30 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



Feu 



'M^.tMlni.^^^ m>'m^ iM'"W'iii^l 



DPci'taiiiiiig: to Hoc Ciiltxivo 



CAMFOKIVIA. 



Wr'T has been a long time since wo f^cnt onr 

 /lli dollar autl we haven't got the vvonderfnl 

 book yet that was to tell as how to get 300 lbs. 

 of box honey, but Ave did get a letter from the 

 lady saying the twok was not yet printed ; and 

 by the way is nut that rather a queer fashion 

 of advertising a book that tells how to do such 

 great things so many months before it is print- 

 ed. As our candy men gave us "nary a word" 

 in reply to repeated postals, we finally wrote 

 the P. M. at West View, O., that we should 

 have to call T. O. Osborne & Co., humbugs in 

 our paper if they did not respond ia some 

 shape, and this brought our 3oc. back with an 

 abusive letter saying Ike?/ too were waiting for 

 the printers to get them out a new edition, but 

 that they wouldn't send us one at any price 

 7WW. It is a very small matter indeed that we 

 have got our 35 cents back ; what we wanted 

 was to know whether they sent the "books" to 

 anybody. We sent the mone}- again and shall 

 send some more from a different point, and 

 when we do get the candy book we will tell 

 you all about it. 



Oar friend Annie Saunders sends us a note 

 that seems to indicate Mrs. Lizzie Cotton's cir- 

 culars have gone down among our south- 

 ern friends. See : 



Mr. Charles McDcrmot, Baxter, Chicot Co., Arkansas, 

 has a lar^e niimber of bees and keeps them in tho real olii 

 fi)?y style, but i« hepinvinri to want to do better, and is 

 about to send ^-iO.OO to ;i lady in Maine for a secret, /. c, 

 how to ijei .''jOO lbs. jier hive. He is a good old gentleman. 

 I think, and it is tinfortunate that he knows nothin!? about 

 scientilic boe-koepinir. He used to live here and t know 

 liim very well by reputation. His daughter told me to- 

 (in V about the secret. ^ 



The questions I asked you about A. Gray, & Co., were 

 not intended for publication, but it did them jrood. I re- 

 ceived a letter from one of the parties stating lis had ship- 

 ped it and olTering to help me look it up. 1 then sent to 

 the express office and found it. I doubted their good in- 

 tentions beciuse they were so highly I'ecomniended by 

 N. G. Mitchell. 



D. L. BULEE, South Fairfield, Mich. 

 rWe are very glad indeed to hear that A. Ciray & Co., 

 have made good their delinquencies. When a tlr.n 

 advertise 600 extractors, '2000 (jneens, cte., one would 

 naturally suppose they might auswer a registercd.\e.i- 

 ter containing monev— see page liS, vol. II— in less 

 than 8 months. And by the way, this plan of adver- 

 tising honey extractors, Imported queens and supplies 

 in general, that the advertiser hasn't got and never 

 had, is rather a bad way. and one that will be very 

 likely to bring trouble. We arc getting pretty well ac- 

 quaiiited with most of the advertisers ot bee-keeper's 

 supplies and hope we may be understood as having a 

 friendly interest in the afi'airs of all concerned. As a 

 general thing, responsiule parties are at all times will- 

 ing to have their business thoroughly ventilated when 

 circumstances seem to demand it. An honest man 

 has nothing to fear. 



Complaints are at hand from G. O. Penine, and his 

 own letters are in our hands, giving a very l>ad im- 

 pression indeed of his manner of doing business. The 

 letter from him in the A. B. ./..—page '34.5, vol. XT- 

 would, in our opinion, of itself condemn him, for a 

 good business man does not quarrel with, or speak 

 harshly of his customers. Mr. Muth, although he is 

 quite largely in the honey trade, speaks in the kindest 

 terms of all wlio have seiit him honey, and they, when 

 writing us, speak almost i)roudly of the prompt way 

 in which he pays them up. The people have been 

 abused, our own customers have been abused, and we 

 wonder many times that they overlook blunders and 

 delays as pleasantly and patiently as thev do. Our 

 verdict would be that it is not a hard matter at all. to 

 please the average mass of hnmanity. Header, what 

 do you think of the idea ? Be carefiil what reply you 

 make, for it may tell the tale, as to whether you arc 

 above or below tlie caverage.] 



p|iJP« liberties, and I guess it should Ije their privileire ; 

 ^~^ but I reajlly did not intcsifl yon ."hoiild iiublish 

 my last letter' to you whicli appeirea in the N'ov. No. of 

 GiEANisos. or there would surely not have lieeii so many 

 "big I's." You may put this one in ho\rever, and count 

 on me in the future to give yoxi — and the many read- 

 ers oi Gleanings— a good share of inform itioii in regard" 

 to bee business in Southern California. 



