22 



GLEAJ^^mGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jak. 



THICKER SECTION BOXES, &C. 



I commenced the season with 74 colonies, 40 in L. 

 hive and ;M in box hive. I transferred them from 

 box to L. frame, increased to 94 and had 1200 lbs. 

 comb honey and 3300 lbs. extracted as surplus. Have 

 sold nearly" all as follows, at wholesale. Comb honey 

 at 20c. and extracted at an average of about 13' jc; 

 soraeatl2'2. Comb honey all in section boxes. Do 

 you not think that if the separators are used it would 

 be well to have the section boxes Hi to Vi inches 

 wider, and so avoid the lean appearance of the combs? 

 Do you intend to keep fdn. drone size for use in sec- 

 tion boxes next season? If I succeed as well in 

 wintering- this winter, as last, I shall want 100 lbs. 

 fdn. next season. I winter in cellars, with quilts 

 over frames, entrance small, temperature from 40^ 

 to 45^, and ventilate by a 4 inch tube conecting with 

 sitting room stove. ' A. B. Cheney. 



Sparta Center, Mich., Dec. 3d, 1877. 



We shall very soon be prepared to furnish 

 ch"one Mn. thni enou.^h, Ave opine, to suit 

 anybody'; but I am not at all certain that the 

 usual worker size will not be preferred. 



The matter of thicker section boxes, is one 

 that has been much experimented on, and if 

 we try them much thicker than 2 inches, 

 there is a liability of having two thin combs 

 instead of one thick one. A sheet of fdn. it 

 is true, is generally a remedy, but for all 

 that, they will sometimes start a bit of comb 

 at one side, and this Avill result in leaking 

 and daubing, when the sections are removed 

 from the hive. Again ; it has been pretty 

 well demonstrated that a 1 lb. section sells 

 for a better price than a larger one. Almost 

 all kinds of groceries are now sold in lb. 

 packages. If we should make our 4ix4i sec- 

 tion tliicker than 2 inches, it would weigh 

 more than a lb. If we make them much 

 smaller than 4i square, we shall arive at a 

 point where the bees object to such small 

 work. Taking all these matters into con- 

 sideration, I think 2 inches about the right 

 width where separators are used ; if these 

 are dispensed with. If or H will do very 

 well. 



FDN. FOR COMB HONEY. 



In reading the article on page 317, Dec. No, on 

 comb fdn. it recurred to me that I had used fdn. in 

 surplus Iwxes this year. I filled 32 frames, 5x6 inches 

 with fdn. and empty comb, over U being fdn. The 

 fdn. was put in full size, except a small space at the 

 sides and bottom. When I read the report of the 

 National Convention, "Thinks I to myself," wonder 

 if niiy customers got any "fish bone" in their throats; 

 so I asked them how they liked the honev got of me; 

 "delicious," "splendid," were among the answers 

 given. 



"Hav'nt you any fault to find with it?" 



"Yes, a big one; there wasn't enough of it, I wish I 

 had more of it." 



"Did you see any diflference in the comb of that I 

 sold vou?" 



"No, why, was there any?" 



None of our customers seeming to get any of the 

 "fish liones," we, at home, tho't we'd cut into a comb 

 and see if ive could find any of it, knowing it was 

 there. As the knife reached the center of the comb, 

 we noticed a slight resistance more than the balance 

 of the comb gave, but could discoA"er no difterence 

 in eating it. At the top was a little "ridge pole" 

 where we had run wax along to fasten it. We shall 

 use it (fdn) in preference to natural comb here-after. 

 I began last spring with 6 light stocks and 3 nuclei; 

 inei-eiised to 20, and got 647 lbs. honey: 332 of comb 

 and 31.5 extracted. My bees are piicked awav for the 

 winter in a sand cave on the banks of "the Father of 

 Waters" where I have been "bee-ing it" the past 

 season. - Will, M. Kellogg. 



Oneida, Ills., Dec. 11th, 1877. 



T am a novice in bee culture. Began last spiing, 

 ;vnd ha\e at present only 8 stands of "blacks" but 

 wi^h to increase the number to several fntndrcd pure 

 J(a?in/).s in the course of time. lam making prepa- 

 ration to establish a vineyard, and apiary on the bor- 



der of a lake about 5 miles from my home. The place 

 is an excellent one for bees, as the lake is very large 

 and interspersed with several varieties of willow, 

 cjTjress, honeysuckle, lily &e, &c. Hundreds of bee- 

 trees are to be found, and always appear to be in a 

 thriving condition, and hence I have decided to lo- 

 cate a large apiary at that point. K. H. L.4.WSON. 

