1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



301 



DEPOSITORY OF 



Or Lietter!« from Those AVIio Have Made 

 Bee Culture a. Failure. 



to ap- 



. there. 



sii^; This is the 3(1 year, each growing worse. Last 

 lall 1 had 18 hives, have now but 16. Lost 8 in winter- 

 iiiir, RO the increase was but (!. Twcnty-flvo Ibsi of 

 honey covers all ihe surplus thl^ ye;^r. One first 

 pwarm entered a hive that ilirl nor. swarm, two swarm- 

 ed twice anil were then united. Tlie other two were 

 artificial, all were furnished empty combs. The strong 

 colonies and weaker ones seem to be about all in equal 

 condition. Lr.st year I extracted all the honey and 

 fed syrup, or I should have had but little honey then. 

 The year before was not much better. If I did not 

 love honey, I should give up in disgust. I have, years 

 ago, about a mile from here, taken as high as 75 lbs. 

 comb honey from one hive. I used the section box in 

 frames this year, and have the 20 lbs fdn. bought last 

 year, still on hand. It was so much thicker than the 

 sample received with sample section that I could not 

 make it work in tho groove. Next year there will be a 

 box made in this vicinity with a dove-tall groove, so 

 that fdn. ot any thickness and no matter how cold, 

 can be pushed in fro.n one end, and will stay securely. 

 I hat thought ol making some chalT hives, but the bees 

 having nothing to do, amused themselves by gluing 

 every thing together so solid tliat the only way to get 

 out a frame in the upper story to start with, was to 

 pry it all to pieces, and take it out piecemeal. 



How would wintering on summer stands work, if 

 they were not looked after at all and left with a snow 

 drift over them from 3 to ten feet deep, thawing and 

 freezing ? 



The cellar is damp although cemented, being wet, 

 heavy clay soil. Some years they all pull through. 

 Then one will be fairly boiling over with bees; tbe 

 next all dwindle away from dysentery, with no difler- 

 ence, apparently, when put in, and when fed syrup, 

 there wns none in the food. 



Hopefully yours for next year. E. C. Newell. 



Brookfield, N. H., Oct. 15th, 1877. 



What do you think Doolittle would do, 

 friend N., if set down in your locality? The 

 first sections we mads.', were on the plan you 

 mention, but after a little practice, we decided 

 our present way was just as good. Both fdn. 

 and sections, are much improved since those 

 you mention. We should consider the hives in 

 excellent trim, under 10 feet of snow. 



My bees did rothing this year; too wet and cold. 

 Have had plenty to live on, but no surplus. Have not 

 taken over 200 lbs from 70 stands. H. Sj. HOLLEMAN. 



Favettevile, Arks., Seot., 19th, 1877. 



GRAPE SDOAR. 



??5/iE have fed 1 bbl. of the grape sugar. We have 

 had samples from Milwaukee, from N. Y., and 



y/w/ Irom Davenport, la., as given last month. The 

 fl'-st cost fc. per lb., and was vcrv hard and white. 

 Tfiis the bees will consume at a to"lerable rate, if laid 

 over the frames, providing but a small quantity be 

 given them at a time, that the cluster be enabled to 

 warm it ui). The second. Is white, and quite soft, but 

 It has such a disagreeable ta^te-something like lard 

 oil or glycerine— that I should not want it. even if the 

 bees did. We have purchased 5 bbls. of the last men- 

 tioned at 3ic.; it is about the color of nice maple sugar, 

 an! tastes much lit-e it, -.rlth the exception of the 

 slight bitter taste. The bees take this so slowly In its 

 solid state, that we have been obliged to use it as a 

 syrup; it di.- solves so readilv, this is but a slight task. 

 In this form, they will take it greedily, and even light 

 over it, and It will start comb building and brood-rear- 

 ing beautifully, if fed regularly lor several days in 

 succession. It also seems perlectly wholesome, for 

 colonics that have been fed on it entirely, do not spot 

 the clothes washing days, as thcv often do after a 

 frost, when they have unsealed stores. 



