1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



449 



ABE BEES TAXABLE rROPEISTY, ETC. 



Will you please to settle an argument between me 

 and a lawyer? I wish to know if lioes can be taxed 

 in this or any other of the rnited States; and also if 

 they are attachable for debts of any kind. Please to 

 tell us, if you know, and oblige us both. 



I have 18 colonies of bees, all black, this spring; 

 but I have Italianized them all now. I have in- 

 creased from 7, and taken 110 lbs, of extracted clover 

 honey. While the young queens were ^ettmg to 

 laying I sent to a firm for $3.00 worth of fdn., and he 

 sent me 3 lbs and 2 cz. of Uat-brittomcd comb, 10 ft. 

 to the pound, and very uneven at that, and the bees 

 draw it unevenly. I think ho must have made some 

 mistake in filling my order. A. W. MEBRiLt,. 



Parkman, Mo., July IS, IS^l. 



I do not know law very much, liiend M.; 

 but I have always paid taxes on my bees, 

 and always expect to, no matter what the 

 law is. 1 am sine that bees are, nowadays 

 at least, taxable property, in the true spirit 

 of the law, and as a citizen of the United 

 States 1 want to do my part toward keeping 

 np the institutions of our country.— By all 

 means, write to the firm you allude to and 

 give them a chance of correcting the mistake. 

 If they do not do it, nor give any satisfactoiy 

 explanation, have them •' shown np" for the 

 good of others. 



MY EXPEKIENCE. 



I have kept bees for four years. I went into the 

 winter of 1880 almost discouraged with bees, hiving 

 little or no success, not even paying my expenses. 

 My bees were all packed in chaff, and so I thought 

 were in very good condition to winter through. 

 When April oame, about half had starved, and the 

 rest dwindled away until I reduced them to three 

 weak swarms. Then you see 1 was about ready to 

 go into Blasted Hopes. It happened that father 

 bought enough more bees to make my number 8. 

 I then determined to make the 8 swarms pay, if I 

 did not get any increase. I now have about 800 lbs. 

 of honey, mostly extracted, which I am selling for 

 Vili cts. per lb., and 15 swarms in the Roop hive. 

 Some swarms I tier up three stories high. I expect 

 my report will be small by the side of some, but it is 

 through the blessing of the Lord I have got what I 

 have. L. B. Ken yon. 



Lyons, Ionia Co., Mich., Aug. 2, 1881. 



PROMPTNESS AND RESPONSIBILITY ARE ESSENTIAL 

 TO A BEE-KEEPEH. 



You no doubt begin to think that you will not get 

 the money for the beautiful queen you sent me; but 

 It is all right; and here let mo suggest an idea that 

 is quite a consolation to me as regards losses to a 

 bee-culturist: If a man is so low and mean as to 

 try to cheat one out of a queen or other appliances 

 necessarj' to successful results, he is not fit to own 

 and handle bees, and will not prosper in the busi- 

 ness. A successful bee-keeper must be a reliable 

 man te start with. I was very successful in intro- 

 ducing her, but she seemed to be quite exhausted 

 on her arrival, and it took her more than a week to 

 recruit, and now she is nearly double the size when 

 first I saw her, and she has young bees now at work, 

 and they are perfect beauties, and very industrious. 

 1 find bee culture in Nebraska quite dififei-ent from 

 that of York State or Wisconsin. The Italians are 

 far superior to the black bees here. This is a good 

 honey country, but bees must be strong and vigor- 



ous to stand the wind and sudden storms. I have 

 never lost a swarm in fifteen years, and have win- 

 tered as many as 73 swarms at once. 



T. L. WiirTBECK. 

 VVahoo, Saunders Co., Neb., July 18, 1881. 



CALIFOUNIA. 



The honey season will be a total failure in this sec- 

 tion of 1 he State this year. 1 have not extracted a 

 pound of honey this season, nor do I expect to; 

 neither have I heard of an}' one who has. One of my 

 neighbors has some bees near Santa Monica; he was 

 looking through them, a few days ago, and many of 

 them had "not a drop " of honey in the hives. There 

 are plenty of flowers, sage, wild buckwheat, sumac, 

 and lovevine; but-no honey. Bees on the scales 

 rt/)U')i to 65 lbs. " It's a foul wind that blows no one 

 any good." I shall need no hives for another year. 

 This is my second year, and both have been failures. 

 Rather hard for a novice, is it not? Cause of fail- 

 ure of honey this year, weather too cold and cloudy. 



W. W. Bliss. 



Los Angeles, Cal., July 7, 1881. 



UPS .\ND DOWNS, BUT NOT BLASTED HOPES, AFTER 

 ALL. 



I commenced bee-keeping in 1878, with two stands; 

 increased to 5 first summer; gave 1 away, leaving 4; 

 increased to 9 in 1879; 1 died wintering, leaving 8 in 

 1880; increased to 10, and now have only 3 weak 

 swarms left. From the start they have paid ex- 

 penses, and paid for !f20.00 worth of carpenter tools, 

 be^^ides paying for hives. I have 15 extra boxes, and 

 100 combs, so I have not lost any thing by them so 

 far, I have wintered in cellar every year, and I 

 think my losses have been from my own neglect. 



Samuel Lister. 



Newton, Jasper Co., Iowa, June 1, 1881. 



STRAW OR CHAFF PACKING IN CELLAR, ETC. 



Nov. 9th, 1880, I put 35 swarms into my cellar, with 

 a bridge over all the frames, a common sheet of 

 duck over bridge, and top of hive packed full of 

 straw. April 13th, 1881, I set out 34 swarms, one dy- 

 ing queenless. After I set them out, one got robbed, 

 and 1 hey were queenles?; but I did not know it, then 

 I put three in one hive, to try to build it up, and it 

 is the smallest one I have now. To-day I have 57 

 swarms and one nucleus, all heavy except 3 or 4, 

 and have taken up to-day very nearlj' 600 lbs. of 

 honey in lU andl lb. sections; and If I had an ex- 

 tractor I could take -500 more from two outside 

 frames in each hive, and let them fill up with buck- 

 wheat, fireweed, and goldenrod. 



R. P. LOVETOY. 



Grtig, Lewis Co., N. Y., July :24, 1881. 



CHAFF HIVES, ETC. 



Bees are in splendid condition. I am surprised at 

 the great loss of bees, especially in chaff hives. Af- 

 ter passing through two severe winters, and never 

 losing but one colonj^ in the whole time, I am a flim 

 believer that there is no better or safer way to win- 

 ter bees than on Summer stands in chaff hives. I 

 have always started in winter with plenty of bees, 

 good stores, and tucked up with division-boards. I 

 may bo wrong; but if everybody would start in win- 

 ter in as good shape, and chaff packing, they would 

 never have occasion fcr a space in Blasted Hopes. 



D. White. 



New London, Ohio, May 7, 18ol. 



