1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



439 



on lilacs, for I shall now have an excuse for 

 having a little lilac garden on the honey- 

 farm. Can any one tell us how many vari- 

 eties of lilac there are ? and can we not de- 

 velop those that especially bear honey ? I 

 never saw or heard that bees worked on li- 

 lac till friend Cook called attention to it.— 

 I hardly think, friend S.,that Alley's system 

 is at fault in any way, for very many of us 

 have been working on almost the same plan 

 for years. The same with the loss of queens. 

 I think, after a little more practice you can 

 raise queens just as surely as you raise 

 chickens. I suppose you know some folks 

 don't have any "luck "in getting chickens 

 hatched. Neither do I think that the weath- 

 er has been greatly to blame this season. An 

 expert in almost any kind of business nowa- 

 days will succeed in spite of circumstances. 

 Very likely you are right in deciding that 

 separators are a detriment ; but how can we 

 get along without them V 



m ■■■ ^ 



A BRIKF REPORT FROITr OUR FRIKNU 

 R. WlLiKIN. 



1000 COLONIES OF BEES, AND 24 TONS OF HONEY. 



PRESENT to you, at his request, the compli- 

 ments and report of Mr. R. Wilkin, Saa Buena- 

 ventura, Cal., with whom I was worlsing 

 through the m >nth of Juno. 



The season of 1883 has been, with us, a peculiar 

 one. Early rains in the fall of 'S2 raised the hopes 

 of farmers and bee-koepers. A great detteiency of 

 rain-fall during the winter nearly destroyed them. 

 The last week in March found the ground dry, the 

 crops suffering, and the people fully expecting a 

 dry year. A good rain about the last of March and 

 the first of April, with showers in April, and the 

 rare event of a heavy rain in May, ngiiin changed 

 the outlook; bees began to prosper, increase, and 

 store. 1'his state of things continued till the latter 

 part of June, when unusually hot weather suddenly 

 put a check upon proceedings. While bees can 

 easily gather winter stores after this, little surplus 

 will be taken from them. Mr. Wilkin has 1(100 col- 

 onies of bees, present count, in two apiaries. He 

 has 730 colonies at his Sespe apiary, where he started 

 with something less than 500 in the spring, and 

 where there are upward of 2000 colonies within two 

 miles of one point. He has 380 colonies at his Matil- 

 ija apiary, where he started in the spring with 

 about 100, and where fewer bees arc kept. From 

 the former apiary he extracted 15 tons of honey, 

 and from the latter, 9 tons. If room would permit, 



would gladly enter at length into a description of 

 the systematic arrangements at the Sespe apiary. 

 I will only say, that everything works smoothly and 

 perfectly. Mr. Wilkin uses an eight-frame extrac- 

 tor; i. e., one that empties eight frames at once. 

 One person can run it easily, and I think it demon- 

 strates the fact that time can be saved by emptying 

 a larger number of frames than two or four. Mr. 

 Wilkin both devised and constructed it. 



Of course, in so large an apiary, various anomalies 

 will occur, such as bees swarming with a virgin 

 queen when they have an old clipped queen in the 

 hive; bees swarming when they have only a caged 

 queen (just introduced) in the hive, and finally re- 

 turning, etc. But are we not disposed to make too 

 much of these occasional circumstances, and state 



them in a way chat would make a beginner think 

 them liable at any time to happen? For instance, 

 instead of every man who has ever known a swarm 

 to leave without clustering acquainting us with the 

 fact (and we have heard from many already), sup- 

 pose that those who have known one per cent of all 

 the swarms they ever saw to thus depart report to 

 us, and we will see if the number does not decrease 

 materially. I have known swarms to apparently 

 leave without clustering, and then have found them 

 clustered, after all, a long way from the apiary. 

 While admitting that they sometimes go directly to 

 the tree, I think that merely seeing them depart is 

 not conclusive evidence. 



I will add, that results at Mr. Wilkin's apiaries may 

 betaken as a fair average for Ventura County, a 

 few apiaries having done much better, and others 

 not so well, according to location. A. Norton. 



Gonzales, Cal., July 10, 1883. 



Many thanks for your report, friend N., 

 even though it be a brief one. I have often 

 wished for something more definite from 

 friend Wilkin, and have, I tliink, said as 

 mucli. [ will gladly pay you, or any of his 

 assistants, for information in regard to his 

 bees, management, etc. If I am correct, 1^4 

 tons of honey is the largest crop ever report- 

 ed by one mMu. If anyi)()dy else remembers 

 its equal, let him stand up. I am very glad 

 indeed that my old friend is prospering. If 

 lie should feel inclined to circle around 

 among his old friends here in the States 

 again, he will meet a most hearty welcome. 



.«»•<»• 



BE:E:S AN» BFE-HIVEiS. 



WINTERING BEES IN EAST TENNESSEE. 



Ifii?' THINTK you need to publish a Southern Glean- 

 l|! iN(iS, ,18 about one-fifth of the present edition 

 is tilled up with reports and methods of winter- 

 ing. Now, this no d"ubt is very interesting to our 

 Northern friends, who tind wintering a dillicult mat- 

 ter; but with us it is only "tilling," as wintering is 

 never a dillioult thing — that is, with those who are 

 somewhat versed in the business. If the colony is 

 in any thing like a healthy condition, the bees will 

 winter in almost any condition. 



Our friend J. A. (Jalbraith, of this place, told me a 

 few weeks ago to bring a " sitting " of my improved 

 Holy-Land bees, and transfer a hive for him. Well, 

 I procured a fine queen, and went to " do the job." 

 On arrival, I found they were in a " bee-gum "— a 

 gum in reality, as it was a hollow gum-tree log, 

 about 2! 2 ft. long, without any top, except a cracked 

 board lying loose on top, and the top edge, or end 

 of the log, had decayed so badly that one could stand 

 twenty j^ards from it and see the whole top of the 

 comb. Friend G. said it had been in this condition 

 for several years, and yet I found a most powerful 

 colony of bees in this old log. 1 have repeatedly 

 wintered two-frame nuclei with success; and in my 

 queen business I unite no colonies in the fall, but 

 winter them on their summer stands, all of them 

 being two, three, and four frame colonies; neither 

 do I use any protection, except a piece of cotton 

 (luilt laid on top of the frames under the cover. 

 However, I would like to say here that 



TnE WOOD FOK HIVES 



has a great deal to do with successful wintering. 

 We use poplar, and of this we have two kinds — 



