180 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



GLEANtMGS IN BEE CUUTUnE. 



Publisliod Menthly, 



-A.. I- :r<dot. 



EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



MEDINA, OHIO. 



Terms : Sl.OO I»er Anniiiii. 



[Inchidlng Postage.] 

 For Club Bates see Last Page. 



nvEEnDiasr-A., j-ttl^st i, istt. 



He that is greedy of gain troubleth bis own house. 

 Prov. 15 : 2 7. ,«..,.^ 



Nei.lis has sent us 39 subscribers, and Doolittle 52. 

 According to the offer of our excellent friend. Dr. 

 Brown, Dooliltle is to have the testeil queen. 



TiiK chaff liives are a perfect success so far as hot 

 •weather is concerned. The bees do not hang out at 

 all, as they do in the Simplicities, when placed in 

 the sun, and they are making astonishing progi'ess in 

 the section boxes. 



For some reason unknown to us, the section boxes 

 this season are filled with honey clear up against the 

 ■wood ; it may be because the sections are smaller and 

 thicker, or on account of the bountiful How ol clover 

 honey. In either case we are thankful to find them 

 •working so beautifully. 



The plan friend Sayles of Hartf nrt, "Wis., uses to in- 

 troduce virgin queens, does not differ essentially from 

 the methods already in use. That he succeeds is with- 

 out question, for we have a neia;hbor— a new begin- 

 ner, who has introduced two safely the first time try- 

 ing. Of course we refer to virgin queens that are 

 several days old. We have a few times succeeded, 

 but again they would be killed at once, every time. 



The plan of sawing stuff for frame and section box- 

 es by cutting off a bundle of the sticks at once, was 

 suggested by friend Doolittle •when here. We im- 

 proved on the idea by using bands of stout paper so 

 that the pieces ■were securely bundled ready to ship 

 after they were sawed off. When ■we began to put the 

 sections together by grooving, tbis proved a very 

 great saving oi labor. 



The Adams, American and United States Express 

 Go's have made an arrangement whereby queens 

 may be sent on any of the above lines at a cost of 10c 

 only. Charges to be prepaid the same as postage, 

 namely, one cent per ounce; but nothing carried lor 

 less than lu cents. If lost, the Co. will be responsible 

 to the amount of Si. 00 only. Where postmasters will 

 not receive queens, this arrangement will jjfobablj' 

 be of much benefit. 



As we have now over 2,000 subscribers, and give 

 away as sample copies over 1,000 more each month, 

 we have thought best to advance our rates for adver- 

 tising to 20c. per line. As we receive no advertise- 

 ments of patent medicines, patent bee hives, or any- 

 thing else that might mlsleaU or (llsappoint our cus- 

 tomers, we do not think the price unreasonable, if It 

 should result in a dropping off" of our ads., we will 

 give you more pages of reading matter, that is all. 



PRODUriNG HONEY, &c. 



flHE question "How do bees reduce their honey 

 as gathered from the flowers, to the nice ripe 

 . honey we lind alter it is tealed over?" was 



brought up at the North Eastern Kee Convention. 

 We gave our exyjerlments In the matter, but as It was 

 generally thought to be some of Doollttle's nonsense, 

 we would like to give them here, so as to have the 

 readers of Gleanings experiment and see if wo are 

 correct. All bee-keepers can tell whether their bees 

 are getting honey or not by the r.iarlng made by 

 them at night, as bees only make this roaring while 

 reducing their honey. Let two or three days of rain 

 succeed a plentiful honey harvest and all roaring 

 ceases with the night of the third. 



