1876. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



255 



tioning of the events of the day, he is ahnost 

 sure to faint and get discouraged. Oh ye 

 mothers, do you know how much devolves on 

 you ? Do you know that by your strong love 

 you can send these little ones into the world 

 clad in an armor that is almost proof against 

 all the allurements of Satan, if you only will 

 take the trouble ? Are there any among my 

 readers who feel that they have not that hold 

 on their children they should have ? Go this 

 minute, and in your closet ask of your Heav- 

 enly Father the A-ery strength to go through 

 with your dailj^ duties, that you should be 

 able to give the little ones to go through with 

 theirs, and your path will very soon be point- 

 ed out to j-ou. 



M VERY good way for box hive men or any other 



having a surplus of drones, is to exchange 

 places with a weak stock, about 10 o'clock A. M. 

 In is hours the hive will be clear of drone?. All will 

 be dead except the few that find their way back to 

 the old stock, and both hives will be beneflted. If 

 Mr. J. S. Hill has any pure Italian bees, and will take 

 the trouble to measure combs built, he will find the 

 worker comb to average very nearly i)i cells to the 

 inch, the smallest being 14 to 3 inches, and the drone 

 comb about 3>2, the smallest being 15 cells to 4 inches. 

 At least that is the way mine have built this summer. 

 O. T. Smith, Trenton, Ills. 

 [Eschaugiug places with colonies is very apt to 

 lead to fighting, and sometimes to the loss of queens, 

 unless honey is coming in rapidly ; and even then it 

 is so unsafe, as to have been mostly abandoned. Our 

 measurements of comb built by the Italians, agree 

 very nearly with the above, but if it should transpire 

 that 3 cells to the inch are more desirable, as the ma- 

 cliine that we sold to Perrine makes, we of course 

 will furnish such fda., meanv,"hile wc would like re- 

 ports from thctc who have used both. Friend Smith 

 gives several other exjieriments, at length, showing 

 that comb answers equally v/ell any side up, in trans- 

 ferring ; that brood combs l(j years old are as good as 

 any; and that queeuless stocks very seldom store 

 comb honey before the young queen begins to lay. 

 All of the above points have many corroborations 

 from others.] 



My report for that hive is still iTO Hi or at least I think 

 so. For 60 days ending Sept. lOih, the yield was £08 lbs. 

 of good extracted honey with a good prospect of their 

 still getting plenty for winter. I told them I would let 

 them have th.e balance ; wasn't it clever ? We have had 

 n splendid season hei-e for bees, and still good. I hope to 

 bo able to make a batter report next year. 



J. D. C. 3Ic?AELAyD, Greenwood, Mo. Sept. 15th, "TO. 



I found that some swarms had little brood, and I 

 thought ii necessary to extract some honey. Would 

 three frames give room enough for them to raise hees for 

 winter r I started v.'ith 12 swarms and built up to 22. 

 A swarm came cut the 2Sih, of Aug. and has its hive 

 I'.early filled with comb. John Keippxes. 



O.ikb.nd, Wis. Sept. 12ih, 1870. 



[We have tad little espeiiznee v.-i!h too mucli honey in 

 the fall, but s-honld think three frames ample room after 

 honey has ceased. 1 



You never publish the prccoedings cf Bee meetings but 

 I will try to give you just the "GLEA^-I^•GS." The 



South Western Ohio Bee- Keepers' Association met in 

 Lebanon, Sept. 9th, 1876. and will meet again Feb. 14th, 

 1877 at the same place. A plant known as "Carpenter's 

 Square" was known by several to be a very good honey 

 ])lant.— The honey extr.actor was thought to be a good 

 thing.— Brimstone was the best thing for getting wjrms 

 out of box honey, the taste would leave the honey iu 

 course of time.— The best protection for winter was some 

 material over the bees that would permit the moisture to 

 pass off, and still retain the heat. Out-door wintering 

 was thought to be the best for this climate.— Bees bi-ed in 

 all months of the year except December. There was 

 often more than one fertile worker laying eggs in the hive 

 at once, one member having the frames out of a hi^•e, one 

 at a time, and by eai-eful watching had caught three bees 

 on one frame in the act of laying eggs, and had caught 

 ten bees in one hive ; with the aid of a glass he had 

 counted f eggs in one cell. W. S. Bore. 



Bethanj', Ohio, Sept. 15th, 1876. 



[Condense reports as above, and we can ahvays flnl 

 room for them.] 



I put a man on the road to-day with honey, and from 

 his success, reports of sales and promises, I think a 

 splendid tra:le could hi worked up in any portion of the 

 country. J. H. Maetix, Hartford, N. Y. 



[That is just what all say who h.ive tried it. Load 

 your wagon with an assortment of honey in bulk, in neat- 

 ly labeled jars, and in section frames, and it will be a 

 queer community indeed if you can not work up a fine 

 trade.] 



The plant sent you by Mr. J. Lake, Easton. Mass., 

 (page 251) which he says blooms from August 1st till 

 frost, is named Leontodon autumnale, or fall dande- 

 lion. It belongs to the compositae order, same as 

 aster, daisy, etc., and was introduced from Eui'ope. 

 It is not found here. Whether the bees can reach the 

 honey in the long tube or corolla I know not; no 

 doubt they yield honey. By watching to see if they 

 insert their tongues Mr. L. may determine. 



Yesterday I went to Jackson, bloom is everywhere. 

 We are just getting a grand yield of the most excel- 

 lent honey, thanks to fall bloom. 



A. J. Cook, Lansing, Mich., Sept. 9th. 1S7G. 



My bees have increased to 185, all in good condition 

 for winter. We have suffered very much from the 

 drouth ; stocks that did not swarm did very well. 

 My greatest yield from one stock (Italians) was 329 

 lbs. A little more than one-third comb and the bal- 

 ance extracted: this was done without any feeling. 

 They have plenty for winter. 



W. H. B.^LCH, Gran, N. Y. 



[But you do not say how many you had to start 

 with, friend B. The yield from one colony is very 

 good, even if it was all extracted.] 



If no precaution is taken, bees will work much 

 sooner in side boxes than in top, but when the combs 

 arc built thej^ will store honey twice as fast on top as 

 at the sides. Hence my advice to have combs built at 

 the sides. We do not think much of the tiering up 

 operation although we have practiced it to some ex- 

 tent for some years. Certainly our new hive is made ' 

 for side boxes, 16 at the sides. It on top; EG in all, or 

 any number less than that to accommodate a small 

 swarm. We never sold any box honey exco])t by 

 gross weight ; that is, box, glass, honey and al!. 

 G. M. DOOLITTLE, Borodino, X. Y., Sept. 221, '76. 



I do not import queens from Italy for sale, as I find 

 honey to pay better in this section of the country than 

 queen S2lli:ig, though don't infer that I wiU not go into it 



