190 



GLEANENGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



July 



We .are having a tremendous yield of honey ; the 

 trees are almost dripping with honey dew. In my 

 particular neighborhood we have an abundance of 

 sour wood, and persirnmcni which will come in, in a 

 few days. The sour wood honey is very similar to 

 the linden. W. L. Mookes. 



Elkmont Springe, Tenn., May 29th, '77. 



Please let me know If section boxes can be nsed 

 without starters ; if so, how ? 



David s. Sfringek, Berne, Ind., June 1st, '77. 



Certainly they can be used, but if you suc- 

 ceed in getting the bees to work in them, you 

 Avould probably never get them apart without 

 breaking the combs, for they would build 

 across in all sorts of ways. The fdn. is to 

 make them start at once and to insure one 

 true comb in each frame. The separators are 

 to make the combs exactly of a thickness. 



GOOD AND BAD WORK, AC. 



I have been patronizing a home manufacturer for 

 some sectional frames and section boxes ; I am thor- 

 oughly disgusted with the rough things and have got 

 through. The hive and fixtures you sent me are O K. 

 The tinned duck to cover the frames is the most per- 

 fect lixture out of your shop. 1 have before me a 

 sample box from Messrs. Sayles of Hartford, Wis. 

 It is A No. 1. I am through patronizing hmnely work. 

 E. Hunter, Manchester, Mich., June 14th, '77. 



It seems to be rather a hard matter to get 

 ordinary workers in wood to make smooth 

 work, and we have had much trouble ourselves 

 in getting the sections as we would lil<e to 

 have them ; in fact it is only once in a while 

 that we get a saw to cut just to suit us. The 

 saws must have very small fine teeth, such as 

 ordinary mill men seldom use, and they must 

 be put in order by an expert. Now if you 

 have nice clear tender pine, you can get nice 

 smooth woods. We now use lumber that cost 

 $31. per M. for sections, just to have them nice. 

 A really nice section box is a pleasure to look 

 at, but rough awkward twisted ones are 

 enough to turn all ones joys into sorrow.*, as 

 we know full well by bitter experience. We 

 agree with you about tin edged sheets of duck, 

 to cover the frames ; a colony of cross hybrids 

 may be shut up in second, without any danger 

 of killing a single bee, and as it keeps the bees 

 entirely away from the chaff cushions they 

 may be kept clean and soft. 



WHITKWOOD, OR TULIP HONEY. 



Bees are doing very well now; plenty of white clo- 

 ver, and whitewood trees are just beginning to blos- 

 som which makes the bees rather slight the clover. I 

 think those whitewood trees furnish most of our clo- 

 ver honey. S. H. Hough. 



Rootstown, Ohio, June 12th, 1877. 



My bees, 4 colonies, have built out the fdn. you sent 

 me and have it nearly lllled with white clover honey, 

 all in the upper stories. As both stories are crammed 

 full of bees, I suppose I sliall have to commence to di- 

 vide them soon and I will need more fdn. 



Joseph Cook, Jackson, Mich., June 12th, 1877. 



I had chaff cushions on all those in the house apia- 

 ry and I found they had more brood than the others. 

 I have 11(5 to commence the season with. 



A. A. Rice, Seville, Ohio, April 18th, '77. 



Bees doing linely ; went into winter quarters, or 

 rather liad on summer stands 128 stocks. First of 

 May found me with 12(i good stocks and two qneenless 

 ones. Bees have commenced swarming. Had one 

 swarm on the 14th of May and two on the IHtli which 

 is about three weeks ahead of last year. Prospects 

 line for a heavv honey crop this year. 



Geo. W. Kennedy, Carrollton, Mo., May 19, '77. 



MICE, A WARNING. 



In the spring of '75, 1 had 14 stocks, took 1400 lbs. of 

 extracted honey and increased to 25. Had 24 iu the 



spring of '76, took about 12C0 lbs. and increased to h2. 

 Mice got in them last winter and destroyed 14, and 

 one lost its queen leaving me with but 37 now. I 

 swarm artificially. Have two imported qiueens frons 

 D. Tremontani, of Bologna, Italy. I sent last Sep- 

 tember for le for myself and neighbors, 3 of which 

 died on the way. For express charges and duty we 

 paid S.'Jt.oo. 



We have had too much rain this spring, ^^ost nearly 

 all the honey from fruit bloom, though bees are doing 

 well at present on black and honey locust, and white 

 clover is just beginning to bloom. We have here bu£ 

 a poor market for honey. W. B. Collins. 



Arrow Rock, Mo., May 28th, 1877. 



MARKING HIVES FOR QUEENS. 



In May Gleanings page 117, Dr. C. M. Joslln teTls 

 us how he made Z^ colonies from 2. in one season, and 

 says he saved all his queens in their first Sight, <Sfcc. 

 Please explain how ho saved his queens, with the 

 green paper, the Uowered shawl and the red paper. 



The different colors were to enable the young 

 queens to avoid getting into the wrong hive 

 by mistake ; when they first leave the hive> 

 they carefully examine all its surroundings, 

 hovering over and all about it, going in antl 

 out repeatedly, and seeming to recognize the 

 great importance of being able to get back 

 home safely ; in spite of all these precautions, 

 they do sometimes get into the " wrong box," 

 for they have often been found at the entrance 

 of neighboring hives, where they were proba- 

 bly attracted by the humming of returning 

 bees. By making the entrances of the hives 

 unlike, by different colors or otherwise, it is 

 supposed this loss may be avoided. It is cer- 

 tainly very unwise to locate hives just alike 

 in color and appearance very near each other. 

 If they can not be as much as 6 feet apart from 

 centre to centre, it is a very good idea to make 

 the entrances unlike, especially when young 

 queens may be expected to be taking their 

 flight. 



"ROBBING" THE BEES. 



In this latitude we seldom have frost before the firet 

 of Nov. and rarely any snow in winter. Then how 

 late in the season may we rob our hives of honey 

 and brood ? 



You can "rob" your hives as often as you 

 like, and at any season of the year; and you 

 can take all or part, just as you feel disposed. 

 Of course you will not be so thoughtless as to 

 let the little fellows starve ; your horse and 

 cow are supplied several times a day, and a 

 man who would let his barn get empty and 

 allow these domestic friends to starve, would 

 be taken in hand by the strong arm of the law 

 if his neighbors did not hold an indignation 

 meeting and do something worse. We can 

 not tell you how much honey you must leave 

 in your hives any more than how much hay 

 and oats you should have in your barn; yon 

 should look after the wants of your bees pre- 

 cisely as you do after those of the pony and 

 old brindle. 



AVHY TWO OR MORE STORIES ? 



Why have the hives two and three stories instead 

 of one, and why can not all the work be done in a sin- 

 gle box i* Enquirer. 



Kingston, La., June Ist, 1877. 



If you have a one story hive full of bees, 

 they will fill every cell with honey in about 

 two days, during a good yield, and if you ex- 

 tract, to give more room, you get thin, unri- 

 pened honey. You must have two stories at 

 least, so far as we can see, and many of our 

 colonies at the present writing, need about 

 three stories to give them room, until the hon- 

 ey in the sections is nicely capped over. 



