183 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



pour on i lb. of sulphiu- to every 200 cubic feet con- 

 tained in j-our room. Sulphur tlie last tiling before 

 crating if you wish to get a name as producing nice 

 box honey. We have frequently seen honey in mark- 

 et with moth worms in the boxes from 1 to li in- 

 ches long and nearly as large as a pipe stem. Such 

 honcj-is not very tempting to the consumer. Pile the 

 boxes so that all entrances will bo open. The section 

 boxes are nice on this isocount, as they will pile com- 

 pactly tier on tier, and still leave I inch space be- 

 tween every comb all through the pile. Never let box 

 honey freeze on any account, as it cracks it loose 

 from the the box or through the centre of combs 

 when it contracts. If you do not sell before freezing 

 weather comes keep lire in your room night and day. 

 To deliver honey in coM weather, pile the crates up 

 so the air from your loom can circulate all round 

 each crate, keep the temperature of room from 90° to 

 05° for 36 hours before moving it, and it will ride in 

 open air 25 miles on a spring wagon, before it will get 

 cold enough to be brittle. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



P. S. If ants are troublesome, we really know of no 

 other way than to line the house with tin so as to make 

 it ant-ijroof. G. M. D. 



Very much obliged indeed, friend D. Our 

 remarks in regard to selling honey as soon as 

 taken from the hives, were only meant for such 

 as was to be used up at once, and with no 

 thought of shirking an unpleasant job to the 

 shoulders of some one else. We have had some 

 experience of the kind ourselves, in the way 

 of unsightly worms in honey boxes, and the 

 task of breaking them open and piclving out 

 the webs and worms was by no means a pleas- 

 ant one. 



In our market the section boxes without 

 glass are taking the precedence ; we make a 

 case to ship or store them, just large enough 

 for a single section to slip inside, and long 

 enough to hold fifteen side by side. The ends 

 of these long boxes are glass, and the cover is 

 held on by six screws ; the sides are made just 

 the right height to allow the screws to draw 

 the cover against the top bar of the sections 

 sufficient to hold them from shaking about 

 when shipped, and yet close enough to exclude 

 flies and ants. These long boxes are very 

 cheaply made, and are of such shape that they 

 are almost of necessity handled carefully. 

 When the honey is to be retailed, the box can 

 be readily opened, the sections lifted out as 

 wanted, and all is secure ; yet the consumer 

 gets less than one ounce of wood to the pound 

 of honey he buys, less than with any other 

 package for comb honey with which we are ac- 

 quainted. In our own store we find it impos- 

 sible to sell honey even in the nicest glass box- 

 es, since we have ofi'ered the sections. When 

 the honey needs brimstoning, the covers can 

 be unscrewed from these long sections, allow- 

 ing your eye to sweep every comb in an in- 

 stant, and any one to be withdrawn almost as 

 quickly. If they are kept in a tight honey 

 house, the covers may be left off after brim- 

 stoning it, in case a second fumigation be need- 

 ed. The facility with which the bees cau be 

 shaken from these sections, is to us quite an 

 argument in their favor, in place of boxes. 



On one occasion we removed some glass box- 

 es and placed them in front of the hive, for the 

 bees to get out ; as they were slow we left them 



over night. During the night it rained, and 

 our nice boxes, all made of tin and glass, were 

 spattered with mud, and drenched with rain. 

 They are now bothering us by leaking on the 

 bottom of the show case ; the sections when 

 well sealed, make no trouble by leaking and 

 daubing. 



A lioney box can scarcely he made, to be sold honey and 

 nil, for less than a half dollar ; and a four or live pound 

 box, even at the 1' w price of 25 cents per pound, amounts 

 to over a dollar. Yuu m;iy jjlacc them so as to catch the 

 eye of the passer Vjy, and they will inquire the price, but 

 the number that can spare a dollar are few, compared 

 with those who will hand over a quarter, or 30 or fO cents 

 for one of the neat little square cakes such as the section 

 boxes contain. Some friends were at tea ; the honey was 

 all up street except that in the hives ; we slipped out, 

 raised the cover to a hive, raised the quilt, took out a sec- 

 tion frame, shook it, blew off the bees, and was back in 

 our ]5lace at the table scarcely being missed. The section 

 was laid on a i)late, a thin knife passed aroinid it, and af- 

 ter the meal it was restored to its place in the hive, ready 

 for the bees again. ^ 



^ 



IMPORTED QUKKNS AND INTKOIi>i:CIN«J 

 QITB3ENS. 



wp^'E are very thankful for your defense of our deal- 

 w// ings. A'ery few imported queens would satisfy 

 tliose who put the color above all other quali- 

 ties ; yet when we compare tlie small number of com- 

 plaints, {not a half dozen in two years), with the commen- 

 dation we receive daily from our eitstoraers, we are almost 

 ready to continue our course, taking for our motto the de- 

 vice of Michael Monlagne, '"Act light, whatever be the 

 consequences." 



In your article you suggest that we refund the money to 

 those who will not be satisfied with our queens. As you 

 have seen, by our letter written before receiving your 

 July No., too late for insertion, we had resolved to 

 make an addition in that way to our advertisement. 

 Had we taken that way before, we would have avoided 

 many vexations, by refunding their money to two or 

 three bee-keepers, at most, on several hundred queens 

 sold. 



But what must we do with those who will refuse to 

 send an afiidavit purporting that the (lueen complain- 

 ed of is the same that we have sent, and who, never- 

 theless accuse us of being swindlers ? 



We believe that the killing of queens by the bee- 

 keeper while introducing or otherwise, is what makes 

 most of the trouble between queen dealers and their 

 customers. I know of bee-keepers who have tried to 

 introduce valuable queens in hives with laying work- 

 ers. It was sure death for the queen introduced. 



Others take the queen from the hive before the arri- 

 val of the queen ordered. If the sender cannot send 

 her immediately, or if she has been delayed on the 

 way, a young queen may have hatched, the bee- 

 keeper having fa iled to destroy all the queen cells. 



Now, as a queen which has been confined for a few 

 days in a small box with few bees, is lean, or looks so 

 rather than really is, the young hybrid queen is read- 

 ily believed to be the queen ordered. Then the hard 

 names come to the queen dealer, who is yet quite sure 

 of having sent a pure queen. 



Others, to be ready, place the queen to be replaced 

 in ac|ueen-cage in her hive. Nine times out of ten if 

 this conliuement lasts a few days, the colony has pre- 

 pared some queen cells, and the qu-;en is killed. A few 

 days after the bee-keeper hunts for his qeeen ; he is unable 

 to tiiid her ; a few days later he sees her laying. Of course 

 he cannot imagine that the queen he had under his eye i5 

 not the queen received. 



I could quote many more circumstances whicli might 

 delude even an experienced bee- keeper. I will quote only 

 one more : Sometimes the colony has two queens ; the 

 bee-keeper kills one. and the one reraaiuiup: kills the 

 queen introduced. • We have had a case of that kind at our 

 apiary and at a neighbor's. 



