126 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mae. 



and friend Bingham. Whio will tell us what 

 this substance is that is not wax, and then 

 can not some way be devised for malcing 

 fdn. for brood-combs, containing i or more 

 of some foreign substance, say paper or 

 wood pulp? Who will work out this next 

 great problem of something to save the ex- 

 pensive wax now used for our combs in the 

 body of the hive ? 



■ a — ^ — t^^— 



SHALL WE VSK A SlflALLER SECTION, 

 OR NOT* 



FRIEND G. W. STANLEY'S IDEAS ON THE MATTER. 



elNCE Messrs. Crocker & Blake, of Boston, Mass., 

 have quoted honey in V4-lb. sections at high 

 prices, there has been quite a rag-e for that 

 style of package. Now, would it not be well for ua 

 to look the ground over ahead of us before making 

 expensive changes in our surplus arrangements? 

 As there seems to be some difference of opinion as 

 to whether one can produce as many pounds of 

 honey in Vi-lb. sections as in larger ones, I will not 

 discuss that point, but will only show my reasons 

 for using the larger sections, I use the 5x5 sec- 

 tions, just because I see no need of using a smaller 

 one; and to illustrate this I will say, that last sea- 

 son, when the ;4-lb. section was selling in Boston at 

 80 cents per lb., my honey in 5 x 5 sections, holding 

 nearly 3 lbs., glassed, was selling freely in a city near 

 home at 24 and 25 cents, which, as figures will show, 

 gives a balance in favor of the 5x5 section with 

 glass, to say nothing of the extra amount of labor 

 that is required to use the small section; and as 

 most of the manipulating comes when our work is 

 crowding, both in shop and yard, and at a time when 

 wages is high, and skilled help is very hard to find, it 

 is to our advantage to get our bees in shape to do the 

 most actual work in the least possible time, in order 

 to do justj-ce to all our bees and still be able to get 

 our needed amount of sleep. 



When the 1-pound section was first introduced I 

 thought that it was not needed, or, at least, we were 

 crowding upon ourselves a convenience for the pub- 

 lic, if such we may call it, which the public did not 

 at that ti me require of us ; and as those who then 

 took up the pound section mostly discarded the use 

 of glass, that was, of course, a great loss to produc- 

 ers. But some will say, that they can not sell glassed 

 honey. And why is this? Because they are selling 

 it without glass, and telling people that it doesn't 

 pay to buy glass. In the past seven years T have 

 raised upward of 25,000 lbs. of comb honey, and have 

 sold It all at good prices, and have never sold 10 lbs. 

 without glass during the whole period. I have no 

 dissatisfied customers that I know of, and have 

 many calls for shipments of honey after my stock is 

 exhausted. When I commenced I used the Isham 

 glass box ; but as they were replaced by the section, 

 I fell in line and first used the 5x6, but finally set- 

 tled down to the 5x5, and now I have a standard 

 brand that is as good as gold in any market that has 

 not been spoiled by too small packages. 



To sum up, I find the honey market about what 

 bee-keepers make it, and all we have to do is to get 

 the most honey we can from the fewest bees, and 

 with the least possible investment of capital and la- 

 bor, as that seems to leave us the most money in the 

 fall, and that is what we keep bees for, here in York 

 State. G. W. Stanley. 



Wyoming, N. Y., Feb. 1, 1883. 



NOTES AND QVBRIES OF AN AMATEUR. 



HOW HE SAW THE BEES RAISE A QUEEN, ETC. 



FERHAPS I had better introduce myself to you, 

 as an introduction to my letter —it being my 

 — ■ first letter. An important part of my intro- 

 duction is, that I am a subscriber to Gleanings, 

 and thus far think the money invested in your 

 monthly has paid me largely. I have but one objec- 

 tion to advance; to wit, it does not come often 

 enough. I have read the January number over and 

 over again, until I can almost cite page and posi- 

 tion of page where I shall find an article upon a giv- 

 en subject. 



For a great many years I have had more or less to 

 do with bees; but not until last summer did I give 

 any special attention to apicultural study. I read 

 every thing pertaining to bee culture I could get 

 hold of , and partially put in practice what I read; 

 or, at least, as far as means and circumstances 

 would permit. As I had but one hour at noon, I 

 must needs do what I did in the morning and eve- 

 ning. I began in the spring with 4 colonies of hy- 

 brids that I had wintered on the summer stands. 

 These four I divided, according to my notions of 

 that plan, in the evening, thus increasing to 8. 1 

 then thought I would try my hand at raising a 

 queen for an emergency. I went to one of my 

 strong colonies and obtained a splendid capped 

 queen-cell, and inserted it in a sheet of capped 

 brood, with bees enough to cover it; took a sheet of 

 honey and pollen, and formed a two-frame nucleus 

 in a hive that had an observation - glass so that I 

 could watch proceedings. I did watch that cell 

 closely, I assure you; and in due time, to my great 

 delight, saw the queen emerge from her prison. It 

 just seemed to me that the bees were as much elat- 

 ed over the advent of her royal highness as I was. 

 How proudly she moved, circling around the now 

 empty cell, each round increasing the circumfer- 

 ence of the circuit, until suddenly she observed a 

 queen-cell in an upper corner of the frame, but just 

 capped, and, quicker than I can tell it, she was 

 there, and as quickly destroyed the royal occupant. 

 She was such a large, beautiful queen that I re- 

 solved to build up to a strong colony with frames of 

 capped brood from other of my strong colonies, 

 which I did. In due time she began to lay, and now 

 that colony is one of the best I have. This made 9. 

 I then obtained 3 second swarms from a neighbor 

 for assistance rendered, and bought a first swarm 

 for $1.00. That brought me to 12. At this time I 

 traded a thoroughbred Berkshire pig for seven 

 more. This gave me 19. I bought a dollar queen, 

 which, I think, has more Cyprian blood in her than 

 I care about possessing. They fight like tigers. The 

 little scamps just double themselves up to see, seem- 

 ingly, how deep they can get their darts into one's 

 flesh. They got up roy sleeves, down my back, into 

 my hair, up my pants, and such "pointed" argu- 

 ments of the venom their little bodies contained, as 

 I got then I 



So much for the progeny of that Italian (?) queen. 

 In September I purchased two tested queens. One 

 has proved all right. The other proved to be a 

 drone-producer ; and ere I was aware of it, she and 

 the entire colony gave up the ghost. She will be 

 made good the coming season by the gentleman of 

 whom I purchased her. I also lost one of the 7 I 

 purchased, before it was delivered, which will also 



