wattr," 

 as we used to call it, had a taste superior to any we 

 now have, made with our best granulated sugar. 

 Another thing I wish to say right here is, that we 

 often read, where strained honey is being compared 

 with extracted, that the latter is the clear nectar of 

 the flowers, free from all impurities, etc., while the 

 former is a mixture of filth and honey, obtained by 

 mashing dead bees, brood, and bee-bread, together 

 with the combs of honey, and squeezing the whole 

 through a cloth. From all the knowledge I have, I 

 would as SL.on risk the cleanliness of strained honey 

 as that of extracted; for at our house, nothing look- 

 ing like dead bees, brood, or filth, was ever allowed 

 in the sack from which the honey was strained, 

 while I have seen hundreds of disgusting-looking 

 larvae, together with the food given them, floating 

 on a vessel of honey where extracting was being 

 done from the brood-chamber of the hive. The kill- 

 ing of the bees to get the combs, the destroying of 

 the combs, the mixing of light and dark honey, and 

 the slight taste of pollen, was all I could ever see 

 which was objectionable to strained honey. But, to 

 return. 



After a few years the bees from the first colony 

 above referred to bad so increased that a division 

 was made, and the neighbor took away what be- 

 longed to him. I was now large enough so I could 

 watch the bees; and during the months of June and 

 July, whenever I was not at school, I was stationed 

 near the apiary from 10 o'clock till 3, to look for 

 swarms. 1 often got tired of being thus confined; 

 but as father thought that all should bear an cqua[ 

 share of the burden of supporting the family, I was 

 kept at my post instead of being allowed to roam 

 the streets and fields with other boys. About this 

 time, father concluded to try to get his surplus hon- 

 ey by placing large boxes holding from 15 to 20 lbs. 

 of honey on the hives. These were placed on top of 

 the hive, or at the side, as he thought best. On one 

 occasion he hived two swarms (which clustered to- 

 gether) in one hive, placing thereon one 20-lb. box 

 on top, and two 15-lb. boxes one at each 8ide. To 

 place them at the side, the hive was raised on half- 

 inch blocks, and a slot was cut in the bottom of the 

 boxes, Yi inch by 8 inches, and these slotted sides 

 placed next the hive. The result was, that he took 

 four 15-lb. boxes at the sides, and cut the 20-lb. box 



from the top, making 80 in all, 5£ of which was pro- 

 cured at the sides. After this he boxed most of his 

 hives at the side; and from his success with such 

 large side boxes, I took the idea of using the wide 

 frames, interchangeable from side to top, as I now 

 use them. 



About this time, one morning when father was 

 about leaving home on business, a small second 

 swarm came out; and as he was in a hurry, I per- 

 suaded him to let me have the swarm, bpon consider- 

 ation that I should hive i*-. Heretofore I had never 

 hived a swarm, and it took some little courage for 

 an 8-year-old boy to climb to the top of a tree to get 

 a swarm of bees for the first time; so I thought, at 

 least. Well, I hived them and watched them, going 

 every day to the hive to see them work; and when 

 fall arrived with cold nights, I used to tap on the 

 hive for the "good morning "answer, which was al- 

 ways sure to come. 1 went one morning, tapped on 

 the hive as usual, but no response, and the hive 

 sounded hollow and empty. I tipped it up and peer- 

 ed in, but no bees, and combs were there, as my eyes 

 usually beheld. Only the box remained, for some 

 person (I came near saying viUain) had taken the 

 hive to the woods the night before, and killed the 

 bees, and taken the honey, as the charred and comb- 

 less hive proved. Then my bee-keeping came to an 

 end for some time. That dread disease, foul brood, 

 got into the apiary, and in two years father had lost 

 all his bees by it. After a period of l-t years, I start- 

 ed in bee-keeping on the improved plan, and in my 

 next (April Juvenile) I will tell you about how I 

 began. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., March 1, 1884. 



Well done, old friend. It would seem 

 from the above, that side-storing boxes are 

 quite an old idea ; and If your father was 

 not the first inventor, he was at least one of 

 the first. It does seem to me as if a large 

 colony, on& that is disposed to cover the 

 whole outside of the hive in the height of 

 the season for instance, would do more work 

 with an opportunity to store at the side of 

 the brood, than it would if they were 

 obliged to work altogether in boxes placed 

 above. I suppose the size of the frame has 

 something to do with this, however, and that 

 a very shallow frame might give almost as 

 good results with the boxes all above, while 

 a tall frame, or even a square one like yours, 

 might require surplus room at the sides to 

 get the same advantage. 



EXTRACT FROITI AN OliU BEE-BOOK. 



HOW THEY TAKE HONEY FROM THE APIS DOHSATA. 



M LARGE swarm of bees had fixed their abode 

 jfm on the ceiling of a verandah, and when their 

 %&^ honey was deposited, we wished to collect it, 

 but were for some time at a loss for the means. 

 Hearing, however, that there was a gardener who 

 possessed a peculiar art of doing it unhurt, he was 

 sent for, and desired to bringdown the honey. I 

 watched him, and believe he used no other precau- 

 tion than the following: He took some of the plant 

 called toolscy, and rubbed it over his body, face, 

 arms, and hands; he then chewed a little, and held a 

 sprig of it in his mouth; and with no other than this 

 apparently slight defense he mounted a ladder, a 

 large dish in one hand, a sharp knife in the other; 

 and althougii very thinly clad, with thousands of 

 bees swarming around him, he with the greatest 

 coolness cut through the upper part of the comb 

 where it was suspended to ttie roof, receiving the 

 whole of it in the dish, and brought it down without 

 having received a single sling. 



This is copied from "Indian Reminiscences in the 

 Bengal Moof ussue," that same old book published 

 in 1838, in England. Rosey Smith, 



New Hamburg,.Ont., Can.. Feb., 1884. 



