1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



858 



section-holder. The T super is a ver\' good 

 arrangement, and I prefer it with the T tins 

 nailed fast. I think your Hilton super is 

 about the best arrangement for comb honey. 

 Wakeman, O. J. E. Hand. 



[I really enjoyed the above, even if it did 

 leave me a little worsted. I like to have any 

 one talk right out plainly — that is, providing 

 he does not accuse me of being dishonest and 

 of seeing nothing but the almighty dollar 

 when I suggest an improvement in hive con- 

 struction. I shall have to acknowledge that 

 friend Hand has had more experience with 

 ducks than I have — at least, it has been of a 

 kind that counts for more than mine; but, my, 

 oh my ! What kind of bees does he keep ? In 

 my rambles among bee-keepers over the coun- 

 try, I have seen ducks and bees together in 

 the same yard. If I remember correctly I 

 asked the question whether the bees stung the 

 young ducks; but the very idea was ridiculed. 



Regarding the T super, I would state that 

 the section-holder was made topless to facili- 

 tate the insertion and removal of sections. 

 My experience has shown that a top-bar to a 

 wide frame is not absolutely necessary for the 

 majority of bee-keepers. Although friend 

 Hand expresses himself most decidedly in 

 favor of the T super, I couldn't help a 

 " smoile " when I came to the place where he 

 said he wanted his T tins fixed, not loose. 

 Please don't tell Dr. Miller that.— Ed.] 



BUCKWHEAT HONEY; DOES IT COME FROM A 

 CROP SOWN EARI,Y IN THE SPRING? ETC. 



I noticed in Gleanings some time ago the 

 question asked if buckwheat yielded honey 

 early in the season. We have sown it for sev- 

 eral seasons as early as we could in spring, 

 and not have it freeze out, mostly for the 

 honey we receive from it. There is always a 

 good flow when we have cool damp nights 

 with a hot sun the next forenoon. It will not 

 yield much, however, until it has been in 

 bloom for some time. We have raised two 

 crops of the Japanese in one season. 



SELLING EXTRACTED HONEY IN BUTTER- 

 DISHES WHILE IT IS CANDIED. 



In regard to candied extracted honey, I 

 think it the best plan to put it in tin pails for 

 retail, and educate our customers to use it in 

 the candied state. There are many who like 

 it best this way. One of the dealers here has 

 worked up a good trade this winter. He has 

 the honey in large jars, and cuts it out and 

 sells it in butter-dishes. I can not see any 

 reason why honey should be taken back when 

 candied. I put all my honey for retail in tin 

 pails, with instructions on label for reducing 

 to liquid if desired. J. T. Van Petten. 



Linn, Kan. 



watering bees ; how to keep them away 

 from troughs, etc. 

 I have been troubled with bees drowning in 

 stock- watering troughs, mostly in cool weather 

 in spring and fall. As a preventive I use a 

 bucket or tub with a sugar-sack spread loosely 

 on top, and a brick-bat to sink the center of 

 the sack into the water. I also have a few 



auger-holes in the pail or tub. Then I take 

 pieces of a gunny sack and wrap around corn- 

 cobs and put into the auger-holes looselv, so 

 that the cloth will be wet on the outside all 

 the time. The bees seem to catch on to these 

 cobs and rags in a very short time, and no 

 trouble by stock, or bees drowning. I usually 

 put a little salt in the water. O. C. Burch. 

 Fairhaven, Neb., Oct. 25. 



how TO FILL SECTIONS WITH PIECES OF 

 COMB. 



Break the comb in two or three inch pieces; 

 place it in a basket; fill another basket full of 

 sections. Now make a small fire in the cook- 

 stove (just previous to this stage of your pro- 

 ceedings get your wife off on a visit). Now 

 get your baskets and a chair, and sit down by 

 the stove. As soon as it is hot enough to 

 melt the comb you are ready for business. 

 Take a section and place it upside down on 

 the stove; be quick now or your section will 

 get too warm. Next place a piece of your 

 comb on the stove close by the section ; as 

 soon as the edge of the comb has melted lev- 

 el, quickly place it in the section and set to 

 one side. After you get the hang of it you 

 will be surprised how quickly you can fill a 

 super. Some one might ask, " Will bees read- 

 ily enter a super prepared that way ? " Well, 

 I should say, try it and see. 



Marshfield, Mo. J. D. Whittenburg. 



BEES IN CALIFORNIA. 



Friend Root: — Inclosed I send a newspaper 

 clipping which may be of interest to you and 

 your readers. It expresses the situation, wiih 

 but small variation, of the bee interests in this 

 State 



The apiarists of this county will suffer heavy losses 

 this season, as will stockmen and sheepmen. In an 

 interview last night, M. H. Mendleson, a prominent 

 bee-keeper of the county, reviewed the condition of 

 the industry as it is to-day. He stated that there 

 would be no honej^ produced in this county this year. 

 But instead of a yield the bee-men would be cornpel- 

 led, on account of the dry sea.son, to feed their bees in 

 order to carry them through. He has between eight 

 hundred and nine hundred stands, It is his purpose 

 to destroy his weaker stands, about one hundred, and 

 feed honey to those remaining. 



J. F. Mclntyre, who has a large number of stands, 

 will remove this week from the vSespe to Bakersfield, 

 260 stands. In 1886 there were 10,000 stands in the 

 county, now there are but about eight thousand. It is 

 estimated that there are about seventy-five bee-keep- 

 ers in the county. On the average the cost of produc- 

 tion is about 41^ cents per pound. Last year the mar- 

 ket price ruled below this point. With the best of 

 care, the average loss of bees is from 2 to 3 per cent, 

 per annum. This year, as usual, many keepers can 

 not afford to buy honey to feed their bees, and there- 

 fore the bees must starve to death. From one-third to 

 one-half of the bees in the county will die. The price 

 of honey will therefore be soon on the onward march. 



The few who can get their bees near large 

 tracts of orange and lemon trees have a fair 

 show of getting something, unless cut off by 

 cold weather. All citrus fruit is irrigated, 

 therefore the dry weather does not affect that 

 so seriously, as the water for irrigation comes 

 from snow and rain in the mountains, which 

 are more abundantly supplied with moisture 

 than the valleys. 



Mr. E. Hart, of Pasadena, took two tons of 

 orange honey last year from about 100 colo- 



