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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Jan. 1. 



0a^ QaEg3Fi6N-B6^, 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



Question 175. 1. Atthc rlosr afthc irJiitc-hoii- 

 cy harvest, /.s It better to tuluuiff (tU srrtions <ni<l 

 secure (iny later KiirplusJ)]i cxirdctiiKj. or innihl 

 you use sections throughout f 2. What surplus 

 do you /loi'e after clover and ha^sivood. and 

 ivhat proportion does it bear to the white honey ■' 



We -have no fall or dark honey hf re of late 

 years. 

 New York. C. (t. M. Dooi-itti.e. 



2. Our best croj) is clover. We can not give 

 any figures on the relative proportion of both 

 crops. 



Illinois. N. W. Dadant & Sox. 



1. I would take the si^ctions iill off at the end 

 of the white-honey ci'()|). :.'. We have no sur- 

 plus after the bass\\ood. 



Wisconsin. 8. W. E. France. 



1. I should act as my market suggested was 

 wisest. 2. (ioldenrod, asters, etc. Of ten we get 

 as much or moi'e than we got earlier. 



Michigan. C. A. J. Cook. 



This is a good question to ask. but a hard one 

 to answer. With us it would probably be as 

 well to take them off, as only a small propor- 

 tion of our surplus is dark. 



New York. C. P. H. Er-wooi). 



I would use sections to the end of the season. 

 In this locality, when we have plenty of rain, 

 white clover from the seed blooms almost to the 

 close of the season. 



Illinois. N. W. C. Mks. L. Harrison. 



I have had very little expe.ri(!nce witli late 

 surplus honey; but with the experience I have 

 had, I should be in favor of exti-acting it and 

 feeding it back in the spring. 



Ohio. N. W. H. R. Boardman. 



1. I think it best to use sections through the 

 season. 2. Helianthus, or wild sunflower, gold- 

 enrod, tireweed, and occasionally buckwheat. 

 Usually more than half of my surplus is from 

 these sources. 



Ohio. N. W. E. E. Hasty. 



1. My practice is to remove all sections at the 

 close of the white-honey flow; though in some 

 localities, where dark honey is plentiful, I pre- 

 sume it is advisable to secure some of it in sec- 

 tions. 2. None worthy of mention. 



Vermont. N. W. A. E. Manum. 



1. Having every thing ready for it, I prefer to 

 keep on with the sections, and then the brood- 

 uest is always in good shape. An extracting- 

 super might be better. 2. Not very much of 

 any thing, except some years cucumbers and 

 occasionally buckwheat. 



Illinois. N. C. C. Mii-ler. 



1. I can sell dark extracted honey to better 

 advantage than dark comb. 2. Sweet clover, 

 bonesets (several varieties), asters, goldenrod — 

 sometimes moi'e than ten to one over white 

 honey, always more. T have had as many as 70 

 lbs. of sweet-clover lioney per colony, and as 

 white as white clover. 



Ohio. N. W. A. B. Mason. 



All comb honey produced for mercantile \>uv- 

 poses should be wiiite, and all dark honey sho\ild 

 he extracted. Tlie latter can always be sold, 

 but not so with dark comb honey, which often 

 can not he disposed of at any price, and is of no 

 other value tinin strained honey. In the south- 

 ern part of Ohio there is hardly ever more fall 

 honey raised than is necessary for winter stores. 



Ohio. S. W. ' C. F. MrTH. 



1. 1 would not advise raising comb and ex- 

 tracted honey from the same colonies— not in a 

 locality like my own. It is a question of econ- 

 omy of labor. 2. After clover and basswood we 

 have pleurisy-root, buekwlieat, goldeni-od. and 

 boneset. any and all of which may and usually 

 do give us a surjilus croj). and usually we exjx'ct 

 to get from one-half to two-thirds the amount 

 of honey from these plants that we do from 

 clover and buckwheat. 



Michigan. S. W. James Heddon. 



Here there is usually a fall yield from hearts- 

 eas(\ lasting until fi'ost kills the plants. <»r cold 

 W(>ath(M' keeps the bees in the hives. This is 

 sometimes moic almndant than tlie early honey 

 harvest. The uest yield I (iver knew came in 

 the fall. I prefer to "taper off" by giving ex- 

 tracting combs to as many colonies as possible, 

 so as to reduce the number of unfinished sec- 

 tions to the minimum. 



Illinois. N. C. .1. A. Green. 



1. This is a (iu<'Stion for the comb-honey man 

 to answei-; but it occurs to me, that, if rigged 

 up for comb honey. I should prefer to run the 

 entire season in that line rather than be at the 

 expense and bother of providing myself with 

 the two outfits. 2. Fall flowers, and occasion- 

 ally mint and buckwheat: probably the propor- 

 tion would be one-fourth as much as compared 

 with white honey. 



Wisconsin. S. W. S. I. Freeborn. 



I always take oft' sections of white honey be- 

 fore the advent of dark honey, for a very thin 

 border of dark honey in a section spoils the 

 whole for sale as a No. 1 grade. If my fall yield 

 was usually large I would run for comb honey 

 until the close of the season. In my locality I 

 have a trace of buckwheat, but in a favorable 

 season I have a bountiful yield of " bug-juice" 

 for a sei'ies of years. Probably fall honey is five 

 per cent of tiie whole yield. 



New York. E. Rambler. 



[As I expected, most of the friends say. " Let 

 the bees finish up what surplus they are going 

 to give, in the sections." Friend Heddon sug- 

 gests, however, that it is a question of economy 

 in labor; and Rambler breaks over our rules, 

 and speaks of " bug-juice,'" when it was agreed, 

 as I had supposed, that no one was ever to use 

 the disagreeable words any more. But when 

 the brethren were talking about taking their 

 chances of having their white honey spoiled by 

 a streak of dark all around the outside, I began 

 to wonder whether a good many of them had 

 not forgotten the dark, disagreeable honey-dew 

 that ijestered us so, only five or six yeai'S ago. 

 For my part, whenevei' I find this dark, cheap, 

 molasses-looking stutt' dotting the combs all 

 through the hives, I would pull off the sections 

 of white honey as fast as possible, even if some 

 of them were not more than half filled. Friend 

 Muth hits it exactly when he says that dark 

 comb hon(>y oftentimes can not be disposed of 

 at any price. We have got a good lot on our 

 hands now; and if there is anybody who wants 

 to make us an offer he can have it very cheap.] 



