318 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Dec. 



BirTEK 



HONSIY. AND l*'HEaE IF 



CO. TIES F-:i07I. 



MEDICATED HONEY, A SUGGESTIOX. 



^TKi^l'IE sftason lor honey in this locality has been 



m from poor to niiild'.ing. Bres camo out of the 

 "I winter weak, ami losses wei'c heavy : in lact it 

 wa'? the m <^t trying winter v>'h have harl. Many bcR- 

 kei-pers lost all tlieir stoc!<e, anti those who were ia- 

 vorcd in cavinsr part, are badly rtl-coiiiiged. Tiie 

 average bee-keeppr here, is coniiiletely demoralized ; 

 the, outlook is anythinf< but ( nconrasing for tiie fu- 

 ture. Wo think the cause of the great loss tlie past 

 winter can be ac.onnted for thus; bees gathered but 

 little honov after Aug. loth la-it vear, cOiisequenlly the 

 hrecfiiiig of bees -.vas small, and stocks as a rule, v^-cre 

 not strong with bees of any age. Honey in tlie comb, 

 almost without exception, candied solid— like a marble 

 slai), almost— and bees starved with pi' niy nf such 

 stores be&ide thpm. In conveii=ing wlili a German 

 Iriend who had lost. all. I asked him -viiat he thought 

 the trouble was. He said "De hiiney vaa werry pat- 

 vis s<',h*trong:" and no c.oubt ho was nearly cart.-ct. 

 There would be but little use of v.ritina: oi these losses 

 if there were no remedy. We iliink there is. and now 

 is the time to apply ir, in part at least. We ^voul<^ 

 recommend first, stimulating the st' cks by lecdin?r in 

 th! fall, and secondly; to be t'pi'?/ suro to put tliem in 

 it «'arm dry depository, of some li;d, for wintering. 

 I lost no stoc!i8 last winter, although they were not as 

 strong in numbers as u^nal when taken out oi the 

 cellar, in the spring. The quanlity of honey salhcred 

 with me this seas^m has been good, but the qualiit/ 

 Irorn al) ut Sept. 1st to the 20th, was something fearful 

 — bitter as soot— never heard of, saw or tasted the like ; 

 and the worst of it is, the bees have nii.xed it bad y 

 with other honey in finishing up. My i^ss, 1 tuink, 

 will be irom 501 lo tCi i)nunds. The quanlity of bitter 

 honev is not large, but it is so very pi'ngent, not only 

 the honey but the pollen, also, of vvhich they have col- 

 lected cinsiderable. The honey, in color, i:j golden 

 andean 1)0 easily ilistinguislied from theoiher. Wlierc 

 the bees liavc pa? Fed over the combs much, they are 

 c!i=oolored by the pollen or fl^^ur. 



ThiT weed, or rather the name of the herb from 

 which this bitter honey was gathered is (Scientific) — 

 Helenium Autumnalc. (Common )—SnpczGwee(l or 

 Smczpwort. Botanical discription — wild, in low 

 grounds, 1 to 4 ft-et in height, with lanceolate toothed 

 leave s, iheir base olten decnrrent on the stem, and a 

 corymb of showy vellow fiovvt-re(i heids. the rays o!t- 

 eii drooping in autumn. It is known by the oldest set- 

 tUrs hire l)y the name of Ague— blossom, Piairie 

 Quinine, and was used as a remedy for hili. us liiseas- 

 es. Had I known of such an herb, and that bees would 

 collect hnney from it. I could have removed what 

 honey was in surplus bor.es and thus have saved it. 

 Bees were never knonn to gailuT hon(.'y li^^m it here 

 before, and it may not recrete it again for years. 



No.v friend Novice, I have a propositio;i to make. 

 If you have got a Iriend. fir v. hat would he still better 

 for iho purpose, an enemy, who has the shakes rit^hc 

 bad, I >. ould be glad to give bim a duc'^, ( lor that 

 would be enough) of my celebrated Snetzewort— Ayue 

 — Blossom— Praiiie Quitiine— medicated honev, iiee 

 of charge; onlv stipulatin,":: tS'atI be by to .sVe t'le 

 operation. II he iiiViM forget he ever hail the shakes, 

 I will agree to stand the conesquences! 



I teel doubtful as to the result of wintering my bees 

 on this honey, although the quantity in the hives is 

 not b rge. lam lioping they will use most of it before 

 it id time to place thtni in the cellar. I have two 

 stocks made up late in the season, from nuclei. These 

 have a large share of this honey, seem healthy and are 

 breeding well. I will keep them on this hi.nevlora 

 test. . R. H. Mellen. 



Amboy, Ills., Sept. 30th, 1877. 



The enclosed SI CO is for two of your hybrid queens. 

 We are afilicted in ihis count! y with what we call, for 

 waiif of a lietter r.ame, bitter \ eed, and our bees pre- 

 ler it to golden rod whicli is blo-isoming proinsely. 

 Oiir hivis have many of their surplus frames in tlie 

 upper stories filled with Iteautifnl looking honey, but 

 it is unpalatable on account of this bitter weed, Irom 

 ^■■hich it is gathered. Mv plan is to divide the be-s, 

 leaving (i or 8 full framps below, give all ihis surplus 

 honey to the young swarms, and introduce vour hy- 

 brid queens. This is my first season with bees. My 

 stocks are wonderlully strong in numbers, and, I 

 thiii!;, could well s,;are cnonj-h to b^gin t-.vo new col- 

 0"ips- M Its. W. Thurmond. 



