1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



827 



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't/JIOM Ot//f NEIGHBORS FIELDS. 



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Say the bees, " Shut the door ! that horrible roar 

 Of storm-winds now rises and frightens us more ; 



How pleasant these combs to make glad our homes ! — 

 An antidote, surely, for pains that we bore." 



*•' 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



C. P. Dadant sums up the wintering ques- 

 tion in a few words : " Good healthy food, an 

 even temperature, quietness, and a fair amount 

 of ventilation." 



\)i 



On the first page of the issue for Oct. 26 is a 

 picture of an apiary located in the great city 

 of Chicago. It is owned by Mr. W. H. Horst- 

 mann, a letter-carrier. He now has 15 strong 

 colonies. The picture shows several little cot- 

 tages close enough together to touch elbows ; 

 and instead of the earth swallowing up the 

 city, the city has swallowed up the ground. 

 Why do human beings like to huddle together 

 in cities, like bees in a hive, especially when 

 there are so many railroads to leave town on ? 

 But Chicago is not all brick ; and the thou- 

 sands of flower-beds within its limits may fur- 

 nish more bee forage than any county in Illin- 

 ois outside of Cook. 



vJ/ 



BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW. 



The October issue is fully up to any thing 

 Mr. Hutchinson has ever printed. Two fine 

 views of, the apiary of O. J. Hetherington, of 

 Michigan, form the distinctive feature. By 

 the way, a correspondent tells Mr. Hutchin- 

 son if he would stay at home and not gad all 

 over the country his Review would appear 

 more regularly. But Mr. H. defends his gad- 

 ding propensity by asking if his journal would 

 have the same freshness and vim if he were to 

 shut himself up at home and see nothing of 

 the world. It is to be hoped that Mr. H. will 

 continue to " gad " so long as he gives us the 

 benefit. The regularity of a daily paper is not 

 at all necessary for a monthly journal. If the 

 Review appears twelve times a year, that fills 

 the bill. The pictures referred to show the 

 clamps in which Mr. Hetherington keeps his 

 hives, presenting quite a novelty in this re- 

 spect. The editor says this is the only apiary 

 he ever saw in which the hives are kept in 

 clamps the year round. 

 \h 



In speaking of queen-traps, Mr. W. E. Flow- 

 er, the magic-lantern man at the Philadelphia 

 convention, says he has used the Alley trap 

 for ten years, and has never lost a swarm nor 

 a queen, and these traps are good for ten years 

 more. He adds : " What a pleasure to know 

 that, when you come home, even if the bees 

 have swarmed, you will find the queen in the 

 trap, and know to a certainty just where she 

 belongs ! " 



tii 



Mr. Herbert Clute, of Wisconsin, says bee- 

 hunters in his locality attract bees by burning 



bits of wax on birch bark. The odor is very 

 attractive to the bees, and by means of it they 

 are soon led to betray their location. Hunters 

 there use bee-hunting glasses with colored 

 lenses that so change the color of the timber 

 and sky as to give a better background for 

 watching the bees. 



CANADIAN BEE JOURNAL. 

 The difficulty of having the outside frames, 

 either comb or extracting, as well filled as 

 those in the center of the super, has been 

 overcome by Mr. Petti t " by allowing the en- 

 trance to extend clear across the hive, and by 

 raising the front 1% inches above the bottom 

 or floor, by a wedge on either side of the en- 

 trance. This allows the bees to enter the hive 

 the full width, and compels them to walk 

 up the sides or back of the hive, so that they 

 always fill the outside frames first instead of 

 last, as is the case with the narrow entrance." 

 Mr. Pettit's system in detail is given in an ar- 

 ticle credited to the Fanner's Advocate. Mr. 

 P. is about to move from Belmont to Aylmer, 

 Ont. His son Morley will remain on the farm 

 and manage the apiary. An article from the 

 latter appears in next issue. For years the el- 

 der Pettit has been one of the most successful 

 bee-keepers in America, and it is to be hoped 

 he will not be entirely lost to view in his new 

 home. 



\\i 



BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 



Mr. L. Quayle, on the Isle of Man, near the 

 English coast, reports one colony this year 

 that has broken his previous record of 334 lbs. 

 of comb honey. This was " heather " honey, 

 which cuts so large a figure in English and 

 Scotch apiculture. His season has been very 

 good. That is a remarkable yield for any 

 source, to say nothing of a place situated six 

 degrees, or about 400 miles, north of the north- 

 ern boundary of the United States. 

 Oi 



A correspondent says his journal would be 

 more valuable to him if it had directions what 

 to do every week or month in the year. The 

 editor says this is out of the question, as the 

 circulation of the B. B J. is from the extreme 

 north of Scotland to the southern end of Eng- 

 land. Each must make his own record ac- 

 cording to his seasons ; for what would fit one 

 man would not another. 

 \»/ 



THE AUSTRALASIAN 'BEE-KEEPER. 



Mr. G. Kelly, of Dungog, took 700 60-lb. 

 tins of honey from 70 colonies — an average of 

 600 lbs. per colony. The editor says this is 

 almost incredible, but he says he knows per- 

 sonally enough of the locality and of the way 

 ironbark secretes honey to warrant him in say- 

 ing that even a greater return is possible. I do 

 not remember any other instance that would 

 even approach this wonderful yield. What a 

 field for Coggshall to try his hand at extract- 

 ing honey ! 



vl/ 



Mr. J. Hopkins claims the following advan- 

 tages in raising extracted honey instead of 

 comb : 1. Much larger proportions can be har- 



