GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



us dream. The prices paid are not high, but 

 the demand is large and steady, which is of 

 vastly more importance. The handling of 

 crops of honey is drifting away from the 

 hands of the commission mercihant into those 

 of the cash buyer. Honey has really become 

 a staple, in good demand, and can be readi- 

 ly sold for cash almost any day of the year, 

 the same as butter, wheat, and potatoes. 



There is really no great difficulty in win- 

 tering bees without loss. An underground 

 or suitable cellar, where the temperature is 

 beyond the influence of outside temperature, 

 properly ventilated, and the bees supplied 

 with early-gathered well-ripened natural 

 stores, or else fed a syrup made from granu- 

 lated sugar, solves the wintering problem. 

 There are several methods, notalDly "shook, 

 swarming," whereby distant apiaries may 

 be managed by occasional visits, with no loss 

 from absconding swarms. 



The first thing to be considei'ed in embark- 

 ing in beekeeping as a sole business is the 

 location. This is the foundation of bee-keep- 

 ing as a specialty. I would never think of 

 such a thing as making a specialty of bee- 

 keeping in a poor location. Still further, 

 unless the location is different from any with 

 which 1 have had experience, I would not 

 attempt specialty with bees in one location — 

 cei'tainly not with only one apiary. With 

 the systems of management now in use, it is 

 possible to care for an apiary many miles 

 from home — so far that the journeying to 

 and fro must be done on the ears. If possi- 

 ble, have each apiary where the flora and 

 other conditions are different from those at 

 the other yards. The chances of a total fail- 

 ure are thus greatly lessened; there is almost 

 certain to be a crop at some of the locations. 

 To illustrate, I have bees in four different 

 kinds of locations; or, rather, there are four 

 sources of supply available to one or more 

 of the four yards. These sources are clover, 

 basswood, red raspberry, and buckwheat. 

 Last year the buckwheat furnished about 

 one-fourth of the crop, while basswood yield- 

 ed nothing. Next year the conditions may 

 be I'evei'sed. Clover yielded the most pro- 

 fusely last year; next year it may be rasp- 

 berry. 



Having secured the desirable locations, 

 next comes the stocking of them with the 

 very best kind of bees. I have found noth- 

 ing superior to the darker strains of Italians. 

 Get the best of hives and implements. This 

 is one of the advantages of specialty, that it 

 can afford to have tools and implements 

 which are beyond the reach of the small bee- 

 keeper. It can have the best of hives, feed- 

 ers, cellars, extractois, etc. For instance, I 

 have sold the two-frame extractox's that came 

 with the apiaxies that I boxxght last fall, in 

 Northern Michigan, and shall pxxt a four- 

 frame automatic at each yax'd the coming 

 season. 



To I'ecapitulate: Get a good location; bet- 

 ter yet, several good locations; stock them 

 with good bees, plenty of them, enough so 

 that wnen there comes "a good year the crops 

 will be enox'moxxs; have the best of hives and 



implements, and study out some system of 

 management that is adapted to yourself and 

 yoxxr conditions. Simple, isn't it? 



One thing more, and I am done. Unless 

 yoxx love this work, xxnless yoxx can go into it 

 with enthxxsiasm, and full faith in your abil- 

 ity to succeed, don't attempt it. 



Flint, Mich., Feb. 26. 



GOOD CANDY. 



Made Avith a Universal Bread -mixer ; How 

 to Make it so that it Can be Used as a 

 Winter Food AVithont Melting down and 

 Killins: the Bees. 



BY D. E. LHOMMEDIEU. 



With unxxsual intex'est I have just x-ead the 

 article, page 95, on making bee candy. 



Last spring it became necessary to feed. I 

 used xxp 3 bbls. of pxxlverized sxxgar in "Good 

 candy." It was mixed with the xxniversal 

 bread-mixex". No. 8. Smaller sizes coxxld be 

 xxsed if desired. They are made in Connec- 

 ticut, and cost $2.50 or $3.00. Turn into the 

 mixer measured wax'm extracted honey, and 

 measiired pxxlverized sxxgar. ( By experiment- 

 ing youcan detei'mine the right qxxantities to 

 make a'stiff dough. ) If made too soft it will 

 melt and I'xxn oxxt of the hive entrance. Use 

 galvanized or tin basket sprinkled with the 

 pxxlvex-ized sxxgar; lay in one batch made in 

 the shape of a pancake; then add a layer of 

 sxxgar, etc., till you have enough to feed the 

 oxxtyax'd. 



By keeping sugar over the candy, robbei's 

 can't toxxch it. Go to the hive; cut oft' a 

 chxink of candy, the size you wish to feed, 

 with a knife; lay it above the cluster. Jt 

 will last qxxite a while compared with liqxxid 

 feed. The bi'ood stai'ted in this way will sui'- 

 prise yoxx. You won't need to roll up yoxxr 

 sleeves to make bee-candy this way, and 

 there will be no x'obbing if the hive is prop- 

 erly closed at the top. 



Colo, Iowa. 



[Yo-xxr scheme of making bee candy we be- 

 lieve to be excellent. We have leax'ned by 

 expex'ience that it is vex'y important to do a 

 thoroxxgh job of mixing the honey and the 

 sxxgar, and nothing could do this better, prob- 

 ably, than the common bi-ead-mixers now on 

 the market. But in view of some serious 

 losses some of oxxr bee-keeping friends have 

 sxxstained from attempting to use the Good 

 candy, or, as it is sometimes called, qxxeen- 

 cage candy, on top of the fx'ames for a win- 

 ter food, it would behoove every one to err 

 on the safe side by putting such candy in a 

 shallow tin pan or tray. The wooden but- 

 ter-dishes that can be had at any grocery 

 would serve a most excellent purpose. Even 

 if you yourself can mix the candy so it will 

 not "run," there will be others, doubtless, 

 who can not do it; and then, too, the condi- 

 tions in your climate might be slightly differ- 

 ent fi'om those in another. Iowa is a much 

 dryer State than many of those east of the 

 Mississippi, and especially those bordering 



