32 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan^. 



I wintered 49 colonies that came through nice and 

 strong. I got all my surplus of 10 hives (8 Italians 

 and 3 blacks), and 2 swarms of Italians and 1 black. 

 I got 100 lbs. of nice Vi lb. section honey from one 

 stand, and all my bees received the same treatment, 

 so that I am convinced there is as much difference 

 in bees as there is between day and night as to their 

 working qualities. The queen in the hive that yield- 

 ed so much honey is the daughter of a queen raised 

 from an imported mother. I claim that, by careful 

 selection, wo can now pick out just as good queens 

 as those that are imported, if not better. I intend 

 to raise all my queeas this next spring from these 

 hives, —the one that made so much honey, and from 

 the mother of the queen, which will be 3 years old in 

 the spring. The surplus amount of ten colonies was 

 :.'r>0 lbs. I had to feed 10 old stands and 2 young 

 swarms, which took about :iOO lbs. of sugar. I have 

 now 53 colonies in wintering condition. 

 Greenfield, O., Nov. 30, 1880.3 J. (". Pomjiert. 



PEET CAGE. 



1 would say in relation to the Peet cage, that I 

 have used several of them during the past summer, 

 and can indorse ncarlij all that is said of them. For 

 all purposes, there isn't a better cage in the market : 

 and the only failtire I made with them was in in- 

 troducing queens according to directions. 1 intro- 

 duced several safely V'y applying the cage to an e\en 

 frame of brood and removing the slide: but after 

 losing two tine queens by the bees digging under 

 the edge of the cage. I was in a stew about all the 

 rest. I prefer to hang the cage between the combs, 

 and not remove the slide until the propter time. 

 That proper time is the third day. I have intro- 

 duced over forty queens during the fall, losing not 

 one. J. H. Martin. 



Hartford, N. Y., Dec. :l, 1880. 



The above objection is the one I feared in 

 regard to the Peet cage, and that this one 

 thing Mould cause disappointment. As 

 yours, friend ^I., is the only case of failure 

 Ave have had reported, I thiiik we shall have 

 to conclude the danger is not a very great 

 one, even in the hands of inexperienced per- 

 sons. AVith a valuable queen, say an im- 

 ported one. I would by all means adopt the 

 plan you mention, of letting the queen out 

 myself, rather than to trust to the bees to do 

 it. Of course, if we do this we can not let 

 her out on the brood. 



SEED FARMS AS HONEY FARMS. 



(See p. 379, Aug. No., 1880.) 

 As you wished to hear more from my bees, situa- 

 ted next to D. M. Ferry's seed garden, I thought I 

 would give you their work now, while it is fresh in 

 my memory. Of course, I keep an account of re- 

 ceipts and expenses; but stilt there arc other things 

 we don't set down, and consequently they are for- 

 gotten. I commenced there with 4 swarms of what 

 I supposed to be Italians, 2 of the queens from your 

 yard, and 2 from Alley's. The two from your yard 

 were both hybrids; but those from Alley were just 

 splendid. I had some queens of Alley this summer, 

 l)Ut not so nice. During this summer we had 14 nat- 

 ural swarms from the four; have doubled up until 

 there are now 15 in all, all of which are strong and 

 rather too full of honey. We also got considerable 

 surplus. We have not weighed it yet, but think 

 there is over 100 lbs. This is the bright side I have 

 given; now for the dark side. 



I visited the yard about two weeks ago, which, by 

 the way, is ten miles from here, and found a num- 

 ber of the swarms have the dysentery already- one 

 of them very badly; thousands of bees were lying 

 around, and their nicely painted chaff hive was all 

 besmeared. I think it is the honey that affects 

 them. There is lots of white clover in their vicinity, 

 but they seemed to gather none, preferring the 

 honey from the onions, etc. It has a peculiar taste 

 to me, not very agreeable : others, not so used to 

 eating honey, don't notice it so much. I will let you 

 know in the spring how they come out. 



iNIy bees at home have done Aery well considering 

 the season. My best swarm gave me 111 one-pound 

 sections; another 9S, and so on down to nothing. 

 All my bees are in chaff hives, well painted in two 

 colors. I took some honey, hives, sections, fdn., 

 smokers, bee journals, etc.. to our county fair; had 

 much the same experience that friend Hutchinson 

 did. I was awarded the lirst premium on honey, 

 but, through some mistake, I got nothing for it. I 

 received first premium on hives, which they paid: 

 some one stole my September Gleanings, which 

 leaves my number for the year incomplete. 



M. H. HrNT. 



Bell Branch, Wayne Co., Mich., Dec. 4, 1880. 



REPORT FROM AN ILLINOIS BEE KEEPER. 



I have never made a report since I have been in 

 the bee business, for the reason I knew just where 

 my report belonged. But I will make one now at a 

 venture. T went into winter-quarters last fall with 

 5.5 colonies: wintered on summer stands, partially 

 supplied with chaff' diAision-boards, with a cheap 

 box set on top, filled with chaff. Came through with 

 54; had no spring dwindling. I united none in the 

 fall nor in the spring, for the reason I wanted in- 

 crease as well as honey. In our localitj', I don't 

 think feeding in the fall, to stimulate breeding, 

 pays. Neither do 1 think spring feeding is necessa- 

 ry, unless it is for increase. If our bees get strong 

 by the first of July that is all we want. August and 

 September is our honey harvest. June is the time 

 to feed. We get no honey from linden nor white 

 clover. 1 raised about 90 queens; sold $40.00 worth, 

 used the balance myself. Proceeds and sales are as 

 follows:— 



Queens $40.00 



Section honey, 1370 lbs. at 10 

 Extracted honey, 3:W lbs. at 10 - 

 Increase, 30 colonies, worth $5. On each 



Total, 



Less incidental expenses. 



Net proceeds, . - . . 



19.20 



;«.00 



loO.( U 



442.20 

 89.00 



- $40;i.2O 

 RuFus Robinson. 

 Laclede, Fayette Co., 111., Nov. 39, 1880. 



HOW "DOWN -EAST" ABC SCHOLARS GET A START. 



I thought perhaps you would like to hear from 

 one of you eastern A B C scholars. I commenced 

 last spring with one hive of bees. They gave a good 

 swarm in June. I put them in a box hive, having 

 no other. I got a swarm of bees that were in a box 

 hive of a neighbor, and a friend showed me how to 

 transfer them. I got a large swarm late in the 

 fall that were on the underside of a limb of a large 

 tree, 43 feet high. They had seven combs. In No- 

 vember I took another swarm having 9 combs, from 

 a projection under the eaves of a house. The duy 

 was so cold that I transferred them in the parlor. 

 I now have four hives three in P^ story, and one in 



