1877 



(JLEANINGS IN IJEE CULTURE. 



'Mm 



Thofc sectiona are "taking" here. H. O. Salisbury 

 has his h(iiu\v In 2 lb. box-ew an<l he eoiiUl not sell 

 them where r have taken your f^ecUous. Isold my 

 Sioney lor 'Hi els. per lb., and he only ROt IV.Si cts. Kx- 

 jiect to average WW lbs. to hive llils year. 



Frank Samsuukv Jeddee, N. Y. 



Tell O. 14. iJaker, Kollersville, O., that the liatan Is 

 the best bee plant we have. It Is a climber and com- 

 mences to bloom the Urst ot' May, continuing aliout 

 len days. M. H. Davis. 



Howe, Texas, .sej)t. ICth, 1^77. 



In ^ days from the time I mailed a letter to you for 

 4U1 lnii)oi"UMl queen, I had her salely introduced, tshc 

 is a beauty; I mn highly j>U'aiie<l wiih her. Kour ol' 

 Sier lilUe I'amily were dead, but she was \ ciy lnight 

 jind lively. M. T. uuwii. 



Pink Ifill, Mo., Sept. 25th, 1877. 



It was only alter a siege of 5 <lays that my lighting 

 oolony were induced to accept your queen. I ob- 

 served several things about it not noted in your A li V. 

 Among them, that the queen (lying oil' was invariably 

 maltreated on her return. Tills was avoided by clip- 

 ping a wing. Another was, tliat at tint tiiey seemed 

 to receive and treat her well enough until ihe little 

 Italians accompanying lier got to Hying about au<l 

 ■coming in, when they fell upon them and <lespatched 

 them in thort order, and then commenced a general 

 row. At present all quiet and doing remarkably well. 

 Lavvken€k Johnson. 



Holly Springs, Miss., Aug. lath. '77. 



Queens are not invariably maltreated when 

 they come back after having taken wing while 

 being introduced. I have only liad one such 

 case out of a great number, and 1 once thought 

 if we could introduce a cjueen by letting her 

 <;ome in from a flight, we were all right. It 

 is very seldom a colony attacks the workers 

 in the way you inention, and I should have 

 much solicitude about the (jueen under the 

 lircunistances, even after she had been well 

 treated for a week or more. 



From 22 hives in the spring, many of them in poor 

 ^•ondition, all black except three hybrids, I Iiave in- 

 <-reased to y(> stocks, in fine condition, and taken 1400 

 lbs. (1000 lbs. extracted, 400 coDib) ol line honey. 



J. P. fSWAKTHOlT. 



Cyrstal Springe, N. Y., Oct. 2d, '(7. 



GKAIN liAGS FOR Qi;iLTS. 



In the June No. page l'i2, a correspondent witihes to 

 know whether bees will gnaw grain bags or not, if 

 used lor (luilts. As you have not had much experi- 

 ence in that direction we will give a little of ours. 



The objectior.ti you mention liave not, in the least, 

 occurred with us. Last winter we trle<l burlap or 

 grain sacking as well as other material tor quilts. 

 Our method is to cut out a single thickne?s about an 

 inch larger than the inside ot the hive. This we lay 

 •on top of til e Irames. 'i'he edges we lap over tlie up- 

 per part of the <piilt. When this much is <lone we 

 place a layer of ciiaJ}'. I tell you it did splcntlitlly ; 

 not a "bite" did tlie burlap gel. The porosity of the 

 tracking allowed all moisture to ascend and be alj- 

 :-*orbed by the diaff, wliile llie bees were ellectuiilly 

 liept below in as warm an<l snug a compartment lus 

 one could wisli. 



When the warm weather of spring liad fairly set in, 

 the bees began to glue over the side next tliem, thus 

 keeping in all heat and securing warmth lor early 

 breeding. Altliough we have found absorbents of 

 no great benefit in this climate we intend tlie coming 

 winter to try cushions made of grain bags tilled with 

 clraff. Very likely the result will be as satisfactory as 

 the last, and )icrhas some new features will be brought 

 to light— at any rate we will report again. 



U. K. Lvi'TUS. 



North Temescal, C'al., Oct. Ist, 1877. 



We have used the burlap, and it seems to do 

 very well, so far. One would think to look at 

 it, that the t>ees would tear it all in bits, but 

 it is so open they hardly seem to care about 

 eating holes through it as they do other fab- 

 rics. I think I should prefer the edge neatly 

 hemmed or bound, if 1 were to use it largely. 



Please send me bomo of those largo yellow bees. I 

 iiave no Italians nor have I ever seen one. (Jlover 

 and basBWood gave me but 42 gallons of iioney. We 

 liad but 4 day.s yield Irom basswood, but buckwheat 

 yleUled well. 1 sell buckwheat, extracted, lor 10 cte. 

 per lb., and box 15 cts. These peoiile do not like clo- 

 ver an<i linden honey, they seem to llilnk 1 make it, 

 not the bees. My entire crop ainouiiiB to $2(0., all 

 sold and 1 have K) slocks to winter. 



