734 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



his plans were for his wife and children. 

 He may have hoped she Avonld sneceed ; but, 

 little did he know of the bountiful croj) of 

 honey that ( Jod was going to send her after 

 he was gone. I believe I have before men- 

 tioned, that among his last words he advised 

 her to write to me for advice, and to do as I 

 said, whatever others might uige. She 

 wrote to me promptly-, and I advised her to 

 give the bees cakes of maple sugar in the 

 spring, when they needed feeding. I did 

 this because I thought it would be safe for a 

 beginner, and one inexperienced. She took 

 my advice, and fed them maple sugar with a 

 vengeance, and it was on account of this she 

 thinks she seciu-ed such a crop of honey that 

 some of the friends at the conventions talked 

 about disputing her statements. At the 

 close of one of her letters to me a while ago 

 she closes with these words: 



I feel you will pardon me, as I have no father, 

 husband, or brother to talk to, and at times I feel 

 alone, as far as human sjmpathy is concerned. But 

 my heavenly Father has been wonderfully good to 

 me; he blesses me both temporally and spiritually. 

 Mrs. Jknnie riii.p. 

 ^ "^ ^ 



BEE CULTURE IN NORTHERN DAKOTA. 



A L.\ MOURE MAN'S EXPERIENCE IN KEEPTNO I5EES 

 —PRACTICAL RESITT.TS. 



«S there has been some little inquiry in regard 

 to bee culture in Dakota, we copy the follow- 

 from the LaMoure Pmoreni^: 

 For the benefit of those who doubt that bee- 

 keeping can be made successful and profita- 

 ble in Northern Dakota, or that this Territory is 

 lacking in honey-producing plants, 1 write this, and 

 I think my experience proves that bees tan be kept 

 with pi'otit in this land of perpetual sunshine. 



In June, 18^'3, my father sent nie from Illinois a 

 five-framed nucleus (half a full colony) which I 

 transferred immediately to a common-frame hive. 

 It being very dry the fore part of the season, they 

 made barely a living until the 1st of August, when 

 they commenced to store honey at a lively rate, and 

 by the Ist of September had filled their hive and 

 given me a surplus of 10 lbs. This was done in a 

 common-frame hive, without e.\tracare. Thinking 

 they would not do much in so dry a season, I had 

 neglected them. If I had given them proper atten- 

 tion through August I should ha\e had at least .50 

 lbs. of nice honey. I left them on their summer 

 stands until the 14th of December. ()n the l:ith 

 they had a good fly, it being a nice warm day. How 

 is that for latitude ■46' 2 y Bees in Northern Illinois 

 are put in their winter quarters from the 1.5th of 

 November to the 1st of December. 



I put my bees in a cellar under an unfinished 

 house, there being no fire in the liouse during the 

 winter. The temperature was below the freezing- 

 point most of the time; but the bees came out all 

 right in the spring, strong and healthj'. 



They were put on their summer stand about the 

 12th of April, and soon after began gathering pol- 

 len. The crocus blooms here a few days after the 

 snow leaves, and furnishes large quantities of pol- 

 len. On the nth of .Tune the old colony threw off a 

 large swarm. Not having any trees or shrubs to 

 alight on they aiijihtcd on the grass and weeds, mak- 

 ing it very l]an<ly to hi\ e them. 



Intending to give them more attention this season, 

 and wishing to know what they would do with prop- 

 er care, I sent to my brother tor two chart hives and 

 sections for surplus honey. Tiie hi\es were delay- 

 ed, and I did not get the bees transferred until the 

 second week in July, the bees losing about two 

 weeks' work. The first of August they swarmed 

 the second time. Not wishing anymore swarms, I 

 put them back, and put sections on both hives for 

 surplus honey. On the 24th of Sept. I took from 

 them 101 lbs. of nice section honey, all first class, 

 leaving enough in the hives to winter on: and they 

 are now in splendid condition for winter. 



xVt present there is a lack of honey-producing 

 flowers in June and July, but I think that can be 

 remedied in future by planting small fruits, and 

 growing buckwheat. In some localities there is an 

 abundance of basswood, which of itself furnishes 

 honey enough. August is the best month for hon- 

 ey, when the goldenrod and wild sunflowers are in 

 bloom. 



From my two years' exi)erience I am convinced 

 that in a few years North Dakota will raise enough 

 honey for home consumption. Is.^ac Stalefer. 



LaMoure, Oct. 1, 1884. 



NOTES FROM A BRANCH OF THE 

 "BANNER APIARY." 



MOVINC HEES TO ( .\TCH THE FALL P.XSTIIKAOK, ETC. 



0N page .59;j, Sept. GiiEANiNGS, you request me 

 to give the result of moving my brothers' 

 bees up here to catch the honey-flow from 

 buckwheat and autumn wild flowers. Well, 

 the result was satisfactory to me, for I got 

 enough honey to pay me for my trouble, besides 

 the experience in handling bees. I had them here 

 from Aug. 4th to Oct. Htli, and got about 220 lbs. of 

 extracted honey from 18 colonies during that time 

 (2 colonies out of the 20 gay(> no surplus), and would 

 have got fr )m T.5 to lOJ lbs. more if I had had time 

 to extract it just as soon as the honey-How ceased, 

 because the queens then stopped laying; and as 

 fast as the brood hatched out, the bees carried a lot 

 of the honey down below to fill up the empty cells. 

 But, never mind; I shall know better next time. 



To sum it all up, if I had taken valuable time to 

 do the work, the honey has cost me nearly as much 

 as it would to buy it; but as it is, I did the work 

 when I had nothing else to do, and thus they kept 

 me out of mischief. 



THIEVES. 



My apiary was visited by thieves this summer at 

 two different times. The flrsf time by a regular 

 thief who intended to make a good haul, but the 

 bees made it too hot for him, and Ije was foi-ced to 

 leave after taking onlj- one frame of honey, and 

 that was mostly brood, so he did not get very much. 

 The next time it was visited by a party of boys who 

 were out on a " cooning" expedition. They stole 

 some of our watermelons, opened a hive, and took 

 what they supposed to be a frame of honey, but it 

 was nothing but an empty comb that I had extract- 

 ed the honey from the day before, so they did not 

 get very much either. 



A GOOD WAV TO PROTECT AN API-^RV FROM 

 THIEVES. 



I began to be alarmed, and thought I ought to do 

 something to protect them, so I borrowed a gun and 

 set it in a place where no one could go, slanting the 

 muzzle df)wnward, so the charge would go into the 

 ground after it went a few feet. Then I stretched a 

 strong cord clear around the apiary, outside of all 

 of the hives, and attached it to the trigger of the 

 gun, so any one approaching the apiary would trip 

 the cord, and fire oft' the gun, which would wake us 

 all up. The cord was held up about six inches from 

 the ground by means of small stakes, driven into 

 the ground about 15 feet apart. A small hole was 

 bored near the top of the stakes for the cord to 

 pass through. But they did not come the third 

 time. H. L. Hutchinson. 



May, Mich., ( )et. 14, 1884. 



Thanks, friend II. So you got over 12 lbs. 

 of honey to the colony, besides giving them 

 ample stores for winter use, and this all in 



