218 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Auo. 



Onr honey gathering here is about over. I extract- 

 ed June 20th to 23tl 1500 lbs. (mostly poplar) honey 

 trom 2? stands. Had it not rained for two weeks 

 almost daily, could have extracted;ear1ier, and by this 

 time have taken as much more of white clover, &c. 

 As it is, the combs of hive.s that did not swarm are 

 from half to two-thirds full. How will it do to make 

 artiticial swarms Irom strongest hives after honey 

 gathering is over, putting Itiem on these partly filled 

 combs? How can 1 get fdn. >>uilt into comb when 

 ijces are not making honey ? What is the best way of 

 making nuclei for queen rearing in fall ? 



O. Brumfieli>, Brumfleld Station, Ky., July 3, '77. 



It will do first rate to divide strong hives 

 after the honey season is over, but be sure you 

 bring them all up strong before winter. By 

 feeding cheap sugar, you can get fdn. built out 

 very fast and at small expense. Yellow or 

 brown sugar is cheaper than white. Glucose 

 sugar will probably be cheaper than either, 

 but it needs some experimenting with ; who 

 has tried it? 



Make nuclei in the fall, precisely as we have 

 directed for the summer, but be very careful 

 about robbing, and about uniting bees from 

 different hives. 



rOFI.AK. 



The poplar tree of the South that prodnces honey fs 

 the Liriodendron Tulipefcra natural order Magnoli- 

 ncece. We call it yellow poplar here. It produces 

 very nice lumber. 1 make my frames of it. It is not 

 good lor hives unless well painted as it shrinks awful- 

 ly in dry weather. S. D. Uodgk. 



Chattanooga. Tenn., July 7tb, 1877. 



We half suspected this poplar was our com- 

 mon whitewood, but several things seem to 

 indicate otherwise. It is known by all three 

 names, tulip, whitewood and poplar. Just be- 

 fore clover opens, we often And a dark very 

 thick honey ; this we presume is the tulip hon- 

 ey. We have seen it stated that the large lily 

 shaped blossoms, sometimes contain a table- 

 spoonful of honey. 



I bought 2 swarms of bees last fall and now have 4 

 good ones. They l*ave cost me hives and all S30, and 

 have not received a cent from them yeN so I do not 

 leel like getting an extractor now. E. F. Sibley. 



Spencer, Massachusetts, June 20, 1877. 



My bees will work on the fdn. before they will on 

 old comb out of hives that the bees died in last win- 

 ter. 1 thought to do a good thing, buying such and 

 fastening in frame'*, but I don't want any more if I 

 can get the fdn. V. Page, Kennedy, .V. Y., June 26. 



The fdn. which I got from you this spring gives per- 

 fect satisfaction. Queens lay in it just as readily as 

 in natural comb. The extractor also works well. 

 John Dickinson, Milwaukee, Wis . July 6, '77. 



I am much pleased with the idr.. which I rec'd from 

 you, some six weeks ago. The sheets were soon 

 drawn out and made beautiful straight walls. 1 have 

 extracted from some of them the third lime. Three 

 sheets were tilled with eggs that hatched workers. 

 In future, I shall use only worker fdn., then I can use 

 it in lower story if I wish to. I rec'd a dollar queen 

 irom C. O. Vaughan, Esq., Columbia, Tenn., the 27th 

 of May, her progeny are beginning to labor out-doors, 

 and have the marks of purity. I am delighted at the 

 success, and have ordered from him another one. 



We are having a good yield of honey from poplar, 

 persimmon. lioUy, (an evergreen in our bottoms), and 

 wild grape blooms. My bees are now gathering from 

 my buckwheat. Our fall honey is from the golden- 

 rod, which makes a delicious lioney. 



The trees liave been literally covered with honey 

 dew, but strange to say, I have never seen a bee gath- 

 ering it. Some fell in large drops, on a cloudless day 

 —no aphides about it. C. C. Shipf. 