WVA'IT MOKEUOi;8K. 



Mombaccus, .S. Y., Oct. 4th, 1877.' 



SOMIC WIIOLKHOME TKinilS AND CAUTIONS 1<IR 

 UKOIN.NEK8. 



I have spent pome time looking around the <'Ountry 

 for bets Ibis spring. 1 lliid a linge jierceiuage of bees 

 have tiled during the past, wiilir, and it in very dilli- 

 cull on that account lo Unit any tor sale; some have 

 lo.-t one-half, some one-lhir<l, siine iwo-tlilrds, and 

 some all they had. One man ii/st all ho had In the 

 American hive, and saved the I.angblioth hives, and 

 he liu.M no more to do with tlx; American; another 

 lost all in the l^angstroth an<l ha\id others. My opin- 

 ion is il common Ifirmer lice-keoper.i liad nevirseen 

 a patent hive of any kind, ihey would liave been bel- 

 ter oil than they now are. fS, uie have tried a half 

 dozen dill'erent kinds failing lo make a success of any. 

 The jirospecl on the whoie, tliis spring, is very dis- 

 couraging to one juhl starling; ihough 1 am not a new 

 beginner, for 1 wa.s very siicctsstul lor ib years; win- 

 tering sometimes as many as 2(J0. lUit now, ihose who 

 <!laim to be l>ee men in many instances have failed. I 

 kiiovk' two men who got very enlliuslasilc last year, 

 over tiieir success. They had about 2.'> slocks each, 

 |iart Italians; extracted a large amount, diviited up, 

 »Vc.., and made 200 or 3U() hives latt winter and were 

 going lo reckon their honey "by the ton," alter this. 

 Now, one of them hasO colonies, the others, and slim 

 ones at, Ihal. Good enough lor them ; tliey took 

 away the good natural food of the liei^s and made 

 them pick up a little thin buckwheat hoi.ey rnlxtd 

 with Juice from cider pomace, with some melted sugar 

 to make up ili"3 complement. 1 think it a very easy 

 mailer to luru all improvements in bee culture to 

 very liad a<'count by mismanagement, but for all tills 

 abuse and lallure, 1 am btrongi> in favor of movable 

 J ni UK'S a,n{\ Iha ex/ruclor ; hul they must be used to 

 strenyihen colonies instead of weakening them. 



N. N. SUEl'ARI). 



Coehranton, Pa., April Kith, '77. 



Tlie two-story Simplicity hive you sent me, arrived 

 to-day— six days on the road— all in good order. If 

 the bees are as well lileased as 1 am we shall be a 

 '■'^ha]>py family.'''' I am very much obliged lor the 

 starters, cu.shion and separators; lliey were more 

 than 1 bargained lor. Shall come again iflliailslhe 

 way you use strangers. 1 made a mistake In ordering 

 It sent by freight; express would have been cheaper. 

 The freight was §1.84. Hanuoli'ii Ukimks. 



Manteus, Ills., July (ith, 1877. 



Y'our chipment of bee hives arrived by freight Sept. 

 10th— making 10 days in transit. All were packed in 

 good order. 1 had no trouble putting tiiem up and 

 am lilghly pleased with lliem, especially the metal 

 corners. I don't think I can ever tolerate any other. 

 Our bees are getting lots ot honey from golden rod 

 just now. S. 11. LiiiJTZ. 



niln. Ills., Sept. 15th, 1877. 



I have 150 swarms of bees In Harbison hives, and I 

 must confess. In my experience, I have seen no liives 

 better calculated to kill bees in handling than his. 



GKO. C. DOIIEUTV. 



HakersUeld, Cal., Sept. Itith, '77. 



The chad" hive came safely. I am pleased witli it 

 and would like 25 of Uiem, but the freight on it was 

 ,52.20. 1 have put my best colony in it and they are 

 working nicely. Tlie honey season Is about over here 

 on account of tlie ilrouth. lam fee<llng my weakest 

 stock!! a little every night, using the tin lee<ier and 

 syrui) made of A siigar. The combs in meet of the 

 hives are well tilled with brood and honey. My bees 

 have done well ; the strongest colonies (which were 

 first swarms from old box hives) giving us 110 lbs. of 

 surplus In small frames, which sol<l for 25 and ;io cts. 

 per lb. I am pleased with Gi.kanini<;s, which is my 

 guide in bee-keeping from month to month. 



Mk8. a. li. Smkuley. 



Cresco, Iowa, Sept. 3d, 1877. 



The nucleus I got of you Is now a line large swarm. 

 G. E. Hannan, Depere, Wis., Sept. 10th, '77. 



