.1876. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



284 



it, that I have sought to portl•a3^ There ai'e 

 amoii2: the peddlers and agents, without doubt, 

 tho>e who are true and honorable. But when 

 we look baek, at the money we have expended 

 in that way, can we not feel that almost all of 

 it was really wasted ? The washing machine, 

 that was going to so revolutionize things, 

 where is it and how long was it usedV And 

 so with the multitude of new things. But is 

 it so with the wares j^ou And in your hard- 

 ware stores and groceries ? They are slow to 

 take up new things, but when they once do 

 take them in hand, are they not generally 

 things that will not "fade away ?" 



I would by no means discourage any kind 

 of honest industr}', and those who are doing 

 as they would be done by, who are telling the 

 whole truth about their wares, who are giv- 

 ing a full equivalent for the money they re- 

 ceive, who are to be found when dissatisfac- 

 tion arises, who are supplying the wants of 

 their fellovvs in a way that will make the 

 trials of this life easier to bear, I would by all 

 means, bid God speed." 



PROPOSES, OPEflT TOP FKAMES, ETC. 



sjfijp HAVE just been out examining a stand of bees. I 

 Ji|[ got an old corn popper, (trjing your plan you see) 

 — ' and jnit some fine chijis and fire in it, and proceeded 

 to business. The popper made a famous smoke, but in 

 spite of all that, the bees would come up and get in the 

 way ; then my fingers got all stuck up with pi-opolis, etc., 

 so I could hardly let go of any thing. My patience was a 

 little tried as I had to give up the job before I got done. 

 I found no eggs but some cajiped brood and a few larv;c. 

 It is pretty hard for me to tell whether a stand is queen- 

 less or not this time of the year. 



Open top bars that ha\e quilts or carpets on them are 

 a heap of trouble for me to handle, as my fingers get all 

 stuck up so I don't know what to do with them. I have 

 been using the American hive since '71, and as I heard so 

 much about the L. hive I thought to try them. Open top 

 frames are handy in some respects and bother some in 

 others ; (that is, to me) are they not mere easily handled 

 wlien there is a honey board on the hive ? Would a hon- 

 ey board do f of an inch thick ? 



I wintered part of my bees last winter with a case 

 round them .3 or 4 inches larger than the h\ve, filled in 

 with hay, did not have them covered very well ; hatl five 

 fixed that way and part of them had mouldy combs in the 

 spring. Well, I sometimes get the blues and almost wish 

 I ne\'er had begun the bee business. I have made it a 

 large part of my study since '71, have been at some ex- 

 pense and have made a heap of talk on the subject, tho' 

 I have not really made any money at it. I enjoy working 

 mth bees in the honej"^ season, and sometimes I get all 

 delighted with the business. Should hate to do without 

 Gleanings for it gives me fresh courage lots of times. 

 J. S. WiLLAED, Hopkins, Mo., Oct. 12th, 187(5. 



Can you not manage to handle your liees 

 only during the honey months ? We have the 

 same troubles with propolis here, but it is 

 mostly late in the fall, and we feel pretty sure 

 that if managed properly, hives need not be 

 opened at all, after honey has ceased coming. 

 Thiu honey boards will do very well, but after 

 trying one or two, we think you will prefer 

 the quilts. Spread a single sheet of duck over 

 the frames, close down tight every time you 

 have the hive open, and you will keep the 

 propolis entirely off the quilts. It is not pos- 



sible for us to be delighted all the time in any 

 pursuit, and you are proi^ably not alone in 

 feeling despondent at times. We are very 

 glad indeed, to hear that Gleanings, has 

 cheered you amid your duties "Be not weary 

 in well doing, and yon will assuredly reap in 

 due time, if you faint not." 



OUK OWIV APIARY. 



Oct. WtJi — We would like to report all our 

 bees in wintering trim, but they are not. If 

 we could fix them all as easily as we did the 

 house apiary, it would be a light task indeed. 

 By the way, we have found that a frosty morn- 

 ing, is an excellent time to remove a set of 

 section boxes and put on the chaft' cushions. 

 Apnroach the hive quietly, and get your screw 

 driver under the case of sections, or the upper 

 story containing them, and with a quick 

 movement you cm snap all attachments, and 

 get the boxes off iDefore a bee has waked up ; 

 but now comes the time for action. Have 

 your sheet of duck in readiness, and ijefore a 

 iDee can get to the side of the hive., have the 

 cloth tucked closely down all round ; put on 

 your cushion, then the cover, and you are all 

 right. If it is an upper story, you can put it 

 back, or another, before you put in the cush- 

 ion, but bo sure you get it all fixed before the 

 bees have time to boil out. They will very 

 likely gather out at the entrance, but don't 

 insult their dignity by walking before them, 

 and all will be well. If you are clumsy, and 

 do not get things fixed expeditiously, you may 

 find hybrids rather worse in frosty weather 

 than at any other time. In fixing our old 

 Standard or long hive, we took too much time, 

 and all hands waked up to such an extent that 

 they took entire possesion of the corn popper 

 smoker, and came at us like a very young hail 

 storm. Many of the yellow stocks, will hard- 

 ly stir, when we raise off a whole set of sec- 

 tion boxes. By the way, in fixing them for 

 winter, we found out why the hybrids were 

 ahead. They had a full case of sections, but 

 so little in the fiames below, that some had to 

 have combs given tnem ; while the ItaMans 

 that had been very backward about going into 

 the sections toward the last of the season, had 

 filled every cranny below to such an extent 

 that they were almost a solid block of honey ; 

 in fact they had built the ends of the frames 

 and the hive, into a solid mass of honey. 

 While we admired their prudence, we could 

 but think their pecularity a little bit objection- 

 able. 



We have had quite a pleasant visit from 

 friend Stanhope of Pentwater, Mich. Mr. S. 

 now has 204 colonies ; has sold a fine crop of 

 honey at good prices, and gives us the cheer- 

 ing inteligence that extracted honey is speed- 

 ily growing in favor, where a really fine 

 article of ripened honey is put in the market. 

 At Milwaukee, he says he had many applica- 

 tions for more at 15c. after he had sold all out. 

 This demnnd came from honey dealers, but it 

 may be well to add that his honey had a good 

 reputation in the market. Mr. S. says he 

 should not feel like giving up at all, if he had 

 to sell honey at 15c., and colonies for $5.00, 

 but feels sure he could do a very good busi- 

 ness at the prices. He gave us an idea on side 



