1876. 



GLEA.NINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



55 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



ail 



fi HAVP] been keaping bees only a few years, but am 

 delighted with it. As my axe and heilth render me 

 — I imfit for the active duties of the farm, bee-lceepin^ 

 now comes in as a bexutiful employment around the 

 house. It is l)rim full of real substanti il pleasure, and no 

 farniiT should think of farming without having bees. 

 They hcloiiij to tho farm, and I would now no more think 

 of b^'iii','- without bo?s than without cattle, sheep, ho'j^a or 

 unyof till' products of (he firm. A few years aaro when 

 mv attention wns cilled to it as a science, (throu.;h Mr. 

 Kiu'Jr's littlo book.) I ent'M'i'd into it with so much entliu- 

 siisui that my n;'iihl)ovs were disposed to put fun at me, 

 and often s'lid HersperA'r's wild on the bee (piestion. If I 

 had failed, it would have been "as they expected" and a 

 strange bit of folly in me. But 1 succeeded. Last year 

 from VI stocks I took 1,000 lbs. of beautiful box honey — sold 

 it at 25c. per lb. — and doubled my stocks. This year (a 

 poor season,) I have sold .§200.00 worth of honey, and in- 

 creased to 35 stocks, (ind now I am a hero! They all 

 wonder at my success, and talk of it on all occasions. In 

 this climate, I think we need have little care about win- 

 tering. Some protection around the hives, .and the work 

 is I lone. If they have plent.v of stores they will e;o 

 throutrh all rij:lit. True, I h ive blankets on mine, or most 

 of theni. ))ut I believe they will do well without tliem. I 

 have yet to lose the tirst from out door wintering. I tried 

 a few in my cellar. It was too damp. They did not do 



well. H. C. HEESPKKGEIi. 



Keenc, Ky., Dec. 15, 1875. 



I have about 50 colonies of bees, s^me fme as one could 

 wish for. The past seison was one to be remembered in 

 this part of Iowa. Most of what few bees were left here 

 c inie throiiiih in poor condition, and to help matters on 

 we had a cold, wet, 1iackwu-fl sprint,-, and when it did set 

 in warm anil llowers l)l(ionii'!l, we h id continued niin for 

 days and even weeks at a time, until 1 Kave up in despair. 

 1 continued to feed my best hives for they were pure, al- 

 thoush weak in numbers and stores. There came a change 

 in July, and then came thi^ swarmins? fever ; and such a 

 time! Just think; 1 men and Iti boys could not hive 

 them fast cnouii-h. Oliver S. Claek. 



Albia, Iowa, Feb. 4th, 187(5. 



Very likely we shall have some lively times 

 with this same swarming mania, if we attempt 

 to raise comb honey ; and our safeijuarcl to pre- 

 vent the loss of bees and queens when they are 

 of the most value, would be to clip the ((ueens' 

 winijs. As even with this precaution we are 

 liable to have youns: (jueens ffet out with a 

 swarm, it tnay be well to provide appliances 

 for rapid work. In addition to the various 

 swarmins: poles that have been given, our 

 friend, llev. J. Van Eaton, of York, N. Y., 

 sends the following-. The idea seems t* be to 

 take advantage of the ditiposition bees have to 

 cluster where several limbs join together, or 

 to get into any obscure angle or cavity : 



A ! B 



J 



have commenced to cluster— first bumping 

 them oil' with the end W — and push the pole 

 up until the limb is secure l)etvveen B and C ; 

 now push A up until it rests on the ground in 

 such a way as to hold it all secure, where it 

 may be left until the bees are all safely clus- 

 tered. Any timid person can now take it down 

 and lay it in front of the hive that has been 

 previously put in readiness for them. If it is 

 kept lixed up in a conspicuous place during 

 the proper season, they nviij light directly on 

 it. "Don't say nothiu' " if they don't. 



This month's Gleaxixgs received. You say your bees 

 wouldn't work on meal -Ian. 18th, while mine worked on 

 it in Dec, and li'ul you seen them, you would have thought 

 all the liees in the apiary were in that one box of meal. 

