240 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



Tiie president writes tliat he thinks the change in 

 time advisable, la accordance with the arrangements 

 and tins opinion, wo announce tliat the national 

 Bi£E-]vEErEES' ASSOCIATION wiU meet at Philadel- 

 phia, Pa., October 25th, 1876. Bee-keepers will please 

 report themselves at the department devoted to the 

 display of honey, at 10 o'clock a. ji. 



After temporary organization, the association will 

 adjonrn to some convenient, suitable place, for the 

 use ol which arrangements will be made. 



Wo hoi>e the special inducements offered for this 

 meeting, will be appreciated by bee-keepers general- 

 ly and we anticipate a largo gathering. One suited 

 to display the importance of our industry in this Cen- 

 tennial year of American Indepeudance. 



J. II. Nbllis, Sec'y Centennial Committee 



of the N. E. Bee-Keepers' Association. 



Cauajoharie, N. Y., Sept. ICth, 1876. 



DOOLiIT'E'S.E'S SIEPORT. 



YJr^Y turning to pages 153 and 171, present Vol., the 

 JrQa readers of Gleanings will see how we stood 

 —^ June loth. About this time clover opened, but 

 our bees hardly got a living, as it rained nearly every 

 day. Jane iid bees commenced to swarm and as 

 they were not getting honey enough to build any 

 comb we could not control the swarming fever ; or at 

 least we did not succeed in doing so. We do not be- 

 lieve there is such a thing as a nonswarming hive 

 with the Italians ia sucli a season as the past has been. 

 If bees get just honey enough to rear brood rapidly, 

 and still not enough to build comb they will swarm, 

 no matter how much empty space you give them. 

 On the other band if they get honey so as to build 

 comb rapidly the foie part of the season, they will 

 swarm but little. Black bees have swarmed but little 

 ill this locality and have done little else, while 

 tne Italians have swarmed freely and made 

 some hone}'. We wor.der how many have tried the 

 plan given on page 153, to get an "enormous" yield of 

 honey. Our bees are just fools enough to swarm in 

 from 10 to 15 days after being hived on brood in tliat 

 way. We have repeatedly tried it and just as often 

 failed. .Js^ov ice tells us several times the past>eason, 

 that if we don't wisli our bees to go out with the 

 queen in her first flight, to give them a frame of 

 young larvfc thereby giving the bees employment at 

 home. We were never bothered in that way very 

 much, till this year. But this year every thing 

 swarmed ; so we thought to try it, and in every case 

 the bees built queen cells and then swarmed, which 

 made it just no preventative at all. 



But to return to our report. Basswood opened July 

 11th, but we could see no gain till the 13th, at which 

 time our bees would not average '2 lbs. to tlie hive, 

 with no start made in the boxes. Then came seven 

 liays of honey yield although it rainedapart of each 

 day. AV^th tlie •21st came tlie end oftlie lioney season 

 for 187(), although we kept lioping that they might get 

 something from the second crop of clover, teasel or 

 buckwheat; but alas, all failed. Teasel seemed to 

 dry right up, as we had a change from wet to dry 

 about the 22d, clover (second crop) did not get far- 

 ther til an the bud and buckwheat was an entire fail- 

 ure, so to speak, for we have not 100 lbs. in our whole 

 3'ard. To sum up, the past season lias been the short- 

 est honey season we ever knew, and yet wo have no 

 reason to be discouraged, as wc liave obtained 2901 

 lbs. box honey and 356 lbs. extracted, or 50 lbs. to each 

 old stock, on an average. Our box honey we have 



sold at 2Cc per lb., and arc retailing the extracted at 

 15c. We have at date 163 colonies, but shall not go 

 into winter quarters with over 120, as a part of them 

 have not stores enough, and we propose to make 

 them self-sustaining. So we shall unite them down 

 to where their stores will carry them through the 

 winter. Our average yield of box honey per old 

 stock in 1873 was SO lbs., in 1S74 a fraction of a pound 

 less than 1(0, in 1S75 a little over 1(6, and in 1S76 near- 

 ly 45 lbs., say nothing about the extracted. Our profit 

 from bees during the past four years, after jiayiug all 

 expenses incurred by them is nearly SIOCO. So who 

 will say bee-keeping is not a profitable business? 



Novice was sceptical when we said on page 135, Vol. 

 II, that one man could tend 100 colonies, and that 

 these 1(C colonies would give an income ol SlOOO each 

 year; and yet we have done it for four years, with an 

 average of less than ouc-lialf that number each ye.ar. 



We have learned many things the past season, and 

 one of them is that all rules, with bees, fail in such a 

 season as the past lias been. The secretion of nectar 

 is a great mystery to me. When every thing seemed 

 as favorable as could be, not a drop of honey was se- 

 creted in the flowers. 



The islau given by James Bolin, page 207, to prevent 

 after swarming, will not work with us, with the Ital- 

 ians, once in five times. If any one will notice a hive 

 after being thus removed, they will see that it is only 

 the bees that are in- the field that return to ihe old 

 stand, as all bees that leave the old hive after being 

 removed, mark their location as does the new swarm. 

 We have practiced the method given for the last three 

 years, but always have to destroy queen cells, or have 

 after swarms. 



Novice, we beg of you if you want your bees to en- 

 ter the section boxes quickly, do not scrape the bits 

 of comb ofl' the tops of the frames ; for there is noth- 

 ing that will i)ay as well in the apiary as to leave 

 those bits of comb to lead the bees to the boxes. 



J. E. Crane asks, page 221, if smoking honej' with 

 sulphur does not injure the flavor of it. You can in 

 no way injure honey with sulphur except by getting 

 the smoke so dense as to give the combs a greenish 

 hue. As soon as the sulphur has entirely burned up, 

 or about ten minutes after it has killed all bees, flies, 

 etc., that may happen to be in the room, open doors 

 and windows and let the smoke out and there will be 

 no trouble. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE, Borodino, N. Y., Sept. 12, '70. 



Why, it seems frieiid D. that every thing 

 has failed with you this season, except houey 

 ill sectiou boxes, and as that is the vmln item 

 you certaiuly need have no reason to com- 

 plain. Unsealed larvas may fail, we are well 

 aware, but the exceptions are so very unusual, 

 that we think it can be laid down as a rule, 

 that bees will never desert a hive when sup- 

 plied with one frame containing eggs and very 

 small larvcT. We have never yet had a case 

 of swarming (we think) where empty combs 

 were mixed in with the flUed ones as often as 

 they became full, and the present season 

 plenty of empty combs in the upper stories 

 has been unfailing. 



But if the section boxes set directly on the 

 top of the frames, they will put these little 

 bits, and all this useless labor, where it will be 

 utilized; and with our arrangement of sec- 

 tions each one can be lifted out almost as 

 easy as if it hung on rabbets. With smoke at 

 hand, new ones can be ciuickly put in their 

 place, without any killing of bees. 



