444 



GLEAl^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



sunny it was filled with honey. I then removed the 

 box and brushed the bees from the honey iu front of 

 the hive. These, together with those that had 

 clustered on the outside, made about half a bushel 

 of bees that could not get into the hive. A heavy 

 rain was coming- up, and I feared that my " blessed 

 bees " would be drowned. So I ran and got another 

 hive and set It square upon this one. In a short 

 time the bees were all safely housed. Now they 

 have filled this upper hive from bottom to top with 

 combs, and partly tilled them with honey. Here is 

 the difiQcuIty: If I wait until this honey Is capped, 

 and then remove the upper hive, what will become 

 of my bees, for they can not get into the lower hive? 

 Thousands of young bees are hatching below. 



Would it not be best to remove the upper hive im- 

 mediately, or divide the bees in the upper from 

 those in the lower by placing a board between them, 

 and give the upper the means of making themselves 

 a queen? A word of advice would be gratefully re- 

 ceived. Jacob Tate. 



Gilead, Ind., July 18, 1883. 



Well, I declare, friend Jacob, you are in 

 trouble, aren't you V I do not know that I 

 ever before had a complaint just like yours. 

 It is really too bad if they all bring in so 

 much honey that you can not find boxes, 

 frames, or any thing else, to hold it. Fill 

 your hives with sections on the most ap- 

 proved plan, and then take each section out 

 as fast as it is capped. Or if you want to 

 get extracted honey, get an extractor and 

 take it out of their way, even if they do lill 

 every thing again in three days or less. If 

 you want increase of stocks, just take out 

 the frames as fast as they are filled and 

 capped over, and put in wired frames filled 

 with fdn. In fact, I do not know any nicer 

 way to take care of surplus honey than this 

 latter. Do not, in any circumstances, let 

 your bees loaf on the outside of the hives. 

 Supposing that thousands of young bees are 

 hatched out every day below, is it not that 

 exactly which you want? You can divide 

 the colony if you choose ; but so long as they 

 don't swarm, but just keep raising bees and 

 honey — why ! just let them keep on. Boys, 

 what do you think of friend Jacob's predica- 

 ment ? Don't you think he is really to be 

 pitied V Hadn't some of us better move into 

 his neighborhood and help him a little, espe- 

 cially if he has found a place where honey 

 comes in like that every season? 



SEEING THE ^VORIiD. 



SOME PRACTICAL HINTS FROM FRIEND HARRIS; ALSO 

 WHAT HE BAW WHEN HE WENT VISITING. 



^ WROTE you about a month ago about my luna- 

 M tic bees; and as I think, or, rather, ^iowo/if, I 

 had found a remedy for their lunacy, and 1 have 

 seen some of the world since then, I will trouble you 

 again, but hope I will de no harm thereby. How did 

 I cure them? Why, simply by giving them plenty 

 of ventilation from the bottom. My hives are made 

 close, with bottom-board nailed tight, with no air- 

 vent except the entrance, which Is ?mx4 inches. 



Well, those bees kept up that idiotic dance for sev- 

 eral days after I wrote, even when honey was com- 

 ing In; and as I had effectually cured some of lying 

 out by downward ventilation, I thought I would ex- 

 periment on the lunatl«e the same way; so, after 



preparing some empty hives I transferred them, and 

 I have seen none of their scraping since. But for a 

 few days I have noticed the bees of another colony, 

 whose hive was ventilated some time ago, have been 

 at the same trick. So it seems that what cures one 

 does not prevent another. 



You say, in your foot-notes to my communication, 

 " I suspect we get more honey in the North, because 

 of the men, the loeality, and the inlluence of the 

 climate on the men" (p. 375). Well, you may have 

 smarter men, and you may have a better locality for 

 honey; but what "the influence of the climate on 

 the men " can have to do with bees ga'tbering hon- 

 ey, eeems to me a little funny. I said I had seen 

 some of the world, and so I have. On last Friday I 

 went by rail away over to Rockmast, fourteen miles 

 from here, thence with a friend in his buggy, as per 

 previous arrangement, five or six miles, to friend 

 J. S. Davitte's. My buggy friend, Mr. Hoge, who is 

 a relative by marriage, is no bee-man, though always 

 read to accommodate a friend to a buggy-ride. We 

 found friend D. at home, and expecting us. He is a 

 well-to-do farmer, and keeps — well, I don't know 

 how many colonies of bees, and he said he didn't 

 know either. But he said, " When you write to 

 friend Root again, you may tell him that there Is 

 one man who runs a house apiary successfully." 

 His house has just 50 hives, but not all occupied. 

 Friend D. has a good locality, but does not give his 

 bees the attention necessary to make them very 

 profitable. He has two large farms, three or four 

 miles apart, which require a good deal of his time. 



Fiiend Davitte cuts no aristocratic didos, but is 

 quite social. This is enough for me to say of a bee- 

 man; you can imagine the rest, as to our entertain- 

 ment. After spending about five hours with him at 

 his home, he took a seat with us In the buggy, and 

 went with us to his other plantation, and to his 

 brother's other plantation, where I saw his extract- 

 or, which is the only one I ever saw, except the one 

 1 made mj self, which was a success, though more 

 trouble to manipulate. 



I have a friend here who has a vineyard. He is a 

 temperance advocate, and does not want to make 

 wine, but wants to know how to save his grapes in a 

 dry state. Can you, or any of your correspondents, 

 tell him how? How are raisins made? I did not tell 

 how I ventilated my hives. Bore four or five one- 

 inch holes, and cover with wire cloth. 



J. M. Harris. 



Cedartown, Polk Co., Ga., July 19, 1883. 



Friend H., I do not believe you are right 

 about tfee lunatic bees. Giving them more 

 ventilation might start them out to work, 

 and I suppose that would get them off from 

 their queer notion of scraping their hives.— 

 What I said about the climate, etc., was in- 

 tended to suggest that men get lazy by going 

 to Florida, even if they are naturally ener- 



fetic. I really hope I am wrong about it.— 

 congratulate you on having seen so much 

 of the world in just one day. x\nd lam 

 glad, too, to get a report of the house apia- 

 ry ; but how long has our friend been using 

 itV — lean not tell about the raisins, but! 

 suppose some of our California correspond- 

 ents can. I know some beautiful raisins 

 have been sent us from California. — I really 

 hope your temperance friend will find some 

 way to make his vineyard profitable without 

 dealing with any thing that can in any way 

 intoxicate. 