 Kingston, La., Sept. 29th, 1877. 



HONEY CANDY'ING IN THE CELLS. 



I am but a beginner at bee-keeping; I wintered 3 

 colonies last winter, two of them in Am., hives; 

 transferred them in apple blossom time, and made 3 

 of them, in Simplicities. I bought one truant swarm 

 on a tree. 20 feet from the ground, and hived them 

 nicelv. With my increase I have 9 to ^vinter, 4 of 

 which are Italianized. I bought a second-hand foot- 

 power saw and made a lot of your section boxes 4^4, 

 square which just suit me, and every one I've shown 

 them to. Honey season liere has been very poor. 

 The 25th of July I took 80 lbs. box honey from 2 hives. 

 It was very dark and strong; much of it was just 

 grained sugar. Some of it would grain as fast as the 

 bees put it in. Cells in new comb were filled v^ full 

 of solid sugar. Do raspberries nroducs such honey as 

 this, or is it the honey dew? How shall we account 

 for it? Oar bees made no honey to speak of after 

 July, I hn.d to put back 35 lbs. box honey in section 

 frames, and fed some sugar to my latest swarms. In 

 making quilts and cutting sheets of duck to put over 

 the frames, I have been troubled by their shrinking 

 and becoming too small. I shall wet the cloth, ia 

 future, before I cut it, through I belive I've never 

 seen it recommended. 



WTiy not paint hives 3 colors, say red white and 

 blue, instead of using the pieces of paper or cloth of 

 different colors to aid young queens in finding their 

 own hi\-e? As I have not yet painted my hives, I 

 would like vour opinion on this in Jan. No. 



W. D. Hinds, Townsend. Mass., Dec. 7th, '77. 



As raspberry honey is very fine, I can not 

 think your grained honey" was from that 

 source. We would be glad of a sample, if 

 you have any left. I would incline to think 

 your bees were stealing sugar somewhere. 



If hives are painted dark colors, the combs 

 are liable to be melted down in simmer, and 

 we have ])ainted such hives, wiiite, just be- 

 cause they w^ouid become so hot the bees 

 could not stay in them. After being made 

 white, they give no farther trouble. If, af- 

 ter placing the hives 6 feet apart, you find 

 the young queens get lost, I would try tm"n- 

 ing the entrances different ways, or making 

 them conspicuous by some temporary device, 

 such as a green bush, or the colored papers 

 mentioned, rather than make them perma- 

 nently odd looking, and without unifomiity. 



I am not much of a bee-keeper having but 7 colo- 

 nies, 6 of which are good swarms packed up nicely 

 on their summer stands, with chaff cushions &c. 

 WTien put in their little beds for their Ion? winter's 

 nap, the lightest weighed 26 lbs, and the heaviest 41. 

 This included onlj' bees and honey, for I deducted 

 even for frames and comb. One small swarm, I am 

 trying to winter in the cellar; this swarm T got the 

 last of Oct. WTiile passing through a piece of timber. 

 I came across a tree from which they had been cut. 

 and noticed they were hybrids. I "soon found the 

 queen, which pro^•ed to be very large and seemingly 

 pure Italian; and while I held her in my hand, I 

 thought, "what a pity to let such a beauty perish, 

 when I may possibly save her," so I procured a small 

 box, put the bees in and started for home. I hap- 

 pened to have a. small hive containing 3 frames, and 

 perhaps 2 lbs. of honey, and into this I put my half 

 starved little strangers. I am now feeding them in 

 the cellar, and up to yesterday they were doing well, 

 J. W. Keenan, Bloomington, Ills. Dec. 7th, '77. 



I love bee-keeping; I am delighted with my poultry 

 and Berkshire pigs, but like my bees best; I am win- 

 tering 39 stocks orLgummer stands. My best stock 

 made 100 lbs. comDEypey from July 15th, to Oct. 13th, 

 I am well pleased with the fdn. for brood chambers, 

 and above all am I delighted with the section boxes. 

 Shall use them altogether next season. 



M. M. Stover, Table Kock, Neb., Dec. 7th, '77. 



