564 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



honey in one of his reports, and that, too, after I 

 had explained to him the difference. He excused 

 himself upon the ground that the public would not 

 know what he meant if he called it extracted honey. 

 1 replied, "Well, then, edMcofc it. What are news- 

 papers for, if not to enlighten the people?" He 

 laughed, and said, "That's so," as he went away, 

 and there was no strained honey in his report the 

 next day, but there was "extracted" honey. I tell 

 you, that fairs are great educators. 



One day I heard some one say, "Hutchinson;" 

 and looking up to the other end of my exhibit I saw 

 the smiling faces of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Robertson, 

 of Pewamo, Mich. We had a nice little chat. Mr. 

 K. sold most of his bees last spring, and has been 

 "building up" the past season. He has about de- 

 cided to give up other business, and devote his 

 whole time to bees, which is, in my opinion, a wise 

 decision. The time when everyhndy should keep a 

 dozen swarms of bees has passed away, and the time 

 when the bee business can be lirofitahly mixed up 

 with other business is now passing away, and bee- 

 keeping is becoming a profession. The specialist 

 can do more work, do it more cheaply, and better, 

 than the man who divides his capital, his time, and 

 his talents among several pursuits. 



" Hello, hello!" some one said; and upon looking 

 up, there was Prof. Cocik's smiling face, and close 

 behind it that of Mr. H. L. Tifylor. They were on 

 their way home from Toronto, and were " chock 

 full "— of enthusiasm, and there is " no use trying" 

 to repeat what was said. 



Since attending the State Fair I have made an 

 exhibit 



AT OUR COUNTY FAIR, 



where I and my brother received S16.50 of the $34.00 

 that were offered as premiums, which just about 

 paid our expenses. With the exception of a pre- 

 mium on a comb-foundation machine, which was 

 awarded to Mr. J. L. Wilcox, the remainder of the 

 premiums were awarded to Mr. M. S. West. At our 

 county fair we sold our entire crop of comb honey 

 to Mr. West. Perhaps I should not say our entire 

 crop, as about 500 lbs. were sold at the State Fair, 

 and a few cases had been sold at stores near home. 



THE ALLEY, HUTCHINSON, POND CRITICISMS. 



Had I condemned, in any particular, the Alley 

 method of queen rearing without giving reasons, the 

 remarks of Bro. Pond, on page 66 of the Juvenile, 

 would have been right to the point; but, how is it 

 now? Can friend Alley or Pond or any one else take 

 up my review of friend Alley's book, take it up 

 point by point, and meet reason with reason, argu- 

 ment with argument, and fact with fact? If he 

 can, and does, you have but little idea, Bro. Pond, 

 how gracefully will I yield the palm. Since writing 

 my review I Tiave given the Alley plan a thorough 

 trial, and I can only repeat what I have already 

 said, and repeat it with vehemence. 



Please remember that I have not condemned the 

 Alley method, for I think — in fact, I know — that 

 good queens can be reai-ed according to that plan; 

 but I do say, that it is complicated, and any man 

 who has the free use of his reasoning powers will 

 say the same after a thoughtful perusal of the work. 



Yes, it is true that I have had only four or five 

 years' experience in the queen business; and it is 

 equally true, that In nine cases out of ten, when a 

 young man labors with an old veteran, and tries to 

 polnfeout his errors, and teach him better methods, 

 be the parties lawyers, doctors, farmers, or what 



not, a look of astonishment will steal over the face 

 of the old veteran, and he will exclaim, " Why, 

 young man, I have been in the business twenty 

 years!" when, perhaps, the last year's experience 

 may be a counterpart of the first. "Oh! you have 

 had no experience, young man," is not a very " lof- 

 ty" argument with which to meet solid facta. 

 caution. 

 I sincerely thank you, friend Root, for your ad- 

 vice in regard to not being hasty in taking up new 

 departures, and I will try to profit by it; but the 

 " conclusions " that I mentioned last month were 

 not hasty; they had been "lingering in my mind" (if 

 that is the proper expression) for the past year or 

 more, and at last I was forced to adopt them. There 

 is another " conclusion " that has been " lingering " 

 for a long time, and that is, that 



SUGAR stores ARE SAFEST FOR WINTER. 



So nearly have I come to this conclusion, so cer- 

 tain do I feel that pure cane sugar is the key that 

 will unlock this wintering problem, that I am feed- 

 ing two barrels of it to 85 colonies. From some of 

 them, all of the honey is extracted, and 20 lbs. of 

 sugar fed; from others, no honey is extracted, but 

 they are fed from 5 to 15 lbs. of sugar, just accord- 

 ing as they are heavy or light with natural stores. 

 This sugar will probably be the first to be consumed; 

 will be used during the winter, and the honey that 

 occupies the upper part and corners of the combs 

 will remain untouched until spring comes, and the 

 danger from dysentery is over; at least, this is how 

 r theorize. Some colonies are left undisturbed with 

 natural stores, and some are fed honey. 



w. z. Hutchinson. 



Rog-ersville, Gen. Co., Mich., Oct., 1883. 



SOITIETHING inORE ABOUT SWARITIING. 



WHY DO THEY LE.4VE? 



NOTICE in Gleanings for Sept. a letter from 

 Anna Stanclift, giving an experience with new 

 swarms of bees. As I have had some of the 

 same kind of trouble, I will report as requested. 



I had a very large swarm leave the hive after it 

 had been seemingly working contentedly two days. 

 It had brood in all stages, given the day the swarm 

 was hived; we found them clustered on a tree near 

 the hive they had left. We knew them by the queen. 

 They were hived again in a different hive— a box hive 

 without brood or comb of any kind, where they re- 

 mained. There was no advantage in the location of 

 the second hive, so it was strange to me they left the 

 first one, and yet they stayed in the last. 



A^ain, I had a swarm leave a hive after remaining 

 several hours. The hive stood in a cool shady spot, 

 but near where the swarm had clustered. Did re- 

 turning scouts lead them away? My neighbors 

 laugh at that idea, but the bees left for parts un- 

 known. 



About ten days ago, late in the afternoon, we 

 found a fine swarm of bees clustered on a tree; hived 

 it; carried the hive 30 feet away; fed them that 

 night, and they seemed all right at noon ne.xtday; 

 but during the afternoon, away they went. The 

 day was cool, and partly cloudy. The hive was 

 clean, and set in a clear open space near a fence. 

 Why they left, is another bee-puzzle. It was not the 

 heat, I am sure; neither was it robbers, as I watch- 

 ed them closely during the forenoon. My bees are 

 Italians, part of them raised from your stock of 



