1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



257 



We have a pretty slim story to tell this spring. 

 Every one around here has lost heavily, several los- 

 ing all they have. 



SUGAR SYRUP VERSUS NATURAL STORES, AGAIN. 



One man started last fall with 25; has ") left. An- 

 other had 9; has one left. Another had 10 or 11; 

 has one left. M. L. Spencer had rather better suc- 

 cess; he thinks he will save 50 out of 6). For my- 

 self I have 4 out of 16; one is very weak, whicii will 

 be no profit if they live. Our imported queen you 

 sent us last fall has gone with the rest. I think I 

 have learned something in regard to wintering. I 

 had one swarm that I extracted all the honey from 

 last, and fed up on sugar syrup; then buried a let 

 Hutchinson. They came out strong, and perfectly 

 free from disease, as far as I can see. They did not 

 show more than a tcacupful of dead bees on the 

 bottom board. I buried 9 in all; lost 4 of them, one 

 of which was drowned out, or smothered, water 

 coming up above the entrance before I knew it. I 

 had 5 out, buried in the snow, all of which died. All 

 had dysentery. Another point : Those 5 had no hon- 

 ey taken from them last season, and it was badly 

 candied in the combs; those that came through 

 were fed up with syrup, when they needed it, and I 

 extracted from them last season a good deal too. 



II. D. RURDICK. 



Little Genesee, Allegany Co., N. Y., April 11, 1883. 



nONEY-DEW BAD FOR WINTERING. 



I have come to the conclusion, and I now think 

 not to change from it, that when bees get their stores 

 from the woods in the fall, dysentery must surely 

 follow. It has alwaj's done so with me, except last 

 year, when I had one colony of Italians that gath- 

 ered late, and had their hive prettj^ well filled with 

 bark-louse honey, which came through all right; 

 and 1 might here say that that hive caused me to 

 risk 20 colonies this season, forgetting, of course, 

 that last winter was very open, and bees flew nearly 

 every week. Therefore let all bee-keepers rear a 

 pillar right here, that where stores come in such 

 profusion from the timber, in the fall season, and 

 such stores are dark and strong, bees must have 

 their winter stores from white clover, linn, or some 

 early, healthful, white honey or granulated sugar, 

 or have a bee mortality. The loss must be large in 

 this locality, and wherever the so-called honey-dew 

 was gathered. 



ITALIANS MORE APT TO G.A.THER HONEY-DEW THAN 

 BLACKS. 



My black bees are not so badly affected as my 

 Italians, nor have they ever, to my recollection, suf- 

 fered so greatly. The reason is, the Italian is not so 

 choice in his selection; or, in other words, the black 

 wants the best or none; when the Italian can not 

 get the best, he takes the next best, and so on. 



Jerome, O., Jan. 24, 1883. E. McCrory. 



WOODEN RECEPTACLES FOR HONEY; HOW TO MAKE 

 THEM IMPERVIOUS. 



I expect to have a honeytank made of wood; can 

 it be painted on the inside without injuring the fla- 

 vor of the honej ? M. A. Jackson. 



Bangor, la., Apr. IT. 1883. 



Do not by any means have your tank 

 l)ainted inside, fiiend J., but coat it well 

 with luA paraffine. Be sure that your tank 

 is not only perfectly dry before you attempt 

 to apply the paraffine, but that it is also as 

 warm as you can get it— either by a tire or 



in the hot sun. Paint would be very apt 

 to materially injure the flavor of the 

 honey. The method of coating the inside of 

 honey-barrels has been so fully described in 

 A B C that it seems hardly best to repeat 

 the process liere. 



can BEES BE MADE TO SWARM TOO EARLY? 



An ABC scholar wants to know if there is any 

 danger of feedmg too strongly this month. It is 

 wonderful to see how my bees dive into the rye 

 meal and molasses. Is there any danger of their 

 wanting to issue swarms before bluom comes, to 

 enable them to work and live? A bee-man told me 

 there was; how is it? J. W. C. Gray. 



Atwood, 111., March 16, 1883. 



1 don't think there is any danger of 

 swarms too early. I know there are some 

 who think it not advisable to have very 

 many bees before the honey conies ; but my 

 experience has always been most favorable 

 with the strongest colonies. If I could feed 

 bees so as to get them swarming in March, 

 it would be exactly what I should want to 

 do. If they were not ready to gather honey, 

 I could do just as Avell in* selling them by 

 the pound. \Ve have now, as we have al- 

 most every season, orders for bees at S4.00 a 

 pound, and have not bees to till them. 

 U^ould not tliis pay, friend G. ? If any one 

 should have too many bees in April, it seems 

 to me he could very easily get rid of them by 

 a little advertising. 



MACHINES FOR NAILING FRAMES TOGETHER. 



On page 61 of your February number friend Hunt 

 gives us a sketch of a block to nail frames on; and 

 as I know they are very handy for one who makes 

 his own frames, and that bee-keepers generally wish 

 things handy, I will tell you how mine is made. It is 

 the same as his, only in place of the buttons which 

 he has to turn evcrj' time he makes a frame, I use a 

 little wooden spring; a straight-grained piece of 

 pine is best, for it keeps its place better than hard 

 wood. By the use of the springs, all you have to do 

 is to shove your end-pieces from the bottom up in 

 place; and when the frame is nailed, take hold of 

 the bottom and lift it out. When my frame is in it 

 is a triUe fuller than the block, which makes it han- 

 dier to nail. 



MAKING FDN.; IS IT MONEY-MAKING BUSINESS? 



I make every thing I use in the apiary, excepting 

 fdn. That, I have to buy or get made. I have now 22 

 lbs. of nice wax which I am going to have made on 

 the Given press. The man who owns the press asks 

 me 25 cts. for making it; is not that a big price? I 

 read in Gleanings that two men will make from 100 

 to 200 pounds per day, which looks like big wages— 

 $25.00 at least. Now, friend Root, do you think it is 

 just right for one bee-keeper to charge another such 

 prices? It doesn't look so tome. 



R. P. LOVEJOY. 



Greig, Levis Co., N. Y., Feb., 1883. 



Friend L., if you think the manufacturers 

 of fdn. are getting rich so fast, why do you 

 not get a mill and get rich tooV" In the 

 A B C I say that two hands may dip 200 lbs. 

 a day, and also that two hands more can roll 

 about the same amount. This would make 

 four hands. Now, aside from this, con- 

 siderable time and expense are required to 

 keep the utensils in order, slick up, and put 

 things away, and many other little incidents 



