1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



125 



RAlTIBIii: NO. 3. 



KINGSBURY AND BUCKWHEAT, ETC. 



^f ] HOULD you stand in our apiary and look away 

 ^^ to the west, your vision would be interrupted 

 '~-^ by a range of mountains, blue and hazy with 

 the intervening- twenty miles. Could we look over 

 this barrier and to the northward, our sight would 

 descend upon the famous Adirondac Park, of north- 

 ern New York, with its rugged mountains, beautiful 

 lakes, and spruce and cedar scented forests. Start- 

 ing from our home, with these mountains in view, 

 we pass the boundaries of our town and enter the 

 township of Kingsbury. The greater portion of this 

 town is quite level, and was formerly designated as 

 Pitch Pine Plains. The Hudson River is its western 

 boundary, and in olden times it was the thorough- 

 fare of contending armies. Heroes of the Revolu- 

 tion, and previous wars, here faced death, and it 

 may be truly said, that these ancient roads were 

 tracked with blood. 



The principal village in this township is Sandy 

 Hill, and it takes its name from the nature of the 

 soil. One of the principal crops of this township is 

 buckwheat ; and if some of our friends who are 

 skeptical in relation to the secretion of honey in 

 this plant would come to this place, where a la»'ge 

 area is annually sown, they would find more or less 

 honey gathered from it every year. In our own lo- 

 cality, only twelve miles distant, but a few acres of 

 buckwheat are sown. Our bees probably find from 

 ten to twenty acres to forage upon, and we could 

 put the yield down as a failure, as we seldom get 

 more than a taste of buckwheat honey, while our 

 neighbors in Kingsbury are reveling in its produc- 

 tion, and the hives are becoming filled from top to 

 bottom, and we have seriously thought of carting 

 over about fifty swarms and setting them down in 

 the midst of these hundreds of acres of snow-white 

 blossoms. And here is another point for those who 

 believe bees fly a score or two of miles for honey. 

 These fields are perhaps ten miles in an air-line from 

 us, and we can testify that our bees do not collect 

 honey at that range. We think five miles a good 

 working distance. 



Mr. Seth Devine is the most extensive bee-keeper 

 at present in Kingsbury, having over 100 swarms; 

 but owing to light yields of honey and low prices, 

 and other business on his hands, he does not give 

 much attention to his bees. I believe at swarming 

 time he tells his neighbors to bring on their hives if 

 they want a present of a swarm of bees. 



In the pleasant village of Sandy Hill we find seve- 

 ral bee-keepers. Mr. Horace Harris has a small but 

 fine apiary of black bees. He is enthusiastic over 

 his pets, but thinks he will be compelled to sell out 

 his entire stock on account of the effects of stings 

 upon his wife and children. The effect is of such a 

 nature that death would result if remedies were not 

 at hand to counteract the poison. Mr. Thomas, of 

 the same place, has been compelled to give up keep- 

 ing bees on this account. Having been stung upon 

 the ear he was rendered insensible-; and but for im- 

 mediate medical assistance would have died. 



Mr. Harris claims that his bees use much more 

 water while at work upon buckwheat than at any 

 other time during the season. The pools around his 

 well are thronged with them. 



Mrs. David Hall is another bee-keeper with a 

 growing apiary, left her by her husband, who died 

 suddenly several months ago. She heroically takes 



her husband's place, and is quite skillful in their 

 management. 



Mr. Ira Brayton is another patron of Gleanings. 

 His apiary is in charge of his son, who is so unfortu- 

 nate as to be deaf. He can not interpret the lan- 

 guage of the bee from the contented or angry hum 

 of its wings; but his eye is quick to discern the 

 movements of his wicged stock, and thus their 

 moods are understood. We wish this young man 

 success, and not only the ability but the opportuni- 

 ty to manage a large apiary. 



There are several other bee-keepers in Kings- 

 bury whose homes we have not visited, but know 

 that warm hearts are ready to entertain us the 

 same as we have been by others of the fraternity. 

 Success to the bee-keepers of Kingsbury ! 



Near Sandy Hill are located the grounds occupied 

 by our county agricultural society, of which we told 

 you in Riimble No. 1. We paid them for the privi- 

 lege of selling honey and other bee-keeping articles, 

 and could have done a good business if the location 

 agreed upon had been given me. We were so dis- 

 gusted with otir treatment that it is doubtful if we 

 ever exhibit any thing in the bee line at a county 

 fair again. It don't pay. J.H.Martin. 



Hartford, N. Y., Feb. 1, 1881. 



Friend M., if the managers of your county- 

 fair sold you a location, fairly and squarely, 

 and then gave it to another party Avho 

 offered more, they should be "straightened 

 up." and if you will give me their address, I 

 will try to do it if no one else will. I am 

 sure it is a misunderstanding. — Thanks for 

 vour report on the buckwheat district of 

 'York State. 



REPORT FOR 1880. 



17,003 LBS. OF HONEY FROM 250 COLONIES. 



fHAVE heretofore refrained from writing any 

 thing for the bee papers until I got sufficiently 

 posted so I would not have to take back any 

 thing I might write; but after an experience of 25 

 years, I begin to fear I shall never learn it all, and 

 may as well, therefore, contribute my share of ex- 

 perience to the general fund. 



I commenced the spring of 1880 with 250 swarms— 

 80 of them black, the rest Italian and hybrid; they 

 were divided as follows: 6 miles west I owned a half- 

 interest in 80 black swarms; 6 miles northwest, a 

 half-interest in 30 black swarms. These two lots 

 were watched and hived by the parties where they 

 were located, they owning a half-interest in them. 

 The rest of the 250, viz., 180, were mostly Italian and 

 hybrids, and divided into 4 lots— 40 at home, 24 two 

 mites north, 41 three miles southwest, and 00 five 

 miles south. The home lot was divided for swarms; 

 the rest we ran for extracting, and depended on 

 keeping the swarms from absconding by keeping all 

 old queens cropped, and giving plenty of room ; and 

 where they showed a persistent determination to 

 swarm, we gave them two hives of comb, which gen- 

 erally kept them, and gave a better j-icld of honey 

 than where only one super was used. 



Probably our entire loss from swarms leaving 

 would not exceed 10, which is not so bad when we 

 consider the number, and that there was no one to 

 regularly watch four of the lots more than to tell us 

 which had swarmed and gone back during our ab- 

 sence, if they happened to see them. 