 It was really amusins to have passers-by stop and look, 

 then ask, "Bees swarmin.? ? What makes them so white V 

 New kind ain't they ?" 1 explain to them that they an; 

 workiii'j; on rye Hour, when of course they ask to know all 

 about it. If 'they make honey of it 'r If 1 mix it with 

 honey V and a thousand and one questions of about the 

 sanie'kind. Bees all in the cellar now, with everythinir 

 drv and comfortable. J. 51. B. 



Columbus, Ind., Feb. 3d, 1876. 



Let A B represent a strip from a straiglit- 

 grained pine board, long enough to reach as 

 high as your swarms usually cluster, and 

 strong enough to take down one of the heavi- 

 est. C, G, D, are'.i inch boards something in 

 the shape of II and about 10 inches wide; G, 

 Avhich is to be nailed to the pole, is about 3 

 feet long ; the rest, a foot or a little more. At 

 F. a bundle of hay enclosed in a black cloth 

 bag, or something else resembling a cluster of 

 bees, is fastened, by tacking it on the boards. 

 To use it, push B over the limb on which they 



I left my home on Pt. Pelee Island, Lake Erie, in De- 

 cember last, coniintc here with my familv to spend the 

 winter with old friends and relatives, leaving my bees (3S 

 colonies) on the island upon their summer stands, with- 

 out any one to look after or take care of them, and will 

 l)robably not see them until next April. As they canit- 

 throusili the severe weather of last winter with but com- 

 parativclv small loss, though exposed to the west winds 

 dii\'<'tlv olT the lake, without even the protection of ti 

 fence to l)i-eak the winds. I am hoping they may get 

 throuidi this mild winter weather. 



A number of my friends here in Ky. kept bees in mov- 

 able comb hives some years ago, but I find that most of 

 them have died olf. anil the few remaining ones are very 

 much ni'xlected. But very little interest is taken in tht^ 

 subject liv any one. 



I think' (i(,HANiNGS well worth a dollar, though we may 

 never add))! all your new fantiled notions— at least not 

 until you have thorou'--hly 'tested them for more than on<- 

 season - for instanc. that new hive made of \ inch strips. 



I read last iiiKlit a Ion; account of i\Ir.s. Ellen S. Tap- 

 per's great troubles, and could scarcely believe my eyes 

 when reading the head-lines of the article. As it is, 1 

 i can not believe but that she is more to be pitied than 

 Vdamed. Althou-h I never saw her, 1 felt almost as if sin- 

 were a ))ersiin;d friend — as I do of most of our bee friends 

 - -and was made ipiite sad. THAPDEid S.uitii. 



Jlidway, Kv., Feb. 1th, 1876. 



When we first advised an extractor weighing 

 only 14 lbs., it was thought too light to do the 

 woi'k ; but actual use soon showed that it was 

 far more elticient than those revolving such a 

 weight of met"-l. We think those who have 

 stu(ilied the effect Of the sun and storms on 

 wood- work, will auree that i^ inch will outlast 

 thicker stuff, especially when it is "ironed oft"' 

 as completely as are the exposed portions of 

 the Universal Hive. They cost us considerably 

 luore than the Simplicty hives of the '^^ lum- 

 ber, but we shall benefit ourselves by having 

 only one hive to make and keep in stock, in- 

 stead of six; and shall benefit our customers 

 by giving them a much easier hive to handle, 

 besides supplying a whole neighborhood with 

 hives precisely alike, no matter what the fratne 

 used. Are there any among our lady readers 

 whose artns have ached from lifting covers 

 that weigh from 10 to 25 lbs.':" Well, take 

 courage, for the cover to the U. hive weighs 

 barely two lbs., and is framed in galvanized 

 iron at that. A case for 27 section boxes 

 weighs the same. These cases and covers are 

 an exact fit for the Simplicity hive, or iu fact 

 for any Langs troth hive. 