Now comes a trouble ; grape sugar is the worst stufi" 

 to candy, 1 ever saw or heard of. If you make a syrup 

 as thick as common molasses, It will in a dav or two, 

 turn entirely solid ; and If you make it still thinner, it 



will turn solid at the bottom of the dish, and leave the 

 water on top. For this reason, it can onlv be fed in 

 an open feeder like our wooden ones. "When the 

 weather is warm, it looks beautiiul n the cells, but as 

 soon as It turns cold, unless the colony is very strong, 

 our honey is all frozen up, sealed and unsealed. The 

 bees ripen and cap it over nicely, but imagine como 

 honey that won't bruise even if vou knock It against a 

 post ! To sec If the bees could use it in this state, we 

 put a comb of it in the open air ; thy emptied it com- 

 pletely, but tore down the wails of the cells somewhat 

 In so doing. Had it been in the hive, 1 think nuch 

 would not have been the case, and I think the mois- 

 ture of the clu^ster In wintering, will soften It as it 

 does candy. The Driven port, Co. make a syrup at 5c. 

 per lb that will not granulate; I shall test this also 

 this winter, as far as pus-ible. We will mail a sample 

 of the sugar on receipt of 10 cents. 



From Diiferent Fields. 



fS there any test within the reach of ordinary bee- 

 keepers, by which malignant foul brood caii with 

 — '. cert:iinity be distinguished from any other dis- 

 ease? If so, what is It.'' S. H. Clakke. 

 Delavan, Wis., Sept., Ulh, 1877. 



When you find dead brood in the hives, 

 which is in a pasty condition when the cells 

 ai'e broken open, emitting a strong disagreeable 

 smell, you can be pretty sure it is foul brood. 

 If it keeps spreading, and growing worse, you 

 m;iy call it the malignant form. I think it is 

 now well established, that it can be got rid of, 

 but it is sometimes a terrible task, in a large 

 apiary. 



I kejit account of amount of honey from only one 

 hive, which foots up 200 lbs. extracted honey. 



C. O Shiff. 

 Spring Dale, Miss., Oct. 9th, 1877 . 



Bees working on fdn. nicely. Am extracting 200 

 lbs. dally. We are having a good flow of honey now, 

 almost the first for this season. I have 58 swarms In 

 2 story L. hives. Geo. W. Riker. 



Zero, Ills., Sept. 8th, 1877. 



My honey crop, so far, is only 8500 lbs. from 90 col- 

 onies in the spring, but white clover, which Is our 

 best honey plant, failed, and the lall yield is to come 

 yet. I have increased to 200 colonies, allowing no 

 queens but the daughters of Imported ones. I pro- 

 duce only extracted honey and wax. 



William H. Ware. 



Bayou Goula, La., Oct. 8th, 1877. 



The comb fdn. is just the thing. From 6 colonies in 

 the spring, 1 have Increased to 12, and have taken 300 

 lbs of honey in small sections, which I am selling at 

 wholesale for 20c, to the grocers. This has not i>een a 

 good honev season In this section ; my bees are blacks 

 and hybrids. Hknry Lipfert. 



MeadvlUe, Pa., O ct. 15th, 1877. 



1 do not feel like boasting or bragging about my 

 bees this vear; It is work from morning until night. I 

 had, a few davs ago, 700 stands, now have lost about 

 100. I had thlm on low land and they were doing 

 finely ; all at once 1 noticed there were no old bees In 

 the hives. Whether they have been killed or died 

 from getting bad honey, 1 do not know. You'd bet- 

 ter believe California bee men look down hearted ihia 

 year E. E. Shattiick. 



Los Angeles, Cal., Sept. 12th, 1877. 



Queens arrived safely last Saturday evening. I In- 

 troduced one to a swarm of pure Italians, the other to 

 cross hybrids; both were accepted all right, alter 48 

 hours. We introduce on the j Ian given in the ABC. 

 I learn my lessons as fast as you give them. Some 

 time ago 1 gave a colony a queen without keeping her 

 ctiged at all, while if those you sent bad been Ut out 

 in 24 hours, I am pretty sure ihey would have been 

 killed. If, when we present the cage to the bees, they 

 walk leisurely over I lie wire cloth, and offer the queen 

 food through the raeshe?, I think we can let thf m out 

 at once, saiely, everv time. Ila Michener. 



L'jw Banks, Ontario. Sept,, 4lh, 1877. 



