1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



275 



Gleanings Is <all right, but notwithstanding wc 

 liave 15 bee-keepers In anil arouad our town, 1 know 

 of but one besides myself who takes a Bee Journal. I 

 could lend Cii.KANiNCJS all over our town and county 

 but can't get any of them to invest. Don't you think 

 they will prosper ? V. (jIkaiiam, Johnstown, Pa. 



Your pf ople are by no means peculiar, friend 

 G., and instead of censuring tliem too much I 

 would accommodate them all I could coiisi>t- 

 ly, and trust to their coming out on the right 

 side, when they have suflicient evidence. Our 

 best people, are often slow in adopting new 

 ideas. You know there is an opposite extreme, 

 of investing in everything that comes along. 



Bees are gathering honey very fast now, from honey 

 <lew and sumach. C. I'ooL. 



Carthage, Mo., July 30th, 1877. 



What plan would best prevent bees from building 

 comb across, from the comb of one frame to the comb 

 of another ; and also prevent them from building 

 comb on the lop of the frames ? 



Robert A. Bomng, Perrysville, O., June 22, '77. 



The tirst part of your question seems to 

 come under the head of straight combs, and 

 this subject has been fully discussed in our 

 back numbers, the fdn., finally setting the mat- 

 ter at rest, for all time to come, I trust. We 

 have found nothing so good as the sheet of 

 duck, to keep the bees oft* the top bars, and 

 if it is pressed down close to the top bars of 

 the frames, every time the hive is closed, there 

 will be no combs built above the frames. As 

 the bees sometimes get a habit of pushing up 

 under the duck, it may be well to keep the 

 chair cushion on it. This should always be 

 done in cool weather, but for convenience, it 

 may be omitted during the summer months. 



Like a woman, I leave the best of my letter for Ihe 

 last, and that is, that I transferred to-day, and so far 

 the success seems perfect. It is worth a line mo.e 

 (from one of your disciples) to say if my transler 

 '■•sticks,^'' 1 shall have made an additional colony of 

 of line black bees— about a peck-for one of my neigh- 

 bors, hearing of my intention, dared me to try tlie ex- 

 jieriment on an old round log gum of his, wliich lie 

 intended to kill in order to rob. 1 got an abundance 

 of brood comb and a little with sealed honey for the 

 frames. The whole lower story is full of them and I 

 will give them another as soon as the queen arrives 

 and all gets quieted. Lawrenck Johnson. 



Holly Springs, Miss., July 13th, 1877. 



In using your frames for box honey this summer, 

 ♦lidn't the queen ever deposit eggs in any of the cells, 

 nor the bees deposit bee bread in them ? If I were 

 certain that they would not do so I would either sell 

 my boxes (for half price it need be) or split them up, 

 and buy the ones yon make, f believe if the queen 

 will let them alone and the bees put no bee bread in 

 them, they are destined to become the ijoney box. 



Couldn't they be made by using the material for 

 Iruit boxes? It is lighter, and my customers don't 

 want to pay for much wood. W. S. Boyd. 



Bethany, O., August 30th, 1877. 



I have never seen nor heard of a single cell 

 of brood or pollen in section boxes, when the 

 separators were used. A neighbor who used 

 them without the separators, had some filled 

 with brood. The veneer that berry boxes are 

 made of, has been many times suggested, and 

 has been used, but it can not be made to make 

 as neat and strong a box ; more than all, I do 

 not know how the veneer boxes can be made 

 as cheaply, if we include the groove for hold- 

 ing the fdn. 



The season continues poor all the wav through; 

 buckwheat did very well for a lew days. Shan't av- 

 erage more than two 50 lb. crates to the hive this 

 season, and have made no more increase than usual. 

 We consider it the poorest season since 71. Filteen 



miles north of here I understaml that friend Dickin- 

 son has had an extra good crop of nice honey. I had 

 sown an extra quantity of white and alblke that came 

 into bloom, and thought I never had better pasture; 

 still we lalled to get the honey. My bees were bred 

 up early, and I credit these two points with what I 

 «H> KCt. J. p. MOORE. 



Binghampton, N. Y., Aug. 30th, 1877. 



Well it really is (oo bad friend M., if you 

 only got 100 lbs. of comb honey to the colony. 

 I am sure we all feel "awful" sorry for you. 

 By the way, you don't say how many colonies. 

 Why is it that you folks who always get such 

 luriie yields per hive, do not keep a greater 

 number? Is it on account of overstocking or 

 bi^cause you could not give a large number 

 the same care ? 



My bf es do not work on borage, rape, nor mignon- 

 ette; what is the reason y I have a plant called by us, 

 mothf) wort, that beats anything I ever trl?d. 



VVai. St. Martz, Moonshine, Ills., July .31, '77. 

 . Almost all honey bearing plants are at 

 times neglected by the bees, and a plant that 

 seems a great success one season, may be en- 

 tirely unnoticed the next. Motherwort is a 

 near relative of catnip, and is almost always 

 visited by bees when it is in bloom. It would 

 be very interesting to test a large field of it. 



CROSS BEES AND THE REMEDY. 



My bees are so very cross that they will attack me 

 freiiuently when I am at the distance of 30 vards from 

 the hives. They are blacks and hybrids. "Bees have 

 not done well here this season, but are now gathering 

 some honey. I shall sell them all this season, if I can 

 getS(; 00 per colony, and ])ay you your price, for a col- 

 ony ot Italians next season. J. G. Warner. 



Butler, Mo., August 4th, 1877. 



But would not that be a very expensive 

 way, friend W. ? Dollar queens would fix 

 tlit'in all, in a very short time, and tested 

 queens, would make a sure thing of it the first 

 lime. Do not expect too much in the way of 

 gentleness, for even pure Italians are some- 

 times very cross, when the honey crop has 

 just failed. If you select the gentlest bees, 

 you are very apt to get those of less value as 

 honey gatherers. 



The section boxes and packing case In the Augnst 

 No. of Gleanings made me open my eyes, and they 

 put a little more common sense into my head, in the 

 way of " bee culture." When you sent me the sample 

 of section box, not long since, 1 didn't know what you 

 meant bj' It; thought at lirst it was a small honey box. 

 So when you sent me the August No. I saw your 

 packing case, &o., and understood what you meant by 

 section boxes; and now I can work the problem. You 

 somewhat surprised me, when you sent me the Aug, 

 No. of Gi^eanings for 4c ; it not only made me think 

 you an honest man, but led me to conclude you were 

 rnore willing to help others, than they to help you. 

 Henry Baker, Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 1, 1877. 



The above illustrates the value of engra- 

 vings. People have hardly time to study out 

 a prosy description, who would take the whole 

 matter in at a single glance, were it pictured 

 out plainly. You give us more credit than we 

 deserve, friend B. In our attempts to answer 

 all the questions sent us. we give away thous- 

 ands of copies of Gleanings, and most of the 

 time, do not get even one cent. Every sample 

 copy, contains a price list of the goods we 

 have for sale, and this way of advertising, en- 

 ables us to disseminate information to great 

 multitudes without being under the necessity 

 of asking them for any pay, unless they become 

 regular subscribers. 



