496 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



time with a plant that cost so much money. 

 Their only fertilizer is stable manure. 

 Their soil is a black loam that I believe 

 they bring a mile or so from out of town. 

 Every florist or lettuce -grower should hunt 

 up the very best soil for his crop, and he 

 can well afford to go a mile or more after it 

 rather than use any thing inferior. Insect 

 enemies are kept down by burning in little 

 stoves, located at difi'erent points in the 

 houses, a mixture of tobacco stems and 

 tocacco dust. I do not know but tobacco is 

 destined to fill an important place in com- 

 merce; but we want to be sure it is inju- 

 rious insects that we use it on instead of 

 killing off our boys with it, and it is the 

 worst kind of killing, please bear in mind, 

 friends, for it kills physically, mentally, and 

 spiritually. God help us in protecting our 

 boys. 



THE CONVENTION AT CENTRAL LAKE. 



During the two days and one evening, al- 

 most every thing pertaining to bee-keeping 

 was discussed. I shall touch on only a few 

 brief points brought out that have not 

 already been gone over so much in our 

 columns. 



In answer to the question, "Why use a 

 dummy in eight-frame hives when none is 

 needed in a ten-frame hive?" the most of 

 the bee-keepers said they did not use a 

 dummy at all; but beginners, when they are 

 learning to handle frames, find it convenient 

 to have a dummy to remove in order that 

 they may have less trouble in getting out 

 the first comb, especially where using the 

 Hoffman frame. 



Nearly everybody at the convention used 

 wired frames ; and there was a general 

 agreement that the wires should not be 

 drawn too tightly. If they are drawn up 

 taut the sheet of foundation will almost 

 always bulge or buckle, because it extends 

 downward a little when the bees work it out; 

 therefore the wires should be just a little 

 loose in order to have perfectly flat combs 

 without any bulging. ^ 



There was much discussion in regard to 

 the time for putting bees into the cellar 

 in the fall and removing them in the spring; 

 and it seems to me to be a good deal a mat- 

 ter of locality, season, and other circum- 

 stances. One bee-keeper mentioned a case 

 where a part of his bees were left in their 

 winter quarters until after the rest had been 

 gathering early pollen and some honey for 

 several days. Those that were taken out 

 last got behind and never caught up. Mrs. 

 Morrow and several others present winter 

 outdoors in chaff hives. Friend Hilton also 

 advocates and practices outdoor wintering in 

 the Hilton chaff hive. It takes more honey, 

 no doubt; but the bees are always ready to 

 catch the early pollen, and are not likely to 

 suffer, even if a cold snap comes afterward. 

 Others who practice cellar or cave winter- 

 ing claim they not only save their bees from 

 loss, but save from 5 to 10 lbs. in stores. 

 Walter Harmer, of Manistee, has wintered 

 60 or 70 colonies in a cellar during the past 



winter that were almost destitute of stores; 

 and he has been feeding them all along 

 liquid food with the well-known pepper-box 

 feeder. This was considered a little remark- 

 able, because there seems to have been an 

 idea that we can not feed liquid food in the 

 cellar. Mr. Harmer's method of making 

 the syrup is to fill any dish with granulated 

 sugar up to a certain point. Make a mark 

 with a pencil or something else just where 

 this point is; then pour in boiling water 

 until the water rises to the same point. 

 This gives the right consistency. I visited 

 his cellar and looked over his bees, and was 

 satisfied he made a success with it. 



There was quite a discussion in regard to 

 wax-extractors. In the Bee-keepers' Review 

 for April an apparatus is figured and de- 

 scribed which seemed to be about what most 

 of them use. The principle is about the 

 same as that of our German wax-press. 

 The home-made machine costs less money. 

 Mr. Harris, who used to be located in St. 

 Louis, Mich., renders his wax with a pair of 

 "squeezers." This is the same thing, on a 

 larger scale, that my mother used to use for 

 getting out lard and tallow on butchering day. 

 It gets all the wax as well as any thing, 

 probably ; but where there is much to be ren- 

 dered, most bee-keepers prefer the press. 



Several recommended melting up the combs 

 whenever they get to be thick and heavy, 

 especially if they contain much drone comb. 

 The wax that has accumulated during sev- 

 eral years of use will furnish foundation for 

 a brand-new set of nice combs, and enough 

 to pay for your trouble besides. Soak your 

 old combs for 24 hours in warm water. This 

 softens the cocoons from the old brood- 

 combs and soaks them so full of water that 

 they do not take up and hold melted wax, 

 thus assisting considerably in squeezing out 

 the nice yellow wax. 



One bee-keeper reported quite a lot of 

 honey from radishes. These radishes were 

 grown by the acre to supply a large seed- 

 house with seed. The honey had an unmis- 

 takable flavor of radish. 



The president, Mr. Kirkpa trick, produced 

 and sold last year 5000 lbs. of honey which 

 sold in gallon cans at $1.20 per gallon. His 

 poor dark honey he sold to the baker to make 

 honey-jumbles. His poor honey brought him 

 only 6J cts. per lb. He said he thought it 

 better to sell at that price, and get it out of 

 the way, than to take any chances in having 

 it spoil his reputation for first-class table 

 honey. 



There was not much discussion on foul 

 brood, from the encouraging fact that it is 

 practically stamped out through all that 

 northern region, many thanks to Foul-brood 

 Inspector W. Z. Hutchinson and to Bro. 

 Rankin, who commenced the work before 

 him. From reports made, I am now satis- 

 fied that foul brood can be stamped out at 

 comparatively little expense if you have a 

 competent inspector. The disease is a dis- 

 grace and a shame to the whole United 

 States ; and every State should lend a hand 

 in driving it off from the face of the earth. 



