1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



677 



all your honey above instead of at the sides? I put 

 these questions, because I wish soon to order raoi-e 

 hives of you; and if thei-eare no good reasons for 

 the contrary, I shall order them all made for seven 

 frames instead of ten. It will cost more, but the 

 difference will be a trifle, compared with the satis- 

 faction of having in a hive just what one wants or 

 wishes. Beginner. 



Tuscaloosa, Ala., Sept. 25, 188t. 



rrieiul B.,a hive made to hold 7 frames 

 would answer very well mider many circum- 

 stances ; in fact, 8-franie hives are consider- 

 ably in use in some sections, friend lleddon 

 using them. T believe, almost exclusively. 

 Now, if anybody expected to have a second 

 story ready" for eacli hive at all times, these 

 narrow hives would do very well ; but many 

 times a single story is made to hold a pretty 

 good-sized colony of bees, and also to afford 

 room for surpliis. If it were made wide 

 enough to hold only 7 frames, it could not be 

 used thus. Again, where we undertake^ to 

 winter a colony in Simi)li('ity liives, as many 

 do, we should "have no means of jHilting in 

 chail-cushiou divisiou-boai-ds ;is we now do 

 with Id-frame hives. Last, and most impor- 

 tant of all, these hives will not match with 

 the gieat bulk of hives already in use. Hives 

 are now manufactured all over the world by 

 the huiulreds of thousands that exactly fit 

 the standard Simplicity hive, and it would 

 be a rather sad mistake to start with another 

 that would not match with those already in 

 use. 



BUCKW^HEAT HONEY AND EED-CLO- 



VER HONEY, AND THE BEES THAT 



GATHER IT. 



JEES (JATHER HONEY 

 CLOVER? 



EltOM REIJ 



TfT. NUMBEIl of times I have thought to give my 

 gi^ e.xperience with the Italian bee, in regard to 



j^r their gathering honey from red clover, but 

 ■^^ have not done so, from the fact that the edit- 

 or of Gleanings and the bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity might think I was trying to palm off a free 

 advertisement; and in no case would I do so now, if 

 there were not so many bee-keepers who doubt that 

 there is a strain of bees that will work upon red clo- 

 ver. 



To convince you that this article is not written to 

 advertise my bees and queens, I will make the state- 

 ment that I can hardly supply my home call for 

 queens. I was up with my orders, and had a lew 

 queens ahead, and, thinking that I would not dis- 

 pose of them in time to give room for a lot of cells 

 that were nearly ready to hatch, I inserted a little 

 advertisement in Gleanings, and the results are 

 that I have since received orders for 100 queens; 

 and as I am breeding upon only a small scale I do 

 not want to do any more advertising, as I can make> 

 more money in producing honey, which I have 

 made a special business for the last 8 years, or ever 

 since 1 commenced the business. 



In our vicinity the farmers raise a great deal of 

 red clover for hay and for seed, and this is not all; 

 it is considered to take the least strength from the 

 land of any crop known, as the immense roots which 

 it sends down into the soil, when decayed, make the 

 best of fertilizers, and will bring to life and revive 

 up old and worn-out lauds, thus making it desira- 



ble to the farmer to raise rod clover for more than 

 one or two purposes. 



I will show any doubting bee-keeper, if he will 

 take the trouble to visit me in August, hiA^es full of 

 honey gathered frojn red clover, and sections too; 

 also the bees as thick upon red clover as ever was 

 seen upon basswood or any other bloom. 



At this date, Aug. S), the most of my bees have 

 gathered nothing of any account but red-clover 

 honey, altliough there are thousands of acres of 

 buckwheat in full bloom, and within easy access to 

 my bees. The fed-clover bees have not touched the 

 buckwheat, nor brought in an ounce of dark honey. 

 That all Italians will not work upon red clover, I am 

 aware; for I hare them, and as pure ones as money 

 can obtain ; and to-day, alongside of my red-clover 

 bees, and in the same apiary, are storing dai-k hon- 

 ey from buckwheat. This I can show to any one 

 who will visit me. 



Not long ago I visited a prominent bee-keeper 

 who had purchased a choice Italian queen of a 

 noted queen-breeder, which cost him a flve-dollar 

 bill. She was as fine a queen as I ever saw, and had 

 beautiful gentle workers, but they were storing 

 nothing but buckwheat honey, while by its side sat 

 a colony of well-marked and beautiful Italians, 

 whose hive was running over with white honey 

 gathered from red clover. Hundreds of acres of 

 buckwheat and red clover were in bloom in the vi- 

 cinity, and no other bloom of any kind could be seen. 

 Now, why this was, I do not know. 



I have never examined the difference in the length 

 of the bees' tongue, so I can not say why it is that 

 some bees will have a preference for red clover, 

 when other blooin is in abundance, where the nec- 

 tar could be much easier obtained. I have never 

 yet had a pound of honey gathered from red clover 

 by black bees. I have this season 90 colonies of 

 blacks, located in a vicinity whei-e red clover 

 abounds, and they have been in a starving condition 

 until buckwheat bloomed; while my Italians have 

 gathered and stored red-clover honey in sections 

 through July, the blacks, equally strong, had to be 

 fed to keep them from starving. That there are 

 Italian bees that will store honey largely from red 

 clover while others of the same race will not, and 

 that black bees will starve while Italians are stor- 

 ing a surplus, is a fact, for I hav<^een them in the 

 same yard, and under my personal supervision. 



Galhn)vil!e, N. Y. F. Boomhower. 



STARTING AN APIARY. NO. 2. 



SUGGESTIONS TO THOSE G01N(i INTO THE BUSI- 

 NESS. 



f^ HE science ol' bee-keeping (for science it is, or, 

 ^y at least, it is only by the application of the 

 < sciences that it can be made a success), is 

 "■" not a matter that can be learned by rote, or 

 that can be taught specifically. It is com- 

 posed of little things, which, while they seem in- 

 significant in themselves, when massed together are 

 found to form a harmonious structure which would 

 be incomplete, were any one of thcnn left out or 

 neglected. It is not enough lo learn 1 he habits and 

 customs of the bees. A person may be a thorough 

 entomologist, and yet prove unsuccesslul as an api- 

 arist. One must have a knowledge of floricultiU'e 

 as well, and be able to api)ly that knowledge to the 

 locality in which he is situated. It is well for the 



