1876 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



20!) 



wood laid between every two frames. These 

 strips were covered with propolis it is true, 

 but he, jackkiiife in hand, scraped it from eve- 

 ry stick as it wa^ laid in place. The result 

 was that no propolis ever touched the upper 

 side of his top bars, and we have just been 

 feeling as if we would be willing to take a 

 great deal of time if we could have our own 

 frames in the same condition, namely ; every 

 bit of comb on the inside, and the outrides 

 clean wood without any stickiness. As this 

 is next to an impossibility with suspended 

 frames, or those easy of manipulation, we 

 presume we shall have to give it up ; and you 

 my friends, I presume will have to choose in 

 the kind of hive yon decide upon, the lesser 

 of the two evils in many points. 



To be conthitied. 



■» ■ a II i » 



OUR O^VN APIARY. 



ilf ];6ME of our friends write the bees will not 

 ^^ work in the section boxes ; well we have 

 satisfied ourselves pretty thouroushly that 

 they will not, at least not in a way that 

 would be at all desirable, unless they have 

 foundations, or natural combs for a guide. 

 Even then, we occasionally have colonies that 

 do not seem to compreiicnd what the section 

 boxes are for, and hang on the outside of the 

 hive with the coolest indiflerence. while oth- 

 ers are doing good day's works. We are hap- 

 py to say we have made a 



GREAT DISCOVEllY, 



that is, it would be if no one else had made it 

 before ; at any rate it is new to us and would 

 have saved us ever so much honey if we had 

 made it earlier, for we have never seen it fail 

 to start the most stubborn stock in boxes at 

 once. It is simply to take a section, bees and 

 all,, from some stock that is working briskly 

 and put it in the centre of the one that will 

 not work. We in one day thus started more 

 than a dozen, including our colony of blacks, 

 but as they do not work on the red clover, or 

 but sparingly, they have made but little head- 

 way. 



There are to-day, bees flying once more from 

 every one of the Si entrances in the house api- 

 ary, and we are rejoicing in a moderate yield 

 of honey, even though it be the 4th, of Aug. 

 This was quite unexpected, and is quite un- 

 usual. As nearly as we can make out, it comes 

 from red clover, and it is the full blood pro- 

 geny of the imported queen, mainly, that are 

 doing it. One colony in the house apiary are 

 actually tilling glass boxes at a pretty fair 

 rate ; the honey looks and tastes like clover 

 honey, and the bees are found very busy on 

 the red clover. This one featui'e alone, is 

 worth all the expense of Italianizing. Our 

 plan of making the new colonies, was simply 

 to lift the combs from the upper stories, and 

 put them in the hives in the Ilouse apiary ; 

 and as they contained no brood, we made a 

 very sure thing of it by giving each colony a 

 small piece of comb containing larvjy from 

 our imported queen, also a cell nearly ready 

 to hatch. In case there vvas any failure with 

 the cell, they would be pretty sure to raise 

 one from the brood, and we are thus under no 

 necessity of taking a second look at the c51- 



ony, unless we choose. If we give them a sec- 

 ond piece of brood in about 12 days, it will 

 make success more certain, and will keep the 

 bees at ho:n3 while the queen is out. This 

 method is of course only for building up 

 stocks, and where you have very little time to 

 look them over and look for queens. In fact 

 we many times never see the queen at all, 

 feeling satisfied as soon as we fin;l sealed 

 brood in abundance. 



SECTION BOXES WITHOUT THE TIN SEPARATORS. 



Just after the Aug. No. had gone to press, 

 we were much delighted to find that the sec- 

 tions that were filled without the tin separa- 

 tors were just as much handsomer to look at, 

 and contained from ^^ to }o more honey. And 

 really, after taking a look at the plump round- 

 ed cakes, those made in the tin cases look 

 thin and lean. If^^ inch sticks are laid on 

 the frames — only two are needed — the sec- 

 tions can be placed right over the frames 

 without trouble, and ive are happy to add 

 that we found they could be all renioved from 

 the hive in a body, if unfilled, by moving the 

 whole to and fro until the propolis was 

 loosened, and theu lifting them up. It is true 

 we do not keep the bottom sticks as clean, as 

 by the other way, but it is so much less ma- 

 chinery that we are inclined to think we can 

 take the trouble to scrape them oil' with a 

 knife. Some kind of a honey board with slots 

 riiiiy be advisable, but we would be pretty 

 sure to get the sections farther from the 

 brood, winch we hardly think advisable. 



IWi — Honey is coming almost as it did in 

 June, and there is little doubt but that the 

 main part of it is from red clover. The Ital- 

 ians are seen on it every where, and they are 

 just about as busy as they are on the white 

 clover in June. It were no more than fair, to 

 state that the hybrids are at work on it also, 

 and some strong stocks of very cross hybrids 

 are actually filling section boxes faster than 

 any we have, but it may be because they have 

 such a heavy force of workers. The imported 

 queen, although we have sold larvte from the 

 stock almost as fast as she could lay the eggs, 

 for the past 3 months, sends out workers 

 enough to bring the hive down at the rate of 

 from 1 to 1 lo lbs. per day. We put them on the 

 spring scales, because they are almost the on- 

 ly stock that is not too heavy for the capacity 

 of the scales. They were divided in July, and 

 the new colony is now a strong stock. The 

 plan of dividing was simply to carry the 

 brood combs, bees and queen, to a new hive, 

 brood being left in the old hive from which to 

 raise a queen. 



OUR EXPERIENCE WITH SMOKER'^. 



When moving the combs from the upper 

 stories into the house apiary, we got along 

 very peaceably with several colonies, scacely 

 nefiling any smoke at all; but when we came 

 to the 4 story hives of dark hybrids, it was not 

 so pleasant. Had our hives been made so that 

 only % space was left between the frames above 

 and those below, perhaps we should have got 

 along very well, but unfortunately they were 

 our old Simplicity hives and the space was in 

 some cases l^^ inches and heavy combs were 

 bridged across this to save room. The hoop 

 hives, and the hives we make now, work ex- 



