1>T6 



OLEXNINGS IN' BEE CrLTUPvE. 



?^>; 



%t is too much trouble to handle brool and boxes all 

 irom the top. I suggest you call K '■•the Immova'ole 

 iiive." The difficulty of taking ost and patting in the 

 packing is greatly reduced where buckwheat chaft' i^ 

 iised. as tulle ost packs itself when tnm««i in : S ov i 

 l^nshels will pack a hire nndemeatb and en ^ides to 

 top of brood chamber. Then make bottota of box 

 iicparat* by naiRng to top piece of scantling for stand, 

 and have tfee lids hook together at two opposite , 

 transverse comers and it will be very handy for ta- 

 king out. packing and handling brood or boxes an<l 

 luanipalating generally. J. P. Mchjre. 



BinghamptoB, X. Y., Sov.'Sd, "7^. 



Bees have dooe admirably this fall, have taken an 

 average of^sC lbs. of very fine extracted honey. I will 

 atop making box honey as I <;an D<>t find sale for 

 it. and it is the very finest kind of ci<5ver hooey. 

 Pit L ViALtOX, Bayou Goula. La.. Xov. ath.'T';. 



That is right frend V., give them their 

 choice, and don't stop to argne the matter. 



Have jast returned from the Centennial and the 

 *-ipirit moves^ me to write a few lines for Gle a.xisgs. 

 I came away with an exceeilingly friendly feeling 

 toward the Police force, for how else wouM one find 

 the hoase apiary or the one or two hives, among the 

 <"ouatles3 numoers of articles from every other de- 

 partment of industry. After en'iuiriag of every po- 

 liceman we could get oar eye on. from the Main 

 Viuikling to the centre of Agricultural hall, we a: last 

 lonnd one bee hive (a friend says there were several 

 in the British Department) and that from Canada. 

 t apt. lletherington's display of honey in sections -s 

 very nice, bat looks lonely from so large a family cf 

 i>ee-keepers as we have. We wanted to see the hire 

 from which those nice sections were taken, contrastet^l 

 with the straw one shown. We went to the house api- 

 ary where we foisid several nam^ of bee-keepers 

 present, oa a slip of paper tacked on the door: among 

 them that of Cyula Linswick, whom we wished very 

 much t > see. The door of the house was open but 

 the g£HtleiHeu inside did not seeai incJined to receive 

 visitors. VTe saw a kive at a little distance being put 

 v.p. but not a bee flying anywhere. We sincerely hope 

 that the next time the world's bee-keepers meet, the 

 <iepartment may be t>etter represented. M. 



Medina. O.. Xov. ah. Te, 



1 had 13 swarms July ii. Extracted 6S lbs on the iilh, 

 of Jidy, and in the next flfte«i days they gathered 425 lbs. 

 extracted honey. Three o£ the swarms were very smalL 

 i liad one large s'S'arni that gathered ^S lbs. in three 

 u:iys. The koney wis gathered from Bee Balm which is 

 (ilenty from Juiy "Oth, until Sept. 1st, I now hare 10 

 ^wanns all in g3od condition for wintering. I took the 

 lirst premium on the extractor that I bought of yoa last 

 Sipring. and first premium for Italian bees and Simplicity 

 hire. W. A Eodt, Easton. Wis. Xov. €th, 1S76. 



I lia\-e but a moment to write, it is bees, bees, bees, 

 liouey. honey, honey, with me. It is work here the year 

 lound. From the W stands I started with a year ago lust 

 . Vebruary. I have increased to IW^J stands, and nuide 5« 

 thousand lbs. of hoBey. How is that for hisli ": Have 

 iwid out §la6.M for Italian queens, and calcidate to clianae 

 luy stock every year. Mr. Amateur, please tell us how 

 nusch you have beat that. If I am not mistaken he was 

 soiiis to beat any man iu the Vnited States this season. 

 E. E. Shattcck:, Los AngeJos. Oct. li»th. ISTt?. 



"VHTien I stopped extracting in Jiuie I had < stmigiit 

 combs filled with capped brood. I put them into an 

 <.iui>ty hive, and set them upou another hive full of l>->es. 



Ir S-?ptetE'oer I took off the upper hive, and found larce 

 holes in aeaKy e^ery comb. P»rts of several combs were 

 entirely gone and the adjacent ones bulged into the 

 spaces so sade. How dp to a accxwnt for this ;- I sa a- ne 

 worms. The hive was fidl of honey. What are the con- 

 ditions that favor the sourin? of honey r S>me honey ei- 

 iracted in June put into a new, waxed, headless firkin 

 and covered with two thicknesses of paper and a flat 

 stone, kept perfectly good in cellar oot withstanding the 

 extr:me hc-t weather. A sampte H the same in a corked 

 bottle in the pantry, soared. Some uncapped dover hoR- 

 ey taken off in July, kept in the cellar, soore*! in the cells. 

 Also some buckwheat taken off in September, soured in 

 the cellar as it Leaked out of the cells. Can honey com- 

 mejK-ing to sour be stopped, or restored when soured, by 

 scaldins or otherwise "r What, if any, are the first indi- 

 eitioRs that honey is souring f Soaie say never extract 

 imsealed honey ; others say, do not put the bees to the 

 bees to the trouble of capiMng the honey. What is the 

 truth in the matter r J. H. Paksofs. 



Franklin, X. T. Xov. 4th. l^TS. 



We ctin offer uo explanation for the bees 

 gnawing away the combs that had contained 

 brood, unless by some means the moth had 

 deposited eggs in the comb. 



The souring of honey, has we confess often- 

 times puzzled us: it will many times soar on 

 the sarface of a jar, because it has been hast- 

 ily rinsed, and some water left adhering to the 

 jar. As cool weather approaches in the fall, 

 moisture frequently condenses on the win- 

 dows and sometimes even on the walls ; this 

 soon evaporates ordinarily, but if it happens 

 to condense on comb honey, the attraction is 

 such that it unites with the honey, liquifying 

 it to such an extent that it afterward soars. 

 We know of no remedy except to keep comb 

 honey in a room where the temperacare is so 

 uniform that the air does not deposit moisture. 

 When honey has soured, or become damp or 

 sticky, the very best thing to be done is to 

 give it to the bees. When there are enough 

 of them, or the weather is warm, they will re- 

 move it from the cells, and ripen it, in a very 

 short time. 



I am a beginner in bee-keeping, and come to yoa 

 for a little information. How can 1 tell, with certain- 

 ty at this season of the year, whether a colony is 

 queenles-s ? I have looked through some colonies re- 

 cently, and could find neither queen, eggs, larvae, nor 

 sealed brood. Does the queen cease laying at this 

 season of the year, or is she suppose<l to continue 

 laying through the winter ? Yon say that the average 

 life of a worker, during the summer season is about 3» 

 days. W'hat is the average life of a worker through 

 the winter, and what causes the difference ? 



The honey cells being horizontal, how do the bees 

 keep the honey from running tut while filling them, 

 ami until the ho»ey becomes 'Tipe" and is capped 

 ovev? 



If the queen lays all the eggs how is it that the same 

 egg sometimes produces a queen, a drone or a worker ': 



Of course these questions will be called simple and 

 silly by the knowing ones, bift are fraught with mys- 

 terious obscurity to the uniniatiated. 



J. IIawkek. Baxter Springs. Kan., Xov. 9th, "'». 



As a genera! rule you will find no brood iu 



Nov. and Dec, and as it is quite a difficult 



matter to And a queen during these months. 



you rtally have little chance of being positive 



i iu the matter. We fear vou. as well as others. 



