GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



:^EP0]^¥g DigceuR^eipe. 



WHAT ADVICE SHALT. "VVE GIVE FRIEND CHESLEY.-' 



K. ROOT:— I should like a little udvice from 

 you, if you will be kind enough to write me 

 as to what you think I had better do. I am 

 at a loss to know, myself. Last spring- I 

 had 18 swarms of bees; bought 15 more, 

 at .Iw.Ofl per swarm, and gave a mortgage on the 

 whole, to secure payment on the 15 swarms which 

 I bought, and to gi't money with which to buy 

 hives, boxes, etc. I am now owing- nearly fSJO lor 

 bees, hives, and sections. I have now 4!) swarms, 

 and about 200 lbs. of honey, with but little prospect 

 of making- much more, for 1 find that the basswood, 

 that which we depend on here for surplus honey, is 

 a failure, unless they are to blossom a good deal 

 later than common. Now, what can I do to get out 

 of this perplexing- trouble, and pay for my bees, or, 

 rather, have the bees pay for themselves? Can T 

 feed granulated sugar, and make honey from that, 

 or can I divide and All what hives I have (some 3J), 

 and sell them (the bees) off this fall? Will thej' make 

 good honey, and cap it all rig-ht, from sugar? 



jEltOME ClIESf.EV. 



East Randolph, Vt., July 15, 18f4. 



Eriend C, from wliat I know of your lo- 

 cality, I should say the prospect ^\ as rather 

 slim for getting any more siuplus honey this 

 season. If you woiild bring your bees lo the 

 vicinity of 'some forest where hre-weed or 

 some other fall pasturage abtiunds, it might 

 fetch you out, but this Avould be a good deal 

 of expense, and might get you further in 

 debt than you •die now. Two hundied 

 pounds of honey from 4.) colonies is not a 

 very big yield, itis true. The season must 

 have been very pooi- witii \on.oi- e'se you 

 liave not managed to tiie best adxantage. If 

 your colonies were good in the spring, you 

 have not increased very much. But if I 

 Avere in debt as you are,! should endeavor 

 to stop increase entirely. In my opinion, 

 you did a bad thing by running in debt for 

 bees as you have doiie. I do not believe 

 very much in begiiniers buying bees, any 

 way. It may do ^■ery well for an okl iiand, 

 that is, one vvho has niade money out of bees, 

 to purchase colonies ; but even then, as a 

 rule he could build them up cheaper than he 

 c(mld buy them.— You can not feed granu- 

 lated sugar and make //one//, Mrs. Cotton to 

 the contrary notwithstanding. You can by 

 this means get beautifid-looking honey, but 

 it will be sugar syrup, and will stamp you as 

 a swindler, if you go into llie husiiiess — I 

 Avould by no means tliink of diviiiing at this 

 season of the year, unless it were a few colo- 

 nies at a tiiiH'. sa\ one or tw.>. in order to 

 raise cpicens to sell. If lliere is a nr.irket for 

 queens around home, you might do some- 

 thing diu-ing the fall " in that way ; but if 

 your time is valuable, yon would not be like- 

 ly to pay expenses the hrst season.— Now, 

 perhaps the advice I shall give you will not 

 be to your liking at all all, but it would be 

 this: Get your 49 colonies in the best winter- 

 ing trim you know ; and after having done 

 this, go to work at something else until an- 

 other season. If you have not work at home, 

 hire out by the day, and eain money enough 

 to lift that mortgage. Of course, you are to 



keep a careful watch on the bees ; and 

 should they be gathering honey so as to al- 

 low yf»u to exti'act or put on surplus boxes, 

 by ail means do it. You can tell when hon- 

 ey is conung in, by having one of your light- 

 est hives on a suitable pair of scales, or by 

 examining partly filled or empty combs put 

 at the outside of hives not yet tilled.— liass- 

 wood-bloom has been a failure this season, 

 on account of the severe drought. When 

 red clover comes in bloom we may do some- 

 thing, but we do not as a rule get very much 

 surplus after tlie first of August. 



SOME ITEMS OF EXPERIENCE FROM 

 FRIEND J. W^. PORTER. 



CONTUor,MNG THE SWAHjMING IMIHTfiSE, ETC. 



TTIDITOR GLEANINGS:-Mr. Doolittles article 

 i^^j onpag-e443 is a valuable one. As to uniting bees 

 t^' r with the expectation of letting them swarm 

 -*^ in so short a time afterward, I should al- 

 most doubt its advisability. We do want 

 strong colonies for box honey; and to get them at 

 the right time, so that we shall not have to repeat 

 Mr. Doolittle's expensive bit of experience in hav- 

 ing to feed 1510 lbs. of sugar to support life till the 

 honey-flow begins, will be masterly policy. But as 

 seasons varj% we must take some chances. For in- 

 stance, 1 was hardly early enough this season to get 

 the advantage of the wealth of locust-bloom, which 

 was something wondei-f ul here this season. 



Now, I have been dreading the swarming impulse 

 as destructive to success with box honey, and I have 

 succeeded pretty wellln keeping it down. In 1883, 

 starting with 70 colonies, I had only about 5 natural 

 swarms. As a consequence I was able to get as 

 high as 200 lbs. of honey in sections from many 

 of my hives. 



B/ expanding to 10 frames till time to put on 

 honey-racks, and then forcing them right up by 

 contracting to 8 frames of solid brood, and when 

 well in one rack of sections half built out, putting 

 under another, and then a third in the same way, I 

 was able to find room and employment for the most 

 powerful stock I could get. When swarming did 

 occur I would at once remove 4 to 6 of the best 

 sheets of brood, with all the bees, to the new stand, 

 and enough empty combs to make eight in all, and 

 put in all the racks with the bees in them in it, and 

 hive the swarm in it, and it has seemed to affect 

 very little the production, for they go to work 

 with vim. 



In no case in three years of management have I 

 Imd a second swarm, or had one thus hived swarm 

 again; but, one of the conditions is to see that they 

 have room, even if uncapped sections are removed 

 to another hive. I llnd that, contrary to the teach- 

 ings of the old masters, that bees do sometimes 

 swarm when they have plenty of room. 



Swarming can be in a large measure controlled by 

 watchfulness in providing room, and by depleting 

 by taking out sheets of brood till boxes are put on, 

 and then, in case of swarming, I would recommend 

 the above plan. This season I have given it a larger 

 test, for fully one-third of my 75 colonies have cast 

 natural swarms, and it has enabled me to rear some 

 beautiful queens under the best possible conditions, 

 and, at the same time, push box-honey production. 

 By leaving all queen-cells in the old hive, and then 

 uslngthem in the nursery when mature, we have it. 



