1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



27 



tained, tho results will be given through'the papers 

 making this request. C. C. Miller, 



Chairman Statistical Com. 

 Marengo, 111., Dec. 12, 1883. 



There it is before you, friends, and now 

 let us all take hold and send those cards in 

 on friend Miller, in a perfect hailstorm. 

 Here goes mine now, before I forget it. 

 Will you not do the same V 



m LTHOUGH I can not give as big a report as 

 ^^ some can who are engaged in keeping bees, 

 ~"' — ' I am satisfied with the result of the sea- 

 son's labor. I commenced last spring with 7 colo- 

 nies of blacks. I bought 6 colonies, paying $10.00 for 

 them. They were blacks also, and in old box hives. 

 We transferred them to the Simplicity (I say we, for 

 my husband helps me in transferring, extracting, 

 etc.). I had one natural swarm, and made two by di- 

 viding, and I bought one swarm of a neighljor late 

 in the season, paying 50 cts. for the bees, taking 

 them from a tree, he keeping the honey; so you see 

 I now have IT colonies, 10 of them Italians, 6 hybrid, 

 and one black, all in fair condition for winter. We 

 have taken 1200 lbs. extracted honey, and 300 lbs. in 

 Simplicity section boxes. Hive No. 10, which I call 

 my " missionary hive," gave me 300 of those boxes. 



I have found sale for the most of my extracted 

 honey at ]2;icts.; but the comb honey goes slowly 

 at 20 cts. per box, owing to the superabundance of 

 broken-up comb honey on the market. 



The fore part of the season was very unfavorable 

 for bees, being cold and wet. I put on the second 

 story about the middle of June, and the queens took 

 possession of them immediately. I at first tried to 

 keep them below; but finding it difficult to do so, 

 and that it took more time than I could afford, I just 

 put on a third story, and let them go. 



Well, Mr. Root, I suppose you have seen as large 

 colonies of bees, but I never did before, and it beat 

 all to see how they did work. While our neighbors' 

 bees were swarming, ours were piling the honey in 

 at such a rate that we had but little time to rest. I 

 consider bee-keeping a pleasant and remunerative 

 employment for ladies, but they must not be afraid 

 of work, or bees either, if they would succeed. I 

 think the Italian bees are much more inclined to 

 rob than the black bee. I find the best way to stop 

 robbing is to throw a cloth of some kind over the 

 hive, letting it extend down in front sufiflciently to 

 darken the entrance. Sarah E. Duncan. 



Lineville, Wayne Co., Iowa, November 13, 1883. 



Thanks, my friend. I think a little more 

 experience will change your views in regard 

 to the Italians robbing. I am very glad to 

 hear the " missionary hive" did so well. 



HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET A LAYING QUEEN, 

 ETC. 



Will you give me a place in the Ladies' Depart- 

 ment, and allow me to take part in some of the gen- 

 tlemen's discussions? 1 noticed, in the Nov. No. of 

 Gleanings, that Mr. Pond testifies that a queen can 

 be hatched from the egg in less than 16 days; and 

 again in the Dec. No., Mr. Eby states that he has bad 

 queens hatch the 14th, 15th, and 16th day after the 

 colony became queenless, and I simply wish to give 

 my experience in testimony to that fact. 



Last March I ordered queens from Mr. Viallon, of 

 Louisiana. Receiving notice from him that the 

 queens would be sent about the Ist of April, I re- 

 moved the black queens about that time, in order to 

 prepare my colonies to receive the Italian ones. 

 '' But the rains descended, and the floods came," and 

 I found my hopes were built upon a sandy founda- 

 tion; in other words, those floods cut Mr. Viallon off 

 from communication with Texas. I had one fine 

 Italian queen, which I had obtained of Mr. W. Z. 

 Hutchinson the preceding year, and failing to get 

 my queens at the time I expected them, I found that 

 my only chance was to raise queens from that one 

 tested queen. I accordingly took a frame of eggs 

 and larvaj from my Italian colony, and placed it in 

 the strongest black swarm I had, and every day I 

 examined my black swarms (I then had four) I tore 

 down the queen-cells, and with my hairpin removed 

 the drone larvte until none were left. I then insert- 

 ed my Italian queen-cells, and did not disturb them 

 for a while, except to get in front of the hives every 

 day, and destroy what few black drones would oc- 

 casionally stray into them from other apiaries. On 

 the 20th day after I gave the frame of brood to that 

 black swarm, I opened one hive, and, to my aston- 

 ishment, found the first frame I took out filled with 

 sealed drone brood. This alarmed me; for I thought 

 they must have stolen a black queen from another 

 apiary, until I found "her majesty" crawling 

 among the bees, and as bright as her mother. Icon- 

 eluded, alter consulting Mr. Mosher, to let the drone 

 brood alone, as I was positive that I had previously 

 destroyed all the black larvte, and, sure enough, 

 those drones proved as bright as any I have ever 

 seen since. Now comes the test. In your ABC 

 book I believe you say it takes the egg 3^i days to 

 hatch into larvtc, and the bees feed it 352 days be- 

 fore sealing it up. Now, allowing 7 days for the 

 sealing of that drone brood, we have 13 days left for 

 the queen to hatch in; and if she was hatched from 

 the oldest larvte in the frame, it could not have been 

 more than 16'/i days from the time the egg was de- 

 posited in the cell until it was converted into a lay- 

 ing queen. 

 bee-keeping; is it too hard work for women? 



I notice in the Dec. No. that Mrs. Shepard asks, "Is 

 bee-keeping too hard work for women?" For the 

 encouragement of the ladies I will review my year's 

 work. 



I commenced the 1st of March with three swarms, 

 I have increased them to 27, and taken 733 lbs. of 

 extracted honey. With the exception of a little help 

 I received in extracting I did all of the work for my- 

 self, besides making frames for all of my own hives, 

 and several of those which I sold (I mean I put the 

 frames together). I transferred from box into Sim- 

 plicity hives, and Italianized 7 colonies for other 

 parties, and several times took my exti-actor and 

 went a couple of miles ioto the country and ex- 

 tracted honey for persons who had no extractor. 

 Three times I went 9 miles fi-om home and intro- 

 duced Italian queens for inexperienced bee-keepers. 

 This has been my first year as a regular apicultur- 

 ist, and I have done a great deal of my housework. 

 Sometimes I have had it seem more than any one 

 person could accomplish, but I always realized the 

 fulfillment of the promise, "As thy day, so shall thy 

 strength be." My husband has been afflicted with 

 rheumatism for several months, and sometimes we 

 fear he will be helpless. My object in increasing 

 the bees, and engaging wholly in apiculture as I 