I have often wishetl that you — and raanv othera like you 

 — could l>e liere, where you could carry out any pian with 

 bees that might enter your fertile brains. Here where no 

 feeding for winter — winter quarters — hot-Ijeds — ^glass hou- 

 ses, etc., etc., are ever nee<letl— liere where bees at thi? 

 present date, Dec 1.5th. ai'c buildin? comb and rearitnf 

 brood as they do with you in May. Here where— if prop- 

 erly managed — bees will store a large surplus for nine 

 months in the year. Whore tliere is no risk at all to run ; 

 and where there is a great need of scientific bee men. 



Wo need you badly to develop one of the greatest of Cal- 

 ifornia's resources — the honey i>roducing. We have ;» 

 great many "bee men" here, but few of them know much 

 of the business, and consequently they do not develop tho 

 industry at all. Some few however, are tr\ie to the work 

 and are doing wonders. 



Tiiere was a great deal of bragging in that letter of m'v.w 

 you published in Nov., but I am very sanguine that I wilS 

 do every thing therein claimed. The country and seasons 

 here warrant m" in it. Here, the bees commence to work 

 on new bloom iii .Jan., and arc in swarming condition \'.\ 

 March. In April tjie black or button svre blooms and 

 lasts until the white s'lge comes out which is the last of 

 May. This lasts until the first of .Inly, and is the greatcsi 

 of all honey producing jjlants. The sumac blooms before 

 white sage i.s gon^. and 1 is-t.s ui7ti! the last of Aug. gener- 

 ally. So from swarming season vmtil sumac is gone, wi; 

 have fully three months of line work for bees. Now, how 

 much honey cfluld you take wiih the extr.actor, if whilf 

 clover was abundant for three months — to say nothuig of 

 your bf^es being t>?r;/ strong at commencement. Well, in 

 the valleys there are many willows on river beds, whic'i 

 produce a great deal of honey and pollen the year round. 

 Besides there is land which could be kept in buekwho 1 1 

 by irrigitioii, and thereby have an abundance of bloom 

 until the liret of Jan., about tho, time we have the first 

 frost ; and even then I don't thmk frost will hurt buck • 

 wheat much. Bees can be moved very easily you know. ;t 

 distance of '20or '25 miles. Now, dear Gleanings. I won't 

 tell you how I expect to make more honey from iOO colo- 

 nies next year, than any other m>in in the U. S., but wilt 

 leave you to guess. 



I will toll you however how to move bees without any 

 risk. We use tho simplest form of Langstroth hive au<f 

 think all other sensible bee men should do the same, for 

 they are much cheaper and easier managed. Select tli • 

 si-^e of frame desired and make a box large enough to givi- 

 t inch space on sides and top, and \ on bottom of frame .- 

 make a rabbet jxf on top of each side — ^nail well togethin- 

 — loose bottom board with clamps 1 inch thick nailed on 

 under side — loose top, a little wider than hive and 3 inche>^ 

 longer, \vith clamps \\ inch wide on under side. No«' 

 Novice, this is jiisl as good as your Simplicity — and a great 

 deal more simi)ie. So you see this is simplicity — simpli- 

 fied. As to size of frame— in cold countries a deep frame 

 is needed, while here and in all warm climates, we only 

 need .about 8 inches in depth. I prefer a frame Sxl,5 inch- 

 es — hive two stories — 10 frames in bottom hive and 1) in tO)). 



But I started to tell how to move bees. Well, make 

 frames of board 1 inch thick by S inches broad, just the 

 size of your hives. Hah i> th" boards togetlier at comers 

 of frame, nail with wmu-'lit nails and cover frames with 

 wire gauze. Fasten one of tliese frames on top and one 

 on bottom of each hi^e to be moved. One screw in each 

 end of frame is sufficient. The frames should be emptied 

 of honey before moving and well secured, either with nails 

 in each end of every frame — or by a strip of tin or wood 

 with pieces of wood fastened to it the proper distanct; 

 apart and right thickness to slip between the frames at 

 each side. 



Those ventilators will afford plenty of circulation to pre- 

 vent bees melting their combs, even in mid-ilay when the 

 weathei' is (|uito warm. I have a two-horse wagon, ar- 

 ranged with half springs which will hold a ton, and a bed 

 whi<^ii holds 40 swarms, making it but a small job to mo\'e 

 an apiary from one place to another. 



I liave a new, and I think rern valuable method of in- 

 creasing stocks, which I will give in nest. L'ntil tlien I am 



Amateuh. 



Tliauks friend A., we are glad to hear you 

 prefer the L. frame. Your hive is a Simplicity 

 hive according to our ideas. 



