266 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



J. JV., Ohio. — The earliest printed literature 

 that we have on bees is Butler's Feminine 

 Monarchy, printed in 1609. Perhaps the ear- 

 liest reference we have to bee culture, and that 

 very rude, is found in the Georgics of Virgil, 

 who died 19 years before the birth of Christ ; 

 but the use of honey is contemporaneous with 

 all human history. The earliest reference to 

 the sectional honey-box was away back in 

 1868. This is in Kidder's book, "Secrets of 

 Bee-keeping," page 174. 



A. S., JV. v. — I am very strongly of the 

 opinion that our Ideal sections will run about 

 13 or 14 oz. — certainly not over 15. If you 

 glass j'our honey it would in any event be be- 

 low the 16-oz. mark. A width of 1^4 might 

 not run more than 10 oz., and that would pos- 

 sibly be too light a weight for you. Letters 

 are coming in that indie tte that the plain sec- 

 tions will hold slightly less honey than the 

 same section just enough wider to take in bee- 

 ways. If this is the fact, then our 1 i/3-inch 

 Ideal will run about right in weight for your 

 purpose. 



C. JV. /)., Tenn.—lt is impossible to give 

 you an estimate of just how many pounds of 

 honey you ought to expect from each of 3'our 

 seven colonies. Your own .skill and general 

 knowledge of handling bees, and the season, 

 will have every thing to do with it — more par- 

 ticularh' the last named. Some years there is 

 little or no honey to be had from the fields. 

 But with so small an apiary as seven colonies 

 there is no reason why you ought not to be 

 able to get under fair conditions, and a fair 

 season, 25 lbs. per colony. With good man- 

 agement and a good season you might secure 

 100 lbs. per hive. 



F. M., Mtch. — Where one expects to winter 

 his bees otit of doors right along, and it is a 

 question whether he'd better use the single- 

 wall Dovetailed or the double- walled chaff, we 

 would recommend the latter by all means. 

 The light two story chaff hive, illustrated on 

 page 9 of our catalog, is but little heavier than 

 the regular single-walled hive of the same di- 

 mensions. We use it very largely in our own 

 apiaries, and prefer it to the single- walled hive 

 because it is so little trouble to put the bees 

 into condition for winter. You will notice, 

 besides, the alighting-board has an enlarged 

 entrance, which is quite an advantage ; see 

 Fig. 18. 



F. W. D., N. y. — We consider the starva- 

 tion method described in our ABC book as 

 the best and most reliable, as well as the most 

 economical way of treating foul brood. We 

 do not recommend complete extermination ex- 

 cept in rare instances. The chaflf hives will 

 be fit for use again, after they have been scald- 

 ed inside. You can, however, paint the inside 

 with coal oil, set fire to it, let it burn till the 

 inside of the hive is charred, then throw in a 



small quantity of water, and clap the cover on. 

 The steam thus generated and confined will 

 arrest the fire at this point, and render the 

 hives perfectly safe for use again. 



S. J. F., Fla. — For various reasons we could 

 not give you the names of dishonest commis- 

 sion houses, the principal reason being that 

 we should thereby render ourselves liable. If 

 you are a subscriber to Gleanings you will 

 see that certain houses, whose names used to 

 appear in our Honey Column, are conspicuous 

 b}' their absence from that department. We 

 do not say that they were dishonest, but we 

 do not consider it to the interests of the bee- 

 keeping public that their names should contin- 

 ue in that department. 



F. C, Utah. — The refuse from your wax- 

 extractor can be further refined by means of 

 sulphuric acid. To every pailful of water, piit 

 in about a tablespoon ful of commercial sul. 

 acid. Pour about three pails of water into the 

 barrel, throw in the refuse, turn on a jet of 

 steam, heat the water to a boiling temperature, 

 then let it stand for an hour, after which dip 

 off the free wax from the top, being careful 

 not to stir up the liquid too much. In using 

 sulphuric acid it is necessary to use a wooden 

 receptacle and steam. An old iron kettle 

 might do, but a copper kettle must not be 

 used. You will find full particulars in late 

 editions of our ABC book, under the head of 

 "Wax." 



A'. )'. Z. , Conn. — We don't know just ex- 

 actly why the sugar syrup should candy unless 

 it is because you feed it loo thick. It should 

 be made in the proportion of one half sugar 

 and one-half water, by weight or measure; but 

 I am surprised that you would think of feeding 

 it for filling out sections. If it were known that 

 you sold such honey you would have a bees' 

 nest of bee-keerers after you. Possibly you 

 sell it as sugar-fed honey, but even then you 

 would call down the wrath of the fraternity at 

 large. I do not think you will find it will pay. 

 It is hard enough to make it pay, even when 

 you get the nectar of the flowers for nothing; 

 but if you have to buy that nectar, and go to 

 all the fuss and bother of making thin syrup 

 and feeding it — well, I think it will overbal- 

 ance the gain. 



J. C, Can. — To tin a soldering-iron, take a 

 common brick and scoop out of one of its faces 

 a depression about the size and shape of a 

 table-spoon. Fill this space with common 

 pulverized resin. Next take the iron and file 

 off its four faces bright and clean ; heat it to 

 about soldering-temperature ; clean it with a 

 moist rag, and then rub the iron in the pul- 

 verized resin in the brick ; at the same time 

 apply the bar of solder ; work the iron back 

 and forth, revolving it until the faces of the 

 iron are covered thoroughly with the tin. In 

 order to do a good soldering job on the honey- 

 cans it is necessary to clean the tin thorough- 

 ly. The parts should be either scraped or 

 filed Bj working right you can usually sol- 

 der such places with common resin. You can 

 use acid, but it is better not to use it, for every 

 thing of this kind is apt to corrode and make 

 matters worse. 



