24 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



BOXESET HONEY FOR WINTERING. 



Will bees winter all right on boneset honey, well 

 ripened and sealed over? C. E. Hardesty. 



Connotton. O., Oct. 29, 188T. 



[Friend H., I believe the general decision has 

 been that any of the honey gathered from fall blos- 

 soms answers all right, if ripened and sealed over. 

 Some reports have, in certain seasons, seemed to 

 indicate that fall honey is not equal to basswood 

 and clover; but at other times many reports seem- 

 ed to indicate no difference. If the honey seems 

 good and ripe to the taste, I should not have any 

 anxiety in regard to it.] 



Bees have done but little this year, owing to ex- 

 tremes of weather— wet, cold, dry, and hot. Last 

 fall we had 80 colonies. During winter and spring 

 we lost 3.5. From the remaining 4.5 we have taken 

 about 200 lbs. of honey. mostl.\' extracted. We had 

 six swarms only, all in the month or August. 



J. M. Harris. 



Cedartown, Polk Co., Ga., Oct. 23, 1887. 



l^EPe^Tg ENC0^^^6IN6. 



FROM 9 TO 20, AND 1390 LBS. OF HONEY. 



T COMMENCED in the spring with six colonies. I 

 |mP bought three more in May, and transferred 

 ^i from box hives, making 9 in all. I have taken 

 •*■ 1040 1-lb. sections and 2.50 lbs. of extracted. I 

 have increased my stock by natural swarms 

 (except 2 nuclei which I united and built up to a 

 good strong colony) to 20, all of which have plenty 

 to winter on. I had five swarms come out in Sep- 

 tember from the 5th to the 10th. I fed them a little. 

 We got no surplus in July or August; but about the 

 3d of September they commenced again with a rush, 

 and continued until the 1st of November. On the 

 5th of November we took off all surplus arrange- 

 ments and fixed them up for winter. They still get 

 a little honey, but very little from aster. I extract- 

 ed all unfinished sections, and put them away for 

 spring. Besides the honey taken, we sold 40 lbs. of 

 beeswax. 



PUTTING BEES ON A RAFT DURING AN OVERFLOW. 



I have been thinking of moving my bees to the 

 east side of the Mississippi River. I have a good 

 place for bees where T am, only we are overflowed 

 with water every spring from 2 to 4 feet deep. You 

 may wonder what we do with the bees during the 

 high water. Well, as I have had only a few I have 

 made a raft of large logs and kept them on it dur- 

 ing high water, and let them float, keeping it sta- 

 tionary; but if I had 100 or more it would be quite a 

 job, I fear. R. J. Mathews. 



Riverton, Miss., Nov. 14, 1887. 



Friend M., it seems a little singular to 

 get a report like the above, for the past year 

 of drought. Ver>- likely the abundance of 

 water you speak "of had something to do 

 with the good yield of honey. 



Bees did very well this year. I got 1000 lbs. of 

 honey, and loft plenty for winter. G. A. Dunbar. 

 DSalt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 22, 1887. 



GROCERS BEGGING FOR HONEY. 



I delivered a case of honey (46 lbs.) to a grocer in 

 Springfield, at 18 cts. per lb. the other day. It is 

 the first time I have obtained that price since 1882. 

 I have been keeping most of my crop for the ac- 

 commodation of my home customers, and I told 

 this grocer that I would rather not sell to him at all 



under the circumstances; but Springfield is almost 

 barren of honey, and he begged hard for it, though 

 not without a struggle to bring me lower. 



Geo. F. RoBBiNS. 

 Mechanicsburg, 111., Nov. 13, 1887. 



Wh} , friend R., wliy didn't \ou charge 20 

 cts. tor your honey? You will see by our 

 market reports that it is worth 18 cts. at 

 wholesale, almost everywhere. 



MY FIRST REPORT OF BEES. 



Last spring I had eleven colonies, some of them 

 strong in bees, and some rather weak. I increased 

 to 20 by natural swarming. I took 70 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted and 30 lbs. in 1-lb. sections. I Italianized 

 what hybrids I had, and did it successfully. 



William Pickett. 



Deming, Hamilton County, Indiana. 



FROM 25 TO 54, AND 1125 LBS. OF HONEY. 



My report for the season of 1887 is as follows: 

 Colonies, spring count, 25. Colonies, fall count, 54. 

 Comb honey, 250 lbs. Extracted honej\ 875 lbs. 

 Total, 1125 lbs. I have enjoyed my bees much the 

 past season; but now that I have changed my busi- 

 ness and moved to the city. I shall have to sell my 

 pets— at least the most of them, as I can not attend 

 to more than one or two hives; but I value Glean- 

 ings, and consider me a lifetime subscriber. 



Fort Smith, Ark. W. H. Laws, 25, 54. 



an AVERAGE OF 85 LBS. PER COLONY. 



Our honey season is at an end. My report is, 

 spring count, 16 colonies, 12 of which were strong. 

 I increased by natural swarming to 24. I averaged 

 per colony, spring count, 85 1-lb. sections. While 

 this is not a very large report, it is quite good con- 

 sidering the care given them. I use Simplicity 

 hiv^es, 10 frames, with 7 wide frames in the upper 

 story. I neither reverse nor contract. When the 

 lower story is full I place an upper story on, hav- 

 ing 56 sections, and look at them once a week. 

 When full I remove and put on empty ones again. 

 My time is so occupied that I give very little atten- 

 tion to the bees. 



THE FIRST HONEY OF THE SOUTH; WHERE SHALL 

 IT COME FROM? 



I think my apiary is located the furthest south of 

 any apiary in the U. S. that is run for comb honey 

 olone. My latitude is about 27'4°, and I get no sur- 

 plus honey for market before April 23d, and then 

 from gallberry. S. C. Coravin. 



Sarasota, Fla.. Dec. 14, 1887. 



Well, friend C, I am a little bit surprised 

 at this ; but is it not possible that somebody 

 further north than you are gets honey before 

 you doV I think we have had, in our back 

 numbers, reports of honey in March, from 

 somewhere in the South ; and I can remem- 

 ber several seasons when bees gathered hon- 

 ey from soft maples in March in our locality. 

 Of course, this would not be enough to be 

 called surplus. Suppose, when you get your 

 first honey from your hives, either comb or 

 extracted, you let us know about it, and we 

 will give you an advertisement of it free of 

 charge. If anybody gets in ahead of you, 

 of course he will have the same privilege. 



18 TO 30, AND 300 LBS. OF HONEY. 



I commenced the season with 18 stands, increased 

 to 30. I sold 4 and doubled back to 24, and got 

 about 300 lbs. o( comb honey, and my beee are in 



