78 



GLEANIN(JS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Fkb. 



a proceeding' which, soon after the first of Aug'ust, 

 we were obliged to reverse as speedily as possible. 

 For though the drouth had now become severe, 

 thodg'b the heat was intense, and the air again 

 heavy with smoke, the honcy-fiow grew better as 

 August advanced, being very {rood about the mid- 

 dle of the month and lasting quite through it. At 

 first we could not account for this unusual pro- 

 longration of the season. But exploration of the 

 woods revealed the mystery. Where the fires had 

 run through late in May, the willow-herb was 

 found in bloom, more fresh and vigorous than it 

 had been in more open places a month earlier. Ev- 

 idently the shade had been some protection from 

 drouth. 



The post of duty in those days was not always the 

 bee-yard. Fires were constantly burning, through 

 August, and much of the time were close at hand. 

 One memorable day, as Mary, our girl, took in the 

 view of twenty-five men working fiercely in a cloud 

 of smoke, trying to beat out the flames which a 

 brisk breeze was sweeping across the meadow to- 

 ward the bee-yard and house, she exclaimed, "Oh I 

 shant I get water and pour over the bee-hives, and 

 try to save the bees, at least ? " 



I confess that just then I had lost all hopes of 

 saving any thing. The vain attempts we had 

 made to check the flames, before help came, had 

 left no strength for further efforts. That the men 

 were being steadily beaten back by the heat and 

 smoke was manifest. But, the next moment, two 

 men, with a powerful team and a plow, entered the 

 field on a run. The plow went into the ground- 

 one man held the handles, while the other guided 

 and urged on the horses— and a furrow was rapidly 

 swept round some distance in advance of the long 

 line of fire. 



We waited breathlessly, but with hope revived, to 

 see the men, beaten back to the furrow, make here 

 a final and successful stand. Several acres of 

 blackened meadow and several rods of burned 

 fence, was the slight reminder left us of what 

 might have been, but for the timelj' assistance of 

 the railroad men, a serious calamity. 



Richard had been called away on business that 

 forenoon, leaving Nellie and me to watch the fires, 

 from which, however, no immediate danger was 

 anticipated. }5ut the smell of burning stubble— for 

 the fire had crossed a wheat-fleld before entering 

 the meadow— reached us in the bee-yard a little too 

 late to enable us to succeed in our first vain at- 

 tempt to wipe out the flames with wet brooms. 



There was a short flow of fall honey, chiefly aster, 

 in September— previously to which we had had 

 rain. But a few pounds of this was stoi-ed in sec- 

 tions. 



The summing up— which I have been quite too 

 long in reaching— is this: From twenty-two colo- 

 nies (spring count) we obtained 3:i3iJ lbs. comb hon- 

 ey in sections, and 37.5 lbs. extracted. With re- 

 spect to the extracted, the bees have not received 

 due credit, sister says; for, when prepared for win- 

 ter, eight or ten colonics were left with combs un- 

 disturbed, and therefore in possession of more 

 honey than was needful or judicious. We increas- 

 ed from twenty-two colonies to forty. 



Jan. 3, 1888. Cyula Linswik. 



Thanks, friend Cyula, for your valuable 

 report. I am very glad indeed you took the 

 pains to find out where the honey came 

 irom ; and it seems from your report, that 



it would pay well to move bees to localities 

 where tires have passed over, as you mention. 

 If I am correctly informed, the willow-herb 

 seems closely allied to fireweed ; and tires, 

 as you describe, are just the thing to pre- 

 pare the ground for this weed to flourish, and 

 produce honey. You have, however, given us 

 avaluable hint in regard to savingour prop- 

 erty from fire under similar circumstances. 

 If I remember correctly, the honey from 

 willow-herb ranks fairly with clover and 

 basswood. I do not suppose tliat it would 

 pay any bee-keeper to try to raise it; but 

 where it comes up spontaneously, under 

 such circumstances as you mention, it would 

 surely pay to move bees into such localities. 

 I shall long remember the beautiful Michi- 

 gan forests ; and I remember, too. dear 

 friend , my visit to you years ago. If the 

 eight or ten colonies you mention are loaded 

 with honey to the extent of some that I saw 

 in your yard, no wonder you say they have 

 more honey than is needful or judicious. 



EVAPORATING NECTAB. 



atso something from friend dooi.ittle that 

 isn't nectar. 



fKIEND ROOT:— When I read your report of 

 thi' Chicago Convention, found on pages 908 

 and 909, regarding " Why bees can store hon- 

 ey faster when furnished with foundation 

 than when furnished with empty comb," I 

 said, "Another craze among bee-keepers." This 

 craze commenced a year or two ago by some one 

 saying that honey stored in unttnished sections, 

 left over from the year previous, was not nearly so 

 good as that stored in comb built the same year 

 from foundation. Almost immediately plenty of 

 bee-keepers are found, who, «</ai/i»( tJieirown licst 

 interestg, take up the cry and sound the alarm, that, 

 if we insist on using empty comb in our sections, 

 our honey-markets will be ruined by fuch poor 

 stulf being- put on them. Too bad wo hadn't found 

 this out before, and saved the markets of the past 

 from having this stuff put upon them by the multi- 

 tudes which have preceded us. However, as it 

 had not been found out, so none of the learned of 

 the past could sit in judgment upon it, it b.!came 

 necessary for that intelligent body of brave men, 

 assembled at Chicago last November, to grapple 

 with this gigantic question, and solve it. This 

 the.y did by telling us that the trouble was, that the 

 bees could not evaporate honey in deep cells, while 

 they could do it to perfection where foundation 

 was used, for in this latter case the bees could 

 cause the unripe honey to jut out of the shallow 

 cells, as it were, so the draft of warm air in the 

 hive could pass over it, and so carry off the moisture, 

 while in the deep cells this could not be done. No 

 sooner was this explained than "many large honey- 

 raisers " say, " We had better burn up our stock of 

 sections than to use those containing deep comb, 

 carried over from the previous season." To this, 

 "many" outside say amen, ''except for bait-sec- 

 tions," and others tell us how nicely the tieringuj) 

 pi-ocess accomplishes all that is necessary for good 

 well-ripened honey. See Bie-Kccpein' Review, page 

 8. But what did the poor unfortunate bees do, 

 pray tell, years ago, before all of this "scientific 

 pleasantry" was brought up before them to pat- 