Our experiments have led us to the conclusion that 

 all honey brought In from the fields by the outside la- 

 borers is given to the young bees, taken Into their 

 honey sacks, and if more is gathered than their sacks 

 can contain, it is deposited in the cells till night, and 

 then evaporated down ; although the evaporation Is 

 going on to some extent during the day time. At 

 night all hands Join, from the outside laborers with 

 jagged wings down to bees but a day or so old, and 

 the honey or thin sweet is taken into the honey sack, 

 thrown out on the proboscis, drawn back in again,' 

 and so on until by the heat of the hive these sma'!! 

 particles of honey are bronght to the right consisten- 

 cy, when it is deposited in the cells. In order to dO' 

 this the bees bang loosely so that when the proboscis 

 is thrown out it shall not hit another bee or the combs 

 or hive. Many a night have we watched their opera- 

 tions, and by the light of a lamp you can see the little 

 drops of nectar sparkle as it is thrown out on the pro- 

 boscis and drawn in again. When honey is coming 

 in slowlj- j-oti will not be likely to see this process- 

 All, doubtless, have observed that when bees are get- 

 ting honey plentifully it shakes readily from the 

 combs at night, while in the morning belore the bees 

 go into the fields not a particle can be shaken from 

 the combs. 



HOW TO KEEP PURE STOCK WITH NATURAL 

 SWARMING. 



N'ovice asks us to tell how we keep our stock pare 

 with natural swarming. Of course all know that al! 

 drones should be reared from the best queens yow 

 have in your yard, carefully excluding all drone 

 comb from hybrid or black stocks. We usually have 

 three or four queens or perhaps a dozen between 

 which there is but little difference. We get some one 

 of these stronger than the rest by means of that di- 

 vision board, or by giving frames of hatching broocS 

 so that they shall swarm a little first and give us good 

 cells. Now, as soon as a hybrid stock swarms we gc> 

 to this hive, get a queen cell, insert it in their combs 

 and cut off all other cells, if we wanted after swarms 

 with pure queens we would put in two or three cells. 

 The other pood stocks will swarm along as you want 

 cells, or if the cells were not quite ready when the 

 first hybrid stock swarmed wait till they are, ami 

 when j'ou insert the cell cut off all cells In the hybrid 

 stock. If we had but one queen we should have to 

 raise most ol the cells artificially and insert them in 

 the same way. 



O. W. Parker asks, page 163, "Is not tlte reason of 

 Mr. Doolittle's success with box honey that he redu- 

 ces the brood nest to the capacity of the qneen?'" 

 Exactly friend P., and this is another of Doolittle's 

 hobbies ; but it you will ride on such a hobby you 

 will find it will tiirn out more honey than any yon 

 ever rode. If we were to work fur extracted hon- 

 ey we should work on the same plan, that is. have 

 the queen keep the combs she occupies full of brood, 

 and Keep her eggs out of the combs we extract from. 

 If a queen will keep but five frames filled with brood, 

 have it in just those five frames and not scattered 

 over ten or more. G. M. Doolittle. 



iiorodino, N. Y., June 4th, 1877. 



I^erlainlng to Bee Cxiltxire. 



[We respectfully solicit the aid of our friends in 

 conducting this department, and would consider it 

 a favor to liave them send us all circulars that have 

 a deceptive .a])pearance. The greatest care will l)e at 

 all times maintained to prevent injustice being done 

 any one.] 



s^iNCLOSED are stamps for Gleanings— June No. 

 wrj/i] Should I decide to go into the business shall be- 

 <-—^ come a subscriber. In your May No. you speak 

 of a Mrs. Lizzie Cotton. I have every reason to fear 

 that I am one of her victims to the amount of $20.00 as 

 she doesn^t fuljiU. Had 1 seen your article before 

 sending the money I should not "have sent It, or had 

 any business transaction with her. I shall write lier 

 again very soon, and If she falls to do as she positively 

 jtromised I shall pronounce her a fraud, and hope 

 she may be published to the world, that others may 

 not be deceived, and lose bv her as 1 undoubtedly 

 shall. Mrs. A. K. Tuthill. 



East Cleveland, Ohio, June 2-2d, 1877. 



The money is lost without question unless 

 j'ou have a better faculty thau we have, of 

 making her give it ujj. 



