160 



GLEANINGS' IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



A 17 YEAR OLD BEE-KEEPEU. 



I g-ot my start from a small swarm which father 

 was ashaiiied to keep, and now have 11 swarms. 7 

 of them are in box hives, but I intend to transfer 

 them soon; lis in the American, 1 in the Lang-- 

 stroth, 1 in tiie Quinby, and 1 in a hive that father 

 g-ot up. I have not lost a stand of bees tliis winter. 

 I have .5 different bee books; viz., LanRStroth> 

 Quinby, H. A. King-, A.J. Cook, and Mrs. Tapper. 

 I am 17 years old. Wm. Lindon Willson. 



Baker's Corner, Ind., April 3d, 1878. 



The Fountain Pump came to hand to-day, all in 

 order, as far as I am able to judg-e. It came via 

 ChienKo. Milwaukee & Watertown, on the principle, 

 1 supposi', that the "farthest way round- is the 

 surest way home." It is not a steam engine by any 

 means, but it will throw water to the top of the 

 house or over it, for that matter. Upon arrang'ing' 

 the spray attachment, the first comment I heard, 

 b.v Mrs. ii., was "how it would sprinkle clothes!" 



Please read over what you say about extractors, 

 in Gleanings, page 126, and then imagine j/our/afc; 

 for, sure as you live, my extractor (your make) 

 does throw a fine spray of honey, in all that reg-ion 

 round about, unless I submit to the annoyance of a 

 coA'er. Too much wings. D. P. Lane. 



P. S.— Please don't worm over this sticky sixbject. 



Koshkonong-, Wis., April 10th, 1878. 



Peiliaps I should have added, when speak- 

 ing of extractors, that the first we made had 

 ''wings," instead of light rods, to support 

 the revolving frame, and that these wings 

 did throw the honey over the top. Although 

 we sent tliose out some years ago, we will 

 pay all expense of having a tinner make 

 them over, so that they will not blow the 

 honey over the top. This offer refers to all 

 macliines we have ever sold. 



I know the express coini)anies frequently 

 do just as you have said, but they have now 

 given us the privilege of fixing the route, 

 &c., ourselves, and I think we can do better. 



PROPOLIS AND FREIGHT ON HIVES. 



The 2.5 hives in the fiat, &c., which you shipped 

 the 21st of last month, arrived all right. Freight 

 charges were f6.5.'>, which we thought reasonable. 



I wish Novice would tell us how to take the pro- 

 polis off our fingers, so we could shut up a hive and 

 go in and make bread or pies. 



Hannah W. Williams. 



Springville, Iowa, April 9th, 1878. 



The freight on tliis lot of hives to Iowa 

 was about 30c. per liive ; this seems pretty 

 expensive, and, where they send from so 

 great a distance, we certainly ought to fur- 

 nish extra nice work. Although no one has 

 com])lained, I have felt like complaining, a 

 great many times, at the work we liave been 

 obliged to 'send out. As we are doing a lit- 

 tle better every day, perhaps I, too, shall be 

 satisfied some day. 



I do not believe that propolis ever bothers 

 you half as much about making your pies, 

 friend Hannah, as it does me with my type 

 writer. Yon see it makes my fingers' stick 

 to tlie keys, and then the ideas that are al- 

 ways Inibbling over in ray brain can't get 

 out, and I get "hopping mad." I try to say 

 nothing, however, but just get the benzine 

 bottle, and this takes off tlie propolis, but it 

 takes so much time, that I find it a real nui- 

 sance. One of the girls who has some bees 

 says she uses alcohol, and that it will clean 

 lier lingers so i)erfectlv. that no soap or Ava- 

 ter is needed at all. The alcohol is rather 

 expensive compared with benzine, but, as it 

 is clean, and has no bad smell, I think it will, 

 l)erhaps. be cheapest where one's time is 

 valuable. 



REPORT ON CHAFF PACKING. 



A year ago I bought 2 swarms of black bees; not 

 liking the hives they were In, I transferred them, 

 and increased to 6. I have 5 pure Italian queens 

 and 1 hybrid; the pure ones are not all purely fertil- 

 ized. In the fall I made cases of Vi inch lumber, 

 large enough to allow 4 inches of chaff all around 

 the sides, and from 4 to 6 inches on the top; I put 

 the bees on from 6 to 8 frames, set the hives into 

 the cases, packed in the chaff, and they have all 

 come through in splendid condition, and, it seems 

 to me, have increased from 14, to i4, since February; 

 they are stronger now than last fall. A good many 

 of the' frames are filled with eggs the second time 

 already. V. Page. 



Kennedy, N. Y., April 1st, 1878. 



QUEEN NURSERY FOR HATCHING HEN'S EGGS. 



You say that your lamp nursery will hatch queens, 

 eggs, &c. I tried to hatch some hen's eggs last 

 spring while hatching ijueens, but not one out of 20 

 that I had in, would hatch, but they were all spoiled. 

 The queens all hatched; what was the cause? Tem- 

 perature of nursery 85^ to 90^. Don't say the eggs 

 were bad, for eggs of the same sort hatched when 

 put under a hen. [No name sent.] 



Auburn, N. Y., Feb. 27th, 1878. 



To hatch hen's eggs by artificial heat is a 

 trade of itself, and the particulars would 

 hardly come within the province of a bee 

 journal. If you hatched one in 20, my 

 friend, I think you did. well, for your first 

 experiment. I believe the eggs have to be 

 cooled oif once a day, about as they are when 

 the hen goes out for food. 



JOINER. 



You are wrong about the green color of extracted 

 honey being a sure sign of unripeness; we get a 

 delicious honey here, from the male sumach, that 

 is as green as bottle glass, even when it is capped 

 over, and so thick it will hardly run. Don't con- 

 demn glass dipping plates without giving your 

 readers a chance to try them; Stewart of Orion 

 makes them work perfectly, and has no breakages. 

 The Simplicity hi've here is the favorite; 1 shall 

 change my Nationals for them this season. 1 owe 

 you a vote of thanks for the new all wood frame; 

 1 tell you candidly that metal corners and metal 

 rabbets are too movable for me. I have had a 

 strong swarm of bees cluster on the frames, all in 

 the center of the hive, when first put in, and i never 

 had one that did not slide the frnmes about in the 

 hive more or less, when both corners and rabbets 

 were metal. There is consideralile bee fever here 

 now; no bees for sale and several buyers. People 

 seem just to have found out that there is, at least, 

 "sweetness" in the "beesness", if not richness, i 

 expect to see some failures as new hands trj- the 

 frame hive. Kejoicing with you in the success of 

 Gleanings, and the abundant custom that keeps 

 those saws running night and day, 1 am yours truly, 



R. L. JOINEK. 



Wyoming, Wis., March 15th, 1878. 



I did not mean to say that your honey was 

 bad, or that glass would not answer nicely 

 for dipping small sheets. We have tried the 

 small sheets, but our girls much prefer the 

 galvanized iron, though they can make both 

 work. 



I have never known of the bees moving 

 the frames about, as you suggest, but even 

 if they do, I would not discard metal corners 

 on that account. I^ast July a new swarm 

 was put on frames filled with fdn., and I did 

 not see the hive, and no one opened it until 

 fall; yet not a frame was in the least out of 

 place. Suppose they do get moved occasion- 

 ally, cannot we open the hive, and replace 

 them, easier than we can have our frames 

 stuck fast every time we wish to open a 

 hiveV or cannot we afford to give each new 

 swarin a couple of finished combs, just to 

 keep everything straight, rather than to go 

 back to ?»auovable frames':' 



