342 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



inches deep in the early part of the season, 

 and remove them when I put on the sec- 

 tions. Thus )'Ou see I have a big hive, 12'2 

 inches deep, when the queen needs lots of 

 room, and a shallow hive (7'2 inches) when 

 I wish to crowd them into the supers, and 

 no dummies under outside sections. 



W. C. Gathright. 

 Las Cruces, New Mex. 



FEEDING BEES A POLLEN SUBSTITUTE AND 

 SUGAR SYRUP AT THE SAME TIME. 



The food I give my bees is scalded corn 

 meal, baked, sweetened with black Cuban 

 molasses. I then scrape it out from between 

 the crusts, put the same on a plate, and 

 cover it with molasses, and mix it. 



MaRGARETTA S TROUP. 



Southampton, N. Y., Feb. 28. 



[Years ago this was talked about through 

 the journals, and I succeeded, as some of 

 you may remember, in getting bees to take 

 a mixture of honey and rye flour — that is, 

 early in the spring, before they get pollen. 

 The letter above mentions accomplishing 

 the same thing with corn meal in place of 

 the rye.— A. L R.] 



MOLDY COMBS, ETC. 



I should like to ask you how I can pre- 

 %'ent molding or souring of honey in the 

 hive, as it seems to in one of mine. Drops 

 of water gather on the covers. Would you 

 keep dead bees from Ihe bottom-board in 

 the cave at this time of year? Will this 

 moldy or sour honey kill the bees? Should 

 I take it out of the hive? 



Osgood, Iowa. E. M. Thompson. 



[The combs referred to in your letter are 

 possibly not moldy in the sense that they 

 are covered with a fungous growth. Combs 

 that have been in outdoor-wintered hives 

 verj' often show a sort of blue tint as if they 

 were moldy. Whatever this tint is, it does 

 no harm; neither do the drops of water that 

 gather on the covers. Dead bees should be 

 cleaned off from the bottom- boards occasion- 

 ally. 



If the honey in the combs is actually sour 

 (a fact which you can easily determine by 

 running your finger in the honey and tast 

 ing) it should not be used, of course. — Ed.] 



honey vinegar. 



I have seen in Gleanings that partly 

 filled sections might be made into honey 

 vinegar. Will ycu please give the process? 



Winchester, Ind. M. N. Borror. 



[The honey in unfinished sections can be 

 extracted providing it is uncapped. It can 

 then be worked over into honey vinegar by 

 diluting with water and putting in the 

 mother or ferment of an old vinegar- barrel. 

 Full directions on how to m^ke honey vine- 

 gar are given in our A B C of Bee Culture. 

 —Ed.] 



From 15 hives I extracted 6300 lbs. One hive made 

 443 lbs., and I took from it four frames of brood in 

 May. I bought my queens of J. P. Moore. I never 

 saw such a season before. T. L. Shawler. 



Silver City, la., Feb. 14. 



I had in spring 12 colonies of pure Italians. I in- 

 creastd to 30 good co'onies, which went into winter 

 quarters 1 eavy with stores, and put on the market 

 1800 lbs of fancy and No. 1 coxnb honey — about half 

 fancy and half No. 1. S. S. Scott. 



Blandburg, Pa , Feb. 10. 



I started in the spring with 9 colonies. One had no 

 queen. I bought a thiee-fraine uucleu.'^; made two col- 

 onies, and one came to me. I started in the winter 

 with 33 colonies. So far I have lost two. I received 

 950 lbs. of section honey. W. E. McFarland. 



Paris, Mo., Feb. 11. 



I started with one colony in March, 1903, bought four 

 more, increased to eleven, took fully 200 lbs. of honey; 

 paid for all hives, including this yeai's supply, from 

 sales of honey. I have eleven colonies ; am wailing 

 for the weather to moderate. J.^mes M. Polley. 



Meliose, Mass., Feb. 6. 



I received 1200 lbs. of nice comb honey and about 30 

 of chunk from 18 hives; sprmg count, 13; increased to 

 22, but caught four or fiye stray ones I had seven 

 colonies that never tried to swarm. They made me 

 about 120 lbs. each. I caught a swarm June 28 They 

 filled an empty hive and four supers with nice comb 

 ho: ey. J. C. Luginbill. 



Humboldt, Neb., Feb. 6. 



A BEGINNER GIVES A THREE-YEARS' REPORT. 



When I started with bees I knew nothing about 

 them (except that they gathered honey, whi h I like, 

 and would sting, which I did not like) June 26, 1900, 

 1 hought a swaim (just came out that day) Result for 

 1900 comb honey, 24 lbs., and brood-nest full, no in- 

 crease, no care. 



I started in ISIOl with one stand; increased to four; 

 one got away; .surplus comb honey. 63 lbs. 



In 1902 with three stands I increased to 11 (.=old one); 

 comb honev 79 lbs. or 26'3 per stand, spiing count. 



1 started 1903 with 10 stands; increased to 2L; result, 

 comb honey, 700 lbs , or 70 lbs per stand. 



I winter on summer stands in rough boxes stuffed 

 with chaff; lost none in winter yet. 



Long Rapids, Mich. Eular Thorne. 



$500 WORTH OF HONEY FROM 19 COLONIES, SPRING 

 COUNT, ETC. 



This has been the best season I have had in 25 years' 

 experience. From 19 colonies, spring count. I find by 

 my book I have sold over J500 worth of honey. I am 

 all sold out; all sold in my home market. I attribute 

 my success partly to giving empty comb, or ful! sheets 

 of foundation. Many a step could be saved by the 

 amateur if he would adopt my plan. My hives are all 

 covered with galvanized iron, making a very handy 

 place to write the record on. Every time a hive is 

 opened I set down the date and the exact state of the 

 progress in each super; also other thinj s that I may 

 know about them. This .'aves a vast amount of 

 work. We had a wonderful flow from white clover, 

 but very little from heartsease or sniartweed. Gener- 

 ally sm'ai tweed is our best flow, lasting until frosts. 

 Basswood did not blossom at all. My bees all flew 

 heavily Feb. 5 and 6. They have consumed a great 

 amount of stores. I never saw the like. I fed 25 lbs. 

 to the colony last fall, expecting them to come through 

 heavy. I must feed in March again. 



I saw a criticism in the American Bee Journal about 

 the Hoffman frames. I got 25 Root hives last fall. I 

 think the end-bars she uld be ', s inch thicker. I cut 

 all my brood foundation so as to leave }{ inch at the 

 ends. I have to waste 54 inch on every sheet, but I 

 never have any buckling, and never have seen drone 

 of any amount built on it. 



Marceline, Mo. Jan, 7. Irving Long. 



