1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



87 



WHO IS .TDLIA? 



lu our Jan. No. I asked friend \Vhite who 

 " Julia " was, to which he replied as follows: — 



Yes, Bertha and Daisj' are iatiraately acquainted 

 with Julia. She is not a bee-woman, but a honey- 

 woman — at least, she is the sweetest woman lever 

 saw, and I know she is composed of something sweet. 

 I don't think she is tlavored quite as highly as clover 

 and linden honey. I guess the " wheat-stubble " hon- 

 ey explaius it. Dan White. 



New London, O., Jan., 1883. 



A SUGGESTION' FOR THE REMINDEUY FOR FEli. 



If you have your bees on 6 combs about the first 

 of February, you will find the bees at the top of the 

 frames under the Hill device, if you use one. Now 

 comes the trouble. IE the weather sets in cold for 

 ten days or two weeks, so that the bees can't spread 

 out, they will be compelled to eat pollen, and then 

 comes dysentery. Now, to prevent this dj'sentery, 

 the first warm day in February you should go over 

 all your hives and give them a comb of sealed hon- 

 ey; and if it is too C3id to handle them, cut a comb 

 from a frame, and place it under the Hill device, on 

 three small sticks, and see how soon the bees will 

 find it. If you have no sealed honey, make syrup 

 from the best sugar, and put in a shallow pan, 

 and cover them up warm, and see how the dysentery 

 will disappear. Bees are wintering all right. 



Oakley, la., Jan. 10, 1883. Wm. Malone. 



in obtaining large yields of honey is in hiving 

 swarms properly. The.best plans and most success- 

 ful manipulation have never appeared in print. 



Arcadia, Wis., Dec. 20, 1883. E. A. Morgan. 



Glad to sec you again, "child;" but I 

 don't quite see how I can agree with your 

 last observation. If I am correctly inform- 

 ed, it is not necessary to have any natural 

 swarming at all, in order to get the best re- 

 sults. In fact, we have been told the Avay 

 to get enormous crops of honey is to keep 

 down the swarming fever entirely, by the 

 use of the extractor. 



BLUB THISTLE. 



Division Grange, No. 1, situated in London, On- 

 tario, D. C, in discussing the introduction of various 

 weeds as honey-plants, apprehends great danger to 

 the farming community from the introduction, for 

 that purpose, of the blue thistle {Ecliium vulaare) . 

 and the following resolution passed: Moved by J. 

 M. Kaiser, Sec, by J. K. Little, that this Grange 

 learns with alarm and regret that certain bee-keep- 

 ers, especially A. I. Root, of Medina, Ohio, advocates, 

 through Gleanings in Bee Culturs, of which 

 journal he is publisher, the cultivation of noxious 

 weeds as honey-plants, particularly the blue thistle; 

 and he is hereby respectfully requested to do so no 

 more. It was further resolved, that a copy of the 

 above resolution be sent to Mr. Root, with a request 

 that he insert it in Gleanings. Hoping that you 

 will comply with the above request, I remain yours 

 respectfully,— J. M. Kaiser, Sec'y L. D. G. 



Kaper, Ont., Can., Jan. 18, 1883. 



My good friends, I have never advised 

 anybody to plant blue thistle, that I know 

 of, and [ have only one plant in my garden, 

 after trying three or four years to get it to 

 grow. 



THE ABC "CHILD" THAT GREW SO FAf^T, STILL 

 ALIVE AND STILL A BEE-MAN. 



I have just disposed of the last of this year's crop 

 of honey, 4.500 lbs., at 20 cts. cash, and now must 

 look around me for a start for the coming season. I 

 am the ABC child that grew so fast; and the more 

 I know, the less I write of the secrets of bee-keeping. 

 and I think this is the way with all. When we have 

 5 to 20 hives, we write every thing we learn, which 

 must be tedious reading for older bee-men; after we 

 get among the hundreds we keep silent. You pre- 

 dicted at first that I would give up the business, be- 

 ing too enthusiastic; but not so. I have made a 

 success of it, and am now a specialist, having drop- 

 ped all other pursuits. I have found the great secret 



FROM 45 TO 04, AND 11,13.5 LBS. OF HONEY; 248 LHS. 

 PER HIVE ON AN AVERAGE. 



The season of 1882 was the best for honey here for 

 the last ten years; 100 lbs. per hive, spring count, I 

 have thought a good yield. My average per hive, 

 spring count, was 218 lbs. 



No. of hives in fall of 1881 was 45; in spring of 1882, 

 45; in fall of 1882, 04. Sold 11 swarms as they swarm- 

 ed; had 3710 lbs. comb honey; 7425 lbs. extracted 

 honey, or 11,135 lbs. in all. 



My bees are all in Quiuby or Simplicity hives; 23 

 in chaff hives; I am going to put them all in chaff 

 hives, as I have not yet lost one in such. 



James H. Cox & Sons. 



Hudson, 111., Jan. 19, 188.3. 



Why, friend Cox, we shall soon be ready 

 to hear almost any thing of you Western 

 people. 1 don't know but I should like to 

 be one of the " sons " too, awhile, if I could 

 only learn how. 



SWAR.MING BOXES OR " BUSHES." 



I have seen a great deal in Gleanings about 

 s warming-boxes, and various other devices for catch- 

 ing swarms of bees; but I like my own the best, 

 which is made of small hemlocks, from six to ten 

 feet long, trimmed nearly to the top, with several 

 old mullein-tops fixed in the top so as to look like a 

 swarm of bees a little way off. When they come out 

 I keep watch and see where they are going to clus- 

 ter, and hold my bush right there, and they will 

 alight on it nine times out of ten; then I carry them 

 where 1 want them. E. B. Smith. 



New Milford, Susq. Co., Pa., Jan. 1, 1883. 



burying bees. 

 On page 41, Jan. Gleanings, William C. Holmes 

 inquires about rats and mice getting into hives 

 buried in the ground without bottom-boards. Poison 

 them with a piece of meat, or a pan of meal with a 

 spoonful of arsenic mixed. I bury part of our bees; 

 have had splendid luck; never lost any. Two that 

 were queenless went into hives that touched their 

 own. I was taught a little different mode of burying 

 bees than I have seen in Gleanings. On a dry side 

 hill we dig a trench Sii feet wide. Upper end is 

 nearly 3 feet deep; a ridge-pole the whole length, 

 resting on stakes. We set two rows the entire 

 length, as close in the rows as we can get them. 

 Use pieces of boards, or pieces of wood, from ridge- 

 pole to hank; hay or straw enough to keep the dirt 

 from falling through; then six inches to one foot of 

 earth is plenty. We leave them until warm weather, 

 shovel off the dirt, and then set them out as fast as 

 we can. It would not do to try to set them on sum- 

 mer stands, but set them here and there. After 

 they are done flying, set them where we wish them 

 to remain. That Is my mode. They always find the 

 right hive, or come out even. I leave them in the 



