18U1 



GLEANINGS IN 15EE CULTURE. 



231 



QrESTION 175 l!ECOXSIDEREI>. 



Friend Root: -Your respondents to question 

 175 do not take into consideration cool falls or a 

 cold climate like this, which very seriously in- 

 terferes with the building of comb in supers. 

 I have Tiever been satisfied with my yield of 

 comb honey from fall bloom unless the season 

 was an exceptionally warm one. The bees will 

 gather the nectar, aiid store it in the comb fur- 

 nished them when they can not draw out foun- 

 dation in supers. For this reason I am buying 

 an exti'acting outfit, and will run my apiary for 

 extracted honey after basswood closes. 



THE HOFFMAN FKAME. 



I shall order the Hoffman fixed frame, as I am 

 thoroughly disgusted with the loose hanging 

 frame in "the Dovetailed hive. The division- 

 board which goes with the frame is a necessity 

 in every hive. Your addition of follower and 

 wedge in the super will make it perfect, in my 

 opinion. At our last State Fair there was not a 

 good super on exhibition. 



N. P. ASPIXWALL. 



Harrison, Minn., Jan. 7. 



THE WISCOXSIX COXVENTIOX. 



I inclose a clipping from a Madison paper, 

 showing a little of the business done at our 

 •convention, Feb. 4 and 5. .ZD -^ 



Officers of tlie Wiscousiu Bee-keepers' Association 

 have been chosen as follows: President, C. A. 

 Hatch, of Itliaca; vice-presidents. T. B. Turner, of 

 Sussex, and Ochsner, of Prairie du Sac; recording- 

 secretary, H. Latlu'op, Browiitown; corresponding 

 secretary, J. W. Vance, Madison; treasurer, M. J. 

 Plumb, Milton. The association decided to ask the 

 legislature for an appropriation of $10U0 to enable 

 it to make a proper showing- of Wisconsin honey at 

 the Woi-ld's fair, and otherwise advance the inter- 

 ests of the industry. It was also decided to secure 

 tlie incorporation of the organization under the 

 State Law. 



You remember what a jovial time we had a 

 year ago when you and Dr. Miller were with us. 

 Our meeting this year was not as largely at- 

 tended, nor was there the same enthusiasm. 

 Our Wisconsin bee-keepers suffered a failure in 

 crop last year, and doubtless many of them did 

 not feel able to attend the convention. ^Ye had 

 the great good fortune to have with us ]Mr. 

 Thos. G. Newman, who made not a few friends 

 for the Bee-keepers" Union, in whose behalf he 

 addressed the convention. Notwithstanding 

 the small attendance, we believe that business 

 of great importance was transacted. 



Hakry Lathkop. 



Browntown. Wis., Feb. 11. 



.TAI'AXESE AHEAD OF ALL. 



I now put the Japanese buckwheat ahead of 

 all others. I sow it at three different times — 

 June 15, June 21, June 29. I raised the largest 

 yield from that which I sowed June 29. On 3 

 acres I sowed l^S bushels of Japanese buck- 

 wiieat, which I got of A. I. Root, and on the 3 

 acres I had 74 bushels, making 247;j bushels per 

 acre. As to bee-pasture, they worked from 

 sunrise till 10 or 11 o'clock p.m. I will raise no 

 other. J. S. Buiers. 



West Brownsville, Pa., Feb. 8. 



ALFALFA FOR SORE THROAT, AGAIN. 



Seeing in last Gleanings how good alfalfa is 

 for a sore throat, I will say a peddler, who stop- 

 ped this week, had a very sore throat. I fed him 

 on the alfalfa honey, and it helped him at once. 

 It works like magic. I tried it on myself yes- 

 terday, and it cured me at once. This certainly 

 is a valuable discovery, and ought to be in the 

 home of every family. My bees are wintering 

 finely so far. Edgar Briggs. 



Manchester Bridge, N. Y. 



A GOOD report FROM CALIFORNIA. 



Bees are a new thing to me. as I never had 

 any thing to do with them till last April; then 

 I had one swarm enter at one side of a cracker- 

 box. The year before, the bees and I had made 

 an agreement, that, if they would let me alone. 

 I would let them alone. We kept that compact 

 till last April, when I transferred them to a 

 frame hive and commenced to build up an api- 

 ary. I will tell you how I succeeded. We 

 commenced taking bees out of the rocks in the 

 mountains. We took out 17, and ran our apia- 

 ry up to 31 strong swarms. We had 13 new 

 swarms come out. and sold .S93.95 worth of wax 

 and honey, besides what three families used. 

 It seems strange to read in Gleanings about 

 feeding sugar and packing them away for the 

 winter. Here our bees are as busy as at any 

 time of the yeai- to-day. I tried to time a colo- 

 ny that was going in loaded with pollen, but I 

 could not count fast enough. They would 

 alight eight and ten at a time. The manzanita 

 is in full bloom now, and will last about six 

 weeks. Joseph W. Bell. 



Valle Vista. Cal., Jan. 19. 



how I MANAGE MY HOME MARKET. 



On page 55 is a letter from J. Handle, com- 

 plaining of others supplying the home market- 

 after he had built it up. I have built up all the 

 market for honey there is in Braceville. and 

 have sold all I had to sell here, and could have 

 sold more. I have had no trouble in the line 

 he complains of. I furnish each dealer with a 

 small show-case. The dealers here won't han- 

 dle honey without a case, and they would not 

 put other honey in my case. That helps to 

 hold the trade here. John Burr. 



Braceville, 111. 



AVHEX TO SPRAY FRUIT-TREES. 



There seems to be a threatening evil to our 

 bees from spraying fruit-trees when they are in 

 blossom. Could there not be something done 

 to prevent it? I take the Farm Journal, and 

 that advocates very strongly the spraying of 

 trees. Would it not be well for some one to 

 write to the editor of that papei-. and tell him to 

 inform the people when to spray them — when 

 the blossoms are falling? The Farm Journal 

 has a large circulation throughout the United 

 States. George Baker. 



Poplar Ridge. N. Y., Jan. 16. 



FROM one TO four IN 30 DAYS. 



Last summer I had a swarm shipped to me 

 the 19th of April. They swarmed the 31st of 

 May. and again the 27th of June, and the 

 young swarm swarmed the 30th of June, so I 

 got three good young swarms from one. 



W. F. Naylor. 



Wrightstown, Minn., Dec. 22. 



THE EFFECT OF IRON UTENSILS ON WAX. 



I bought some .50 lbs. of dark-colored wax 

 some years ago. supposing that I could clean 

 it; but I found it permanently colored, being 

 rendered in an iron kettle, and left to stand 

 therein for weeks, so it is not salable. 



Hayesville, O. H. Butcher. 



Please tell me what causes the bees to cut up 

 the comb. J. P. H. Wilson. 



Temple, Tex., Dec. 29. 



[If your combs are spaced too close, the bees 

 would be likely to gnaw away the comb. Space 

 1?8 inches from center to center — not closer 

 than IH inch. vVhere robbing is allowed to get 

 under a good headway, the combs of the robbed 

 colony are liable to be torn in to. J 