Dry Grove, Miss., Oct. 1st, 187 7. 



SIVEET CI.OVER AND liUCERNE. 



¥JOU ask for farther reports concerning sweet 

 clover; 1 think if California had as much as we 

 , have in Utah, your side of the hills would not; 



have the monoj)o!y of the market this year, if their 

 climate is like ours. Our chief iiependence lor honey 

 is sweet clover ; let it once get a start on your lard 

 and it requires no cultivation for it will tale care of 

 itself. It crmes in bloom with us, the last week in 

 June. I commenced extracting this yiar in the early 

 part of July and continued until Sept.. then let them 

 fill up. They are now readv for -v inter. We pasture 

 our cows on sweet clover through the summer, cut it 

 for winter feed, (we cut it twice) and it t;i\ es us two 

 crops of honey besides two crops for winter feed. 



I commenced 1877 with 18 stands; have now 37. 

 Extracted 27tit) lbs. from them this feuson and made 

 120 combs. There is another clover here which I wish 

 to mention, called Lucerne. It is excellent food for 

 horses and stock for the farm ; chickens and pigs also 

 eat it. We cut it Irom 3 to 4 times in the season. 

 There is an article, I think in Vol. Ill, which say8 

 Lucerne needs hoeing; the best way to hoe it is lo 

 put plenty of seed in the ground and lat it alone until 

 ready lor cuttinff, then let the mower cut it. It you 

 have only one pound of seed, don't put it on one acre 

 of ground; if you do, you will have to "hoe" that 

 Lucerne patch. O. W. Leah. 



Spanish Fork, Utah Territory, Oct. 8lh, '77. 



GRAPE SUGAR. 



sjjB AST spring I had 8 tair box hives of bees and 

 Jj|l /i; two weak ones, without queens I think. I then 

 %~!JJ had no experience in modern beekeeping. I 

 read the article on the uses of grape sugar, which I 

 sent you, and as soon as the bees began to look for 

 something to eat, I offered them grape sugar as it 

 came from the factory, placing it under the hives in 

 small lumps. I could not see that they used any of it. 

 I then made a syru]) of about 5 lbs. of grape sugar and 

 one of water, heatiig it in mixing, ano putting in per- 

 haps }4 lb. of hnney the first time. I gave them this 

 in a feeder placed" several rods from the hives, in a 

 sheltered spot where the sun would shiite upon it. 

 The bees soon found it and on pleasant (la\8 would 

 carry avvay tV' m 2 to 4 lbs. of the s\riip. I ciniiuued 

 this until Iruit blossoms began to fiitiear. The bees 

 then visited it less, and flies and other insects mo'e. 

 so I iliscoiitinued ihe syrup, having fpd liy estimaie 

 about EO ll'S. of the sugar. About the first of June the 

 bees began to swarm and continued until there were 

 33 swarms. The two weak swarms did not gain any, 

 so I hived new s.- arms in wiih them and in that way 

 made strong colonies of them. I now h;ive them all 

 in Lawn or Simplicity hivee. I have lately ofl'ered 

 ihem the syru)) to see w heller ihev would take it 

 v.hen honey .vas £tiU jdenty in the fields. Some did 

 take it freely, others net. When leeiling in the spring 

 it would gninulat.' in the l.i ttom rt' ihe dish on warm 

 days, I'ut I lound rone in the combs when transfer- 

 ring. The jigent of the factory at Divenport, lewa, 

 suggested that it migiit gra uibite in tbe comiis if fed 

 in large enrugh quantities to be stored a\^ ay an<l re- 

 main for a cnnsideiable length of time. I designed 

 to make further use of it beieirc ofl'erine my experi- 

 ence to the public but as you have aslsed for it, 1 give 

 it now. 



From my knowledge of its manufacture and uses, I 

 am s:ilistied that ;shen it is ))roperly piepared it is 

 not dt lete ri ,us to animal liie, tmt a wholeseme article 

 of food ; yet I vvould advise everyone < esigning to use 

 it for feeding b"es or otherwise, to order it direct from 

 a factory am! stale the use they design it for, it being 

 diflerently prepared lor eiiflerent uses. 



I h:ive no doubt that the ordinary reflneel sugar of 

 commerce is largely C'lnposed of grai)e sugar, so it 

 den'c seem wise policy to i)ay 10 or 12c i)er lb. for that, 

 when grape suirar can be had for les than lialf that 

 price, and nearly if not quite as good for fteeiing bees 

 as the former, even if not mixed. Tii-y turn out a 

 syrup at ihe factories also, but it is not recnmmended 

 to use for bee feeding; besides, it costs more than 

 that made from the sugar. D. C. Undekhill. 



P. S.— I understand there is a factory of grafie sugar 

 and syrup, at Freepoi t. in ihis Slate. D. C. U. 



Seneca, Ills., Sept. 22th. 187(1. 



wilhlji II eg II l~ 111 



TOO ITSITCM MOKEY. 



M T Ihe commencement of our honey harvest, I ex- 

 /©*! aniined my bees, and i)ronounced them in good 

 &^a=^ condition. As extracted honey doca r.ot sell 



