1884 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULTURE. 



S9S 



dark, nor very unpleasant to the taste, and 

 we hope it is not going to be bad for winter- 

 ing. 



I confess that tlie above little incident was 

 full of interest to me, inasmuch as it illus- 

 trated many points in the economy of the 

 little workers. One thing brought out was, 

 that a good healthy bee in the prime of life 

 can fly a mile through a i)retty heavy rain- 

 storm, and be good for business again in an 

 hour afterward. The weather was very 

 warm, however— so warm that any bee beat- 

 en to the groimd would recover and be ready 

 to go home as soon as he dried off. 



NOTES FROM A BRANCH OF THE 

 "BANNER APIARY." 



KEEPING BEES WITHOUT INVESTING ANV MONEY 

 IN THEM. 



fERHAPS you will remember that I was in 

 Blasted Hopes last spring, with onlj^ one col- 

 ony left out of six, which has died also, since 

 then, of spring dwindling, and left me with- 

 out a bee. I did not feel lilte buying- more; 

 and if T had it would have been a hard matter to 

 find them to buy; for everybody in this locality lost 

 all, or nearly all, of their bees last winter. I just 

 took good care of my hives and empty combs, and 

 waited for a good chance to get some more bees, 

 which came sooner than I expected, for I now have 

 30 colonies under my care that belong to my broth- 

 ers who livt) at Rogersville, Genesee Co., and this is 

 how I came to get them : 



There are but few if any autumn honey-bearing 

 plants in their locality, and consequently their fall 

 honey-harvest does not amount to much, while there 

 are acres upon acres of boneset, goldenrod, and as- 

 ters within bee-range of here, with but a few colonies 

 to work on it. And I, thinking it was too bad to let so 

 much honey go to waste with their bees lying idle, 

 made arrangements with my brothers to bring some 

 of their bees up here to keep during the honey-flow 

 from buckwheat and autumn wild flowers. They 

 furnished the bees, hives, and nearly all of the up- 

 per stories and empty combs. I went after them 

 with the horses and wagon, and am to take care of 

 them while they are here, and take them back when 

 the honey-flow ceases, for half of the honey they 

 gather. 



MOVING BEES ON HAY. 



My spring wagon is not large enough to hold 2J 

 hives, so I took a lumber wagon with a hay-rack on 

 and put on about one-fourth of a load of hay, and 

 then set the bees on top of the load of hay, putting a 

 rope clear around the outside of all of the hives, so 

 that one could not slip off unless they all did. They 

 rode home, a distance of 35 miles, over some pretty 

 rough roads too, without breaking a comb or injur- 

 ing them in any way, shape, or manner. I think 

 they rode nicer and easier on the hay than they 

 would on the hard board bottom of a wagon-box 

 with springs under it. 



WATER FOR BEE.S. 



I notice that bees need water just as much as our 

 domestic animals do. The next day after I got the 

 bees home, just as soon as I let them out they began 

 to search for water. They ran down the sides of the 

 watering-trough to drink, in between the leaves of 

 our cabbage plants, and everywhere where they 

 could tlnd water. Well, they bothered so much by 



being around the trough that I borrowed mother's 

 washboard and a two-quart Mason fruit-can, and 

 fixed them a place to drink, and they do not bother 

 much now. 



1 have fastened some bright pictures near the en- 

 trance of every other hive to enable the bees to rec- 

 ognize their own hive quicker; and as 1 watch the 

 heavy-laden bees tumble home, I think that bee- 

 keeping is a good business when one does not have 

 to invest any money in it. 



Howard L. Hutchinson. 



May, Mich., Aug. 18, 1884. 



Friend II., your plan may do very well 

 under the circinnstances; bui I think "it will 

 pay you better in the end to own the bees 

 than to take tlieni even that way. We shall 

 be very glad indeed to hear the result of 

 moving bees to catch thefall pasturage; and, 

 by the way. have any of the friends tried 

 niovinjx to catcli tlie liasswood flowV If they 

 have, we have not heard their report yet. It 

 is a little singular, that all the bees died in 

 your vicinity, when they wintered so well 

 generally last winter. l)id they die when 

 properly put u]) in chaff liivesV 



BEE CULTURE IN CUBA. 



FRIEND OSBURN TELI^S US SOMETHING ABOUT IT. 



RIEND ROOT:— I have just returned from a 

 a\ trip to my old home in New York. After an 



J^ absence of 17 years, it is hardly necessary to 

 ^^ tell you that the scenes of my youth were 

 greatly changed. But of this I will say no 

 more, for 'lis hardly in place in a bee journal, but 

 to tell you that now the active work of building up 

 for the winter honey-flow is quite in order. A long 

 time, you will say; but, to make haste slow is the 

 ruling watchwoi-d to success in apiculture; take 

 time by the forelock, and build the structure solid 

 and firm. 



We have now passed the summer of our discontent; 

 the copious rains have brought a plenty of flowers, 

 and the hum of millions of little wings testifies to 

 the gladness that prevails, and takes possession of 

 all animated life. Although we are in Cuba, the 

 summer months are too hot and dry for honey to 

 flow to any large extent, therefore our summers 

 are to us what the winters are to the Northern bee- 

 keepers, a season of anxious watching and anxiety; 

 eternal vigilance must never loose her hold, or the 

 devastation by robbing, and the despoiling teeth of 

 the moth worm will wreak desolation in many a well- 

 regulated household before you are aware of it. 

 Straime, you will say, that robbing should take place, 

 and that the moth should play havoc with a modern 

 apiary of Italian bees. But, hold your judgment, 

 Bro. Root; 1 trust j'ou have never kept bees in Cuba, 

 or in a climate where, with an apiary of many 

 hundred colonies, when one or two colonies make 

 up their minds to go on a pillaging expedition, hun- 

 dreds of colonies join in the excitement, and, with 

 the impetuosity and courage that the Cuban bee is 

 so famous for, they are at such times not easy to 

 manage. The tropical bee is as unlike those of the 

 North, as a stream of molasses is as unlike a*jet of 

 water at the nozzle of a steam fire-engine. But the 

 Cuban bee is as ambitious in gathering honey, 

 when there is honey to gather, as they are deter- 

 mined to rob their neighbors, when said neighbors 