Spring Dale, Miss., July 5th, 1877. 



of a cellar the bees were wintered. I think there is a 

 great diflference in the kind of soil. A very porous, 

 gravelly or sandy soil will make a better cellar for 

 wintering bees than one dug in hard pan or clay; the 

 latter holiJs moisture, causes mould, and needs the 

 most thorough ventilation. I would like to eompare 

 notes with those who have lost, and see if we can" 

 blame she kind of cellar. J. H. Martin. 



Hartford, N. Y., July 5tb, 1877. 



The white fdn. is very nice ; the bees work it out to 

 an almost impalpable thickness, but I do not think 

 they can work It early in spring or late in the fall as- 

 well RS the yellow. Am highly pleased with your 

 fdn. ; I have distributed some samples and think youi 

 will get some orders. 



Am getting some honey, but slowly, not nsore thani 

 one week of honey weather here tbis season. Bass- 

 wood has come and gone, a total lailure. vet I have 

 one hive working steadily in 40 boxes 4x.S><x5%, antS 

 will hang some sections to-day noon, a la Root. Bee- 

 keeping with me is a pastime although it has pai(i 

 well for the money and time. J. M. SHUCK. 



Des Moines, Iowa, July 14tli, 1877. 



Blasted Hopes ? Yes sir ! My cellar has a capacity 

 for IdO hives, and I hoped to keep my apiavy within 

 tliat number. It has now multiplied much beyonji 

 these figures (131) and the hope of crowding them aU 

 Into that cellar is— is— "now esV 



D. P. L.ANE, Koshkonong, Wis., July 14lh, '77.. 



I notice there is great mortality among bees in some 

 portions of our State, and the loss not only falls upon 

 the novice but upon the most experienced bee-keep- 

 ers as well. Now 1 would like to inquire in what kind 



CHAFF HIVES. 



I have been making some chaflf hives and in trying 

 to simplify the work did away with the oflfset inside 

 making room for 12 frames above and below, all run- 

 ning one way. I provided lor getting in the lower 

 ones by a groove as Cook suggests, but am not welt 

 pleased with its working. Is there any objection to 

 making the lower story as large one way as the upper 

 and so making two sides straight ? WouUI that be too 

 much room for one queen to occupy prcfiiably ? A& 

 they should last many years and it is much work to 

 make them, it is an object to get them convenient and 

 profitable as well as easy to make. Would sawdust 

 and shavings from a planing mill be as good or better 

 than chaff to fill ? D. C. Un»ekhilu, 



Seneca, Ills., July 7th, 1877. 



So large a brood chamber as you mention, 

 we have found unprofitable, for even if the 

 space is filled with frames of section boxes, 

 they will not be used so long as they have 

 plenty of room above. We have given this 

 matter a pretty thorough test, and would not 

 have the brood apartment more than wide 

 enough for 10 L. frames, and even then, unlfss 

 the queen is unusual, we would use section 

 boxes at the sides in summer, and chaft" cush- 

 ions in winter. We have now in use, a chatt' 

 hive of which the inside is a cube of two feet 

 on each side, the brood in the centre, and sec- 

 tions all round and above it. The greater 

 part of the honey is stored above the brood ; 

 after they were given plenty of room above, 

 the sections at the sides were pretty nearly 

 abandoned. 



Sawdust and fine shavings are considerably 

 used in place of chatt', but while no one seems 

 to think them better, several, with friend 

 Townley among them, seem to think them not 

 as good. About the best results we have seen 

 with chaff*, have been where the bees gnawed 

 through the enshions, and let the chaff all 

 over and in among them, like a nest of mice in 

 a straw stack, for all the world. The chafl' 

 did not seem to annoy them in the least, and 

 they reared brood briskly, right through the 

 very worst kind of spring weather. While I 

 should hardly be prepared to advise such a 

 course of proceedure, as a general thing, 1 do 

 feel every day convinced of the importance of 

 having the chatt" or shavings as close to the 

 bees as we possibly can get it. 



