t876 



OLEANIN-GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



2S1 



aniiaal he.it, ami jiartiul starvation, are tUe vciy 

 •causes «f the miscliief. The box and straw tive bee- 

 aneu are ve^y eiKltaiit; 4hcir bees ai'e very sta'ong, 

 ;and svvftrias ai-e plent*,-, w&ile I kaveio better on ki 

 :a ver}- jioor w-ay. 



I want adviuc ot'^reat iBiportaiice to icae jwst •now- 

 Woiil'i J--OU a<lTase agiwa, llio iecaling of sugar siinip 

 tior nest wanter ^ Have you ?.Eyeiperien«e tisat the 

 '•33rui) can. crystaljze in the cells an<i b&eoBae so liarU 

 iis to be werthless? ThAs is very important to 4»e. 



I wiib fiiiend Bolia wotdd be so kind as t© state 

 «wheu he Jteeds his bees,- i£ he dcves so before they 

 tliave flown in tfee sjK-ing. 



I should be glad to hear how it is eow with ilosmer^ 

 khow nia«y hives he bas, a«d Ji present statenieut oX' 

 fills business 5 also of Adas r's four feet hives. It is & 

 wonder we hear so little of theiis just now. 



J'JSEJ'H DuFFELEii, Weqwlock, Wis. 



The house apiary is uot at present a success 

 with the extractor", awl we a,re very doubtful 

 whelli-er it ever will bo. One great trouble is 

 fthe {rropeufiity the be<es have to crawl all over 

 the walls, and even over tJie ceiling of the 

 thuildiiig when disturbed, as thej have to be 

 iiu extracting. If we coold liave each hive 

 ■-■<taud away Irom the wall, and four or five 

 Sect from any other, perhaps it might answer^ 

 !!)ut evtii tlieu the labor of sweeping the 

 room and keepitig things tidy, making the 

 <lcors shut close without sticking, etc., would 

 %ve think more than Ixilance tJie advantages. 

 In the open air, dame nature does all the dust- 

 iiug, Washes oft" the hives, dispenses sunshine 

 wnspariugly, and furnishes shade if you only 

 plant the grape vines. We should have no 

 fear whatever of the crystalizatiou 3'ou speak 

 of. In feeding barrels of sugar we have never 

 had au}- stores that the bees could uot use. 

 If the stores are well sealed up, whether su- 

 -gar or honey, aad the too rapid escajje of ani- 

 Biial heat is prevented, we have strong Jiopes 

 Ihat all will be well. 



We are sorry to say that Mr. Hosmer has 

 apparently abandoned bee. culture ; whether 

 P)ecause he could not again equal the great re- 

 port that so much w^as said about, or because 

 lie failed in wintering, we are unable to 

 determine. The last we heard was that he 

 3iad more hives containing moth eaten combs, 

 than containing Ijces. Adair will have to be 

 •clas.scd with some others who made a great 

 ado al)out the new discoveries they had made, 

 yet were very soon silent and forgotten. Those 

 who keep steadily at work, satisfied with 

 things we have already, and who have no 

 time to tell ol their great achievements, are the 

 i^ucctssful ones. We will try and take a little 

 of the last item. 



I have finished my extractor with t he gearing I had 

 ot } Gu and used it. It runs like a top, is complete iii 

 «very respect, except I cannot get the inside out with- 

 out taking out the screws. It would have Ijeen 

 cheaper to have bought the whole inside work of you 

 Serf.'). 10, It has cost me ^i, though I cculd have att- 

 olhcr made cheat er. It is in a nice tub I made 

 snxfcif. I disc jver my bees at work mostly on Bur- 

 •Jlock, which I never heard of before as a honey plant, 

 X. A. PiiuiJUEN, Ann Arbor, Mich, .id, 1S76. 

 Wliy do you wish the inside out of your ex- 

 ^lactcrr' Certainly not to cUan it, for it is in 

 the very lx?st shape where it is, if you are pro- 

 vided with a tea-kettle of boiling water. If 

 you wish the can for seme other purpose, you 



want the castings and all out of tl>e way. Put 

 the cloth cover over llie niachiue when not in 

 use, and the honej need not ■fje washed ofl' un- 

 til tiie tiid of the seasoji, for it is the very best 

 protection against r'dst. We have counted 

 oiore bees on a single plant of burdock than 

 any other plant we ev er saw. 



ANOTUJiR LINK IN THE 'JHAIN Ol" i'KOOKESS. 



I always want to ''take my pen in isanil" after read- 

 ing a frc.sii No. of <J.LEANJ[N<i.s, iKit have so little time. 



Tiie honey season has been very short here, lasting 

 only four weeks, aad soiwe of tlic time uot very good 

 at that. Still 4ny bcc« have stored several thousand 

 lbs. of comb honey for me. liut I started to say ttiat 1 

 thiut that, if properly fed, there would be no dSflicul- 

 ty ill getti^lg lx;e,s to utilise the cappings lliat have 

 been taken when prej>ariug combs for the extractor, 

 I have noticed the present season while watching 

 bees work, through gla,5.s, that before adding wa.K to 

 their combs ihey tear it into minute pieces. And 

 this is why thej- will colof their combs beyond the 

 foundations, ^^hen given them. They tear or bite off 

 the wax irom thick fouudatioas and use it in other 

 places. It occured to me that if that were the way 

 they hui.t theircombs, if wax in the proper condition 

 were placed in their boxes it would Ije readiJy appro- 

 priated, i did not think of cappings or I might have 

 tried them. But I went to some nice bright yel- 

 low wax that I had, and wltli some glass, scraped ofl' a 

 ^iuactit^-and put into a box that bees were at work 

 in; no sooner had I put it in the box than the bees 

 pounced upon it and began to tear it in pieces and 

 add to their comlis. The next daj- the combs, where 

 they were working fastest, were yellow instead of 

 white. They took the wax all up, after which I fed 

 them more of the same kind, and of other colored 

 wax also, with equal success, I hope no enterprising 

 iankee viill patent the idea. But when we practice a 

 little more, all we shall liave to do will be to put on 

 our boxes \-iith the projter amount of wax in them 

 and just watch and see the most beautifulcombs built 

 down as if by magic. Then how those people will 

 groan who have invested in foundations or founda- 

 tion machines ! All we shall have to do will be to 

 furnish the wax and the bees will build the combs 

 that will not be was, but real combs. Don't you see ! 

 But you will excuse my enthusiasm, you know our 

 brotherhood are apt to be a little enthusiastic over 

 something new. 



To be frank, I have no doubt in my own mind, from 

 ihe experiments I iiave made, that wax can be fed 

 very profitably. Still if the foundations prove a suc- 

 cess as now seems quite certain, that will doubtless 

 be the best way in which to furnish wax in iiuantities. 



Hope my experiments may throw some light on 

 the question raised in the last No. of Gleanings. 



J. E. Ckane, 



P. S. I want to ask G. M. Doolittle if smoking hon- 

 ey with sulphur or brimstone does not injure the 

 flavor of the honej\ J. E. C. 



Bridport, Vt. Aug. 4th, 187G. 



What a people we are ! Friend Smith dis- 

 covered that cappings would be used for 

 comb-building, and we were fortunately able 

 to present the idea to our 1097 readers. The 

 result of the experiments of only one of them, 

 is given in the above. We think those who 

 have a fondness for having their bees build 

 their combs in sornc definite form, or place, 

 will prefer the foundations, but have no 

 doubt but that wax scraped up in the form of 

 thin shavings as above, will prove successful. 



