IS76 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CTLTUEE. 



300 



WiH «ttr friends excuse us, and tmrn to p»ge 3(Xi. 



oc:r o\*'N apiaky. 



-R. StauTiope wheu here, expressed him- 

 self decidedly in favor of bees having a 

 >train of common blood, for comb koMey. The 

 reason he gave, was that black bees will go to 

 the top of boxes and commence work, whil*? 

 the pnre Italians, will only work upward ; the 

 .~ame idea has been many times spoken of, and 

 ticcoucts for perhaps all the statements we 

 have had in regard to the superiority of the 

 blacks for comb honey. It is our opinion that 

 there is no need of this, for the Italians fill 

 every comb in the lower story, much more 

 completely than we ever have found the blacks 

 to do, and all that is needed, is to get the sec- 

 tion boxes so near the brood apartment, or to 

 oi^en the way into them a few at a time, that 

 they may not consider they are getting away 

 from their brood. Perhaps we maj* by select- 

 ion, get Italians without this peculiarity so 

 strong, for it is quite certain that stocks dif- 

 fer greatly in this respect. 



S'<*t. 1-i — Aha ! And may it not be that there 

 is something else to be considered before we 

 i;ive the blacks and hybrids too mucli credit 

 for the way in which they commence in boxes 

 "When the Italians do not? We have to-day 

 been lifting the ijees out of the thin hives, 

 -and setting them in the new chaff hives, and 

 :is w« iiave befoiv remarked we lind the Ital- 

 ians with their combs crowded, but the hy- ; 

 orids that have given their largest crops of 

 romb honey late in the season, have some of 

 them not half enough for winter in their brood 

 -■;.ombs. We confess to being somewhat as- 

 touiT^hed at this result, for we had always sup- 

 posed colonies that had stored in Iwxes would 

 iiave a great abundance for winter. If this is 

 to be the pi-ogramme, we shall say give us the 

 bees that look out for their winter stores, in 

 prefereuce to those that carry all their gains 

 into the boxes alx)ve. What a nice thing it 

 is to have a stock of thosti combs that weigh 

 •Jown like iron wedges, for such* emei- 

 gencies ; two or three at most, will fix any . 

 'C-olony, for we have some that weigh as heavy i 

 -as 8 lbs. In one case, we put a large colony '■ 

 on six of these heavy combs, and have nar- 

 rowed the space witli chaff cushions, so that 

 they cover the six combs almost completeh'. 

 About next May, we expect to see the contents 

 of these heavy combs manufactured into 

 worker brood. 



Xov. 20iJi. — Mr. Stanhope said that wheix' ; 

 none but Italians were kept, he thought it un- 

 necessary to take the trouble of brimstociug 

 romb honey, lor it was only once in a great 

 while that any worms would be found. Our [ 

 experience has been much the same ; and if a , 

 little care be taken to pick off the webs as 

 >oon as they make their appearauee, no more 

 will be seen, although a single worm may 

 make considerable mischief, if allowed to 

 grow to full size. Another item. Mr. Pierson, 

 told us a few days ago, that moth worms 

 bred only where there was pollen. We were , 

 at fii-st much inclined to doubt this, but on 

 looking over a lot of our lllkd combs, we 

 round the worms had been at woik where cells : 

 of jwllen were feuud, and nowhere el-o. < hi ) 



one comb, we found a frightful nest webbed 

 against the next comb ; and this one contain- 

 ed a solid patch of pollen, that the worms had 

 partly consumed. If this should prove the 

 case invariably, it would be an aditional rea 

 son for keeping pollen out of our comb honey. 



Xoc. 2od. — For the past two davs. we have 

 been enjoyins: the rare pleasure, of a visit from 

 Mr. G. M. Doolittle. The characteristic of 

 this man as an apiculturist, seems to be an in- 

 tense determination to make his bees self-sus- 

 taining, and to make them bring in more mon- 

 ey, even during the very worst seasons, than 

 is paid out on them. Not oni\- does he aim to 

 get all the nice white honey that his bees gath- 

 er, but he aims to get it in the most marketa- 

 ble shape. The implements he uses are all 

 strong and substantial and every thing is cal- 

 culated for going risht along without any 

 hindrance or bother during the working sea- 

 son with the bees. Again, he is a man who is 

 perfectly satisfied — or seems to be — with his 

 frame, hive, honey box and every thing else 

 for aught we know : having no disposition 

 whatever to change about, every season or 

 oftener, to the annoyance of his bees and every 

 Ijody else, as some one does who is pretty near 

 our own weight and dimensions. 



We shall with the January Xo., commence a 

 series of articles detailing his method, also 

 giving a full explanation of his hive with dia- 

 grams. Although many will feel like object- 

 ing to a brood chamber so small — 9 Gallup 

 frames — when we look into the way in which 

 he handles them, we begin to understand how 

 he gets so much comb honey, and gets it in 

 such very nice shape. There are very many 

 who report large yields from single colonies, 

 but the number who can report a steady cash 

 income from their apiaries, good seasons and 

 bad. as does Doolittle, are few. Again, his 

 apiary is not encumbered with miijcellaneous 

 traps of doubtful value. He has only his one 

 style of frame, and just one honey box with no 

 Ihouirht of tolerating anything else in his api- 

 ary, under any circumstances. 



REPfIRT FROM J. S. ETILL,. 



fC.VX uot consistently grive you a report, wichout 

 _^ including last season also, which was the hardest 

 — season to grot alonsr with bees I ever experienced ; 

 oall it "-lilasted hopes" if you please. I had So hives 

 in the sjiring. od'C of whith became queenless : having 

 no queen for it I united it which left St hives. Bees gt»t 

 but little from the flowers, the whole season did not 

 make it up, and I fed -iSOO lbs. of honey and sugar to 

 stock them lor winter ; with all the trouble of feeding 

 they went into winter much weaker than usual. They 

 wintered witliout loss. This season has been the best 

 for honey since 1S62. 1 increased to ICi hives and got 

 a little over lO.CtXi lbs. honey: 3S^o lbs. sealed cov 

 honey, the balance extracted. Did not extrac: from 

 the lower story, the hives being very full of brood. 

 At the close of the honey harvest which was about 

 the 4ih of July (and they did no: gather enough to 

 ■winter on) had to feed near 900 lbs. to stock them up 

 for winter. As there h.is been much said in reg.ard 

 to having sealed stores for winter, I will add that 1 

 iiavo uo choice as to whether they are sealed or un- 

 sealed : if there is any difl'erence those with plenty of 

 unsealed stores breed fastest in the spring. 



J. S. Hill, Mt. Healthy, O., Xov. Uth. "Ttj. 



