1883 



GLEAJ^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



139 



AN ENTHUSIASTIC ABC SCHOLAR. 



I have been making hives and fixtures all winter; 

 am making all for L. frames, as I believe that will 

 be the standard all over the land in due time. 1 

 bought an old sandpaper machine, and easily made 

 a foot-power saw, which I can do all sorts of hive 

 work on, and don't j'ou think I am so interested 

 that I work up to 10 o'clock and after, every night. 



I had 18 swarms last summer; am wintering 12, all 

 on summer stands, but one in cellar. I kept chalf 

 cushions on all summer, and think it a much better 

 way where we are not working the upper story for 

 honey, especially with such a cold season as 1882. I 

 like the looks of your chaff hive better than all oth- 

 ers I have ever seen, and 1 have made one some- 

 thing like them, and don't see how you can sell them 

 so cheap; but I suppose machinery does it mostly. 



HYBRIDS AHEAD. 



I have my hives all in the shade of plum-trees, and 

 the one that did best last season was up close to a 

 building on the northeast side, and under a tree at 

 that. This was a swarm of hybrids that I bought 

 and transferred in January, 1883, which were nearly 

 out of feed when I bought them (which I thought 

 was the case), so I just' thought I would see what I 

 could do. I transferred them the middle of January, 

 and put them on one frame of honey taken from an- 

 other swarm in the fall. I closed them on each side 

 with division-boards and chaff cushion. In two days 

 the weather gave them a good fly. I began feeding 

 early, and made one extra swarm by giving them a 

 queen. Now I shall rear a few queens from this one, 

 as she is all I can wish —good to handle, and great 

 workers, let the color be a little mixed or not; 

 wouldn't you? I tell you, friend Root, I just love 

 bees. I got stung all of tlircc times last summer, and 

 I transferred a dozen or more swarms too. I do not 

 use a veil; but your Clark smoker is what knocks 

 the temper all out of them. 



SMALLER HOLES IN THE SMOKEU-GRATE. 



I wish to tell you that I would make the holes 

 through the round tin of the smoker a little smaller, 

 as coals will drop out as they are now. I put wire 

 cloth over mine, but it must be cleared out often, as 

 it is too fine. I spent my Fourth of July in the api- 

 ary, and wish I could see you and your ciiy of bees. 



E. P. Churchill. 



North Auburn, Maine, Feb. 13, 1883. 



If I were a honey-raiser, and wanted 

 queens for my own use, I would as soon 

 breed from a "hybrid that just suited me as 

 from a full-blood Italian queen ; and I am 

 not sure but that I would feel a little safer 

 with a small admixture of black blood.— We 

 have tried making the smoker-grate with 

 smaller perforations, but it is then so much 

 more apt to get clogged, we have chosen the 

 size of holes as we now make them. It is a 

 question between two evils, you see ; having 

 the grate clog, or letting small coals of lire 

 out occasionally^ 



LARGE REPORTS, ETC. 



Many wonderful things in Gleanings I see; 

 and without raising a doubt about their truth, I 

 would ask how it was done; what kind of hives; 

 where were the sections put. at the side — near the 

 brood-comb, or on top in crates, etc.? All these par- 

 ticulars should be given, or the statement of the 

 great result is of no use to your readers. The how 

 would help me very much, as I wish to know the 

 best way to handle my bees. I have no doubt a 



great deal more honey will be gathered some years 

 than others. I would not publish the result unless 

 the method pursued be also given. J. Hill. 



Emerson, Jeff. Co., O., Feb. 1.5, 1883. 



1 hardly agree with you, friend II. The 

 plan of working is given so fully in every 

 issue of Gleanings that it is generally sup- 

 posed to be fully understood. Where ex- 

 traordinary results have been obtained, or 

 where some different plan of working, other 

 than the ordinary one, has been used, I be- 

 lieve the friends usually give us the details. 

 I am inclined to think, my friend, you must 

 be a new comer, not yet quite fully ac- 

 quainted with us and our work. 



ASPARAGUS AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



On page 89, H. V. N. Dimmic asks the question, " Is 

 asparagus a honey-producing plant ?" I should say 

 it is. Several years ago I lived in a district where 

 fruit and vegetables composed almost the entire 

 crop of the surrounding farms ; and within a radi- 

 us of three miles there was thirty or forty acres of 

 asparagus grown; and as it generally blossomed 

 during a dearth of honey I had a good opportunity to 

 judge its value as a honey-producing plant. My 

 bees worked on it from early morn until dark, and 

 gathered from ^ to 2 lbs. per day. The honey is 

 light in color, and has a peculiar acid taste, some- 

 what resembling raw unripe clover honey. It was 

 very thin, and thickened very slowly. It is a profit- 

 able crop to raise for market, and would pay well 

 for that alone; but I do not think that it produces a 

 sufficient quantity of honey to warrant a bee-keep- 

 er in planting several acres for honey alone; but if 

 a ready sale could be found for the vegetable in 

 spring, it would pay bee-keepers to raise it, thus 

 helping to keep up the flow of honey through the 

 season. Edward S. Fottlks. 



New Albany, Ind., Feb. 13, 1883. 



ANOTHER AVAY TO BIND GLEANINGS. 



This is the way I do my binding of Gleanings and 

 other book formed papeis. It might be with others 

 as with myself; they would like to have them bound, 

 but don't like to pay the price-asked to do it. I place 

 them right straight in a pile, the backs all to come 

 out even. Take a ?8-in. strip of suitable leather; 

 through this drive three l!4-in. wire nails; then 

 through the back of the papers; turnaround, and 

 lay with the heads on a hammer, and clinch the 

 nails. Take another strip of leather and nail right 

 over the clinches, with ?3-inch wire nails. You can 

 also make a good leather back by simply taking a 

 wider strip of leather, nailing with 1',2-inch wire 

 nails, as at first. Nail the leather around the back, 

 and nail over the clinches as before. By this way 

 you can bind them as tight as any book-binder. 



Wm. K. Deisher. 

 Kutztown, Pa., Feb. 10, 1883. 



BLANICS FOR BEE-KEEPERS WHO LEAVE THEIR HONKV 

 ON COMMISSION. 



Will it not pay for you or Mr. Newman to get up 

 a blank receipt-book for honey-producers to use with , 

 retail dealers in small country towns, where they 

 leave honey to sell on commission ? We want a 

 receipt for the merchant to sign, itemizing the dif-" 

 ferent kinds and sizes of packages, and to pay a 

 specified price for all that he sells, and the balance 

 not sold to be returned to the producer. I think 

 our patent-medicine men use something of this 



