4S 



GLEA^sIXGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



ADVANTAGES OF A UXIFORM FR.VME. 



I see the advantage of ha^nnar a uniform frame. 

 My first experience in bee culture was with the L. 

 hive. I used them 5 years, but I must say that the 

 hive I now use is preferable in the following- res- 

 pects. First, for safe wintering and springing: sec- 

 ondly, for rapid handling, queen rearing, nucleus 

 swarming. &c., and you must admit that a weak 

 swarm in spring crowded up on one comb 10x10 inch- 

 es, with division board, will outstrip 3 times their 

 number, oa an L. frame. Come to think of it tho', 

 I am not School Master, please excuse me. 



Hiram Roof, Carson City, Mich.. Jan. 9th, 'T8. 



The above came in answer to a remark to 

 friend Roop. that I should perhaps like to 

 pm'chase some of his bees at the very low 

 price for which he offered them in the 

 spring, if it were not for his having an odd 

 sized frame. The ABC class are calling 

 for more bees than it is likely I shall be able 

 to supply, but if I purchase. I must have 

 them in L. frames, or at least in something 

 that will hang in Simplicity hives. I agree 

 partially, in regard to the' advantage of a 

 small ffiime foi'building up, but not for rap- 

 id handling. If a small frame is to be used, 

 I think it had better be the one mentioned 

 last month.-to hang crosswise in the Sim- 

 plicity hives. 



FOUL BROOD. 



I have been very unfortunate with my bees, get- 

 ting foul brood among them. Through the instruct- 

 ion of Mr. Muth of Cincinnati, I succeeded in curing 

 it. If, In Jan. 1877. I had known what I know in Jan. 

 1878 I would have been 83,000 better off. The knowl- 

 edge may be of benefit to others, and if you wish, I 

 will give vou the modus operandi. 



Geo. B. Batt.f.v. Mill Creek, Ttab, Jan. 8th, '78. 



Tell us how you cured it. by all means. 

 While we are on the subject, it'may be well 

 to mention that several complaints have 

 been made of parties selling stocks affected 

 with foul brood. This is a most serious mat- 

 ter, and every offender shoald be dealt vrith 

 to the fiiUesf extent of the law. There is a 

 law for such things, if I am con-ectly in- 

 formed. The injury done in some cases has 

 been immense, almost beyond computation. 

 Keep the disease within bounds, and as far 

 as it is possible, endeavor to exterminate it. 



I will not attempt to describe my feelings, when, 

 on a Sunday morning of last summer, I found that a 

 rascal had been busy again among my bees, the pre- 

 vious night, and carried off two large boxes of hon- 

 ey, each containing between 40 and 50 lbs. Is not 

 this sufficient to niake a person feel disgusted? I 

 think nobody ^vill open one of your hives in the 

 night and risk his thievish fingers" between the sec- 

 tion boxes. Charles Klimitz. 



Batavia, X. Y., Jan. 7tli, 1878. 



made no difference, for they swarm while common 

 ones do nothing in that line. My bees are mostly in 

 the Am. hive; have some in the L. and what success 

 I have had has been with them, by discarding honey 

 boxes and putting on one and two stories filled with 

 frames and starters, early in the season. 



Oli\-er S. Clark, Albia, Iowa, Dea 30th, '77. 



Tour postal is at hand; I may have appra-rctZ "blue" 

 in that letter, but I ffiKs^ I wasn't very blue after all. 

 Can't imagine what caused it, unless it was from 

 reading some of Heddon's effusions, and then trying 

 to out Heddon, Heddon. Please don't say anything 

 about it in Gleaxixgs. J. H. M.artix. 



Hartford, N. Y., Jan. 7th, 1878. 



There now. your warning has come just 

 too late, the matter is all in print, and aU 

 our plans and projects for having you a 

 '"Blasted Hoper," are at an end. Such is life. 



My wife says when Gleantxgs comes, there is no 

 such thing as getting me to bed, nor to do a single 

 chore, until I have locked and read it all over. I 

 can't help it, for it is as much food for my mind, 

 as honey, good light bread and sweet milk "are for 

 my system. My crop of honev is nothing in compar- 

 ison with such a report as Mr. Doolittle's', still I have 

 a few boxes of honey, and many more partly full. 

 It is nothing but swarming with my bees. I had two 

 hives in particular, this seas.jn. that had plenty of 

 room in the hive with two 20 lb. honey boxes, the up- 

 per ones being half full of comb and honey, and they 

 swarmed and swarmed again. I put the swarm back 

 and cut down the queen cells: there was not much 

 honey in the combs nor much room for any more 

 brood. In the afternoon, while working in "the bee ! 

 lot, on looking up I saw them swarming.^ I thought, 

 "go in on your swarrning." Well, they did. for thev ! 

 bid me and my oak grove, good bye. Some wicked 

 thoughts c-ame into my mind for I was "out of sorts." ! 

 They were a fine swarm of yellow bees, but that ' 



IT.^XJA^fS THAT PTTT ALL THE HONEY IX THE 

 BROOD CHAiTBER. 



Bees haven't done much the past season.- From 

 65 stocks I took about 2.800 lbs. surplus, all in comb. 

 Am much pleased with those little sections. What 

 shall we call them? I projxjse that we call them the 

 "Xovice section," what say you? 



You seem to find fault with those Italians that for- 

 get to store honey in the brood nest; now friend 

 Novice, don't you know that this "awful" propensity 

 to store honey in the brood nest, is the only fault 

 that I ever found with them? I have been thinking 

 of sending to you next season for queens, and if I do, 

 I want queens from those very stocks, that don't 

 store in the brood nest. 



How soon could you send last season's queens by 

 mail to this State?"and at what price? I don't care 

 how small or dark they are, so they roll up an equal 

 share of honey, with your best stocks. 1 want bees 

 for hit-yiiiess first, then ptaceableness, then beauty. 1 

 keep an accarate account of each hive, how rnuch 

 honey they make, and other good and bad qualities, 

 and breed only from the best, destroying the poorest 

 every spring. Jacob F. Flory. 



Modesto, California, Dec. 20th, 1S77. 



You have struck on a bright idea, friend 

 F. I have no doubt, but that an apiary might 

 be built up of bees that would, or would not, 

 store all their honey in tiie brood nest, as 

 we choose, by simply selecting tiie proper 

 queens. We'havenad perhaps a half dozen 

 stocks that would store all their honey in 

 the sections, and have to be given frames of 

 honey below, or they would starve. So far 

 as I can now recollect, they were all hybrids, 

 and were sold last fall for .50c. each. I sup- 

 posed it was the strain of black blood, that 

 gave them this tendency. I have just ques- 

 tioned the yoimg man who took off the 

 greater part of the honey, and he says it was 

 these cross hybrids that filled the most sec- 

 tions, both in the house apiary and outside : 

 but some of them needed supplies from the 

 more prudent Italians, before they were 

 ready for winter. 



My friends, if we are working for honey. I 

 do not believe a tinge of black blood does 

 any great harm, and I do think dollar queens 

 are really as valuable for all pui-poses. as 

 those producing yellow bees invariably. 



We could easily ship our old queens as 

 early as April or May. out how much dam- 

 age would the colony sustain by so doing '^ 

 After the experience I had last season, in 

 taking queens fi'om fidl colonies, I should 

 estimate a queen taken away in April or 

 May. worth at least, half tlie price of the 

 colony. Those who complain they can sell 

 neither their bees nor honey, shoiild step to 

 the front, and supply queens in May. You 

 can have almost yoiir own price for them. 



