1878. 



GLEANINGS EN BEE CULTURE. 



147 



better report, at this date, I would like to hear from 

 them; espeeiall.v from those that have just com- 

 menced, two years ag'o, as I did. I wintered 51 

 swarms on summer stands, and lost but one. I will 

 just say that it is of no use for a lazy man to think 

 of bee-keeping, for, to succeed, and keep ahead of 

 his bees, he must be up and doing all the time. 



J. W. BCKMAN. 



Fort Bend, Texas, March 3Sth, 18T8. 



REPORT FROin A YORK STATE 

 BEGINNER. 



MAYING done so well last season, I am going to 

 give an account of my bees, since I com- 

 . menced to keep them. " In the first part of 



July, 1875, I purchased a swarm of bees, and had 

 them hived in a L. hive which 1 furnished. They 

 did nothing but partly fill their hive with comb and 

 honey, and I thought I could not winter them; but 

 they came through all right. I also purchased, in 

 Dec. of 1875, a colony in a box hive, and they came 

 through in excellent condition. So I had two colo- 

 nies to commence the season of '76 with. I trans- 

 ferred the colony in the box hive. I used 6 lb. caps 

 for honey and I found it was hard work for me to 

 sell it. 



report for 1876. 

 Cr. 



57?:£ lbs. of honev@l7 and 18c ?10 06 



2 new swarms@$5.00 10 00 



S30 06 

 Dr. 



2 swarms bees $ 7 50 



Italian queens 6 76 



Incidentals 13 94 



$28 20 

 In the fall of '76, I packed my bees in chaff, "a la 

 Townley," and they not only came through the win- 

 ter, but in spring were as strong as they were in the 

 fall. In April of '77, I purchased of A. I. Root, 10 

 colonies of hybrids. I then had 1-i colonies to com- 

 mence the season of '77 with. They commenced to 

 swarm June 3d and continued till July 5th. I put on 

 sections the 18th of May, and did not take off any 

 full ones till June 18th. f took off all sections the 

 14th of Aug. 



The 1 lb. sections of honey sold like hot cakes. 

 Some of the bee-keepers here said, I would get sick 

 of the small 1 lb. section boxes, because they were 

 too small and not glassed; and grocers would not 

 have them in the store because everybody would be 

 sticking their lingers into it, and they could not sell 

 them either. But it turned out to be just the oppo- 

 site to what they said. When people find out that 

 they pay 25c. a pound for glass on the old style boxes, 

 they will take a section that is not glassed in prefer- 

 ence to the other. 



report for 1877. 

 Dr. 



10 colonies of bees f 73 75 



Sections, frames, separators, &c 51 85 



Lumber 45 73 



Hired work „ 10 87 



Barnes' saw 41 65 



Incidentals 24 05 



Total $247 90 



Cr. 



1384 lbs. honey@18 and 20c S339 70 



4 " of beeswax@26 1 04 



1 quart bees sold 1 00 



10 new swarms@$5.00 50 00 



$291 74 

 Frank Sai^isbury. 

 Geddes, Onondaga Co., N. Y., Feb. 4th, "78. 



^ ■>■ ^ 



PUTTING CIRCTJLiAR SAWS IN ORDER 

 WITfir AN EmERV WHEEL. 



when new, use an 8I4 inch round edge emery wheel, 

 grind the underside of the tooth on a line M of the 

 distance from outside to center, and, ^vith a little 

 practice, anv good mechanic can grind a saw to an 

 edge as perfect as it can be filed, leaving the throat 

 perfectly round. It will clear much better, and, the 

 teeth being so short, it will not dodge in knots, or 

 follow the grain as long teeth do. You will save, 

 at least, one-half the time spent in filing, and one 

 wheel will save $25 worth of flies. 



John Vandervost. 

 Laceville, Pa., Feb. 22nd, 1878. 



Many thanks, friend V., for your very 

 valuable suggestions. We have used emery 

 wheels more or less for the past five yeare 

 for sharpening saws, and sometimes we can 

 get the saw to cut beautifully with just the 

 emery wheel alone; but, for some reason or 

 other, our hands generally get back to files 

 unless the saws need gumming. I think 

 your estimate of the comparative expenses 

 rather strong. We have not used the teeth 

 so short as you advise, but I have no doubt 

 you are right, if you can obtain durable 

 wheels, small enough for the very fine teeth- 

 ed saws used for cutting smooth, fine work. 

 The wheels are very apt to draw the temper 

 of thin saws, unless they are kept wet with 

 water, and this treatment is very apt to 

 make the wheels crumble and break, when 

 so thin. _ _ _ 



FREEZING BEES. 



WHO IS RIGHT? 



^ SAW your instruction for filing circular saws, 

 p(| and, as I sharpen saws differently, I will give 

 ^ you my plan. I think if you give it a fair trial, 

 you Avill not do any more filing. I have not used a 

 file, except on fine cut off' saws, in six years. Make 

 the teeth not to exceed H the length that they are 



^ MAY get up a little "reaction" with you, by 

 ffl calling up a matter upon which you and I dif- 

 ?M f er materially. In reading up back numbers 

 of Gleanings, I find in January number, 1876, you 

 claim that a bee that has been frozen never will 

 come to life. Yours is a reply to a letter of J. L. 

 Davis, Holt, Mich. I see one diflBcult point to solve, 

 as in the case of a drunken man. When is a man 

 drunk? when he reels and staggers, and occasion- 

 ally falls in the gutter, and is p().s-.si7j?i/ ahU to get out, 

 or must he he "that far gone," that he can stir neith- 

 er hand nor foot, to be considered drunk? and in 

 the case of a bee, to consider him frozen, must he 

 lay out all winter under the snow, one month, a 

 week, or how long must he lay dormant to consider 

 him frozen? The case I am about to refer to is 

 this: I set out 2 swarms of bees Feb. 28th, and from 

 a "Bee Journal" I keep, I find the following record: 



"Set out the bees in the afternoon; thej' had a 

 good fly for about two hours; it bid fair to be a very 

 cold night, so I covered them up with rugs and 

 blankets." 



There was snow, water and clay mud in the yard 

 where they were kept, and many bees fell in the 

 snow and water and did not get back into the hive 

 that night. My next days record is as follows: 



March 1st.— "It froze hard enough last night to 

 nearly hold up a llOOIb. horse; a light horse would 

 have traveled without breaking through until 9 or 

 9: 30 A. M. This day I went to Geo. E. Walkers and 

 to Pewomo. In the morning, by my instructions, 

 the little girls gathered up several handfuls of what 

 was supposed to be dead bees which had fallen on 

 the ground or snow the afternoon before, and had 

 lain out over night through the freeze above men- 

 tioned. The bees were brought in the house, and 

 in iv^ hours \l or '-<: of them came to life and were 

 carried back to the hive. This may seem incredi- 

 ble, but the wife, children and neighbors are willing 

 to vouch for the fact." 



The above is a copy of the circumstances as re- 

 corded at the time. I can't help saying that these 

 bees were /ro0t'n, being out through a night when 

 the ground was frozen hard enough to hold up a 

 horse; and they su rely came to life. Now %vlll you 

 admit that these bees were frozen? or was I drunk? 

 that's the question. O. R. Goodno. 



Carson City, Mich., April 5th, 1878. 



I guess we are none of us drunk, friend 

 G., but we are sometimes a little too posi- 

 tive, and, if that is my fault, I beg pardon, 



