218 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



candidly believe it was a ' ' natural ' ' production 

 of hickory-trees, as it was on nothing else, 

 caused by atmospheric action. The flow sud- 

 denly ceased after a heavy shower. I had sev- 

 eral hundred pounds of it in 1-lb. sections, 

 and a ton or more of extracted, and it was the 

 " finest " honey I ever saw — whiter, if possible, 

 and hfavier-bodied, than any basswood — a 

 very sweet, rich flavor. Any one who has 

 ever scraped the waxy exudation from the top 

 of a newly cut hickory stump in the spring of 

 the year, and tasted it, can tell what the pecul- 

 iar flavor was ; but it was far milder. Anoth- 

 er peculiar feature was that my wife (now 

 dead) used it for all kinds of cakes, sweeten- 

 ing sauce, and preserving all kinds of fruit, 

 and there was no more " honey " flavor than 

 from the best granulated sugar, even while 

 hot ; and how I have longed and watched ev- 

 ery season since for another flow of hickory- 

 honey- dew ! Should I ever be favored with 

 another I will remember you with a sample of 

 it. Elias Fox. 



Hillsboro, Wis. 



[I have always had the impression that the 

 product from the hickory-tree was almost 

 black, and decidedly poor in flavor ; but prob- 

 ably this was a mistake. 



But I should be very much disinclined to be- 

 lieve that the saccharine matter, whatever it 

 is, was the secretion of the leaves of the tree. 

 Not all the so-called honey-dew from aphides 

 is of poor quality by considerable. Some of 

 them are very palatable. Prof. Cook says, and 

 the product from the aphides of the hickory 

 may probably be classed among them. The 

 very fact that you saw aphides at all, indi- 

 cates pretty strongly that they were responsi- 

 dle for the sweet varnish on the leaves. 

 While it may be true that you have seen the 

 aphides without the honey-dew, that fact 

 would prove nothing. There may be condi- 

 tions under which aphides will give off this 

 exudation, and others when they will not. I 

 should be glad to hear from others who have 

 evidence to offer. — Ed.] 



HOW TO SECURE THE GREATEST INCREASE 

 WITH THE LEAST EXPENSE OF SURPLUS. 

 I have fifty colonies of bees which thus far 

 have wintered well. As a result of a poor sea- 

 son I have left over 40 ten-frame two-story 

 hives with sufficient foundation to give all 

 frames full sheets. I have also 350 empty 

 combs. Thirteen of the colonies are in eight- 

 frame hives fitted with two supers, each for 

 comb honey. What I wish to know is, by 

 what plan to manage them to secure the most 

 increase at the least possible expense of sur- 

 plus. I am aware that locality has a great deal 

 to do with the plan, so I will explain. 



The bees can gather pollen from natural 

 sources as soon as it is warm enough for them 

 to work, which is about the middle of April, 

 or perhaps ten days earlier some seasons. 

 They usually build up rapidly, and the strong- 

 est will swarm the last of May ; but the most 

 swarm in June. The honey-flow is gradual, 

 increasing to August, which is the great honey 

 month, and continues right up to the first 



frosts, which come from the 1st to the 7th of 

 September, and ceases altogether in twelve to 

 fifteen days later. B. F. JONES. 



Idaho Falls, Ida., Jan. 27. 



[Much will depend on whether you propose 

 to run for comb or extracted honey, and also 

 whether you would furnish laying queens to 

 each nucleus or division of a colony. 



If working for comb I would see that all 

 sections were supplied with full sheets of 

 foundation. Then I would take care of all 

 swarms on the clipped-queen plan ; that is to 

 say, I would hive the first swarm in an empty 

 hive on frames of foundation — the hive to be 

 placed on the stand occupied by the old one. 

 The super I would then place on top, and, as 

 soon as a swarm returned, release the clipped 

 queen, and let the bees, queens and all, run 

 into the new hive on the old location. The 

 bees would then carry on the work in the su- 

 per just where they left off. The old hive, or 

 parent colony, with it? brood and queen-cells, 

 and the remaining bees, are to be put in an 

 entirely new location. I would remove the 

 cells, if good ones, and give it a laying queen; 

 and as it becomes strong enough so as to 

 swarm I would treat it as above. The cells 

 secured, if from a good queen, should be given 

 to nuclei. 



But in most localities the parent colony 

 would not swarm again that year ; and the 

 only thing that cou'.d be done then would be 

 to stimulate by feeding a little every day. 

 When it becomes strong enough, divide it into 

 one or two nuclei, giving (to each) one or 

 more frames with full sheets of foundation. 

 Feed each nucleus, and supply it with a laying 

 queen. If you could not afford to buy queens, 

 set apart several colonies for the raising of 

 queens ; and as soon as the queens have begun 

 laying, keep them in small nucleus-boxes con- 

 taining one or two sections and a hundred or 

 so bees. The entrances to these little nuclei 

 should consist of one or two holes of perforat- 

 ed zinc, and four, six, or eight boxes should 

 be placed on the top of a strong colony, with 

 wire cloth beneath, so that the warmth of the 

 powerful colony below will supply the neces- 

 sary heat for the bees in the little boxes. As 

 fast as queens are wanted for increase I would 

 take one or more from these little nucleus- 

 boxes, which will then be supplied with more 

 laying queens, as soon as they are ready, from 

 queen rearing nuclei. The purpose of the lit- 

 tle section-box nuclei is to hold the surplus of 

 laying queens until they are wanted. 



But in your locality I should judge that you 

 would not need to carry on any stimulative 

 feeding ; and I see no reason why you could 

 not increase 12 colonies up to 100, and secure, 

 perhaps, from 1000 to 3000 pounds of honey. 

 But the larger the increase, the smaller will be 

 the amount of honey, and vice versa. 



If I were running for extracted honey I 

 would take away combs and brood as fast as a 

 good strong colony could spare them, and put 

 them into empty hives as nuclei. Give to each 

 nucleus, with its combs and bees, one or more 

 frames filled with full sheets of foundation. 

 Keep on forming nuclei thus ; and then, if you 



