GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



10^ 



'WO many dajs he and his cousin a year older, 

 •were (loiiiir a smasliin^ trade ill everythinij in 

 iJie uMiy HiCbrarkt'ts. Some of the \voi-l< they 

 "!<), would pass very creditably iu any of 

 I he luniiliirt slorc«. If yon have boys tliat 

 you wish kept b«sy, add the scroll saw attach- 

 ment^ there is no eu<J t<» the beautiful handi- 

 work they caii pro(5uce. 



Instead of makinj;: our frame's with the mitre 

 joint as heretofore', we no\\ put thein together 

 :»s we do the section boxes and if the work is 

 iloue nicely a ver;- good Irame can he made 

 without using th<e bottom corner^*, for there is 

 very little tendency for them to [xill apart af 

 ter they they are waxec} over by the bees. IJy 

 driving a very small bra<t each wa}', it would 

 Miake this secure init the frame is not nearly so 

 •<tifl"aml rigid as when the corners arc used all 

 :uound, especially when one wishes to rest a 

 heavy fram<3 on oue of the lower corners while 

 uncapping. The new way of making the 

 frames is much the cheapest, for after the ends 

 !<f our boards are grooved, we have nothing to 

 kt but to rip off the pieces. We have this 

 week sent sncii frames by express to the ex- 

 treme iSoulhern States, and yet with a $00.00 

 buzz saw they could be made at a good jjrotit 

 ;it the price we sell them f<»r, and they s!unild 

 be made near at home to save the very expen- 

 sive express charges. To assist such enter- 

 prises, we will make the metal corners fur 7r»c. 

 per hundred to those who make frames for 

 tsale. As an evidence that you arc entitled to 

 this discount, we sha'l require oue of your 

 printed pi ice liats with your order, or that you 

 send us your name ti> put iu our list of hive 

 makers for one year. Frames without the 

 metal corners, l)c. each. Mr. Langstrotli ob- 

 jected to the plan of having hives and frames 

 made all over the country, because tliey would 

 not make them exact, but with our new way 

 you have only to saw your boards off the pre- 

 ri.se length you wii-h the sides and ends of the 

 rames. and they are sure to be right. For in- 

 -^tance, for L. frames you are to cut the boards 

 ip into pit ces just 11% long for tops, and i)^„ 

 ibrends; if you cannot do that with a buzz 

 saw you are certainly to be pitied. Perhaps 

 we shoul<l add that the grooving for frumes 

 must be so as to give 4 grooves and 4 tenants; 

 'W use 4 saws for the purpose and finish the 

 whole at one operation. 



[For <jlo:iiu!i!rs. 

 LAST YEAR'S BEKolNG. 



BY A. W. LUJ.CK, OF MATVILLE, Win. 



^5A/ffr AY can well be snid, to he the Jamiary in the cal- 

 Jlj/l'ii endiirof tlie be<8-jear; at least; for this seciioii of 

 ' the oouritry. At lhi.s time we have completed the 

 cycle of bee-business, and should be ready to ooiumence 

 dc novo. But before going ah«ad it may be well to review 

 the doing.s of last year. 



Wo kc-jil bees for several years, not as a business, but 

 iiir recr(alion and amusement, but never had above (ive 

 'lives in the fall, and in spring this number was generally 

 I'duced to ihrce, two or e\en one. We never used the 

 •xli'actor except la.st year, but obtained usually from 30 to 

 :<i and one lime even 72 llis. cf box honey from one colony. 

 We used a modification if the "Diamond"' hive; winter- 

 ing them out-doois. In the fall of 1874, wt had four colo- 

 nics, preparcil for winter as usual by lacking iliy hay on 

 the tops of the hives, and around three of their .sides. 

