1888 



gLeanings in ^ee culture. 



171 



some year and enjoy yoiu'selves in seeing- them 

 g-athcr a small portion of what is yearly lost in this 

 State. S. T. Freehohn. 



Tthiica, Wis., Jan. -M, 1S8S. 



Well, old friend, you have given us just 

 exactly the tacts we were after— especially 

 the point where yon made 158 colonies in 

 one locality do just as well, or better, than 

 if yon had scattered them about in two or 

 three localities. I liave long suspected that 

 there was a very great difference in locali- 

 ties as well as in seasons. Your suggestion, 

 that we take care of the honey already go- 

 ing to waste, instead of waiting for years to 

 get Its a good honey-farm to order, is a good 

 one. How much wonld that t540 acres of 

 basswood, already planted, cost, pray tell V 

 And do you have any idea that tlie bass- 

 wood covers the ()40 acres any thing like as 

 evenly as they are scattered over my ten- 

 acre basswood orchard ? You speak about 

 taking a trip to see my model square mile. 

 Well, I would gladly take a trip to see a 

 square mile of nature's own getting-up; 

 but I think you wonld want more than IBU 

 colonies to gather profitably the nectar. 1 

 think, as you say, that it would very likely 

 take 600 during a good year for basswood. 

 Will the friends of Gleanings please tell 

 us if they know of a square mile of bass- 

 wood anywhere — or, at least, where there is 

 a square mile where the prevailing timber is 

 basswood ? I think I would go further to 

 see it than to see market-gardens and green- 

 houses. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS, 



JAPANESE BL'CKWHEAT, TIERING SEPARATORS 

 P'.TC. 



SOWED 4 oz. of Japanese buckwheat in drills, 

 and think, if nothing had happened to it, I 

 should have had a bushel; but just as soon as 

 the kernels began to get about in the milk, the 

 birds began to work on it, and they lived on it 

 until it was harvested, and the mice destroyed a 

 lot; but after all I got about a peck. It was a pret- 

 ty sight when it was growing. Some was over five 

 feet tall. It filled better than any other buckwheat 

 I ever saw. The bees worked on it the same as on 

 ailverhull. In my opinion it is a fine thing, and far 

 ahead of the common kinds. 



I should like to ln(|uire how those who tier up the 

 section-cases two or three high use the hive-cover 

 made to cover only one case. I know some use 

 cases the same size as the hive, and no outer cover, 

 except on top, which is, of course, the cheaper 

 hive; but I don't like that way quite as well. 



SEPARATORS OR NOT. 



I don't like separators, and don't think I should 

 ever use any; but when cases are first put on in 

 spi'ing, the bees are not apt to All a large case, and 

 so will not build straight combs; but when a new 

 swarm is hived, and crowded into the sections, it is 

 altogether different. What sei)arators I have used 

 have been of wood, and the bees gum them to the 

 sections so much is the principal reason why I dis- 

 like them. Perhaps tin would be better. I think 

 two cases, large enough to cover the L. hive, would 



be better than one, and then one could be put on 

 at first with twelve or fourteen sections; and, when 

 the bees needed it, another, and so one would be 

 finished first and taken off, and an empty one put 

 in its place. I think this way would work well, and 

 the bees not be obliged to occupy so much i-oom at 

 once at the first of the season. 



I got but little honey last season, as it was so very 

 wet. I never knew so poor a honey season before. 

 1 increased from 17 to 33, then doubled back to '21, 

 to save feeding so many. ('. E. Watts. 



Kumney, N. H., Jan. 31, 1888. 



Friend W., I suppose you refer to our 

 regular live-inch half-story cover. There is 

 no trouble at all in tiering up, providing 

 you use a Simplicity body. You can then 

 tier up three high, which will be as many 

 cases as you will probably want on a hive 

 at one time. Of course, when there is only 

 one section-case in the upper story there is 

 a great deal of space left, and the ripening 

 process of the honey can not go on as rapid- 

 ly. If, however, a T-super cover be drop- 

 ped right down on top of the section-case 

 the dithcnlty will be remedied. When you 

 desire to add another super, lift off the 

 Simplicity body, raise the first super, and 

 place tiie second uuder it. Toward the lat- 

 ter portion of your letter, you suggest put- 

 ting on only one ease at a time, and nrge, 

 as a reason, that the bees will not be oblig- 

 ed to fill more space than they need at 

 once. If your colonies are as stroug as they 

 should be at the beginning of the honey- 

 flow, and the bees have entered the sections 

 in earnest, 1 think you will lose some honey 

 in not practicing tiering up according to 

 the method I have given above. Of course, 

 you must exercise judgment as to whether 

 "a colony needs another super. When honey 

 is coming in slowly, or toward the end of 

 the honey-tlow, it will be a mistake to give 

 the bees "auother super. 



WYRICK'S EXTEMPOIilZED HONEY-KNIFE. 



Below I give you an idea of a very useful article 

 that any handy man with a few tools can make. 



Take a section from a Buckeye mower, or any oth- 

 er mower that has large cutter-sections, or knives; 

 get a section that has been ground to a i>oint. 



^-Punch two holes, thus, and rivet 

 a haiadle on thus, with the bevel, or 

 ground side of section, on the under 

 side, like the Bingham & Hethering- 

 ton uncapping-knife. It is handy to 

 lay on your uncapping-table, and 

 will uncap honey faster than you 

 might think. I used it last summer 

 and I like it. So far as T know, the 

 idea is original with me. 

 Cascade, Iowa. M. Wyrick. 



Although I may be mistaken, I think that 

 somebody else suggested making a knife out 

 of a section of a mower cutter-bar. It is, in 

 fact, Bingham's knife on a small scale. 



GLUED FOUR-PIECE SECTIONS. 



Iflnd in Gleanings for Jan. 1, question No. ~7, 

 that, of those who answer the question, most of 

 them favor the V-groove one-piece, and you say, in 

 your foot-notes, that you sell three times as many 

 of the V-groove as you do of the four-piece. Now, I 

 was wondering if those favoring the one-piece sec- 



