74 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar 



My report for 1876 is not a very good one. Ten 

 stocks in spring increased to 21 and 242 lbs. of comb 

 honey. Very dry before harvest and cold fall. We 

 had scarcely any fall honey gathered. My bee aecH 

 would stand about as follows. 



Increase 11 stands(aiO,00 §110 00 



242 lbs. comb honey in comb@20c 48 40 



if. 8 40 

 Contra. 



Toll hiTes@l 25 Sl3 



•' 1 queen in 8pi'ing(li 3 50 3 50 



'* 4. dollar (ineens 4 20 



'' Gleanings ami Journal 2 25 



" Comb Foundation 2 25 25 ?*5 



Balance in favor of bees $132 45 



The <iueen8 I bought of J. Oatman & Co., Dundee, 

 111., and very nice ones they were and put up in the 

 best of taste. I now have 23 stands in cellar, most of 

 them in good shape. Bought 2 stands in fall. 



D. Paterson, Algona, Iowa. 



LETTER FROM GEORGIA. 



I have 38 colonies of bees, about one-third pure Ital- 

 ians, the rest hybrids, all in movable comb hives. My 

 frames are between Gallup and American in size, 8 

 to the hive. I used an extractor of my own make last 

 summer and took about 800 lbs. liquid honey, no comb. 

 Began the season with 12 poor colonies and increased 

 to 49 mostly by natural swarming, but had to double 

 np, or down, to 3S as there was an absolutely total 

 failure ot fall supplies from drouth from Aug. 15th. 

 The season was much below an average one. I think 

 that in an ordinary season I can average 100 lbs. per 

 hive, of extracted honey. 



Our main sources are poplar, black gum, persim- 

 mon, huckle-berry, chestnut, wild-cherry, holly, 

 peach, apple, Chickasaw plum, cow pea, honey lo- 

 cust, linn, and cotton, besides many other that yield 

 quite freely some seasons. There are some seasons, 

 immense quantities of honey-dew here from which 

 the bees store very large amounts of a very good hon- 

 ey. This honey-dew honey, so far as I have observed, 

 tastes well, looks well, and has no deleterious proper- 

 ties that would exclude it from the table, neither does 

 it seem to disagree with the bees in any way. 



HONEY FROM THE COTTON PLANT. 



I have never seen any mention of the cotton ]Mant 

 as being a honey producer, but it unquestionably 

 yielded nearly all that I got last summer. It is a beau- 

 tifully clear, pale str.aw colored honey, very thin 

 when extracted, so thin in fact that I feared ferment- 

 ation, but I was unable to bring about souring though 

 I tried a number of experiments ; whether left open, 

 or sealed up, in a cool or warm room, t thickened up. 

 It is very sweet and bland, and whenever not sealed 

 up has become a hard, beautifully white granular 

 mass. A thing I have never known to happen in our 

 climate with honey before it Is four years old. Some 

 granulated in my hives. Please excuse me lor thus 

 tresspassing. I have written with my little Blue Eyes 

 on my lap. Dr. A. H. Brantley. 



Decatur, Georgia, Jan. 17th, 1876. 



We had a very good season for bees until Sept. 1st, 

 alter that date we had very little honey gathered ; 

 .Sept. is generally as good a month for honey as any 

 with us but this season it was a failure. I began the 

 season with 10 colonies of Italian bees, increased to 

 25, got GOO lbs. of honey, 40D of extracted, 200 of box 

 honey, and raised 80 queens. Don't see how any prac- 

 tical bee man can call comb Idn. a failure, I used it 

 last summer and I think it is just what bee-keepers 

 need. I will want 10 or 15 lbs. next summer if my 



bees gel through the winter all right. Bees all put 

 away in their winter quarters. 



M. M. Callbn, Moravia, Iowa, I>ec. IStb, '76. 



Had only 10 swarms in '72 ; they have increased to 2lt» 

 and given 13500 lbs honey. My farm Is new and 1 

 don't have time to care for my bees as I ought. 3 

 think I shall try the comb fdn. this year, wonld it be 

 advisable for a green hand like myself to try 25 lbs. at 

 first ? I have had no experience with it. 



Would it be colder for bees to have a higher stand >* 

 My stands are only 5 inches high ; it seems to be very 

 warm so close to the ground. I have thought some oil 

 making my packing boxes solid for winter, and turn- 

 ing them over to use for stands in summer. 



EXTRACTED VERSUS COMB HONEY. 



I shall use the extractor more another year. I havw 

 not had half enough extracted honey during the last 

 two yeax's to supply the home demand. I don't have- 

 to ship any extracted honey. 



HONEY, HOW TO SELL. 



I have a great secret in selling it but I don't charge 

 anything for the secret^ and will tell you what it is. / 

 sell to all at the same price. Sometimes a customc:- 

 will think he only Avants a puond or two ; takes it at 

 a low price and when it is gone, comes back for 50 or 

 100 lbs. more. 



SWARMING, PREVENTION OF. 



Can you tell me how to manage large swarms in 

 May when there is no honey ? Honey comes here 

 about the 5th of June, it don't vary two days and be- 

 fore it comes in plenty they swarm. 1 don't and can'r. 

 keep them from it until honey is plenty. I have tried 

 to raise good queens before they swarmed. If I could 

 keep them from swarming until the middle of June I 

 could prevent it entirely. 



Lewis Kelley, Ionia, Mich., Jan. 15tli, 1877. 



We very much prefer that everybody shoukl 

 try the fdn. as well as everything else, on a 

 small scale flrst, that there may be no disap- 

 pointment. We will sell you a single ounce if 

 you wish, for we have full confidence in your 

 plan, friend K., of selling small quantities at a 

 low price, just for accomodation; for if our 

 produce is good, we may be sure of further 

 patronage. Let us try to surprise our patrons 

 at the very low rate at which we can sell a 

 really good article. We do not find any ad- 

 vantage in having high stands, and if you usl- 

 3 story hives, you will be apt to get the upper 

 story inconveniently high for handling the 

 frames if you raise them up very much. Yon 

 can certainly" prevent the swarming fever by 

 keeping them short of honey, but we really 

 know of no other way, unless it is to have an 

 unlimited supply of empty combs on hand to 

 contain all the honey that may be brought in. 



MOTH WORMS AWD POLLEW. 



In regard to moth worms working in combs containiuK 

 pollen, I can give you a little item myself. While » 

 friend and I were tnansferring a black stock for a man in 

 the coiuitry, wo discovered the combs were infested with 

 worms, and on looking closer, by breaking the comb 

 apart, found the pollen alive with very small moth worms, 

 but few of them being found anywhere else on the combs. 

 The combs were nice white ones built this season and we 

 had to throw away everything that contained any pollen. 

 That was the first time I ever saw or heard of the moth 

 working in pollen. Will M, Kellogg, Oneida HI. 



TWELVE SWARMS FROM ONE IN ONE SEASON. 



.Tudge John Porter of this city, had one stock Inst 

 spring. They gave bim 12 swarms, two run off, sivod 



