426 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



June 



queenless with weak colonies, and clip the queens' 

 wing-8. When all are in safe condition, haul to 

 your summer locations. An occasional examina- 

 tion from now on till white clover opens, brings 

 you to swarming time and the honey season; and 

 surely up to this time little enough work has been 

 demanded. Probably double the number might 

 have been attended to. Am I not right, Mr. 

 France? Well, then, if we agree this far, let us see 

 where we differ. You run for extracted honey 

 while I run for comb honey, with every appliance 

 for quick work during the season when most need- 

 ed. 



1 will not attempt to rehearse my manner of se- 

 curing comb honey, as I have sufficiently described 

 it on page 28.5. The whole work consists of supply- 

 ing each colony, as fast as needed, with sections 

 prepared ready for use in the winter, controlling 

 second swarms, and eventually removing the honey 

 when the season has closed, usually with me the 

 latter part of July. Three men will have ample 

 time to give attention to any other matter requir- 

 ing it in the apiary. 



The honey in the body of the hive is left for the 

 bees to winter on; and with the hive 1 use, my 

 bees are necessarily left with sufficient good, well- 

 ripened honey to carry them through to the next 

 spring, and, if otherwise in proper condition, re- 

 quire no further care till that time, except cellar- 

 ing. After the sui-plus has been removed, each 

 hive is carefully examined, poor queens attended 

 to, and every necessary step taken to get them all 

 in proper condition for winter. A little later, each 

 colony is weighed; and If any are found too light, 

 combs are exchanged for heavier ones. Prepara- 

 tion is thus made a simple and easy matter. The 

 conditions are far different when you run for ex- 

 tracted honey: you are continually in danger of 

 extracting too closely, and your bees are always 

 subject to more or less unfavorable conditions. For 

 instance, you will frequently find, after removing 

 all your surplus combs, that the body of the hive 

 has been almost depleted of honey, and an over- 

 lilus of bee-bread will be found in its place, and 

 you will be obliged either to feed a great deal, or 

 make a radical exchange of combs. Again, either I 

 am entirely mistaken or it is a fact that bees, when 

 run for comb honey, are less liable to dysentery, 

 and winter better, on an average, than those run 

 for extracted honey. 



This is the reason why Mr. France and I differ in 

 our answers: He reasons from the standpoint of 

 extracted and I from the standpoint of comb-honey 

 production. I am quite well satisfied that he is 

 right in his views that three men could not proper- 

 ly manage 1000 colonies where run for extracted 

 honey; but I am equally satisfied that they could if 

 run for comb honey. As to which eventually pays 

 the better, when each qnd every incident to each 

 plan is carefully considered, must be left to the 

 judgment of the individual, determined in a great 

 measure by his location and frequently by his mar- 

 ket. Geo. Grimm. 

 Jett'erson, Wis. 



Friend G., it looks possible, as you put it 

 on paper ; but I for one feel sure I should 

 find myself, at least part of the time, 

 cramped for more help. In my experience 

 there are always unexpected things turning 

 up. The weather, and other things that are 

 almost beyond human power to foresee, up- 



set plans and ciilculations so frequently that 

 I have always found it easiest and most 

 profitable to have an extra man, even if he 

 can be profitably employed only part of the 

 time. Another thing, when it comes to tak- 

 ing charge of 1000 colonies most men would 

 find that the responsibilities and brainwork 

 would be more than they could shoulder. 

 My experience is just about like yours in 

 contrasting comb honey with extracted; but 

 1 have generally tried to persuade myself 

 that, if the extractor be properly used, it 

 need not interfere with winter stores any 

 more than the production of comb honey 

 does. I should like to inquire if there 

 are among our readers any who liave ever 

 managed 1000 colonies, witli only two assist- 

 ants ; or has anybody managed successfully 

 between 300 and 400 colonies, doing all the 

 work himself — that is, where the bees are 

 managed at. an expense of not more than 300 

 days' work for the year? I presume it 

 would be fair, of course, to hire help during 

 the busy season, and then offset it by work 

 done somewhere else at seasons of the year 

 when bees do not need attention. In other 

 words, how many days' work are required, 

 per annum, for each 100 colonies a man 

 keeps ? 



^ I ^ 



HOARHOUND AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



GOOD NEWS FROM THE VERY CENTER OF THE 

 HOARHOUND DISTRICT. 



FRIEND ROOT:— Every time I see an account 

 of the big prices of hoarhound hcmey (such 

 as is mentioned in Gleanings of May 1), 1 

 feel anxious to get hold of some ardent 

 would-be purchaser. Let me say. in the first 

 place, that Santa Rosa is not in Southern California, 

 as any one can see by the map; next, that 1 am ac- 

 quainted, by name at least, with almost every 

 prominent bee-man in the State, but 1 do not know 

 Mr. Hoge or his apiary. But this I do know: that 1 

 can deliver almost any reasonable quantity of hoar- 

 hound honey at Hueneme or San Buenaventura for 

 five cents a pound. Quite a number of years ago a 

 sick man planted a little hoarhound for medicine 

 (tea) in a little canon in this (Ventura) county. 

 Wind, water, and animals, especially sheep, have 

 spread the seed over the country until now my 

 bees have access to over 100 acres of hoarhound, 

 miles away from the parent plants. It grows all 

 the year, and produces honey all the year, though, 

 of course, very much more in April, May, June, 

 and July, than in other months. For quantity of 

 honey and sureness of crop we have no other plant 

 that is equal to it. For quality— the less said the 

 better. It is strong; it is dark; it granulates quick- 

 ly; it is bitter; and— though I raise tons of it I buy 

 my honey from the sage districts where hoarhound 

 has not yet obtained much of a foothold. I do not 

 doubt its healthfulness or its medicinal virtues; 

 but T can never sell my honey for flrst-class, on ac- 

 count of it. Probably three fourths of my first and 

 last extractings come from the hoarhound— the 

 rest is mainly sage and wild alfalfa. Let me now 

 caution those who may desire to plant it. How it 

 may behave in another climate, I can not say; but 

 here I have known it to be pulled and cut and 

 plowed, and dug at for years, in a garden, and still 

 it comes up. Left to itself, it covers the ground 



