18 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



I have taken Gleanings for some monlhs, and have 

 written to you several times, but have never said any- 

 thing about bees. The eaiise is just this, I can't get my 

 bees to give 100 or 12.") lbs. to the stand and then make 

 two or three swarms by dividing. I don't use the ex- 

 tractor but that «^in"t l>e the trouble for some of onr 

 friends get more than that amount in caps, or they say so 

 at least, and I don't think I haie any right to doubt it. 



I cxinfess that 1 have been a little selfish, for I raise my 

 own qiieens, make the hives and caps, transfer and di- 

 vide, and then winter with less expense than most of you 

 do ; havn't lost a stand for two years. I am 28 years old, 

 have been in the bee business eight years, and have lost in 

 all six stands. I have transferred for my neighbors 110 

 stands, and three of that number have died, or it is so 

 stated. But I did as you do sometimes, refunded the 

 money, at the same time satisfied that they had let them 

 starve, tor they had very little honey, 1 have 50 stands 

 all in the L. hive. On these I use a five, and 4 se\ en lb. 

 caps ; my experience has led me to believe a strong stand 

 will fill the seven caps as quickly as they would two or 

 three : particularly if the weather is very warm. Have 

 been working my bees for honey, don't let them swarm 

 when it can be avoided, and all I can do they never aver- 

 age over thirty lbs. However they are all in excellent 

 condition ; I don't think the lightest \vill come under 

 thirty lbs. of honey, and that principally blue thistle. 

 Nest year I propose working for increase, and seeing how 

 the profits will compare with these of the last two 

 years. 1 think tSiey can be sold as low as S5.00 and not 

 be losing anything. The smoker works very nicely but 

 does not burn as long as 1 would like it at times. A 

 little more information if not too much trouble. Mr. S. 

 I>. B. says he has a patent on a hive that I am much 

 pleased with, and he wants me to buy a coimty right. 

 Now if there is no patent on the hive, I don't propose to 

 pay Mr. B. for it. Before I heard of tliis hive, I made a 

 model of a hive snnilar to it and would have applied for a 

 pat«nt, but heard of this and wrote to Mr. B. 



E. T. HuYETT, Wadesville, Va. Nov. 37th, 1870. 



100 LBS. TO the; coloky, how to get. 

 Perhaps it would be a hard matter to tell 

 just how to get 100 lbs. of comb houey from a 

 colouy, but our reader.s nearly all succeed io 

 doing it sooner or later. The season must be 

 just right, the colony just right, and the prop- 

 er amount of room and attention given, just 

 right. We were at first inclined to think it 

 possible only in certain localities, but as we 

 have done it with two colonies this season, 

 and without giving them the care they should 

 have had either, and as one after .-mother sends 

 in such a report or a greatei-, we are inclined 

 to think it may bo done almost any where. 

 Keep on with your work and study the .sub- 

 ject, but do not for any thing think* of buying 

 a county right. We shouUi feel that we' had 

 been remiss in keeping onr readers posted, if 

 vve should hear of one of them investing in 

 rights. The triangular frame is old as the 

 hills, and you can make any thing in the shape 

 of a bee hive you wish, without any fear of 

 consequences. 



SWARMING, HOW TO PflEVEKX. 



i/o?" can swarming be preventetlP If a pcrsoji wants 

 HO fitrtlio;- increase, what is the best course to /»revejit it P 

 aan it be done in frame hives? Bees iu this loeahty have 

 done but litlle this season in boxes. 1). W. l''i,KTOifEE, 

 };aivsing\ ille. N. Y. Oct. .3d. ls7(!. 



With the extractor, you can prevent swarm- 

 ing a'.mosl invariably, jtnd with little trouljlc. ' 



If you wish box honey exclusively, you can 

 during a favorable season, by giving abundasir. 

 room, large starters that hare been built out 

 ready for honey the previous season, cool well 

 shaded hives, etc., prevent first swarming ii: 

 perhaps the majority of cases, and by removing': 

 all the cells bat one, second swarming in near- 

 ly every case for the time being, but yon will 

 have to be prepared for many exceptions. 

 Keep them from swarming if you can, but jf 

 yoQ can not, try to control them after they 

 have swarmed. Almost any one would con- 

 sent to have swarms if the new and old stock 

 would produce more honey than the old oik 

 alone, and such is very often the case. If w<. 

 are not mistaken, Mr. Doolittle thinks the lat- 

 ter will be the rale in the majority of cases. 

 Of course in that case we must sell each year 

 down to the unmbcr we desire to keep. 



Guided by Gi^kanings 1 have passed throi^gh irt\ 

 first bee-keeping; year with enough of success to iU 

 least cnooBrage me to jjcrsevere. This has been a 

 fine year for honey, and had I been an expert in the 

 beginning of the season, I could have Bccured an 

 abundance ot honey, for home consumption, ajzy hoiv. 

 As it is, I hare from a half dozen colonies in Feb. in- 

 creased to 30 of Italians, mostly pure, with an average 

 of 40 lbs. sealed honey in each hive. I am told by 

 friend Slandet'er-- a former correspond ant of yours — 

 that 5 or 10 lbs. will winter a colony here, so when 5 

 get the extractor 1 may get out a supply for the "ba- 

 bies" vet. We have a good bee country at this poin: 

 and 5 miles from where I live there is a river (Pearl) 

 whose swamp furnishes a pasturage which is simply 

 immense, with not a bee-keeper to reap the advanta- 

 ges thereof. Yon may ask '"Why don't 2/o« do so?" 

 Simply because there is no market for the honey 

 short of the Western cities. If honey is offered at. 

 any thing like the prices yon get, the price of molasses 

 is quoted to you and that is made the standard of val- 

 ue, say 50 or 6()c per gallon. If I could get 9 or 10c per 

 11). for extracted honej' at wholesale I would not fear 

 to compaxe bal.Tnee sheets with my neighbors who 

 are planting cotton. I use a Simplicity hive to hold 

 10 frames {).!4x 14 ;.< inches, outside dimensions. I sus- 

 pend the frame b}' means of screw eiies \H inch long, 

 which are very convenient. My hives are exactly 

 square inside so that 1 can place the frames cross- 

 wise in the second story thus doing away with the 

 awkward space between upper and lower frames. 



I enclose a circular of a recently patented hive. 

 What do vou think of it ? li. Thomson. 



Terry, Miss., Nov. fith, 1S7(>. 



HONEY, ]fOvV TO SELL AT GOOD PRICES. 



We think you are certainly doing your lo- 

 cality an injustice friend T„ and feel sure that 

 if you will show your neighbors some nice 

 samples of both comb and extracted honey, 

 you can not fail to build up a market at good 

 prices. Your people certainly buy candies and 

 confectionery ? Well, in that case thej'^ pay 

 from 40c to $1,00 per lb. for sweets, and why 

 not use molasses in place of these '^ If your 

 honey is all dark, it may be diflicult ; but we 

 think this can not be the case, for we have had 

 some very line samples from your vicinity. 



We shall have to keep saying over and over, 

 have nothing to do with a hive or man, so 

 soon as you find there are riiihts for sale. 

 Rest assured the one who advised them is 

 eitiier bad, or badly edu(;ated and dtci'dcdir/ 

 behind the times. 



