1884 



GLEANINGS IN 13EE OULTUllK 



44.') 



apple-bloom ; but sometimes the corner, or, 

 may be, half of the section, will be filled out 

 with honey-dew. The latter can be cut out 

 and then used for feediii<?. Friend White 

 says he lias succeeded in getting l)paiitifid 

 combs of foundation liiiilt out while work- 

 ing on this, and he proitoses to save his two 

 tons of honey-dew, and get his bees to work 

 out combs from it by feeding it during a 

 dearth of the houey-fldw. 



A RATIONAL REMEDY FOR EXCES- 

 SIVE SWARMING. 



tIEND DUPUY GIVP:R US THE KEY TO THE WHOLE 

 TROUBLE. 



SEE in Gi.E.VNiNGS, friend M. L., Bayou Heron, 

 La., is having too much swarming: with his 

 bees. Now, friend M. L., have you not found 

 in all your colonics a queen that would not 

 show any sign of swarming-, and give the best 

 yield of honey? That is the queen you must try to 

 breed from. Your trouble has been mine for seven 

 years, and I thought of the above, and now- (this 

 year) out of 93 colonies I had but three swarms. 



V. P. Dupuv. 

 Plaquemine, La., June 11, 18?4. 



FriendD., you have got hold or the matter 

 in a true and scientific way. We have many 

 times of late been forced to the conviction 

 that this excessive swarmhig is a sort of 

 mania that seems to get hold of certain api- 

 aries. Now just call it an inherited mania. 

 and we have an explanation of the wliole 

 thing. Such a mania will build up an 

 apiary veiy rapidly, but tlie ai)iary might l)e 

 of little i)iotit, and the natural tendency isto 

 develoj) tliis ntania wliere natural swarming 

 is allowed, for it would, as a matter of course, 

 soon fill the apiary with colonies wliich were 

 the result of thisexcessivc swaiining. The 

 remedy is .just wliat you indicate in llie few 

 lines you have wi-jtten to ns. Wlien we lake 

 into consideration tliat many generations of 

 queens may be reared in a single season, we 

 see how quickly any sucli trait might be en- 

 couraged or bred oiit. Since t think of it, I 

 wonder the idea has never occurred to me 

 before. 



MISSISSIPPI TAKING THE LEAD. 



FRIEND BL.\NTON GIVES US SOME FIGURES IN RE- 

 GARD TO THE SEASON OF 1883. 



fEKEWITH I send you the reports of Mess)s. 

 Victor Johnson, Davis & Uainus, K. H. Ad- 

 ams, H. A. Harriman, and Charles Kincade, 

 of Chicot County, Ark., Mrs. M. A. Hynes, of 

 Omega, La., and S. C. Vaught and myself, of 

 Washington County, Miss., for the year IPS!. Sick- 

 ness, and pi-essin-e of business, prevented my send- 

 ing it sooner. 



Judge Harriinan's report extended only to Sei)t. 

 n, and Mr. Kincade's to Sept. 1, leaving them moi-e 

 than a months honey-tlow to be accounted for. 



Mi-s. M. A. Hynes is a lady of HO, and a novice, 

 188.3 being her first season at apiculture. 



You will i)erceive that Mr. Adams' report stands 

 boldly ahead of all others; tint knowing him person- 

 ally, and having access to his account of sales, I can 

 vouch for his report. Even those figures, I belie\ e, 

 can be exceeded. His location is a splendid one. 



and his strict attention to his apiary, and the r:se of 

 the extractor whenever required, accounts^ for his 

 success. He left sullicicnt honey in his hives to 

 bring them safely throiijih the winter. 



This may be called the l.riglit side of bee-keeping; 

 but in this rich alluvial country these results can l.e 

 realized almost every season by hnii} worh and skill- 

 ful management of the apiary. 



Table showing the wonderful yield of honey dur- 

 ing 188;>, on the alluvial bottoms of the Mississippi 

 River. 



This year (1884) opened very unfavorably, with a 

 wet cold spring; and even this month, to within a 

 few days, we have had a very heavy rainfall. The 

 bees are now garnering the nectar with great ener- 

 gy, especially from the white clover. 



O. M. Blanton. 



Greenville, Miss., June 17, 1884. 



Why. friend B.. this is indeed wonderful. 

 If yoii kee]) on tliis way we shall have people 

 moving into your locality worse than tiiey 

 went to California some years ago, and later 

 to Florida. Four liundred and twelve jjounds 

 per colony on an average, from :ni apiary of 

 28 colonie"s. is,l tliink, beyond any tiling ever 

 recorded heretofore. Similar results, or even 

 greater, have been made fiom a chosen few, 

 but this is indeed astonishing; and besides 

 the great yield, we notice friend Adams al- 

 most trellled his original number in the 

 spring. Shall we conclude that yt)ur people 

 have <i wonderl id amount of ( iieigy. or that 

 your localilv is ;ui unusual one for liouev ? 

 or is it partiy both V When I take thai tiip 

 to New Orleans, I shall itromise myself the 

 rare treat of giving \ou a call, and I should 

 like to go at a time when some of you were 

 getting those iinmeiise yields of honey. I 

 suppose, by your concluding remarks, tiiat 

 we may e.xpect to lind you "'at it, "" even as 

 lateasinto October. \Ve Inive already had 

 sanii»lesof your honey from friend Muth.and 

 can certify "to tlie goodness of it. 



