240 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



another thing, besides the extra worl< of setting 

 up, putting in foundation, scraping, etc., is that 

 the bees will put up more honey in large sec- 

 tions than in small ones, just as they will beat 

 themselves if allowed to work all together in a 

 large hive, all in one body; but tnen, we don't 

 want to raise chunk honey, so must have some 

 kind of package to get it stored in. But I can 

 get about 10 lbs. more honey in i than in 1 lb. 

 sections, which would allow for a couple of cents 

 less; but then. I can't sell them all at any price, 

 except a limited number around home; they 

 won't sell at all in Chicago unless there is a 

 great scarcity. So much against my will. I 

 am obliged to use the 4J^x4Ji. and I prefer 

 them 1% wide, and use without separators, and 

 have but very few bulged or crooked combs; and 

 if well filled they weigh nearer an even pound 

 than any other size I ever had. Then I doubt 

 whether as much honey is sold as there would 

 be if the 2-lb. sections were all there were in 

 use, for scores of people would buy j ust as quick- 

 ly as any way, and. once bought, It would be 

 eaten, and they would buy again j ust as quickly 

 as if they had bought one pound. 



LEAVING HONEY AT STORES TO SELL. 



This, as T. S. Comstock says, would be all 

 right if all grocers knew how or cared how they 

 handle honey. I have seen just lots of honey 

 just murdered by grocers and their clerks, by 

 ignorance in removing sections from cases, or 

 by taking hold of it with the whole hand, letting 

 the fingers dent into the comb, and setting the 

 honey to running out; and some of them will 

 set a case on the counter, cover oil, and let 

 everybody who comes in stick a finger or knife 

 or pencil in just to get a little taste; and it is 

 surprising how many people will try that little 

 taste; and it doesn'i take much to spoil a case of 

 fine honey. So if you can't find a careful man 

 who understands handling honey you had better 

 sell it before you leave it, or. you may be told 

 when you come around again that the honey is 

 in bad order, and won't sell; and when you see 

 it you will believe he is telling the truth; but 

 it will not be so easy to make him believe he is 

 at fault in the matter. Woodchopper. 



[Woodchopper is an old correspondent who 

 used to know how to hew pretty closely along 

 the line, and it is evident he hasn't forgotten 

 how to split off from his store of experience 

 great chunks of truth or fact yet. Let the chips 

 fly more and often, friend W., even if they do 

 hit right and left. Why the bees gather pollen 

 in the morning from some plants is very rea- 

 sonably explained, and I doubt if even a few 

 knew the reason. That other point, that bees 

 don't always stop to chink uo cracks before 

 storing honey, is well taken. Bees do nothing 

 invariably.— Ed] 



If you would like to have any ofyoiirfrieuds 

 see a specimen copy of Oleanings. make known 

 the request on a postal, with the address or ad- 

 dresses, and we will, with pleasure, send them. 



-—'ANSWERS TO c 



ISEASOI^ABLEQUIESTII 



BY G.M.DOOLITTLE.BOHOOINO.N.Y. 

 tiiiinmiiitiiiiii.niiiiii ni.imii- 



APIARY NEAR BLOSSOMS. 



Questio?i.— What would be the difference, if 

 any, in the quantity of honey gathered from a 

 certain field of clover, basswood, or buckwheat, 

 if my apiary is right among the blossoms, or 

 from one to one and a half miles away? I de- 

 sire to locate nearly a mile and a half from the 

 thickest pasturage, but am undecioed what to 

 do for fear my bees will not do nearly as well as 

 they would if I sacrificed my own convenience 

 and moved nearer the better bee-pasturage. 



Ansiver. — Theory claims, in view of the fact 

 that bees do not know instinctively how to go 

 directly to the nectar-bearing floweis in the vi- 

 cinity of their homes, but must depend upon 

 their smell and an industrious search for profit- 

 able honey gathering, that therefore it stands 

 to reason that less time would be lost in getting 

 the whole force at work on the honey-producing 

 flowers, where the latter are plentiful very ne&r 

 the apiary, than would be the case if the pas- 

 ture-were from one to two miles away.Dit is 

 claimed that every young bee which enters 

 upon the service of field-worker must learn 

 where the best forage-grounds are before it can 

 work to the best advantage.^. Others claim that 

 a.hive whose bees all have to travel one or two 

 miles from home for their stores will soon be- 

 come' depopulated, the result being a half less 

 honey, with very weak colonies in the fall, over 

 what would accrue had the apiary been located 

 right in the midst of the flowers. Probably no 

 one could give a very definite answer to the 

 question without trying the experiment with an 

 equal number of colonies right in the midst of 

 the blossoms, and an equal number one or more 

 miles away. I do not pretend to be authority 

 in this matter; but my experience would indi- 

 cate that those who argue that bees must be set 

 right down in the very center of the honey-pro- 

 ducing flora do this more rrom theory than from 

 actual knowledge; for I am quite sure that 

 there would not be enough difference in the re- 

 sults, at the distance named, to pay for moving 

 the apiary up to the bloom during the time of 

 blooming of the flowers, and back again for the 

 rest of the year. Bees fly very rapidly, and the 

 exercise seems to be invigorating; and if those 

 who argue depopulation of hives could have 

 been here last season when my bees worked for 

 eight days on basswood from four to eight miles 

 from home, and seen how the honey in the sec- 

 tions grew as if by magic with hives gaining in 

 number of bees all the while, I think they would 

 not put forth such fallacious claims.D From 

 proof; given in back volumes of Gleanings, I 

 am convinced that bees go from one to three 

 miles from home from choice; and if I were in 



