1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



74!) 



however, that it is not, when " you luive got 

 one/' 



gUEENS BY MXllj IN COOT. WE.VTHUR — A TIMEI-Y 

 SUGOKSTIOX. 



I would say to all persons who receive queens 

 through the mail in cool weather, to be careful to 

 warm up the queen and bees when they are re- 

 ceived in a numb state, as they are often numbed 

 in the mail, even before yoii receive them during 

 cool weather. They are not dead every time that 

 you think they are, from being numbed in the mail- 

 bags, as parties will find out if they will warm them 

 up by holding them where the heat from the tire 

 will fall lightly among them— not too much at a 

 time. It is well to follow this plan early in the 

 spring and late in the fall, always when (|ueen and 

 bees appear to be dpad. I have thawed up several 

 queens and introduced in cool weather after they 

 looked to be dead. A. L. Swinson. 



Goldsboro, N. C, Oct. 25, 188-1. 



Tliank you, friend S. Sinc3 you speak of 

 it, I do not know but it wouht be well to 

 have something like the above y^rinted on a 

 slip, to go with all queens sent after, say, 

 September aud October. We have abun- 

 dantly proved that the chilling does them no 

 liarni, and an inexperienced person would be 

 very apt to call them dead wlien they are 

 only benumbel vvlt'i c )11. 



HOW TO GET AI,L, THE HONEY OUT OF THE COMBJi. 



I can tell how to extract all the honey out of the 

 combs. The way I do it in the fall of the year, T 

 take out what will come out. then let the combs 

 stand one week, and extract again. It will come 

 out then. The air makes the honey thin in the 

 combs. I have a cellar under my e.xtracting-room. 

 I leave the door open so I get the damp air from the 

 cellar. The damp air will make it thin (juickly. 



FUO.M 103 TO 118, .\ND .3000 LBS. OF HONEY. 



I had 102 hives in spring; I have now 118 hives; 

 got honey enough to winter on, and 1000 lbs. comb 

 honey; extracted honey, 2000 lbs.— 3000 in all; good 

 for such a poor season. They Avorked on buck- 

 wheat better than I ever knew them to before. 



Amity, N. Y., Oct. 8, 1881. J. W. Utteu. 



No doubt, friend U., you get pretty much 

 all the honey out in the way you suggest ; 

 but I for one do not believe I should want 

 the damp air of the cellar, nor, in fact, damp- 

 ness from anywhere, mixed with the honey 

 I expected to eat or furnish to anybody else. 

 Thin honey always comes out easy; but, 

 dear friend, it is this same thin honey thrown 

 on to the market that has in many localities 

 ruined the sale of extracted honey. 



A GOOD HEPORT FRO.M THE C.A.KNIOLAN BEES. 



Five years ago I imported two very fine queens of 

 the above race. I found them to be all that Mr. 

 Benton now claims for them. The (lueons were 

 very large, prolific, and the workers the most gentle 

 of any race wc have. Thej- are fine honey -gather- 

 ers, and a splendid race of bees generally, with the 

 exception of one thing— they are the most inveter- 

 ate swarmers I ever saw. They will swarm as often 

 when no honey is being gathered, as when the flow 

 is at its height. A description of these bees can be 

 found in "TheBee-Kef,>perjs Handy Hook." page 144, 

 under the head of "Hungarian Beas." I fear this 



race of bees Avill not be adopted generally, on ac- 

 count of their color. Most bee-keepers have an idea 

 that the bees are similar to the Italians in color. 

 They are not. They are a whitish or grayish color, 

 and, when old, resemble the common black bees 

 very much. Henry Alley. 



Wenham, Mass. 



TAKING COLONIES THAT ARE TO BE BRIMSTONED, 

 AND FEEDING THEM UP IN THE FALL. 



I commenced the season with 3 weak swarms, and 

 increased to 16 by starting nuclei and giving them 

 queens. I had 170 empty combs to give them, and 

 have 140 for next year's increase; got about 500 lbs. 

 of honey. I got 13 swarms from my neighbors, who 

 brimstone their bees. I take the bees, and give 

 them the honey. I doubled up the weak ones down 

 to 8, transferred all the brood and empty oomb, and 

 gave them $6.00 worth of sugar, and filled up the 

 hives with combs from the others, giving them one 

 comb each, full of honey in addition, and 1 think 

 they are in better condition for wintering than all 

 the others, as the feeding kept them breeding later 

 than the others, and I am inclined to think that it is 

 the late breeding in those th^xt are fed that makes 

 some people think that sugar is better than honey 

 for wintering. John Murray. 



AVoodman, Wis., Oct. 11, 1884. 



I think you are right, friend M., in think- 

 ing that colonies fed up on sugar winter bet- 

 ter than those on natural stores, providing 

 it be done early enough, and the colony be 

 strong enough to "■ master '' the feed and get 

 every thing in good shape for winter. What 

 1 mean by •' mastering" feed is to be able to 

 cover it so as to ripen and senl it up thor- 

 oughly. If you overload a weak colony with 

 sugar syrup, or even honey, they will put it 

 all around on the outside of the cluster, any- 

 where to get it out of the way, then it is lia- 

 ble to become damp and moldy, and some- 

 times a little rancid, or something of that 

 sort. In such a case the bees get damp, and 

 dysentery often sets in, because there is too 

 much cold thin syrup, and too few bees to 

 warm it up. AVith a hive boiling over with 

 bees they would dry it all out and evaporate 

 and senl it up ; or if the same (juantity had 

 been given to a weak colony at intervals 

 during warm weather they would probablv 

 get in good shape and winter all riglit. If 

 any of you have colonies witli lots of un- 

 sealed syrup, and but few bees, the remedy 

 is to double them up — giving them tlie best 

 combs from the two. 



]imE^ JiJiD QOE^IEg. 



GETTING BEES TO .START WITH, FROM BEE-TREES. 



770% EES did finely last spring, but have suflfered 

 Kjr much from the drought during the last 3 

 FJl months. The woods were full of bee-trees 

 ^^ this spring, and they were very rich; but the 

 bees nearly all died which were saved out of 

 those bee-trees. Herman Fuchs. 



Tiger Mills, Te.\-., Sept. :.7, 1884. 

 [Friend F., the bees from bee-trees are just as 

 good as any, if they are put into hives in time so 

 that they can get properly fixed for winter. Where 

 the woods are full of bco-trees there eertainlj- njupt 

 be a good locality for lioney.) 



