92 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



" Uncle Amos would say that we were getting 

 quite tony, taking our nice gallery to put to- 

 gether our bee-fixture s — it's just too preposter- 

 ous ! " 



No. 3 shows one of our bee-way supers, 

 filled with the no-bee-space sections; and hold- 

 er No. 5, showing how they are held in place. 

 No. 4, a loose side-board, is slipped in, and 

 wedges pushed down between holder and side, 

 and the body of the super holds them perma- 

 nent, and clamps sections bee-glue tight. 



No. 6 shows three sections of honey with 

 the projecting edges clipped oflF by a circular 

 saw. 



Now, friends, if what we have faid, aided 

 by the picture, will be the means of helping 

 some poor bee-keeper out of a query as to the 

 no bee- space section method, then we have 

 accomplished all we designed in its publica- 

 tion. 



SMOKER FUEL. 



People may talk about smoker fuel; but 

 dried sunflower stalks, leaves, stems, crown, 

 and all together, lay all other fuel in the 

 shade so far as controlling vicious bees is con- 

 cerned, giving a dense yet pleasant smoke, 

 holding fire much longer than the majority of 

 fuels recommended. Cut up while green, and 

 cured in the sun, then stored away, it is both 

 handy and inexpensive. Try it. 



Reinersville, O. 



[Our regular standard fence is turned out 

 on a special gluing-machine; but for odd-sized 

 or irregular, we have a device a good deal sim- 

 ilar to what Mr. G. describes, for nailing or 

 gluing. On the last named, we can glue about 

 50 complete fences per hour, for one person. 



Mr. GokUn, if I mistake not, has used the 

 plain section and fence for two years l)ack, 

 and has found them to be a success in every 

 way. He, like quite a number of our breth- 

 ren, has been ahead of the times, a;id, like an- 

 other progressive beekeeper, Mr. Aspinwall, 

 he has a machine section-scraper that I hope 

 to illustrate in a later number. As he is a 

 photographer, he is able to show up his ideas 

 in a little better shape than the majority of 

 bee-keepers. 



We are glad to make the acquaintance of 

 Miss Flody, and hope we may have the pleas- 

 ure of meeting her again, not only at bee con- 

 ventions but over the pages of the bee-jour- 

 nals. — Ed ] 



BEE-KEEPING ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO 

 WOMEN. 



Good Results from Winter; Bees Paying Better 



than Fanning, even when Comh Honey 



is only S and lo cents. 



BY MRS. L. C. AXTELL. 



Another year has passed, and I will now 

 send in our report. Our bees wintered with- 

 out the loss of a colony. One flew away in 

 early spring. We wintered 150 colonies. 

 Having so much small fruit to care for we saw 

 that we should have to have our bees in read- 

 iness for swarming before time for picking 

 strawberries, as they come in just before 



swarming; s:) we put sections on all good to 

 fair colonies at the time we clipped queens' 

 wings in May. We never before put them on 

 so early. As I did not have any help, I 

 thought I would see how much one woman 

 could do at bee-work by much thought and 

 few steps, and all needed rest. I got all sec- 

 tions on our colonies that could bear them 

 early. My experience is, bees are better off if 

 left alone than to be worked with by much of 

 the help we have had in past years. 



We found it greatl}^ prevented swarming to 

 get sections on early. The bees seem to get 

 used to having the sections on and seemed at 

 home in them, and all began storing honey 

 just as soon as there was a surplus beyond fill- 

 ing brood-nest, ^ome began working in sec- 

 tions before the brood-nest was full. The con- 

 sequence was, we had so little swarming that 

 we really felt we had no natural swarms. 

 Nearly all were supersedures, though we got 

 .S(i lbs. per colony on an average; 150 hives of 

 bees, spring count, and increased 12 colonies. 

 It worked so well putting on sections so early 

 we will do so next spring again; but care must 

 be taken not to put sections on weak colonies, 

 as it will make them more slow to build up. 



INCREASING THE CONSUMPTION OF HONEY. 

 By selling it at home as much as possible, 

 instead of sending so much of it to our large 

 cities, we can do this. If we sell at home we 

 can generally get our shipping-crates back, 

 save commission and railroad expenses, so we 

 can afford to bother a little more by selling in 

 smaller quantities. Bee-keepers have a good 

 deal to say about its cheapness ; and yet when 

 compared with almost all other foods we get 

 as good a price for it as any thing else, taking 

 one year with another and the amount of time 

 it takes to produce a pound of honey. 



OCCUPATIONS BESIDES BEE-KEEPING. 



No one should keep bees exclusive of other 

 occupations, as it is with bee-keeping like all 

 other farm products, failure or partial failure 

 occasionally; and so much of the year would 

 be left without a paying pursuit that we can 

 not afford to be idle. We lay the blame upon 

 the bees, when it is ourselves. So many neg- 

 lect their bees in years when they fail to store 

 honey that they nearl}' die ; and when a hon- 

 ey crop does come they lose it all, then blame 

 the bees. Bees do not require a great deal of 

 care — not nearly so mu :h as I used to think 

 the}' needed; but there is certain work that 

 must never be neglected, whether they store 

 honey or not. Unless we count the time we 

 put upon our bees we are apt to feel and think 

 they take more time than they really do ; and 

 no one should engage in the work unless he 

 has a love for it ; neither should he if he is 

 not willing to bear a sting or so sometimes. 

 If the stings greatly swell upon him he has no 

 business with bees. But people often make a 

 great fuss about a sting when, if they would 

 push ahead, it would be soon forgotten. 



Again, I want to mention the present price 

 of honey. At from 10 to 15 cts. it pays us 

 well ; even 8 to 10 cts. for comb would pay 

 us better than most other farm products, count- 

 ing time put on them. 



