446 



GLEiVKIKGS IN BEE CULTUUE. 



Skpt, 



From Different Fields. 



REPORT FROM A 16-yEAB-Ol.D BEE-KEEPEK. 



F,A has 69 colonies of bees, including- a few nu- 

 clei. The most of them are strong. AVe have 

 — ■ fed nearly a barrel of grape sugar. It is a 

 great help to the apiary. This has been a good sea- 

 son for bees. AVe have several colonies of four- 

 banded bees; the fourth band is easily seen as they 

 crawl over the combs. My brother David introduc- 

 ed an old laying queen from a strong swarm to a 

 swarm of young bees. She stopped laying a week or 

 more, and then she laid a few drone eggs; then she 

 stopped laying for a ^veck or so. To try an experi- 

 ment, he transferred her to a nucleus hi^•c, when she 

 immediately began to lay as Avell as ever, and is 

 still at it. The Spider plant is a perfect beauty. 

 The bees swarm on them in the evening. The Simp- 

 sons will not bloom much this year. There are five 

 or six hundred plants of both kinds. The bees work 

 on the catnip as much as on any other plant. Our 

 grapes have never been injured by the bees. AVe 

 expect a good honey-tlow this fall. I am 16 years of 

 age. The bees are mostly in my care, and I have a 

 good many other chores. AVe are adopting the L. 

 hive. My brother made out the spring report. 



James A\'. Kirk. 

 Columbus, Cherokee Co., Kan., July, 1?81. 



BASSWOOU HONEV AND SNOWDRIFTS. 



The Italians 1 got of you aredoing" just splendid." 

 I have 52 colonies: 7 of them Italians, and one Cy- 

 prian; the rest blacks. I never saw such a tlood of 

 basswood honey as we are having this year. The 

 branches of the trees are actually bending down un- 

 der the weight of the— I was going to say honey, 

 but will say blossoms. 



I wintered lit colonies last winter, and they all 

 came out strong. 1 winter in a snowdrift. 1 think 

 it is one of the best bee-hTjjes I oull had. Of 

 course, the bees were sui rounded by 4 inches of 

 buckwheat chaff. 



AV. B. Cochrane and James Craft are the two great 

 bee-masters of this locality, although James, at one 

 time last spring, would have made a good picture 

 for your Blasted Hopes. But he is on his "pegs " 

 again, "chock full" of " beeology;" in fact, what 

 Jim don't know about bees isn't worth knowing. 

 Your ABC book is just " bully." It saved me three 

 times the cost of it this very afternoon in finding a 

 drone-laying queen. AVm. C.vims. 



Itockland. Sullivan Co., N. Y., July 26, 1881. 



Glad to hear it. friend C. ; and Ave are also 

 glad to make the acquaintance of your bee- 

 friends, Messrs. Cochrane and Craft. '• IIoav 

 d'ye do, gentlemen V glad to see you both in 

 a hopeful frame of miiid, and on your ' pegs' 

 again." 



GOOD FOR A BEGINNER. 



Since I received specimen copy of your paper, 1 

 bought one hive of bees, strongly marked Italians, 

 for $7..50. In early June I divided them. Last week 

 I got two hiVi.ir swarms, same day, one cf/y large, the 

 other larger. I did not see the lirst coming out; they 

 had settled when I saw them first. An old bee-keep- 

 er, who helped me with bi)th, Capt. Hill, says he 

 never saw two as large swarms come from one, and 

 never knew two from one the same day, and insists 

 that the first is a "stray." But the only evidence is, 

 that the bees of one swarm are cross, while the 

 < (thers are not. I can scarcely go near the stand now, 

 while before I could handle them with impunity. 

 Besides the three new swarms, I have taken off 11 

 lbs. of honey, and another box almost ready to re- 

 move, so that I do not want to see my name in 

 Blasted Hopes. A. Kilpatrick. 



Valencia, Butler Co., Pa. 



It is scarcely probable that one colony 

 should send off tAvo strong swarms the same 

 day. 1 think Capt. Hill is right, and that 

 the one you mention came to yi)u to help 

 build up"^ your apiary. Accept it as a gift 

 from God, friend K., and care for it accor- 

 dingly. 



GRAPE SUGAIt. 



1 wish to add my testimony to the soundness of 

 your instructions respecting the use of grape sugar 

 for building up, etc. (Oct. No., 1879, p. ;i84.) I am 

 now realizing, from such building up, having my 

 bees strong, and bringing in honey so fast that I am 

 puzzled how to stow it away. The sugar, honestly 

 used, is a great help. I should have been sorry last 

 fall if you had said, "Don't use it;" so when you 

 promise to discard such advice, out of deference to 

 special friends, remember your ABC class. 



George Adams. 



Haledon, Passaic, Co., N. J., July 15, 1881. 



SWAR.MS SEPARATING. 



I had Ij swarms of bees this spring; lost 8 last win- 

 ter. I ha\ e i;3 now. July 5th I had a swarm come 

 out, and it alighted on a willow, and there was an- 

 other swarm just two feet from the one that alight- 

 ed on the limb between clislors; now, can you tell 

 me the reason why they alighted so near'? I hived 

 them; one stayed, and the other swarmed again, and 

 I hived it, and it stayed. They are doing well. One 

 would have thought they were one swarm. 



A. S. MVERS. 



West AVocdstoek, Windham Co., Ct., July 12, 1881. 



I think they Avere all one swarm, friend 

 M. They often sep'-uate in that Avay ; but 

 the queenless one will not stay long, unless 

 hived on a comb of brood. I should hive 

 them separately, and then if each part had a 

 queen, both Avould be saved. If one i)art 

 Avas (pieenless, it could be united Avitli the 

 other after it had started queen-cells. 



TAKING OFF SECTIONS. 



I find (//r;ff difliculty with the sections o:i Uip of 

 frames. My hive holds 24 on top and 6 on each side; 

 they get Avaxc'l to the top-bar; and when we open 

 our hi\es often, the secti(jns break when wc try to 

 lift them off. How would several wires stretched 

 tight across the bottom of the section-case to keep 

 them from direct contact with top-bars do? How 

 do you manage to get the sections off that are fin- 

 iiihal, without breaking a great many? for mine are 

 waxed to the tin separators and top-bars, and it is 

 almost an impossibility to take out }iavt of them 

 and insert empty ones in their place. 



AVe have the best honey season here I ever knew. 



AVm. M. Young. 



Nevada, AVyandot Co., O., July 16, 1881. 



Your first ditticulty, my friend, seems to 

 be that you have permitted the bees access 

 to the bottoms of the sections, Avhich should 

 never be. The sections should stand on a 

 piece of Avood supported about i inch a))ove 



