GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



FeI5. 



HOUSE APIARY. 



After n trial of a yeaf or more do roit fitid the feouse 

 apiary better for box and extracted honey, or either, 

 than yoiir "'yard apiary ?" Or in other words if you 

 had none, and lincw as much as yon do about thenn, 

 would you buiid one ? Wintering not to be consider- 

 ed, as that is no object here. T. B. Pakkek. 



Goldsboro, N. C. Dec. 36th, 1876. 



For 50 hives or more I would assuredly 

 build a hovise apiary. The one item of having 

 your honey and implements all housed at all 

 times, and without the toilsome labor of tak- 

 ing so many steps, would be reason 

 enough. This of course refers to keeping bees 

 for profit, or where the amount of money to be 

 made with the least labor possible, is the de- 

 sideratum. To those who keep a few bees for 

 the benefit of the open air exercise, or who 

 simply wish to raise the honey needed in their 

 own family, I think I would advise the Lawn 

 or Chaff hive, or the Simplicity, and the grape 

 vines. There are now a great many house 

 apiaries being tried, and perhaps it will be as 

 well to hold on a little before building very 

 many. When those who make bees a success, 

 decide to use house apiaries, it will be ample 

 time for beginners to follow. Another thing; 

 there have been gross misstatements made in 

 regard to the expense of such structures, by 

 those having patents. Nothing in the way of 

 expense is saved in the house, except the body 

 of the hive and the cover, for the frames, sec- 

 tions, and chaff quilts are needed all the same. 

 It would be a much easier matter to make 50 

 painted Simplicity hives for $50.00 than to 

 make a house apiary for an equal number, for 

 $100. Will those who have built them, tell us 

 if we are not right ? 



I put 52 colonies in to winter quarters : about lialf in 

 double hives packed with chaff, (liave generally used cut 

 straw) tlie balance in single hives with straw in cap. I 

 use quilts filled with cotton over frames and have heen 

 very successful wintering; in tbat way. This season was 

 rather poor until buclcwheat bloomed when the bees did 

 very well. Bee-keeping in this vicniity is rather in the back 

 ground, a great many use the box Live and black bees. 

 ■ James P. Steeeith, Kilgore, Pa. Dec. 13th, 187G. 



HONEY, BUILDING UP A HOME MAKKET FOR. 



I have just rf ad the statement of J. A. Buchanan Dec. 

 Gleanings page 305 and agree with him. When I com- 

 menced li( re which was hut a few years aso, there was not 

 .'jO lbs. of honey consumed in the place. This year I har- 

 vested about 2.500 lbs. and sold all of it at 20 and 2.5c. per 

 lb. home market. T. J, Dodds. 



Lc ckre, Scott Co. Iowa, Dec. 15tl! 1n70. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



I received 3 one dollar queens of J. Ctman last 

 July, they were beautiful yellow pets and I intro- 

 duced them in the honey boxes according to Mr. 

 Cortland Newton hi June No. of CtLEAnings. They 

 did exceedingly well. No. 3 came out 17 days after 

 with a fine^swarm and did finely. B. G. 



Monticello, Ind., Dec. 27th, 1876. 



AVe have had a very liard season for bees in this 

 region, the drouth was so severe from the 20th of 

 June till about the middle of July that my black bees 

 would have starved if I had not fed tlicm. 



ITALIAN VEKSUS BLACK BEES. 



I liad but one swarm of Italians, they gathered 

 enough hcnoy from a weed that grows plentifully 



here to keep brood rearing lively. I watched mar.y 

 hours Imt could not find a black bee upon it. I think 

 it a member of the mint family. The l>loom is simiiai 

 to catmint. <Jn tlie last of July the graBshop))ert- 

 came in countless millions. In 15 minutes after they 

 commenced falling, my hives were coTcred with 

 scroll -work tftat left your Lawn hive in the shade : 

 they destroyed our crops to sucii an extent that some- 

 did not liarvest at all ; most of us got enough for our 

 bread imd some seed. For about tcwo vyeeks the bccs- 

 had rotbing to work on but vines, and they did earry 

 poUen in larare quanlities. I counted 7 bees loading 

 from a &fcg!e llowcr. They gathered pollen from tlu^ 

 centre of the (lower lo the ragged edge. My apiary is 

 on the prairie. Basswood \X miles away; have no 

 clover to amount to anything yet the bees nsnally 

 gather some honey from May till October. We have a. 

 flower upon which the bees work nicely before the 

 snow drifts are gone in spring. 



BEES ON THE I'RAIRIE. 



^t life on the prairie is the life for me, 

 Wliere tlie breezes of Heaven can wander so free ; 



The cold blast of winter is worthy a song, 

 And 1 gaze on the snow as it's passing along. 



And when in spring time the breezes of Majr 

 Are melting the snow drifts so swiftly away, 



1*11 listen awhile to the bees' merry hum. 

 As returning with nectar they meet me at homie. 



And when the wild rose is opening its bloom, 

 And the prairie is covered with flowers in June, 



I sit in the shade of my own nurtured trees. 

 And watch until evening the flight of the bees. 

 I have 17 stocks now in my cellar, 13 of which are 

 Italians, all from my River Styx queen. Two of them 

 mated with black drones I think. 



AGE OF WORKER.?. 



One year ago the 20th day of August I gave my 

 River Styx queen four combs of black hatching brood ; 

 I saw the last black bees the 14th day of June. Now 

 supposing there were eggs, the worker bees were s 

 months old. I use the American style of Langstroth 

 frame 12x12. J. E. Dart. 



Farmer City, Ills., Dec. 19th, 1876. 



WINTER I5EE HOUSES, KEEPING THEM COOL. 



In the warm days last spring before it was time to 

 set bees ont, mine became uneasy in the house, want- 

 ed to come out and fly (although it was jntch dark) 

 and made an awful uoise. I sprinkled a handfiU of 

 fine snow about the entrance of each hive and in 

 half an liour they were quiet as mice— not a bn/.>s 

 from any hive, i tried it once afteiward with the 

 same success. Henry Daniels. 



Plainfleld, N. II., Dec. 25th, 1876. 



The idea is very good, although the plan is 

 consideral)le trouble. A good cellar will V>e 

 cool enough without the snow. 



1 have always been the bees' admirer bu|; never was in 

 circumstances to give them any personal attention until 

 last season, when a few colonies gave ine over one Ibou- 

 sand i)er cent, profit. P. G. Cauthu. 



Lawrence, Kas, Dec. 20th, 1876. 



The hone}' season with us has been fair; had 17 

 stocks in spring which increased to 35, gave 500 lbs. of 

 extracted and If of cap honey. Sold it in one lot at 

 20 cts. I have had bees 20 years but have done noth- 

 ing with them untit the last season. You can put uk^ 

 down in '"Blasted Hopes" if you jjlease, and I think if 

 you should get a report from all bee-keepers you 

 would have a full column under that head. 



W. E. Clark, Oriskany, N. Y., Dec. 22(1, ls7.->. 



