1881 



GLEANINGS IN 15EE CULTURE. 



87!) 



made me 100 sjTup-foeders; placed them in front of 

 hive, and at just dusk took a bucket and oiip and 

 gave each one about 'i pint of diluted extracted 

 honej-. By morning- all was removed except by two 

 nuclei, and it was all I could do to save them from 

 being "cleaned out," and even now every mornina- 

 the other bees flock by thousands to those two nu- 

 clei, and I have to watch them very closely to save 

 them. 



How with those that had the candyV Not one par- 

 ticle of trouble; but the way they are rearing- brood 

 and building- up, would do you ^ood to see. Now, 

 friend Root, you and Neighbor " H." just try it 

 once, and see if you don't give up feeding in the 

 liquid form, and report results; for they will take 

 your word for it much quicker than that of a novice 

 like mc. Though it is some trouble to make candy 

 for too or more colonies, yet, if you have to feed 

 any length of time, it is far less trouble in the end, 

 for it is no little job to put out 100 feeders every 

 evening, and fill them' and then remove every 

 morning. "Let them stay until feeding is over." 

 You can do so, but it don't look well to see the feed- 

 ers lying around to be in the way, and cracked by 

 the hot sun. At least, it don't to me. But, enough 

 of candy and feeding for this time. Of course, the 

 candy is made according to A B C, but more grape 

 sugar can lie used in hot weather. Be sure to give 

 us a report in August Gleanings of your trip to 

 Ferry's seed-gardens. E. T. Flanagan. 



Belleville, 111., July IB, 18S1. 



OUK OWTS APIARV. 



ST is the Fourth of July, and the bees are 

 luxuriating on a s])lendid. tlow of honey 

 — ' from the basswood just opening. I am 

 happy, too, for God's blessing seems espec- 

 ially resting to-day on the roaring apiary of 

 about 300 hives. A few weeks ago, and the 

 prospect of being able to ftll orders for bees 

 and queens seemed utterly hopeless. What 

 should we do? One of the worst troubles 

 was that my health again seemed failing un- 

 der such a load of cares, and I felt painfully 

 that I lacked strength, wisdom, and judg- 

 ment to care for so much business. It was 

 only the old story over again, to go with it all 

 to God in prayer, that he would help me 

 where 1 was weak, as I have in every under- 

 taking since the business began. I prayed 

 for bees and queens, that we might till the 

 orders promptly, and thus help the kind 

 friends who were sending in their money so 

 freely. The bees came, and are coming yet, 

 at less figures than I had any hope of getting 

 them, after our bad winter; and within the 

 past few weeks the queens have been com- 

 ing too. \Vhy, our friend S. D. Moore sent 

 us one lot of -50 that reached us on the last 

 train one evening. Think of -50 queens in 

 one crate ! It would have almost made me 

 sick to think of introducing so many in so 

 short a time a few weeks ago ; but, taking 

 courage after what I told you of last month, 

 I with my own hands introduced 80 of tliem 

 in a little over an hour. Many of them had 

 a comb pretty fairly filled with eggs the next 

 morning, and in one day almost every one of 

 them was ready to send out to you with a 

 pound of bees. I lost only two out of the 

 thirty, and both those hives, although mark- 



ed queenless, contained queens. Had the 

 hives been as they were marked, I should 

 have lost none. Ernest declares that much 

 of my wonderful success is due to letting 

 them out in the evening after the bees have 

 had a very successful day's work in gather- 

 ing honey. A'ery likely this is so. I was up 

 before sunrise this beautiful Fourth ; and as 

 I stood alone in the apiary, so prosperous, 

 and yet built up in so short a time, it seemed 

 almost as if God was too kind to a poor, sin- 

 ful, erring mortal. A few years ago, wlien I 

 planned just what 1 see now, I had a sort of 

 feeling that it was too visionary, and tliat so 

 great a number of colonies could never be 

 kept in bounds in one spot. I prayed then, 

 that even my mistakes might be blessed. 

 Shall I tell you how this prayer is being ans- 

 wered V 



One of our smaller toys places the hive on 

 a little bed of cinders, and with a scoop- 

 shovel makes of gravel a nice sloping en- 

 trance to the hive. A feAV empty combs are 

 placed in the hiAe, an enameled sheet over 

 these combs, and the cover put on. A slate 

 is also hung on the hive, that every thing 

 may be done with system. A load "of bees 

 (the hives having been fixed according to the 

 directions given in our county paper) comes 

 in from the country — second and third 

 swarms as they come out, and ordinarily of 

 little use to anybody in July. Another "boy 

 takes them from the wagon to the Fairbanks 

 scales. From this they are taken to the api- 

 ary and put into one of these hives ready 

 prepared for them, a comb of unsealed brood 

 being always put in the center of the empty 

 combs. This makes them stay, no matter 

 whether they have a qiieen or not. The 

 empty hive is now taken back, weighed 

 again, the owner paid, and, if I am busy, I 

 need not direct in regard to the matter at all. 

 If heavy, the swarm is divided. As soon as one 

 of the "parts has started queen -cells from 

 the larva- given them, a queen is introduced. 

 We give them laying queens if any are on 

 hand ; if not, a queen from the lamp nurse- 

 ry. This iani]) nursery is proving to be a 

 splendid thing during" this flow of honey. 

 Most of the bees aljout the country now 

 have some Italian blood in them, and some 

 that we buy are very finely three-banded. In 

 the latter case, we often send you a pound of 

 bees and a dollar queen from one of these 

 second swarms in less than 48 hours. This 

 pays first cost of the whole swarm, and we 

 have two queen-rearing nuclei left. Very 

 simple, is it not? It is true, the boys do it 

 all ; but I t€]\ "you it takes watching and 

 praying. To-day I found a new swarm all on 

 the front of the hive, and, come to look, the 

 boys had done it all right, even to putting in 

 the frame of brood ; but they had not opened 

 the entrance. The bees could not get in at 

 all. At another time, the bees were fastened 

 in so they could not get out at all. Now, do 

 not blame the boys : it is an exceedingly 

 hard matter to jump from one thing to an- 

 other and make no mistakes : and I tell you, 

 I have never found many men in my life 

 who would keep such an apiaiy all the time 

 so nothing should go wrong or to Avaste. 

 Multiply each operation up into the hun- 

 dreds, and it is no trifling thing to carry it 