 However in spiing 1875, only one colony of these was 



alive. We now resolved to change the hives and winter 

 in-doors. The "Standard" was adoplfd, of which we had 

 been told so many good things in Gleanings. In the 

 last week in May we bought a colony of Italians, and had 

 them transferred into the "Standard." A few weeks later 

 we tratisferred our black colony to the same kind of hive. 

 When buying the Italians w* also Vjought an Italian queen. 

 AVc gave her ladyship a hive with empty combs and set it 

 on the stand of oiu- blac't col ny. which we removed a few 

 pa<^es ; by this piocess wo secured bees enough f )r a go xl 

 .-ized colony. Thus at the middle of June wo h:id three 

 colonies iu a fair condition. By the judicious use of empty 

 combs, from these colonies, that had died during winter, 

 we kept increasing tUem up to ten. We did not work 

 them for box honey, however we extracted over 450 lbs. ^ 

 of this no irly KOO lbs. were from liasswood. This honey 

 sold readily at 20 cts. per lb.. s(» that before Christmas we 

 had sold ail we could spare. The last extracting wo did 

 in the middle of Aujiust, !itt'io!i the ihX of the same month 

 we had such a cold night, that the frost killed nearly all 

 vegetation. Our bees now hardly m;wle a living, and in 

 October we found, that only two hives had stores enough 

 for their inmates during winter. So tlio others we provi- 

 ded each with a Universal feeder, and fed back to tium a 

 lot of the last extracted honey. We used this honey in 

 preference to sugar syrup, because it was hardly marketa- 

 ble; being gathered partly from buckwheat and partly 

 from worm seed {chenopodmin (tnthelniin/.iii.m) it pos- 

 sessed not only a dark color, but also the strong and pecu- 

 liar flavor of this last plant. 



On Nov. 13th, we housed our iiees in a cellar built for 

 this purpose partly m and partly alK)ve ground This 

 house or cellar had a chimney !-xi'., which was left open all 

 winter, except on stormy days. Through this chimeny we 

 had a thermometer su.speiided one foot from the floor. 

 By pulling it up we could at any lime know the tempera- 

 ture of our bee house, without openiniiig the door or dis- 

 turbing the bees in any way. In fact we opened the door 

 only twice during the entire winter. The temperature in 

 this house was very steady during the variable changes of 

 the last winter. The thermometer never went below 33''' 

 nor up to 40^. This temjieislure is lower, than that of an 

 underground cellar, and our bees did not breed before wc 

 put them on their summer stands, otherwise they did 

 very well. There would be hardly more than three pints 

 (f dead bees on the floor. .V neigh 'oor of mine, who haf5 

 (ive colonies in a clean dry cellar, told me, that he ha<l 

 more dead bees from his live hives, than we from our ten. 



Mai-ch 10:h, was a real siucmer's day, and out went our 

 bees. They seemed to et joy l)athi!ig themselves in the 

 glorious rays of a vernal sun even more, than Dr. Kane 

 after the long, dark and dreary Arctic niglit in his nortli 

 ' pole expedition. On looking them over hastily, we found 

 that one colony was on the i)oint of starvation, and four 

 others nearly out of stores. Of coursa,we supplied them. 

 The next day thermometer went down and in went the 

 bees; tbei« ihey stayed until April 7th when we took them 

 out permanently for a summeis work . We found one col- 

 ony qucerdess and united it with anotlier. thus leaving us 

 to begin the new bec-.\ear with 9 in fair condition. 



We heartily endorse the idea of calling the 

 1st of May the new year, in bee-culture. Say 

 you commenced May 1st with so many, etc., 

 and then it will be recognized that wintering 

 entis only with that time. 



The Universal Hive arranged for standard 

 frames, is virtually the same thing as the 

 Standard hive, except that it contain.' lo frames 

 instead of 20. As it is very much lighter to 

 handle,cau readily be used two story, is exact- 

 Is right for a case of universal boxes and is 

 considerably cheaper, we think it must be pre- 

 ferred to the Standard hive we have furnished 

 heretofore. 



