1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



17 



Tour honey is put up the nicest of any we have 

 seen, and is going off at wholesale at 25 cents, faster 

 than we acticipated. K. A. Burnett. 



165 South Water St., Chicago. 



He sold D. D. Malloy & Co., of Detroit, f 1167 worth 

 at one shipment, all put up in glass .lars, and packed 

 one and two dozen in cases. 



THE LARGEST YIELD OP HOXEY 



Fi-om one hive was 410 lbs. during one season. The 

 largest j'ield from one hive in one day was 3a?i lbs. 

 This was extracted honey, except about .50 lbs. of 

 the 410. These figures only show what can be done, 

 with all conditions the most favorable. With so 

 many bees as he now keeps together in one area (an 

 area, or bee-range, consists of a tield whose diam- 

 eter is 6 to 8 miles), the pro-rata yield is fjuite small. 

 Where nothing was gathered before, he has gath- 

 ered together and sold something over 120,000 worth 

 of this produce during the last 13 years. 



Mr. Heddon has formerly given employment to 

 one or two hands during 8 months of the year, and 

 he now employs three or four during the summer 

 season, and one all the year around. This year's 

 crop of honey was some over half comb, the bulk of 

 which was sold to Colter & Co., of CiDcinnati, they 

 sending $"20 for 4000 pounds, the price being 18 cents 

 per pound here, cash in advance. He still has some 

 3000 pounds of extracted honey now on hand (can- 

 died solid) which he is keeping to fill orders for reg- 

 ular customers who depend upon him from year to 

 year, and the home trade. 



He sent a 200-lb. cask to Karl Kudd, Sheldon, D.T., 

 a few weeks ago. 



EXTRACTED HONEY 



Is gaining ascendency in demand over comb honey 

 every year, and the favorite way of handling it is in 

 the candied state, as that condition is positive proof 

 of purity, and not only prevents all daub and leak- 

 age, but can be retailed in more useful packages, 

 and gives the purchaser a choice of consuming it in 

 the candied state (one much preferred by many), or 

 in the original liquid state, as exposure to 180 Fah. 

 of heat, brings it back to former conditions, the col- 

 or and flavor remaining the same. 



His apiary fixtures having grown into demand 

 more and more every year, he is now manufacturing 

 and dealing in 



bee-keepers' supplies. 

 Buying his lumber here, and doing his machine work 

 at our sash factories. This j-ear's sales foot up to a 

 little over $3000. 



COMB HOISEY; COVERINGS FOR THE 

 FRAiTIES, ETC. 



ONE-POUND SECTIONS. 



SHAVE a good many inquiries lately; and if the 

 friends will be patient I will try to answer them 

 — ■ through the columns intended for mutual in- 

 terchange of thought. 



I don't know whether I can get as much honey in 

 1-lb. as 2-lb. sections; for since discarding 6 to 10 lb. 

 boxes, I have never used any thing but the 1-lb. sec- 

 tion. I think it likely, however, I might get more in 

 2 lbs., but the 1 lbs. sell better; and moi'cover, all 

 my fixtures are arranged for 1 lbs., and I should not 

 want the bother of changing, without seeing a very 

 plain prospect of gain. I am old fogy enough to pre- 

 fer dovetailed sections. 



SEPARATORS. 



So long as I raised honey only for a home market 

 I did well without separators; but to pack the sec- 

 tions in cases for shipping, I found separators a 

 necessity. I wish I could do without them. They 

 give a section a clean look, and a section raised 

 without separators looks so full and plump. Get 

 one of A. I. Root's catalogues, and you will find full 

 description and illustration of the frame and sepa- 

 rator I use; the separator being 354 inches wide. 

 By looking at the illustration you will see that no 

 bee can get on the outside of the sections. Before 

 buying any more tin for separators I think I shall 



try wood 1-13 to ^i inch thick. I was much interest- 

 ed in Mr. Hasty's experiments, and thank him for 

 saving me the trouble of trying linseed oil; but the 

 thing that I should have the most confidence in is 

 propolis. 



QUILTS. 



May be they ought to be called sheets, for that's 

 about what mine are. I have tried nearly every 

 thing, except woolen cloth and wooden slats. For a 

 time I was better pltased with enameled cloth than 

 any thing else, and have used, I think, over 1.50 of 

 them; but I don't think I shall ever get any more. 

 If the bees get at the wrong side of them, the cloth 

 is very soon all gnawed awaj', leaving merely the 

 enamel, which is without strength. The liees seem 

 to gnaw them mucn worse than they do ordinary 

 cotton cloth. Then, too, as they get old the enamel- 

 ed sheets become hard and brittle, and easily tear 

 to pieces. I have been a little puzzled to notice a 

 great difference in the lasting of the same material 

 at different times. Some thin cotton cloth that I got 

 by mistake seemed to last as long, or longer, than 

 heavy duck cloth. I thick the difference li largely 

 owing to the time of year when the sheet is first put 

 on. if^a sheet of new cotton cloth is first put on in 

 early spring, or after the honey harvest is over in 

 the fall, I think the bees will test its strength pretty 

 thoroughly; but they will leave whole and cover 

 over with bee-glue that which is put on in the work- 

 ing season, perhaps because they are too busy to 

 gnaw it, or because propolis is plenty to cover it. 

 After it is once well coated with propolis all over, it 

 will last for years. All in all, I think the best sheets 

 I have ever used are tlie first I made when cloth 

 sheets were first introduced. That was years ago, 

 and some of them are in use yet. Tney were made 

 after this fashion: Good cotton cloth was used, a 

 piece cut twice the proper size for a quilt, or some- 

 thing larger, to allow for shrinkage; the piece was 

 doubled over, and two sides sewed together. This 

 makes a sort of bag, which is turned mside out, and 

 a newspaper or two put into it. If such a quilt is 

 put on when the bees are busily at work it will last 

 a long time. 1 have sometimes thought the news- 

 paper, besides making it very warm, helped to keep 

 the bees from gnawing the cloth. I have known in 

 more than one instance a hole to be gnawed into the 

 cloth, and one or two thicknesses of the paper gnaw- 

 ed through, then cloth and paper both well glued 

 over by the bees, and not disturbed afterward. 



In cleaning up supers, frames, and sections, each 

 year, several pounds of propolis are collected. I 

 have thought of taking this and melting it in a boil- 

 er or dripping-pan, then dipping in new cotton 

 sheets, and I don't see why the bees would not re- 

 spect them as well as if coated by themselves. 



C. C. Miller, 174 - 202. 



Marengo, 111.. Dec. 23, 1882. 



Very good, friend Miller ; but do you 

 know that propolis will melt like wax, so a 

 cloth can be dipped in it V Another thing : 

 Why should the enameled sheets ever be 

 put over the bees cloth side down V or, rath- 

 er, why should bees ever have access to the 

 cloth side ? It is the only thing we have 

 ever seen that could be kept clear of propo- 

 lis. I, too, should be very glad to dispense 

 with separators, but I do not at present see 

 how it can be done. After your wooden 

 separators are used a few times, I think you 

 will find that the bees are pretty apt to stick 

 bits of comb to them. 



