1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



m 



Well, now, to prevent the wax from dropping 

 down that large hole, into the water, a slop- 

 ing cover is set over the hole. Three legs 

 keep it from resting right on the curb, that 

 the steam may get out easily, and in the cen- 

 ter rises the tube that carries the steam into 

 the center of the wax. JS'owwhen we set 

 in the perforated wax-basket, shown in fig- 

 ure 3, we have the whole thing complete. 

 You see this basket has a center of the 

 same perforated zinc, that slips over the 

 tin steam -pipe. The cover to the whole is 

 an ordinary tin sloping cover, llere is 

 what friend Jones writes in regard to the 

 machine:— 



I send you electros of wax-extractor. They are, 

 as I think, the nearest to what we want of any thing- 

 yet got up, and are patented in Canada. I think 

 that you can confer no greater favor on the people 

 in the U. S. than to make them. Just place the one 

 I send you alongside of four "Weiss" extractors, 

 and see if mine doesn't beat them all. You can 

 make the perforated basket of tin instead of zinc. 

 If you choose. My retail price is $4.50. You can 

 do them, I guess, at the same, and make a profit. 



D. A. Jones. 



Beeton, Ont., Canada, Feb. 13, 1883. 



Friend J., our people owe you another 

 vote of thanks, if nothing more; and when 

 opportunity offers, we hope to be able to 

 show you we can appreciate your labors, 

 and the free way in which you have given 

 us all the benefit of them. We can furnish 

 the extractor at price named above. 



KEPORT FROM CANADA. 



THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF BEE CULTURE. 



EN making reports of progress, etc., from this 

 wonderful Canada, your many American read- 

 ers must be canny in their comparisons, re- 

 membering that numerically we can not compare 

 with you. Suppose we can not keep ahead of you 

 in apiarian inventions, hig honey-yields, etc., we 

 congratulate ourselves on being able to keep on a 

 par with you, yes, in sight of you. Bee-men of this 

 part of the province are, generally, men of some in- 

 telligence, and possessed of good solid common 

 sense, and appreciate the rapid (and, in many cases, 

 the leading) advancements by the brethren on that 

 side of the national boundary, and we feel that a 

 very narrow space lies between us. Your prosperi- 

 ty, successes, energies, and failures, affect us very 

 much as they do yourselves. We are also well 

 aware of the fact that there is one feature of the 

 bee business which commends it universally to 

 thoughtful minds, and that is, the moral influence it 

 exerts. The system of bee-keeping appears to be 

 Impregnated with a deep moral sense, and is influ- 

 encing not only those directly connected with it, 

 but the public at large. The finger is being pointed 

 at the fabric as a whole, and " behold the fruits of 

 righteousness " is uttered by not a few. We in Can- 

 ada feel grateful to the great Giver that you, friend 

 Gleanings, are, we trust, stamped with the divine 

 image. Thus may it ever be; and amid the ruins of 

 human nature may rays of light from the Sun of 

 righteousness radiate from your pages, is our prayer. 

 I, being so very busy aud crowded with work, have 

 not got the material which I had collected for a re- 



port to Gleanings ready before this. In fact, I 

 have discovered that procrastination is something 

 more than a "thief of time." He has stolen some of 

 the facts and ideas from my memory. I will give 

 you what I have left, and beg forgiveness for that 

 which was intrusted to my keeping. 



The bee business in this part of Ontario has been 

 far from giving a profitable margin the past season. 

 In fact, those who depend upon bees for a living 

 will have to draw on past prfifits. Considering the 

 backward, wet, cold spring, and poor honey season, 

 we have done quite well, and are, at this time, en- 

 couraged to hope fol" better results the coming sea- 

 sou. Bees have gone into winter quarters in good 

 or perhaps average condition. The winter so far 

 has been very steady and cold; but the season up to 

 date has been favorable. Considerable fears were 

 at one time entertained as to successful wintering, 

 on account of poor honey, but the dry weather 

 toward the close of harvest enabled bees to ripen 

 their honey and get it into winter shape, so that, 

 with the exception of short stores, bees are in a fair 

 way to winter, with a small percentage of fatality, 

 and good " springing" will bring through a goodly 

 number of stocks in all well-conducted apiaries. 

 Those put up in the old-fashioned way do not prom- 

 ise so well. 



Putting our production, etc., in a statistical shape 

 will run somewhat thus: I do not give my own, but 

 that of a number of apiaries in this section, taken 

 as they come, equal to about 1000 stocks. Surplus, 

 20 lbs. per original stock. Increase, 50 per cent. 

 Prices averaged 15 cts. per lb., wholesale. Some few 

 apiaries averaged about $5.00 income per original 

 stock, in honey; and, if wintering successfully, an- 

 other $5 00 from increase. This is not a large yield, 

 yet it is better than none. Some have not covered 

 expenses, and, if wintering unfavorably, will be 

 losers. 



In respect to modes of wintering, out of the 1000 

 about 600 are in cellars, 300 in bee-houses, 40 in chaff 

 hives, aud 60 out of doors in old boxes. About 300 of 

 the above had no honey after basswood; theremain- 

 ing TOO had access to buckwheat. Mine gathered an 

 average of 5 lbs. of goldenrod honey to the colony, 

 and about 5 lbs. of buckwheat, all ripened and cap- 

 ped. This, with an average of 17 lbs. of basswood 

 honey, forms their winter stores. All are doing well 

 up to date; no fly yet to those outside. Lowest tem- 

 perature in this section, 17° below zero. Snow has 

 covered the ground so that we have had continuoua 

 sleighing since Nov. 20th. 



WHAT KILLED THEM? 



Here is an observation: Bees out the night 

 of the November electric storm seem to have 

 suffered severely. I put 48 colonies into cellar on 

 the 18th. after the storm. They immediately threw 

 out a quart of dead bees. They had a good fly on 

 the 12th. Did the electric storm have any thing to 

 do with such fatality, or did the cold? It fell to 10" 

 below zero. Or did the dampness, the air being sat- 

 urated, do the bad deed? or was it the combination 

 — cold, dampness, and electricity? Perhaps science 

 has something to say. The bees having a good fly 

 but six days previous to going into cellar would not, 

 under ordinary circumstances, accumulate so many 

 dead at that time of year. 



HOW MANY BEES OUGHT TO BE FOUNt) ON THE CEL- 

 LAR BOTTOM? 



" A B C*era" are curious to know If there ought 



