636 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



From Different Fields. 



FRIEND MUTH, AND HIS CHANGE OF BASIS. 



f;RlEND ROOT:- Allow me to apprise you of a 

 change in my business. You are aware of the 

 — death of my eldest son, which occurred in May 

 last. He had been quite a help to me. After his 

 health was Impaired he went to the country, and I 

 had become accustomed to missing his assistance in 

 my business; but he had taken upon himself the 

 care of the farm. When I found there was no rem- 

 edy for his unfortunate disease, my mind was made 

 up to reducfi my business. 



My grocery and seed trade was unusually heavy 

 the past spring and summer, while my honey trade 

 kept growing steadily; and when the rush for sup- 

 plies was added to the rest, I was crowded more 

 than was pleasant to myself and business friends. I 

 could take no time to write a postal card, unless it 

 was absolutely necessary. 



. On Monday last I rented my store, etc., to a coup- 

 le of good young business men, and sold them my 

 stock of groceries. I will be found, hereafter, in my 

 honey-store, on the corner lot, opposite the old store, 

 which you perhaps remember. 



'• Pure Honey and Bee-keepers' Supplies," 



"Seeds and Pure Baking Powders," 

 Is my motto from now on. 



Please give the above notice in September num- 

 ber of Gleanings, if possible, and much oblige,— 



Cincinnati, O., Aug. 22, 1883. Chas. F. Moth. 



Well, old friend, you have just done a good 

 and wise thing. When 1 saw you last fall 

 there in your store, I made up my mind 

 that you must do one of two things— get a 

 small army of boys and girls to run your in- 

 creasing business for you, or let a part of it 

 go. Well do I remeniber that corner where 

 so many of the barrels were stored away ; 

 and when you get fixed for the supply bus- 

 iness of the South, I shall be delighted to 

 make you another visit. 



BEES about to BE BKIMSTONED; CAN THEY BE 

 UTILIZED? 



I am a beginner in bee culture under the new sys- 

 tem; and as you have always been kind enough to 

 answer my inquiries I should like to trouble you 

 again. I am situated in a location where bees are 

 kept in some quantities in box hives, and numerous 

 colonies "brimstoned" in the fall for their honey. 

 Now, I can get any quantity of these bees; but how 

 am I to winter them? I have no extracted honey; 

 no combs, except perhaps about 25 or 30 partly filled 

 when I prepare my bees for winter. Can I put them 

 on fdn., and feed them sugar to such an extent that 

 they will build it out and store syrup enough for 

 winter, so late in the fall? Now, what I want is to 

 know just what you would do to save those bees un- 

 der those circumstances. W. G. Fisu. 



Ithaca, N. Y., Aug. 12, 1883. 



Yes, my friend, you can lix them so as to 

 winter nicely. You will have to give them 

 four or live combs of fdn., the number de- 

 pending on the size of the swarm, of course, 

 and then you will have to feed them daily 

 (providing no stores are to be had in the 

 field, and this is usually the case, I presume, 

 where bees are to be brimstoned) until they 



are in proper trim for winter. Keep them 

 up at high pressure in brood-fearing, and 

 lengthening out the cells and sealing up 

 stores. It can be done almost without fail- 

 ure, if properly managed and finished up 

 before the weather gets to be too cold. I 

 should advise all who are new in the work, 

 to try a few first. When you can make a 

 few work and winter nicely, then try more 

 until you can utilize all the bees to be brim- 

 stoned in your region. If you put in an 

 Italian queen when you commence, by the 

 time you begin for winter you will have a 

 fine Italian colony that will well repay you 

 for the time and sugar. 



HONEY-DEW IN THE FIELD. 



I notice the agitation of the honey-dew question is 

 going on yet. The question is now settled with me 

 and my neighbors. When I began to argue that the 

 honey-dew was brought about by insects called 

 aphides, my neighbors howled at the idea, and said 

 it came from heaven. To prove the fact, one morn- 

 ing last week I went to an idle field where they were 

 innumerable on weeds called by the old folks here, 

 "farewell summer," and which comes into bloom 

 about the middle of August, at which time the face 

 of the earth becomes yellow ia the place of green, 

 when it is not covered with bees. Well, I broke ofif 

 the top of a weed that had a lot of aphides on it, 

 and carried it home with me to show some of the 

 folks that were there the insects, as they said they 

 had never noticed any of them. The thought of ex- 

 perimenting struck me while we were examining 

 the aphides, so I just carefully fastened the weed 

 with the insects upon it in the top of a small cher- 

 ry-tree standing in the yard. The next morning 

 about sunrise I stepped out to the tree, and the first 

 thlitg I saw was a bee after the so-called honey-dew 

 that had exuded from the aphides during the night, 

 and the leaves of the tree directly under the weed 

 upon which the insects were was " sploched" with 

 honey, so that it could be tasted by myself and wife. 

 Now, these are facts that can be proven. I am a 

 poor writer; it may be that some one would like to 

 question me; if so, I will take pleasure in trying to 

 answer him. Henry W. Carman. 



Custer, Ky., July 25, 1883. 



NECTAR IN CANADA. 



Look out for a big honey report from Canada this 

 year. Bees are storing honey by bucketf uls, and 

 the average in this section will go a good deal over 

 100 lbs. to the colony. One Stratford man the 

 other day took 112 lbs. of sections off one colony, 

 and there is plenty of time for them to do a great 

 deal yet, as the bulk of the crop was made in Aug. 

 and Sept. last year. I notice in the Beacon of this 

 week that Mr. Chas. Mitchell, of Moleswortb, has 

 taken 364 lbs. from one colony already, and 57 from 

 a young swarm, which they gathered in two days. 

 Perhaps we may coraeup to friend Carroll's figures, 

 if the fine weather holds out. 



WIDE FRAMES. 



This is a little secret for bee-keepers. Any of the 

 fraternity who intend splitting up their wide frames 

 for kindling, as they are sure to want to sooner or 

 later, had better " stop a leedle." If they wire them 

 and put in full sheets of fdn., they will have the 

 nicest kind of frames for extracting. Too bad, 

 Uncle Amos, for you to Invent them for sections. 

 They make bee-keepers sing too much. Of course, 



