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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



difference, or at least it is not so noticeable, 

 -while the poorer the season the more pro- 

 nounced becomes the difference. 



It seems as though some colonies said, 

 "Well, we can't get enough for winter any- 

 way, so we might as well stop now as any 

 time," while others seem to work the harder 

 under adverse conditions. 



Last summer I had a chance to keep in 

 touch with about 1000 colonies, and to notice 

 which ones were doing the work. Of course, 

 I did not see all of them every time they were 

 worked, but I did see them often enough to 

 make some comparisons. 



One or two things were so evident that one 

 seemed to run against them forcibly every 

 time an apiary was extracted. One was, that 

 the young queens were the ones that gave the 

 results. On an average, the queens that were 

 raised after the honey-flow was over last sea- 

 son were the best. There were some excep- 

 tions to this, due to other causes. For in- 

 stance, the best honey-producing colony in 

 my Danby apiary had a queen that was two 

 years old ; but she swarmed early, and the 

 hive was set on the end of a row where it had 

 an extra chance, which was further helped by 

 a part of another swarm going in with them. 



The queens raised in the spring do not have 

 a good chance, for they are usually in nuclei 

 which do not get in good order until along in 

 the season. 



Another thing that stood out prominently 

 was this : For years I have bred my queens 

 from the best honey-producing colonies, yet 

 this year the colonies that gave the best crop 

 had Southern queens or their daughters. That 

 is, my strain of blacks bred for honey did not 

 do as well as some other person's strain of 

 Italians or Carniolans bred for points, I sup- 

 pose. This seemed to be due to the difference 

 in races. The Carniolans seemed, if any thing, 

 rather ahead of the Italians. The pure bloods 

 of either were ahead of the mixed races. 



These are the opinions I formed in extract- 

 ing, where only once in a while a colony 

 would have enough to pay to take it off. It 

 happened several times this summer that we 

 would go to one of the further apiaries, and 

 then not find them filled. In such a case we 

 often went over the lot and extracted the best 

 ones so that they would not be crowded be- 

 fore the next trip. Then after the usual time 

 for the honey-flow to stop we had a few big 

 days so that the last emptying was the best, 

 some of the apiaries having the larger share of 

 the combs all capped over. Here again was 

 there the same striking difference between 

 colonies. 



One reason for my keeping black bees has 

 been that I can work them faster. They 

 shake off from the combs better, and smoke 

 down quicker, than the Italians, whose supe- 

 rior gentleness has not seemed to make up for 

 their slowness. When I am convinced, as I 

 was this season, that they will get enough 

 more honey to pay, of course I shall have to 

 have " fancy stock." 



To show that I am not alone in this change 

 of opinion I will quote from W. L. Coggshall, 

 who savs he will bnv .'j.^O.OO worth of queens 



in the spring, which, with what he now has, 

 will put his apiaries in pretty good condition 

 as regards breeds. 



Another point I wish to mention is that 

 there are some symptoms leading toward a 

 change of opinion on the hive question in the 

 Howe family, but it is too earl}' yet to tell how 

 it will end. 



Ithaca, N. Y. 



[I will explain that Harry Howe is Cogg- 

 shall's " lightning operator." He (Harry) is 

 Coggshall's head man, and is a Coggshall op- 

 erator through and through all except the 

 kick act. Mr. Howe is observing, energetic, 

 and a hard worker ; indeed, I doubt if there is 

 a man in ihe country who can handle as many 

 colonies in a given lime as he. — Ed.] 



THINGS H. R. BOARDMAIV DID iNOT SEE IN 

 MICHIGAN. 



BY GEO. E. HII^TON. 



First, many of us are disappointed that H. 

 R. confined himself so closely to the railroads, 

 and failed to call on us. We think the object 

 of his visit was largely lost because there are 

 others besides Dr. Mason, Mr. Fowls, and the 

 folks at " Rootville " who can talk, and tliey 

 produce sonieiliing Vjesides "bug-juice," and 

 have ideas too. The above is a gentle re- 

 minder that, if friend Boardman should come 

 to Michigan again, he will be expected to pass 

 over some of the railroads that don't confine 

 themselves to swamps and "pine burnings," 

 and call on some of the bee-keepers of North- 

 ern Michigan. He says he boarded the train 

 Aug. 2.5. Yes, I remember the morning, as I 

 was 52 years old that same day. "Billed for 

 Petoskey, Frankfort, etc." Now, if he went 

 to Frankfort he passed through Thompson- 

 ville, Benzie Co., and when there he was 

 within five miles of nearly 500 colonies of bees, 

 and within l}4 miles of the best-equipped 

 yard in the State (see Bee-keepers' Rcvieiv tor 

 September). Had he gotten off here he 

 would have found tons of raspberry and wil- 

 low-herb honey (yes, we have our bees strong 

 enough to gather the raspberry honey, and 

 with us it is a never failing sotirce). 



I hope the people at Harbor Springs will 

 not detect those two boys who said the town 

 consisted of a store and two apple trees. The 

 fact is, they have a very lively little town over 

 there ; but there is a spirit of jealous rivalry 

 over a county-seat matter that induces just 

 such remarks. Had he been on the Harbor 

 Springs side he could have heard similar re- 

 marks about Petoskey. 



Yes, there are some bees around Manton. 

 I am glad friend B. got a glimpse of our yard. 

 Judging from the amount of goods I ship 

 there, I should say there are several hundred 

 colonies. In fact, I am thinking strongly of 

 going up there, with a view of arranging to 

 ship a car direct from factory. 



Come again, Bro. Boardman, and get ac- 

 quainted with us Wolverines, and we will 

 show you sotnething nciv. 



Fremont, Mich, Nov. 19. 



