502 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



HOW TO MAKE A GLASS FRUIT-CAN INTO A lEEUER. 



I send you a tin to put on a one or two quart fruit- 

 can, with metal rim. Put it on with stick up ; this 

 gives the bees a chance to get the feed when placed 

 over the frames. Screw on the rim and try it. You 

 can see when the feed is out. You can, if you like, 

 put a M-inch board across the frames, 4 inches wide, 

 cleated %, to raise it from the frames, and bore two 

 holes for each can; you can then put four cans on 

 one board, and keep the rest of the frames closed up. 

 You could also make the pieces without the stick 

 by using larger tin, and turning it up '■'» all around, 

 like a cup. You see, after using the cans you can 

 fill them with honey and sell them. 



Last fall I tried to winter 59 hives ; lost 28 ; that left 

 31; bought 10 for $40.00; 6 good, 4 poor; outof theSI, I 

 had 10 good, 10 middling, 11 poor. From 41 1 increas- 

 ed to 72 hives and 9 nuclei— 81 in all. From them I 

 got box honey, 600 lbs., and extracted 1700 lbs., mak- 

 ing 2300 lbs. from 41, and increased 81. I want to 

 winter 80 hives this coming winter, and I will try to 

 fix them so they will come out like the burning bush 

 on the mount before Moses. The Lord bless you, 

 brother Koot! J. W. Utter. 



Amity, Orleans Co., N. Y., Aug. 19, 1881. 



Many thanks for your kind words as Avell 

 as for the feeder, friend U. This feeder is 

 intended for the kind of glass fruit-cans that 

 have a metal ring to hold the cover on. The 

 piece sent is just a circular piece of tin with 

 holes punched in it, and a piece of wood I 

 square tacked across it with wire nails. This 

 bit of wood prevents the collar from being 

 screwed clear down, and so leaves a passage 

 for the bees under it. The point made, that 

 these cans can be afterward washed and sold 

 with honey in them, is quite important, for 

 the can is in no way injured, and the coa er 

 is not used at all. 



THE L. FRAME. 



In Gleanings for this month, page 4:33, Mr. J. E. 

 Pond, Jr., says that as far as he knows everybody ad- 

 mits that the L. frame is the most convenient for 

 operating. Please say to him that I for one consider 

 it the most outlanilish, inconvenient, and unhandy 

 frame I ever undertook to use, and I would not use 

 them and the hives connected with if I could be fur- 

 nished them free, and a dollar each for my extra 

 trouble. I want a frame that I can set on a board 

 without killing bees on the under side of it; one I 

 can take from the hive with one hand; one I can 

 carry three of, when covered with bees, in one hand, 

 and not hurt a bee; and I can take from the brood- 

 nest without removing the sections above. When he 

 can do that with his frame, I will admit they are ap- 

 proaching mine in convenience of handling. 



E. B. SOUTHWICK. 



Mendon, Mich., Sept. 3. 1881. 



"Why, friend S., one would almost think, 

 from your vehemence, that some one was 

 sticking a pin into you somewhere, or that 

 you had got a i^atent-right bee-hive of your 

 own, of some kind. Which is itV 



AN A B C SCHOLAR IN C.A.NADA. 



With much pleasure I lay hold on my pen to in- 

 form you of our honey season in this part of Canada. 

 Our season is now nearing the benediction period, 

 but has been very good thus far. We started in the 

 spring with one colony of common black bees. This 

 one colony was tremendously cut up by the frost 



and steady winter, and a lack of sulBcicnt honey. 

 We bought them as a first swarm, but found out 

 afterward that they were a second. Last j'ear not 

 being a good honey year, we fed them. Well, we 

 started with one colony, or, rather, a nucleus, for 

 they covered only dH frames in the hive. But 

 through your valuable A B C we have run them up 

 to 3 good, strong, healthy, active swarms; i. r., if we 

 know any thing about large swarms. The first one 

 came out late on Sundaj-, July 27, and the second one 

 two weeks later on a Sunday morning. The last hive 

 we supplied with 9 Langstroth frames, filled with 

 Jones's Dunham fdn., and they now have as much 

 honey as the other two. We have robbed them of 

 about 6o lbs of fine surplus comb honey. Strict at- 

 tention would have given us more, but we are farm- 

 ers, and afraid of bees, so we contented ourselves 

 with 60 lbs. Father, however, intends to make bee- 

 keeping his business, if he lives to get old and child- 

 ish. The season has been a good one in these parts. 

 A short distance from here good strong colonies 

 turned out 90 to 120 lbs. surplus extracted honey. 

 Accept my thanks for A B C. It has been a world of 

 good to me thus far. I will make better use of it 

 next year. 



Good comb honey has been retailing here at from 

 20to35cts. ; extracted, 18 to 22; out of the groceries, 

 at 30 cts. I could have sold 2000 lbs. at that figure. 



Wesley Baer. 



Bonmiller, Huron Co., Out., Can., Aug. 30, 1S81. 



REPLACING QUEENS SENT BY MAIL. 



I do not like to think people dishonest, but there 

 is a person here who got a queen and put her in the 

 hive, and was away for a while, and came back, and 

 I believe she was dead. He sent for another. 1 do 

 not know whether he got it or not, but I would not 

 like to get them in that way. 



Ont., Can., Sept. 5, 1831. 



For obvious reasons, the Avriter of the 

 above wishes his name withheld. I })resume 

 it is a fact, tliat Ave who send out queens are 

 sometimes asked to send another, when it is 

 not right that we should do so. Sometimes 

 the receiver reports that the queen came to 

 hand alive, but feeble, and that although 

 she lived a day or two, she was finally brougnt 

 out of the hive dead. It may be a hard mat- 

 ter to decide whether the queen died from 

 the effects of her trip, or was killed in intro- 

 ducing. In the former case, it was the ship- 

 per's duty to make good : in tlie latter, the 

 loss of the receiver. How shall we always 

 decide such mattersV I will tell you my way: 

 Recognizing that I am selfish, and will be 

 very likely to see the whole transaction from 

 a selfish standpoint, I try to take the other 

 extreme ; and if I err, err on the side of do- 

 ing a little more than my part, rather than 

 the other. Accordingly^ I choose to stand 

 the loss of all queens received by me, that 

 are sufficiently alive to crawl about, but 

 when a customer receives one from us in ap- 

 parently feeble condition, I wish Jiim to put 

 her into a hive as quickly as possible, and do 

 the best he can for her; and then if she dies, 

 as it seems to him, on account of feebleness, 

 I will send him another. I well know how 

 natural it is to have thoughts force them- 

 selves into our mind after you have lost a 

 queen, that she did not seeni very lively any 

 way; l)ut I would far rather be wronged a little 



