265 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov, 



piece of new coinb filled with lioney and b}- the nest 

 morning they will be all right. 



I have had swarms fill a hive with new comb and 

 go up into boxes in ten days. One swarm, hived Slay 

 •2Sth, made 15 section boxes ofie lbs. each, besides fill- 

 ing the main frames. 



These are exceptions, though, and the average as 

 you may see, is this year liO lbs. of both kinds to each 

 old stock, or 47 lbs. nearly for each hive, old and new. 

 And this in the face of an entire loss of the white sage 

 honey, on which the main reliance is placed. The 

 white sage grew up very nicely and began to bloom 

 about the ioth of May, when the ilowers blasted, and 

 the result was, no white sage honey ; and yet our 

 honey is veiy nice and heavy. 



The season for surplus honey ended generally the 

 10th of July, ten days earlier than last year, and six 

 weeks earlier than expected ; so you see, as time in 

 honey making is value, we were left with large quan- 

 tities of partly filled boxes. 



The way the Harbison box is made, admits of the 

 full sections being readily sepai-ated from the others, 

 and from these filled sections we can make up full 

 section boxes. I have used glass at the ends of my 

 section boxes while on the hives. They are readily 

 fastened by using the double pointed carpet tacks at 

 each lower corner and a common tack or tins at the 

 top. I like the glass very well, as it enables one to 

 open his hives and see when the honey is finished 

 without being troubled with bees, and then there are 

 no points of wax fastened to the hives to break off and 

 start the honey leaking. 



If you can get your fdn. to work nicely, and can 

 furnish them at a price at which they will not cost 

 more than after they are sealed over with honey, this 

 will prove a fruitful field for you. 



Onr nights being always cold, the ends of the boxes 

 nest the glass are built last, and are often ill shaped ; 

 so, if we had fdn. to put in, if only at the ends, it 

 would save much time and annoyance, waiting for a 

 piece at some lower coiner an inch or two square, to 

 be sealed over. 



I have many daughters and grand-daughters of one 

 of Dadant's imported queens. They certainly know 

 how to work, but hate to leave a box full of honey. 

 I have had little trouble getting rid of the bees from 

 section boxes, as I pile 50 or GO up close together, and 

 in two hours they fly to the windows of the honey 

 house, which being made of wire cloth, are easily 

 moved and let out a half bushel at once, nearly all of 

 which find their way back. 



But my experience so far is, that the darker the 

 bee, so long as there is a dash of Italian blood, the 

 more box honey. The verii yellow ones refuse section 

 boxes, altogether. 



For starters cut new, or at all events, white comb 

 into strips about two inches long, and three or four 

 cells deep. A little fruit kettle with bees wax and 

 resin, suspended over a lamp, keeps the wax boiling 

 hot. Dip the edge of the comb into the wax just 

 enough to fill the lower row of cells, and quickly ap- 

 ply to the frame. 



A few minutes practice will show what is wanted. 



I have tried glue and several other mixtures to fast- 

 en in the guide combs, but find nothing so good as 

 pure wax with just a little resin. With this the bees 

 will begin at once to work, and not try to eat oft" the 

 guides and build crooked. Those who have 2C0 to 5C0 

 hives of bees and four to six section boxes on each 

 hive //i(i«^ have things light to begin with, or there 

 is ti-ouble. 



Reading your troubles with your smolei; leads me 



to tell you of the kind used here. Nearly all here use 

 a stove, made of galvanized iron. This stove stands 

 on 4 legs about G inches long, has a body about G inch- 

 es square j.nd 1.5 inches long, with a hearth 4 or 

 inches wide, a ciicular door 3 or 4 inches in diameter 

 in front and one of the same size on top near the front 

 end. A pipe 2 inches in diameter running up about a 

 foot, and then a square angle of 4 to 6 inches, finishes 

 the stove. The cost in San Diego is §5,00 gold. Filled 

 with partly dried wooi], they burn for hours, the 

 dampers fully regulating the quantity of smoke want- 

 ed. They are carried by a handle made of heavy 

 hoop iron over the center. Try one when you next 

 open your crossest hybrid hive and I will guarantee 

 you will suhdi'.e then-. 



Another item ; I see you yet open your hives and 

 get your fingers stuck up, as well as the bees, with 

 dripping honey. The way we do this thing, is to go 

 to the hives we want to open, raise the honey board 

 and loosen all the combs, then let them stand an hour 

 or two, or over night, when you \x\\\ find all the combs 

 cleaned up so you can handle the frames nicely. 



I am going to take half my bees to a new location in 

 January, and want your advice as to whether or not 

 hives set 6 feet apart each way as in your hexagonal 

 apiary, are too near. Will this distance work in 

 practice with 300 to 500 hives without losing large 

 quantities of bees and young queens by their getting 

 into the wrong hive ? 



The bees here are put on stands in rows 16 to IS or 

 more feet apart, 7 hives to a IG feet stand. These 

 stands are made of common fencing boards fastened 

 by 3 cross pieces, and stand on 6 legs each a foot or 

 Tnore long. G. F. Merkiam. 



San Luis Key, Cal., August 16, 1876. 

 The extractor referred to, was made before 

 we commenced making cur own gates, and be- 

 sides making the exit for the houej- larger, we 

 have improved it in many respects. In regard 

 to a reservoir for the honey beneath, it would 

 make the machine cumbrous, would add much 

 to the shipping expenses, and it would be 

 much cheaper to rigthis part of the apparatus 

 to suit circumstances and persons. We would 

 by all means have the machine so arranged as 

 to have the honey run nut of the way of itself, 

 and in our house apiary, we have a cellar for 

 that express purpose. A side hill for the ex- 

 tracting house, with the tank or barrels to 

 hold the honey, in the lower story, would be a 

 very convenient way. Stopping to empty 

 pails, or to pour it out of the extractor, would 

 be more bother than we should want to stand. 

 "We should have no fear in using hives but 6 

 feet apart in an apiarj' of any size ; if it were 

 not for extracting, we think thej' miglit be set 

 still nearer. In the house apiar}-, the entrances 

 are little more than 2 feet apart, yet we have 

 lost less queens there than with any other ar- 

 rangement we ever used, but it is doubtless 

 much owing to there being so many sides to 

 the building, that but three entrances are 

 in a row. 



DEPAKTMENT 

 FOR BOX HITE BEE -KEEPERS. 



niVIXG A XATrEAJL SWAEM OF BEES. 



[Y] IFTT years ago the common bee hive of the pioneer 



'T' was a segment of a hollow tree, with a board on top 



' and sticks acrjss the center, to prevent the new 



comb from breaking doirn when filled with houey or 



