i>E:voTE:r> to bei:h AiNr> honey, aivo mom:e interests 



Voir V. ^ 



SEPTEMBER 1, 1877. 



No. 9 



Published Montbly. CTERIVS: $1.00 Per Annum in Ad- 



A. I. ROOT, ^ 



Publisher and Proprietor, > , _ __^ _,„. 



Medina, O. ) XlSsta.'blisIied. in 1873. (,10 or more, 60c. each 



■] yance; 3 Copies for $2.50; 6 Vbr «3.76; 

 *" - "" . Single Number lOc. 



CALIFORNIA. 



BLASTED HOPES. 



^5»0UR columns lor July show a lamentable scarci- 



W ty of news in your "Blasted Hopes" depart- 



^ski inent. If you were only over here in sunny 



California, we would let you publish little else this 



year. 



Our honey gathering season usually begins in mid- 

 winter and "continues until about this date. This year 

 nearly all the flowers (ailed to secrete honey, and the 

 consequence is wid.:;-s))read disaster. An unprece- 

 dented drouth, followed by cold nights all the si)ring, 

 and an almost total absence of fogs and dews, has 

 left our bees in a starving condition. It may be it is 

 the "blasted country" anyway that causes all this 

 trouble, but it is certain that at least one-fourth of all 

 the old stocks in the whole region of Southern Cali- 

 fornia are either starved entirely out, or are so re- 

 duced as to be perfectly worthless. Nearly all will 

 have to feed to carry their bees through until thirty 

 days after our nest winter's rain ;- which may come 

 in November, or not until the middle of January, or 

 not at all. 



This feeding is a great question now, and the major- 

 ity of apiarists want to know what is the best food. 

 A few will teed honey, if it; can be bought, but the 

 majority will use sugar, and all who use sugar want 

 to know the best way to prepare it, and the qualiiy. 

 If low grades cannot be used, give the reason, for this 

 whole feeding business is something new to this coun- 

 try. 



It is certain that your side of the "Hills" will have 

 the monopoly of the luarket this year, and we hope 

 vou will get a large crop and reap some benefit from 

 it. We not only will not ship any East, but we have 

 none to eat; which, you mast know. Works a great 

 hardship with people v;ho are accustomed to eating it 

 Uailv as a stable article ot food. G. F. Merkiam. 

 San Luis Key, Cal., July IS, 1877. 



^ ■•■ •■ 



ROY REE-KEEPERS, 



AND WHAT TO DO WITH BEES THAT WILL '-HANG 

 OUT." 



fi AM in partnership with a brother. We are both 

 very young to be called bee-keepers, he being 18 

 •mi years ot age, and I only 16. We started with 41 

 stands of bees. Well, as we were not able to divide 

 our bees we had to let them swarm. From 41 stands 

 40 svarms came out, of which we were able to save 

 but. :51. 



There is one question I wish to ask you, and I hope 

 you will answer me. How can you make bees work 

 when they keep clustering out on the front and sides 

 of the hivel? We have some stocks so strong that they 

 can hardly get into the hive, and they ilo not work as 

 well as some that are not half as strong. Now if you 

 can explain to me why tills is, I wish you would do 

 so. 



We have increased our bees from 7'2 swarms lo S8, 

 by (livi'llng some of our hives in which the queens 

 were very fertile. What do you me;in by foul bror.d y 

 1 know we have three hivo-; that make the ugliest 

 looking broocl I ever savv, but I cannot tell whether 

 it is foul brood or not, as 1 do not know it when I sec 

 it. 



All our bees are black ; and during a good season 



they will average about 150 lbs. of extracf^d honey to 

 the hive. ij. c. LeBlancs. 



Allen P-O., West Baton Rouge, La., July 16, 1877. 



The problem of getting bees that are dis- 

 posed to hang idly on the outside of the hive, 

 to go to work, is a very important one; and 

 one in which I fear even the most experienced 

 veterans often fail. It is true, we can divide 

 them, until they are too weak to hang out, but 

 by this means we lose the large crops of sur- 

 plus honey that very strong colonies usually 

 furnish, when they can be prevented from 

 swarming. Cases have been reported in which 

 they have been brushed off, put into the 

 boxes and made to go to work, and our neigh- 

 bor Blakeslee, says he makes them go inside 

 and go to work, by driving them into the hive 

 with a Quinby smoker. We have made some 

 experiments of this kind, and are pretty well 

 satistied that if loafing bees are shown that 

 they have room in the hive on empty combs 

 or fdn., they will many times go right to work. 

 One great objection we have to a portico, is 

 that it offers too great an inducement to bees 

 to cluster outside, instead of on the combs. 



Of course we cannot expect bees to go to 

 the fields when there is no honey .to gather, 

 and if the weather is very warm at such a 

 time, they will be pretty sure to hang out of 

 the hives. The only thing to do in such a 

 case, is to feed them, or to divide and feed 

 them as mentioned before, and your only ob- 

 ject in so doing will be to raise queens or bees 

 for sale. 



An extra upper story, with empty combs, 

 will almost set idle bees at work, when any 

 honey is to be found in the fields; and the fdn. 

 is almost if not quite equal to the empty 

 comb. 



If foul brood were nothing more than "vf/li/ 

 looking b/'ood,'^ we might go on our way rejoic- 

 ing. Go ou, my young friends, you seem to be 

 on the right track; if you continue as willing 

 to work and learn, you will overcome all difii- 

 culties in due time. 



STRETCnilNG OR SAGGING OF THE 

 f I).\., OVEIfiS XOC'KING, CHAFF, ETC. 



NOTHER honey harvest has closed with but a 

 liplu yield of honey. My surplus, of about 

 -^~': 4,(100 lbs., was nearly all stored from basswood 

 in about 10 days' lime. Biit I started to write about 

 comb fdn. machines. I tried the fdn. last year, and 

 was not satisfied with the experiments 1 then made. 

 Have been more sui't'essful this year; I like it very 

 much for brood chamber, and sliall succeed in getting 



A. 



