1883 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



119 



Much honey has beeri sold in our town at 12 and 15 

 ets., while ours has been hold at 38 cts. On our first 

 grade, we gave our grocers 2 cts. per lb. for selling, 

 while it costs less than that to ship to Chicago — 

 freight, commission, and all. Five per cent com- 

 mission is what we pay in Chicago. Mr. Oatman, of 

 Dundee, 111., has the name in Chicago of being a 

 flrst-class honey-producer; also Mr. Heddon. 



You will see by figuring, that our bees gave us 

 over 200 lbs. per colony; 21C, not counting in the 2- 

 frame nuclei — an almost incredible amount. 



UNITING BEES TO NUCLEI. 



I forgot to say in the right place, that the stocks of 

 the first swarms were given to the 2-frame nuclei. 

 We found that bees would receive other bees better 

 by brushing them down in front of the hive, and let- 

 ting them crawl in slowly. A few times have we 

 had apparently every bee killed when we attempted 

 to build up a weak swarm by pouring in other bees 

 among them from the top. One such case occvirred 

 this summer, and during a good honey harvest too. 

 In 15 minutes I opeued the hives, and the strongest 

 smell of poison from the bees told us the work was 

 done. The colonies, I thought, were about equal in 

 strength; and as there were about as many bees 

 thrown out on the front board, I concluded that the 

 work of destruction was done by the bees in the hive. 



BEE-KEEPING FOB WOMEN. 



I think bee work especially fitted for ladies, not- 

 withstanding the testimony of some others. Be- 

 cause I had been an invalid for 20 years, confined to 

 my bed three-fourths of the time, I thought there 

 would be no opportunity for me to live out of doors; 

 but as I had learned to do a great deal of work on 

 my bed, I thought I could be of as much help to my 

 husband as in any other way, and perhaps more; 

 consequently I studied and read every book and ar- 

 ticle I could get hold of on bees, not only by reading 

 it once, but many times over. My general health 

 began to improve from that time to the present, al- 

 though I am obliged to keep my bed, or lounge, 

 rather, about half of the time in late winter and 

 spring. Yet my general health is good, and I can 

 always be busy. This fall and winter, so long as I 

 could be up each day I was packing and weighing 

 honey, and having a general oversight of my work; 

 then when I could not be up any longer, I have had 

 placed beside my lounge a pile of honey in sectious, 

 the worst frames, and with a sharp pocket-knife, and 

 a sharp-pointed case-knife, I scraped and whittled 

 those frames until they looked like new ones, which 

 added to the value of the honey several cents. Of 

 course, the bulk of our honey was in nice new clean 

 sections. I am troubled with catarrh in the head in 

 winter; but when working over the hot and boiling 

 water, when trying out beeswax, I always find re- 

 lief —I suppose from inhaling the wax-sweetened 

 water. 



Mrs. S. J. AxTELL. 



Roseville, "Warren Co., 111., Jan. 15, 18S3. 

 {Concluded next month.) 



Many thanks, sister. When I first saw 

 your letter, and found there were 50 pages of 

 it, I felt a little troubled ; but since I see 

 how full it is of good and useful hints, I 

 have changed my mind. JSly friends, are 

 there any among you who are discouraged, 

 and thinking of giving up ? Just read these 

 little extracts which I take from Mrs. Ax- 

 tell's first letter for Gleanings, printed in 

 our Teb. No., 1874, Here are the extracts : 



Many have been the times this summer that both 

 husband and I have wished that we had let bees 

 alone; hut therfi is no backing out now. witdout 

 quite a logs, which we could ill afford. * * * One 

 of the swarms filled the hive of 2000 cubic inches 

 (box hive), clear to the bottom, so we thought we 

 would do as some of our neighbors did, — pry off the 

 top and take out some of the honey. We inquired 

 of half a dozen or more of our neighbor bee-kei^pera 

 if it would do anyhnim: they could not see that it 

 would. So one hot ilny in August or September we 

 went to work ; but such a muss as we got into— bees, 

 honey, and all, squa-hed down together! It set U8 

 thinking if there was not a hetter way. * * * * 



We had a fine prosp''ct for buckwheat harvest, but 

 an early frost killed it: the bees had scarcely any 

 stores in their hives, and we began to feed near the 

 first of July (just (>nough to keep them) trom H to 

 Vt teac.;p daily, in the evening; and ps soon as the 

 frost killed the flowrrs we fed for winter stores: in 

 all, we fed about three barrels (I^OU 00 worth) of A 

 sugar made into a syrup. 



Now keeping this in mind, just look over 

 the report in this number, of thirty-nine thou- 

 sand j^ounds of honey. Why ! it's aw ay ahead 

 of the gold-mines of California, for it lias 

 brought health and happiness, and the gold 

 often brought only trouble. The money 

 from the bees has also — at least a part of it, 

 thank God — helped to carry " peace on 

 earth and good will to men " in many places 

 where it was most needed. Praise Uod, 

 from whom all blessings flow. 



FRIEM) CHRISTIE'S REPORT. 



ALSO A SHORT LESSON FOR "BLASTED HOPERS." 



fNDIKECTLY you ask mc for report of honey 

 crop — "your great honey crop" you style it. 

 I have no great crop to report this year. I had 

 a very cold wet spring and early summer. In June 

 I had to resort to feeding, and kept it Up until July. 

 July 2d I remored feeders, and bees became self- 

 sustaining. 



We had a light basswood crop; but during August 

 there was an unusual honey-flow for that month. 

 Owing to absence of rain during the greater part of 

 August and September, the goldenrod crop waa 

 light. 



In May last I had 252 swarms at Smithland and 

 Oto, points on the Little Sioux River, about^6 miles 

 distant from each other. I procured from these 

 about 40,000 lbs. of extracted honey, and put 385 

 swarms into winter quarters, first feeding them 

 about 600 lbs. of sugar, in order to give them sufli-' 

 cient stores for the winter. 



Not being in the habit of reporting: my crop to the 

 journals, and not thinking of doing so, I have not 

 been particular to count, weigh, and keep txact 

 track of operations; hence the figures I give are cs^ 

 timates rather than exact figures; but they will fall 

 within the limits of what my little workers have 

 done for me. 



I have at different times sold bees on time, taking 

 my pay in honey when bees have gathered it. About 

 the first of August last, a young man to whom I had 

 sold some bees in this way, and who had them locat- 

 ed on the Missouri-Elver bottom, about 30 miles 

 from here (Smithland), became discouraged, and 

 sent a note by mail, saying, " You had better come 

 over and look after your bees, as I leave by to-day's 

 train." He had been gone a week before I received 

 his note and got over there. I found bees in 85 hives, 

 many of them strong, and about ready to swarm; 

 others very weak, having evidently cast swarms 



