254 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



brood. The bees last fall had crowded heron 2! 2 

 frames, and filled the rest of the frames with honey, 

 instead of making them "stand back and give room." 

 But I must not forg-et the i-eport of my neighbor. 



FROM 1 TO THIRTY-SIX, AND 140 LBS. OF HONEY. 



Hurrah for the "Lone Star" again! as sbo beat the 

 world last year in amount of honey from one queen, 

 she now beats the world again in increase from one 

 queen. C. W. L aw, on Honest Kidge, a neighbor of 

 mine, from just one hive last spring increased to 30 

 swarms, including two that he knew got away, and 

 might have lost more. His original hive swarmed T 

 times; the two fli-st swarms that came out, each five 

 times; others, 4 and 3 times, till he reached the as- 

 tonishing number of 30. This statement can be 

 vouched for by nrarly all his neighbors. Several of 

 them assisting hiiu in 11)0 care of them, and say " it's 

 so." and are willing to testify to the same. He was 

 urged to make a report tosome bee journal; said he 

 took no journal, nor knew of any one, and declined 

 for that reason; but he says the above are the facts. 

 The highest number reported in Gleanings that I 

 have seen is 39 from one hive and one nucleus, 

 which does not equal 36 swarms from one hive. Is 

 not Texas entitled to the banner in both bees and 

 honey? From one hive he made or took 140 lbs. that 

 he noted, but did not know how much he took in all. 

 Chas. M. Buttolph. 



Frosa, Limestone Co., Tex., March 28, 1883. 



This is indeed wonderful, friend B. I 

 think Texas Is coming in close for the ban- 

 ner. We should be glad to hear from your 

 neighbor. I suppose he is going to keep on 

 and tell us what he can do another season. 

 Such a report seems almost improbable ; but 

 with along season and an uninterrupted tlow 

 of honey, I suppose it would not be a very 

 difficult matter. We are glad to know he 

 lives on " Honest Ridge." 



WOOD separators. 



Last year I used wooden separators entirely; 1 like 

 them well. I think I had only two or three cards 

 fast to the wooden separators, and some of the 

 frames were filled three times I wintered the most 

 of my bees on their summer stands, packed, and in 

 that condition I have lost only two colonies in five 

 winters, and one of them was a drone-laying queen. 

 I have 43 colonies at this time. 



an empty hive under the bees for winter. 



I experimented on one colony, a young swarm. I 

 set said colony on top of empty hive; no frames in 

 lower hive, and no bottom in upper one. I moved 

 the hive back on the bottom-board, so that there 

 was a one-inch hole the width of the hive, and the 

 entrance open full width. The result was less dead 

 bees of any colony in the yard. E. E. Smith. 



Pittsford, Mich., Apr. 13, 1883. 



NOT "blasted hopes," BUT " SMILERY." 



Last month my husband, H. O. Morris, gave you an 

 account of his accident at the bridge, and asked for 

 a place In Blasted Hopes. You did not put him 

 there because 4ie so miraculously escaped death. 

 You thought, too, that he should not have taken the 

 risk of crossing at such a time. The stream was not 

 so much swollen as to be dangerous to cross. The 

 bridge went down because the timbers were thor- 

 oughly rotten. H. O. neglected to state this fact to 

 you, thereby gaining unjust censure for himself. 

 However, I agree with you in not thinking him a 

 candidate for Blasted Hopes; and I told him if he 



wrote for that department I should write for the 

 Smilery. I am so thankful that his precious life was 

 spared, and we have the prospect of another pleasant 

 summer's work among our hccs! Besides, at our 

 town meeting an appropriation was made to pay the 

 damage to property caused by the falling bridge. 



FROM '.^2 TO 42, AND 2500 LBS. OF HONEY. 



Last spring we had22 colonies of bees, and increas- 

 ed to 42, and obtained 2500 lbs. of honey, leaving 

 plenty for them to winter on. The work of caring 

 for them was so great last summer that H. O. need- 

 ed an assistant, so I hired a girl to do my house- 

 work, and I did bee-work, which is not sd hard, and 

 pleasanter, than the former. 



BEE-STIXCS AS A REMEDIAL AGENT, AGAIN. 



The occasional stings I get rid me of an old enemy; 

 viz., salt rheum. When I work among the bees it 

 does not trouble me at all. Once during the past 

 winter it cime out, and was so annoying that I went 

 to the collar, where we keep our bees, and induced 

 one to come out and sting me. It did not object in 

 the least to doing me this favor; in fact, bees are 

 nearly always ready to sting, if properly dealt with. 

 My salt rheum has not appeared since. We always 

 winter in the cellar, and have never yet lost a swarm. 



KEEPING THE BEES IN THE CELLAR UNTIL APRIL. 



Our 42 came out very strong and active the 5th of 

 April. People here who had them out earlier must 

 have lost largely from their flying when they would 

 have been better off in the hive. I have invented a 

 cheap and easy method of putting on sections, but 

 will not describe it now, lest my letter be too long. 



Tiskilwa, 111., March 16, 1883. Cola Morris. 



MAPLE HONEY, AND IMW TO GET IT. 



My bees are doing well on the maple; not on the 

 flowers nor buds, but on the sap. By the way, let 

 me give you my recipe for making maple syrup. I 

 put a handle 10 or 12 feet long into a sharp hatchet 

 or small ax, and make a slight cut 13 or 15 feet from 

 the ground in the south or south-west side of the 

 maple-trees, either hard or soft; that is all I have to 

 do. The wind and sun will turn the sap as it runs 

 down the tree to syrup before it reaches the ground, 

 and the bees will volunteer to gather it; they'd 

 rather do that than rob each other. One hundred 

 swarms can successfully tend a camp of 200 or 300 

 trees, if they are in proximity. The birds and bees 

 taught me this. Justus Butler. 



Lcipsic, O., March 28, 1883. 



Why, friend B., you are infringing on Mr. 

 Merrybanks' plan of running a sugar-bush 

 and apiary all together. I don't know but 

 your plan will really work. We have got 

 the maple-trees, but we have hardly enough 

 bees this spring to make a good show in a 

 sugar-camp of a hundred trees. 



NEW SWARMS GOING 30 MILES, ETC. 



I happen to be situated so as to learn something 

 about bees which is certain, as I brought and owned 

 the first bees that wei'e ever known to be in this 

 part of the country. There have been no wild bees 

 seen here; in fact, there are none. 



HOW FAR DO BEES FLY? 



My bee.s, when pasture was scarce, have gone 3^^ 

 miles. Some hybrids left their owner last spring, 

 and were hived something over thirty miles from 

 the place of exit; but that was about the nearest 

 timber that a bee could get into. 



BEES without WINGS, AND HOW IT CAME. 



I had some bees hatched without wings. They 



