1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



use, and the bees have such an abliorrcnce of its 

 smell that they always abandon the hive on which 

 it lias been used. 



It must not be considered that the method 1 have 

 here detailed is only theoretical, for it has been put 

 to the test by our leading apiarians and I'ound uni- 

 formly euccessCul ; in Tact I do not hesitate to af- 

 firm, that if these instructions be conscientiously 

 I'ollowed, a perfect cure will be tlie result. 



l>OOI.ITTI.E'S S^SrEITI OF KAI$:ING 

 COiTIB lIOI>[i:\. 



Continncd from last month. 



ff-E will suppose your boxes are all made 

 ^\ll aud put into the cases, tin separators 

 nailed on, and all ready for the hives except 

 the starters. Friend 1)., as yoii know, is in- 

 clined to prefer starters of natural comb, and 

 he tells you liow to get a supply of these, on 

 page 29(5, Dec. No. Take your nice white 

 comb and cut it into strips 3 inches wide ; 

 then cut these ou an angle so that you will 

 have pieces about triangular. This shape 

 seems to be just about as the bees like them 

 best, and they are less liable to get broken, 

 having a long surface to be waxed to the top 

 bar of the section. When you have enough of 

 these starters ready, you are to get two pieces 

 of J.J inch round iron about 2 feet long, bent 

 and flattened at each end. One of these is to 

 be heating, while we are using the other. As 

 friend D. knows by experience just how these 

 are to be made, we suggest that he put them 

 in his price list. Lay your case with the 2 

 boxes in it on the table before you, and hold 

 your piece of com!} on the top bar — top bar is 

 downward — and then slide the thin blade of 

 the hot iron between the starter and the top 

 bar, and as you draw it back quickly, set the 

 comb down just where you want it, and it is a 

 fixture. Now this is not all, for if you want 

 the bees to get to work at once, you 7m!st put 

 a starter that will nearly fill the section, in 

 one of the central boxes to every hive. If you 

 forget all about this part of it, you do not de- 

 serve success. 



We do, not remember whether Mr. D. puts 

 the first boxes on the top or at the sides, but 

 we would advise putting on the side boxes 

 first, especially if we w&re going to get them 

 to make a start during fruit blooni^ for we 

 could thus avoid removing the top covering 

 until they commenced bringing in the honey 

 quite briskly. If a colony is small, and does 

 not build up to a full one before the season is 

 almost gone, the\' can put what honey they do 

 get in these side boxes, and they will furnish 

 just as nice an article, as the ones that do so 

 much. When they get once started, be sure 

 they have all the room they want, and to this 

 end, friend D. removes every box as soon as it 

 is finished. The top boxes and those on the 

 sides, are of course just alike, as are the frames 

 that hold them. It will be recollected that the I 

 latter had short projections on the top bars ; 

 well, when they are used for side storing, they 

 hang on rabbets similar to those for the large 

 frames, but these rabbets, are so as to allow 

 the lower tier to come within '^ inch of the 

 bottom board. The set above those rests on 

 nails that are driven part way into the tops of 



all the top bars. This is to avoid crushing 

 bees when one set is placed on the lower ones. 

 We will suppose you have your boxes ai) 

 filled and stored away, and are thinking about 

 a market. Glass a few boxes, and take them 

 to your nearest good city market, and make a 

 bargain for your whole crop. When there, 

 buy your glass, glass your honey, dt liver it 

 j'ourself, and get your money. The great«-st 

 expense of your package, is your glass, and by 

 managing as we have mentioned, you can get 

 the money you have paid for it back in less 

 than a week. To have the boxes nice, the 

 glass must be an exact fit between the up- 

 rights, but it may vary a little th'.' other way. 

 On this account, you had better* purchase it in 

 long strips aud cut it yourself, of a width to 

 go between the uprights. 



BEE BOTANY AND ENTOMOLOGY. 



5r\ '^aR. A. Fahncstock, of Toledo, O., desires to know 



•■' when, liow, and how much of the fol- 

 lowing honey plants: black mustard, boragtj, 

 mignonette and rape, I would sow to the acre. All of 

 these plants except rape and all others except clo- 

 vers would plant in drills. We must keep out the 

 weeds, which is done at too great expense if sown 

 broad cast. I should 2>refer to have all plants in 

 drills. I would plant black mustard, borage, mig- 

 nonette, and let me add Cleome integrifolia (Rocky 

 mountain bee plant) the middle of May. Rape from 

 middle to last of June. Black mustard 10 lus. to acrq. 

 Borage, I should plant in drills a foot at least apart— 

 two feet would be better— and should want a plant 

 every three or four inches. I don't know as to quan- 

 tity. I should suppose 1 lb. of mignonette would 

 plant an acre, the seeds are very small. I am not- 

 sure as to amount. Rape, two quarts to acre. 



A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich., Jan. 10, '77. 



The same question propounded to our seeds- 

 men of Cleveland, brought the following reply. 



Black mustard, summer rape and mignonette should 

 be sown early in the spring as soon as the ground can 

 be worked, at the rate of S to 12 lbs. to the acre, broad- 

 cast. Borage being of a strong vigorous pyramidal 

 growth we think would be better in drills about 1 by 

 >j foot apart, at which distance 4 to .5 lbs. would plant 

 an acre ; one planting would answer for several years 

 for although borage is an anual it will seed itself and 

 appear year after year. We have not sown any for at 

 least two years and yet we have not been a siuglo 

 year witliout fine specimens on our grounds, which 

 when they come in suitable spots we permit to stand 

 for tlieir beauty as well as their usefulness. Borage 

 and mignonette continue in bloom longer than jbus- 

 tard or rape. Mignonette will bloom from July until 

 very late in the autumn, slight frosts do not affect it. 

 Bees work on mignonette but whether lor honey or 

 pollen are not prei)ared to say, not having taken iuf- 

 licient observation ; there is no doubt however about 

 borage, which seems to be visited only lor honej'. 



There is one class ot plants we have never seen 

 mentioned as bee or honey plants, and yet they con- 

 tain large amounts of the purest honey ; this ia the 

 family of Aquihyias, commonly called columbine, 

 very hardy perennials, the roots of which remain in 

 the ground for many years constantly increasing In 

 vigor. SiAiit & Kendel. 



Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 17th, 1877. 



Kruschke Bros., in their little book on rape 

 culture, advised o lbs. to the acre, and that it 

 be sown from the 20th of June, to July 1st. 

 See page 79, Vol. III. 



