1884 



(ILEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



7-13 



15 I g'ot 300 section.^ ; from Aug-. !."> to St-pt. 15, -t-T) sec- 

 tions, making- 725 in all, l-pound sections, and an in- 

 crease of 11 swarms, making: me now IH j^-ood and 2 

 weak ones— SO in all. 8ome swarmed twice, but 1 

 put them back in the same hive; 5 of them swarmed 

 in Auo-iist. I put tliem back, and tlie.\- did well. 1 

 cut out all ((ueen-cells— no second swarminti- for me; 

 hi\es are full of honey for winter stores: 7 frames 

 tilled about to the bottoms. 



Do you think it would pay me to raise (lueens to 

 sell? I have but few black bees within 2 miles; my 

 best results and nicest honey were from hybrids. I 

 ha\-c one hive full of Holy-Lands so cross I had to 

 carry them over in the lots half a mile, to set rid of 

 iheni. They are ugly, and I got but little honey 

 from them. No more of them tor tiic. They want 

 to swarm all summer. 



My lioney crop was 'idO His. comb 1 oney; average, 

 fit! lbs. per hive. I sold ;t in two grades— capped and 

 partly capped - at 15 and 20 cts., to stores. 



I have just retnrned fi-om our f)anbury fair, in 

 Connecticut. Not one bit of lioney wi'.s tlieri'. T 

 wished 1 had my obserxatory hive there. 



Kalonah, N. V., Oct. 13, 1884. (!. A. .Mathkws. 



KEKl)IX(i l,->TK. 



How late will it do to feed bees in the fall, to pro- 

 I< ng- 1 iT.rd- rearing? 



Friend 11., yoii can feed any time in winter 

 ^vlien it is warm enono;!! for tiie hees to Hy. 

 Hut you sliould endeavor to get them to 

 empty tlie feeder, and liave it taken away so 

 tliey can V)e covered up again before tiie re- 

 currence of severe weather. Tliere are usual- 

 ly plenty of days in November when feeding 

 can be done, if you have every thing ready, 

 and get at it just as soon as the weather 

 moderates suflfii-iently. There is usually a 

 spell in December also. I woidd have the 

 feed quite warm for feeding at such times. 

 and put your quilts or cushions around it. 

 and it will keep warm until a good strong 

 colony will have time to put it all in the 

 combs. 



SI/.K OK VKNTir.ATOHS KOK A W I NTKU I N<i-H( )rSK. 



How big- a ventilator do I need at the bottom of 

 my l)ee-housc, it being- 10 x 10 square, with no joists 

 nor chamber tioor? I put on a cottage roof, and 

 lathed and plastered up the i-aftei-s to the peak. 



1 should say. at a rough guess, that your 

 ventilator should be one foot s(iuare through 

 the door, and the same through the ceiling ; 

 btit a better wav wotdd be to have a slide to 

 close it up when tlie weather is severe. If 

 the opening in the tlooi- is from a pipe laid 

 in tlie ground, on the plan of sub-earth ven- 

 tilation. (; inches stpiare -would do. and the 

 l)ipes should be of about the same capacity, 

 say for about 100 colonies. 



WHAT I'OI.NT OKTHK COMPASS SlIOl'l, I) HIVKS KACK? 



What is the best way for hives to face? The most 

 of them here face the east; but the way my aiilary is 

 located, it would be the most con\-cnicut for them to 

 face southwest. Please let me know at once, if 

 that won't do as well as any other wa.\. ' like to 

 lia\-e the bees so I can watch tlicm fi-oni the house, 

 and look at the front of the hi\c. li. K. Kick. 



Roscobel, Wis., Oct. 20, 1HS4. 



It does not matter i)ailicidarly which way 

 yom- liives face. The only olijection to liav- 

 ing them face all one way is, that the bees are 

 niuch moi-eai>t to gel ccMif used, and strike the 



wrong hive: therefore if you nnifit have them 

 face all one way. I would have them located 

 not less than l6 or 12 feet ai)art. 



IIEMKDV Kfli WOl'NDS MADE BY KUSTV NAlt.S. 



Ifachilil stei>on a rusty nail, soak the foot in a 

 lye — one pint of ashes to 2 quarts of warm 

 ivater, and all i)ain will disappear. I have used it ; 

 it will not smart. Mits. H. L. Osuohn. 



Stoughton, Wis., Oct. 1, 1SS4. 



Thank you. my friend. The ashes and 

 hot water operate in this case about the 

 same as the felon remedy I gave. Xow, it 

 will be interesting to prove l)y experiment, 

 Avhether or not hot water would not answer 

 alone as well, or nearly as well. Yevy likely, 

 however, the pungent nature of the alkali 

 would ;issist in reaching the seat of pain. 



MlEENS ACROSS THE OCEAN BVMAII,. 



I recei\ed from friend Benton, on the22d of this 

 month, an e.vtra-flne Italian queen. She was 17 days 

 in the mail; the cage was the same as you show in 

 Gi.EANiNtts, Sept. 1, only one-half the size. There 

 were 20 dead bees and 11 live ones with her. The 

 Good candy was abo\it two-thirds consumed; no 

 water. She is from the pro\ince of Emilia, Italy. 

 I have introduced her to a strong- colony, and she 

 is laying-. One more for friend Benton I Long may 

 he live, a benefactor to the bee-keeping- public. 



L. P. Rir,T,iXfis. 



Kloomington, 111.. Sept. 2U, 18iH4. 



A (;OOI) WOHI) K()l{ THE H01,V-I, AN US. 



I have one tine colony of Holy-Land bees from the 

 fine queen I got of you, and they are nicei-, finer 

 bees, and work earlier and later, than any of the 

 others, and are gentler than the others. I would 

 not take #25.00 fen- them now. Others seeing them 

 want them in 1885. I think when men and women 

 keep bees it is best to keep the best, as they get 

 more honey, and the moth will not bother them as 

 they do the black ones, as one-half the amount ol' 

 those bees keep the hive free, where the moths gel 

 away with the common bees. D. H. Harkek. 



Woodword, Dallas Co., Iowa, Sept. 17, 1884. 



PREMIUMS ON HONEY, ETC. 



I put some extracted honey in the nest of pails, 

 and they received a in-emium; and some nice white- 

 clover sections, well filled in the bexes, which were 

 (luite a novelty to most at the fair; but the com- 

 mittee passed the bo.xes by and gave me the j)reini- 

 um on a crate of UtJ I'-i-pouiid sections. The fair 

 was a success. I received llrst pieminm on fdn., 

 made on the Vandervort mill. 



My bees have given me some increase and about 

 80 lbs., comb hoiu-y I>er colony rroni the colonies 

 that I worked for comb. C. .1. Ci.auk. 



Bowling (Ireen, Ohio, Oct. Ki, 1884. 



srcAii ANU honey Koit ki;ki)in(;. 



I am transferring a number of stocks from old 

 hives to new, and as I put in but a frame or two of 

 brood, and feed up the old lioney to till up on sheets 

 of fdn., I write to know if I can mix sugar or syrup, 

 about half with the extracted honey, to feed up fui- 

 winter. Wm. M. Vocnc. 



Nevada, O.. Aug. 14, 1884. 



The mixture vou si)eak of will do nicely, of 

 course, friend V. The oidv objection I know 

 of is that the hoiiev might be more apl to 



