1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



101 



From Diifereiit llelds. 



'•■ijfj A5I a man upwards of SO years of age. Last spring 

 4 r h;vd on hand S stands, I increased them lo 3.3 

 *"*' stands, and i went to the woods; I lost one by 

 tuoth by my own carelessness. I saved (WO lbs. ol box 

 iioncy. 1 use a lilvc HxUxKJ outside measure, and 

 inetal coi-nered frames. The most trouble I have in 

 working with bees is with my eye* and oars, or in 

 other words, I am too nearly deaf and blind. 



Cakmel Cheney. 

 J'. S.— I have 4 Vol's of Gleanings put together in 

 M'parate volumes with a slioemaker's awl and waxed 

 thread, and I refer to them often. 



C. C, Yankee Kidgo, Mo., Dec. 21st, S. 



1 have been a subscriber for the past two years, but 

 tiines are so hard and no sale for honey, (even at 15c. 

 for nice cap,) I thought I could get along without 

 ♦tLEANINGS or Magazine either, but find 1 

 can't do it, so send it along for another year. 1 packed 

 -'•< stocks mostly iu good condition, in chaff, and from 

 Nov. iOth to Jan. 2t)th, they never had a lliglit at all; 

 it came off warm and they have had a good cleansing 

 ilight since. All but oae seems all right, and that on« 

 was one of my very best stocks. The honey was com- 

 ing out at the entrauce, and on examination I found 7 

 of the 8 frames of comb all broken off about 2 inches 

 i'rom the top, and all the bees dead, smothered in the 

 »ias?, except about a teacnpful. which were complete- 

 ly sealed up ir. the hive. Now can you give me the 



■luse ? I have studied in vain for one. 



RoBEKT Leach. 

 < apac, St. Ciair Co., Mich., Feb. 8th, 1S77. 

 We have just had a visit from a Irieud vrho 



ias paid Jlitchell $50.00 for the right of his 

 hive for a single county*, and he is to pay fifty 

 more. This man did take Gleanings, but 

 perhaps like yourself, concluded he could not 

 atibrd it. He says he had never heard of 

 Mitchell before, and did not know font the 

 hive he bought was the one used by all leading 

 ')ee-keepers. 



It may be rather hard to decide why so many 

 '•ombs should break down all at once, unless 

 you closed the hive so closely that the bees got 

 hot, as was mentioned on page 71 last month, 

 .nud finally melted the combs down. We have 

 known this to happen in warm weather, and 

 with the chaiF we have no doubt that it 

 might even do the same in winter. 



CEGINKEKS, A WAKNING. 



The past season has been our first in bee-keeping; 

 we commence<l with 9 in the old log gum, transferred 

 Uie first week in May to movable comb hives. From 

 they we cxtracte<.l 700 lbs, of very nice white clover 

 honey, aud increased to 20 stands. We extracted our 

 last on July 2Uh, alter which there was no lioney 

 stored till September. Had poor success in intro- 

 •iiiviDg virgin queens, not understanding the business : 



' i were lost in their llight ; the result was queen less 



-onics and plenty of worms. At one time we had 

 '■'V.i three queens to raise brood from to keep up all 

 ri'c colonics, but finally succeeded in getting queens 

 in all the stands. Our queens were from Nellis .and a 

 iiortion from Mitchell. We packed with chaff aud 

 ' IX straw, on their sumraor stands; last week we 

 ••ned them to let them have a fly and found :5 bed 



■ ■ ^-"d. ) tniolhercd, G short of honey and 10 with 



plenty of stores. Most of them have brood in all 

 stages. It looks as (hough we may be candidates for 

 Blasted Hopes. liut don't mark us yet, for with the 

 aid of Gleanings and the A. B. J. to guide us, we 

 mean to conquer. P. A. Kiegle. 



Arlington, O.. Feb. 10th, 1877. 



You certainly will get into Blasted Hopes, 

 if you do not take better care of your bees 

 than to let them starve, after they have sup- 

 plied you so bountifully, aud we have given 

 your letter as a warning to others, who are 

 just commencing. We hardly understand 

 about the virgin (jueeus being lost in their 

 flight, for after they are once introduced, we 

 should consider them no more liable to get 

 lost, than a queen of their own raising. 



natueal versus aetificial swarming. 



I increase by natural swarming and consider that the 

 best and safest. Had one stand of bees swarm 3 times ; I 

 hived them all, aud the first swarm threv/ out 3 more 

 swarms, and the second swarm threw out one. That 

 makes 7 swarms of bees from one in one summer; but I 

 ha^•e reduced the 7 to 5 by uniting, and using the extra 

 queens to the best advantage. Now comes the best of all, 

 the old stand gave me 10 quarts of box honey— I say 

 quarts because I cut up and put it in glass jars for my 

 own use. Bees Italians or nearly pure. By the way, let 

 me thank friends Oatman & f)o. through Gleanings for 

 the honorable and satisfactory way they furnished me 

 queens last summer. Look out for a steroscopic view of 

 my apiary about next May. A. S. Davison. 



AuUville, Mo., Jan. 16th, 1877. 



I began the spring with 12 stocks. I got about 20 

 swarms and 150 lbs. honey; mostly box honey, and 

 they never sealed it over. What was the cause, were 

 they too cold .' I tried to prevent swarming by cutting 

 out all queen cells, but I failed. Only 2 filled their 

 sections, and they were covered with quilts. I have 

 made a lawn hive and it looks nice. I have not the 

 scroll-work, but made it of 0-inch boards, it looks like 

 siding. I have about 200 sections started with comb, 

 but no honey. I sowed a patch of mignonette which 

 stands a deal of frost ; also rape, which I sowed on my 

 onion patch last tall. It kept in blossom till Nov. 30 ; 

 it stands a freeze that makes >4 in. ice on water, and 

 blooms 6 weeks after all other honey plants are gone. 

 Bees worked on it all the time. A. Fiddes. 



Centralia, Marion Co., 111. 



I put 70 swarms in good condition into winter quar- 

 ters, and have not troubled them yet, as I think too 

 much "fussing" is not good in cold weather. 



James L. Gray. 



Brockway, Minn., Jan. 23d, 1877. 



I have 36 stocks this winter ; had 24 to commence with 

 last spring ; some of them were weak. I got over 1400 

 lbs. of box honey and about 600 lbs. of extracted. Raised 

 a good many queens, sold several swarms and three or 

 four left to hunt a home of their own. I have about 1000 

 lbs. of box honey yet, where is the best honey market iu 

 my reach ? Could you give ine the name of some good 

 honey merchiuit in Pittsburg ? Tnos. S. Holsingee. 



Six Boads, Bedford Co., Penn., Feb. 27th, 1877. 



Will some one tell us who is at present buy- 

 ing honev in Pittsburgh ? 



Bees did well here last year. I had six stands in the 



spring, increased them to 17, took over 100 lbs. of box 



honey from them, and sold it at 20 and 2.'5c. per lb. My 



Jiecs have all wintered v.-ell so far on their summer stands. 



J. H. ?!k v)r:s. D.-catnr, hid., Feb. lOth, 1877. 



