90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



queens, our plan is to mark the date of her 

 birth at the time of clipping, which is done 

 only in the spring of each year, usually in May, 

 on the front of the hive, in small figui-es; thus, 

 •' 89" would indicate that the queen in the hive 

 thus marked is clipped, and that she was raised 

 in 1889. Next year, when time to clip comes 

 around, and I find a clipped queen in a hive, I 

 simply make a dash under the old" mark. This 

 shows that the queen has been found, and al- 

 ways shows how old she is. If a queen with 

 undipped wings is found, this shows she was 

 raised after the spring clipping was done the 

 year befoi'e. and therefore must be of last sum- 

 mer's raising. The old date is rubbed out. and 

 the new one substituted, leaving off the 18, as 

 that is always understood. When the clipped 

 queen comes out with a swarm, the date is 

 rubbed off the old hive and put on the hive in 

 which the queen is put. The fact that the date 

 is erased from a hive shows it has swarmed. 

 If one wishes to know which the swarms are, 

 some othiu' mark is necessary. I have used 

 this queen-record for years, and lind it better 

 than any other I have tried or seen in use. 



As to keeping a record of each hive as to 

 times of extracting. I have never found it prac- 

 tical, preferi'ing rather to go ovei- the hives 

 with supers on. and removing some frames from 

 those which are full, and substituting empty 

 frames from those not full, putting the full ones 

 in their places, thus getting all or nearly all 

 ready to extiact at once, which means economy 

 of time and labor, and usually the honey is 

 none the worse for the longer time on the hive. 

 I speak from an extracted-honey producer's 

 standpoint, for I have never done much with 

 comb honey, twenty colonies in one season be- 

 ing the most I;have ever run for comb. 



Ithaca. Wis., Dec. 1.3. C. A. Hatch. 



[Friend H., I like'the idea of bricks, for sev- 

 eral reasons. They are clean-looking, are not 

 affected by the weather, uniform in size and 

 shai)e. and stay securely where you ])lace them. 

 SdUK'tlung a little lighter, say half of an ordi- 

 nary brick, would perhaps do as well; but as 

 we have not got it, perhaps we had better use 

 the brick. I have always felt that stones, from 

 their awkward, ungainly shape, give the apia- 

 ry a disorderly appearance; then when you 

 lift off the cover they'are almost sure to roll off. 

 Thanks for your suggestion.] 



EXPERIENCE IN CARP CULTURE. 



ONE OF OUlt BEE-FKIENDS TELI.S OF HIS StX'- 

 CESS. 



Friend Root: — When you first began to pub- 

 lish notes on carp culture I at once became in- 

 terested, having a line site for a small pond. I 

 had long contemplated building a pond for rais- 

 ing some common fish, cat or perch; but now I 

 turned to the carp. I built a pond by making a 

 dam across the valley, and another at the upper 

 end 100 ft. distant, thus turning the brook, 

 which is kept running by a spring, around the 

 pond; but a second and smaller one is pouring 

 into the pond, just strong enough to keep it full, 

 or nearly so. When full of water it was 3K feet 

 deep; but I soon learned that this was not suf- 

 ficiently deep. In November. 188(1. I introduced 

 10 carp, 18 months old. Shortly after this a 

 severe winter set in. and I cut the ice to save 

 the fish from suffocation: but I learned after- 

 ward that this was not necessary. 



The spring of 1887 opened, and I kept a close 

 watch upon my breeders, as I was anxious to 

 have them lay; but I determined not to feed 

 them, and that they should shift for themselves. 



just as I would have treated common fish. I 

 would notice the fish only on rare occasions; 

 but I found out that they were all alive later in 

 the summer, as some boys while in bathing 

 kicked up so much dirt that all came to the sur- 

 face, and appeared to gasp for breath. liiit no 

 sight of eggs or young fish could be found. Not 

 draining the pond, I can not tell absolutely 

 whether any fish were hatched in 1887, but I be- 

 lieve not. 



The winter of 1887 was very severe, and I kept 

 cutting th(; ice as before; but the pond began to 

 leak. Fortunately the leak was stopped; and 

 when the spring opened, the pond was fnll of 

 water. 



This time I decided to feed them, and coax 

 them to lay. I accordingly fed about 3 qts. of 

 corn at one time. I would di'op it down in a 

 certain place, and every day I rolled up my 

 sleeves and felt down to the mess, and it would 

 disappear in tu'o or three days; but I could 

 never see the carp play about the feeding-place: 

 but when it was all gone I w ould replenish it. 

 Thus I fed them for nearly four weeks, when I 

 saw them spawn. May 11, 1888, and in a few days 

 the ])ond was just thick with eggs. I had 

 tlirown some willow branches into the water, 

 and these wvrt' all covered with eggs. I then 

 discontinued leeding tliem. and have not fed 

 any thing since. I began to think that these 

 eggs might not be fertilized, and failed to hatch, 

 so 1 broke off' some of the branches with the 

 eggs adhering, about enough to make a button- 

 hole bouquet, and placi'd them in a fiat-shaped 

 gallon jar filled with water, and set them out in 

 the garden. In two days I found them all 

 hatched. I counted about 40 fish: but they were 

 so small, and had so much of a water color, that 

 it was difficult to see them. 



I left them in the jai'. and in a few days they 

 were all dead; but I had the satisfaction of 

 knowing that the eggs in tln^ pond weie nearly 

 all hatched, and no doubt the whole water was 

 full of little fish. The cattle and hogs had ac- 

 cess to the pond, and the latter would wallow in 

 it to their hearts' content. I felt satisfied, for I 

 wanted to test the carp in this way. The cows 

 would stand in the water, and I was obliged to 

 fence them off. as the water gave them soi-e legs. 

 In August we began to notice young fish. I had 

 tlie boys catch a few with hooks, and they were 

 from five to six inches in length. 



Late in October, 1888, we made an attempt *o 

 seine out some fish: but the seine was not long 

 enough, and we happened to land a few oj the 

 spring hatch, (i to 7 inches in length, and some 

 of those I introduced in 1887. These fisli (intro- 

 duced in 1887). in the month of August, were 

 stunted by their pond drying out. There were 

 about 30 carp 5 inches in length, from the pre- 

 vious year's hatch. We also caught 5 of the 

 larger ones, which we prepared for the table, 

 and we thought them very palatable. Also a 

 few very small perch were found. The winter 

 of 1888 was very mild, and 1 watched for more 

 eggs in May, but I did not lind one. During 

 these three years the pond had filled up with 

 sediment so that but 18 inches of water re- 

 mained, and I concluded that it was unsafe to 

 let them winter in so shallow a water. I con- 

 tracted with a neighbor to take all the carp that 

 we might find. Dec. 4. 1889, we seined the pond, 

 and landed, to our sui'prise, 180 young carp, of 

 the 1888 hatch, measuring 10 to 1~ inches in 

 length, being very uniform in size. Also o of 

 the old breeders, introduced in 188(1, were caught. 

 ;.'::.' inches in length, and weighing from 4 to 5 

 lbs.; and :*4 of those introduced in 1887, weigh- 

 ing from l'._. to 3 lbs., and measuring from 14 to 

 r.'o inches, and a solitary one of the 1889 hatch, 

 about 3 inches in length, thus showing that 

 some eggs were laid and hatched. Six perch. 



