1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTITRE. 



25 



flow from the Illinois River, thereby rendering 

 it useless for agricultural purposes, and a large 

 per cent of the territoi'y a swampy waste, yet it 

 never fails in the fall of the year to yield up a 

 world of bloom, and hundreds of acivs become 

 as yellow as gold, chief among which is the 

 golden coreopsis: and it is here that 1 have 

 become conscious of the fact that tons and 

 probably hundreds of tons of honey of the very 

 best quality are "lost upon the desert air"' for 

 the want of enterprising bee-keepers who will 

 accept of the golden opportunity and place 

 their bees where they will gatlier and stoi'e the 

 precious nectar: and I will just state, that the 

 "golden coreopsis." or S|)anisli needle, stands 

 at the head of all the honey-producing plants 

 with which I have had any experience. It is 

 not only the richest in nectar, but the quality is 

 par excellence, and sells in my home market 

 equal to, if not better, than clover honey. Its 

 weight is fully 13 lbs. to the gallon, and it seems 

 to need little if any curing by the bees when 

 gathered. I have never yet seeii any crude or 

 unripe Spanish-needle honey, notwithstanding 

 I have extracted it from the same supers three 

 times in two weeks, and on one occasion twice 

 in Ave and six days. One colony netted 73 lbs. 

 in 5 days, and the apiary of 43 producing colo- 

 nies, in 8 day,sproduced 2033 lbs., being upward 

 of 47 lbs. per colony: and this is not true of that 

 particular year only, but it has proven the 

 surest honey-producing plant we have in this 

 locality. Nothing short of cold rainy weather 

 will spoil the harvest from this plant. But to 

 return. 



Having occasion to establish out-apiaries I 

 found it impossible to locate them so as to get 

 the benefit of both clover and coreopsis range, 

 and it was no pleasant feature in the trade to 

 see my home apiary outstrip the apiaries is- 

 olated from the reach of the coreopsis 2 lbs. to 

 one. if not more, when there wei'e thousands of 

 acres as yellow as gold, and tons of honey going 

 to waste. This seemed to me to be not in keep- 

 ing with a progressive age; and I reasoned 

 that, could I btit successf\illy move my bees at 

 the close of the clover harvest into the region 

 of the fall-blooming plants, I certainly would 

 add a new impetus to the business, and make 

 the trade more lucrative. 



I communicated my ideas to some of my bee- 

 keeping fi'iends, and received oold comfort in- 

 deed. "It is a practical impossibility.'" said 

 one bee-keeper of no light reputation: "and 

 you will be but too glad to give up the under- 

 taking, should your experience be any thing 

 like ours," he further added. Some three or 

 four years have elapsed since this conversation, 

 and 1 now stand ready to prove that the mov- 

 ing of bees at any time in the year is a practical 

 possibility. 



In vindication of the above I will state that I 

 have moved from 100 to 190 colonies fi'om one 

 to eleven miles, twice, and three tiiu(>s a year, 

 for the last three years, without the loss of one 

 single colony from the transit. Four years ago 

 1 lost 13 of my best colonies, which gave me a 

 pointer that led to my complete success. It is 

 indeed an evil wind that blows no man good, 

 you know: and should your many readers be 

 interested in this subject 1 may give you my 

 modtis operandi in a future letter. 



Soring. 111.. Dec. 24. .1. M. H.\mhaugh. 



[Friend H., we are exceedingly obliged to you 

 for the facts you give us above. I have thought 

 of it a good deal since our talk with you on the 

 cars wiien we wei'e at Keokuk. Your sugges- 

 tion just now comes like an oasis in the desert, 

 for it indicates that we need not go to Arizona, 

 nor California either, to find undevelop(^d fields 

 for the apiarist. Hy all means give us the fur- 

 ther particulars.] 



A NEW IDEA. 



GIVING BEEi^ A FLY IN A WIHE-CLOTII CAGE 

 IN THE WINTER TIME. 



Being an apiarian, a subscriber, and a corres- 

 pondent of the bee-journals, I would suggest 

 that, for the advancement and general progress 

 of bee culture, there ought to be a premiiuu 

 offered of small amount, say $.500 or flOOO, to 

 any one who would present a new idea upon 

 this subject. You see, I am of quite an inven- 

 tive turn, and want to be among the " premium - 

 seekers." However, I am very liberal, and 1 

 presume I want to "quack'' about as bad as 

 some others, and think that I have a new idea, 

 and .so for this time I will offer it and not charge 

 a cent. In order to hit upon a new idea, I have 

 always found that we have to look where no 

 other person has already been hunting the 

 ground over. That is the reason why that, 

 when the new idea is first presented, it usually 

 gets so ridiculed, and all the folks think that 

 somebody is going crazy. But as it will not do 

 to ask you to read an acre of introduction, I 

 will proceed to ofl'er the new idea, and see how 

 many "knowed it all the time." 



Much discussion has been had on wintering, 

 and there are very diversified opinions as to the 

 best way. I conclude (naturally) that my way 

 is the best, but as yet I have not seen it advo- 

 cated. Prepare a room, large enough for your 

 bees; make it very light, also very warm; have 

 it so you can keep it warm with a stove or 

 heater or furnace, as your convenience will best 

 pei'mit. My room is 30x24 feet, and is just above 

 my store, where it keeps quite warm during day 

 and night. When your room is ready you will 

 want my licit' Idea — to place at the front en- 

 trance of each hive (which will cost about 20 

 cents to the hive), which allows each colony a 

 space to fly in. of about 10 square feet. In this 

 you can feed them, give them water, and sit 

 near and enjoy them in their flight as long as 

 you pjease. I tell you. it is delightful. The 

 way to tell whether they are doing well is to 

 notice whether they are dying oft' faster than 

 those in the cellar. I have 74 colonies in all, 

 some in the cellar; in fact, almost all; but from 

 what I now see, I wish I had almost all in my 

 bee summer-i'oom. I have a cellar 30x40 feet, 

 expressly for my bees, as dry as a powder- house, 

 and probably not surpassed by any in the State: 

 but my summer-room, with the iiew idea, from 

 the present outlook, is decidedly the best, and I 

 feel quite certain that I will' adopt it in the 

 future, whether anybody else does or not. 



Y'ou will vei-y naturally ask whether it is 

 necessary to keep a fire all night. By no means; 

 for if it freezes in the I'oom ev(>ry night, as long 

 as you have a fire every day it will not hurt the 

 bees at all; neither will it hurt them if it freezes 

 in the cellar, if the cellar is dry; but if it is 

 damp, and it freezes much, you are going to 

 lose your bees. When your tsees begin to look 

 shiny with moistui-e, then look out. 



Nirvana, Mich., Dec. 23. F. D. Lacy. 



[It is just as you say, friend L. The thing 

 you describe is very old. While some colonies 

 have doubtless been .saved by giving them a fly 

 in the manner you describe. I beli(>ve that all 

 who have used it finally discarded it as being 

 more bother than the bees were worth; and as 

 a rule, the bees that are given a fly in this way 

 for any considerable length of time dwindle 

 down woi'se than those that are left in the cel- 

 lar, or outdoois without being meddled with at 

 all. I congi';;tulate you on your pleasant, genial 

 way of presenting the matter; and this, in fact, 

 was the principal I'eason why your coiumuni- 

 cation on a discard(>d idea found a place in oui- 

 columns.! 



