1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



267 



CLEANINGS INBEE CULTURE. 



.A.. I. ^tOOT, 

 EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, 



MEDINA, OHIO. 



terms: $1.00 per year, post-paid. 



Better is a little with righteousness, than great 

 revenues without right. —Proverbs, 16; 8. 

 m i«i m 



When you let your queen out of the cage, in in- 

 troducing, you should daub her wings with honey; 

 then she can neither "stjueal" nor fly away, as they 

 are sometimes disposed to do. 



WHAT TO DO. 



To those who are short of money and cannot sell their 

 honey, queens, bees, etc. In the first, place, get up 

 early in the morning, and after you are up, don't sit 

 on a" log with your hands in your pockets, but work. 

 Fix up your apiary so nice that every neighbor that 

 comes along will want one like it, and then you can 

 sell him a hive, or a queen, or possibly some honey. 

 Stick up a neat "shingle," saying "Bees and Honey 

 for Sale", and have your honey so nice and tempting 

 when anybody calls that they can't help buying. Do 

 not buy your sign, but paint it yourself, .iust to save 

 the money. If you are in debt, stop out goes; put 

 your money in your pocket and button it up. Keep 

 putting in all you can get, but don't let any get out. 

 Save just for the fun of it, whether it pays or not. 

 Scrape up all your beeswax, on rainy days, but don't 

 send it off by mail or express, and lose half in charg- 

 es; if you cannot sell it near home, club with your 

 neighbors and send a barrel of it by freight. If you 

 cannot sell honey and bees for cash, trade for some- 

 thing j'ou know you have ffot to buy. Wear old 

 clothes, and be careful of them. Be careful of eve- 

 rj'thing. Do not make mistakes and blunders, but 

 get lip early ei^ery morning, and make every single 

 day count something, even if you are sick. Get up 

 early Sunday morning, too, and give God the best 

 day's work of the whole week, in laying up treasures 

 that do not pass away. 



A SHORT CHAPTER ON ROBBING. 



About 5 o'clock this morning, I heard a peculiar 

 high note in the apiary. It was too cool for the 

 bees to fly very much, and I therefore soon found 

 where the sound came from, for it was the robbing 

 key, without any question. A small colony of verj' 

 pretty Italians were scampering out and in, as if for 

 dear life, and b.v the way they wiped their mouths, 

 as they came out, I judged, at once, that they were 

 not being robbed. By looking a little closer I saw 

 that the bees going out were light and small, while 

 those coming in were plump and large. "Now, you 

 young scamps, who are you robbing?" said I, as I 

 scanned, one after another, the whole 214 hives in 

 the yard. A way off in a remote corner was anoth- 

 er uproar; at first I thought they were being rob- 

 bed; but soon, I found that they were engaged 

 precisely as were the first colony. The next thing 

 was to line the thieves, and soon they were located 

 in the direction of our engraver's hives. He had 

 purchased and transferred a black swarm, the even- 

 ing before, and the Italians were going in and out 

 unquestioned, as merrily as could be, while the 

 blacks stood about idly, as if it was no manner of 

 concern to them, how quickly their hard earned 

 stores were all appropriated. As it was a Simplici- 

 ty hive, the mischief was stopped by simply shoving 

 the hive back a trifle, for this closes the hive so ef- 

 fectually, that a whole avalanche of robbers could 

 never force their way through, as they do so often 

 where hives are closed with blocks or wedges. 

 What shall we do to make such provokingly shiftless 

 bees show a little spunk and take care of them- 

 selves? Well, I would open the hive about dusk, 

 and see if their (lueen was all right; if not. give 

 them one; if she was, I would give them a frame of 

 Italians just hatching out; then I would be sure 

 that in 3 or 4 days, at farthest, they would "hold 

 the fort", without any farther trouble, whether 

 there was a queen or not. providing they had some 

 brood in the hive, or something worth fighting for. 



QUEENS. 



I tell you, my friends, the (lueen business is "bus- 

 iness," most surely; especially where they are sent 

 by mail. A great many of them are lost in reaching 

 us; some are starved, some smothered, and a few 

 die without any assignable cause. Then thev must 

 be introduced, and quite a number are lost "in that 

 way; more are lost again in reaching our customers, 

 and as we guarantee safe arrival, all these have to 

 be made good. Some are lost in introducing again, 

 and, of late, we have had several reports of queens 

 that did not lay, after their long iounievs. Who is 

 to bear the loss? I, or you? I am sure I hardlv 

 know; I do not like the idea of taking your mone'v 

 for a queen that is no manner of use to vou, and yet 

 if I am to take all these risks, I shall cei-tainlv have 

 to have a larger profit, or I shall sink monev contin- 

 ually. I enjo.v the business, for it is a rare pleasure, 

 I assure you, to hear of friends a thousand miles 

 away rejoicing in iheir fine Italians, aud great crops 

 of honej', that came from a dollar queen, and that 

 the expense of getting the stock for this great dis- 

 tance was only a 2 cent postage stamp. We are im- 

 proving, and succeeding better and better every 

 day, and, perhaps, 1 shall get my monev back some 

 time, even if I do not this season. Please do not be 

 cross, when it comes your turn to be disappointed a 

 little, and try and think we are working hard to give 

 you all you have paid for. 



DEPOSITORY OF 



Or Letters from Those Wbo Bave made 

 Bee Culture a Failure. 



f' SEE by a copy of "Gleanings," furnished me 

 by a friend, that you have a column for "Blast- 

 — - ed Hopes," so I will venture to send you my ex- 

 perience. I bought this spring 76 swarms of Italians 

 and hybrids, in Langstroth hives, and had to move 

 them 70 miles on common farm wagons. I prepared 

 them by nailing a screen cloth over the entrance, 

 and also over one slot in the honey board, and put- 

 ting nails into each frame b.v boring through the 

 end of the hive, so there could be no swing. The 

 hives were heav.v with honey, and full of bees and 

 brood. I loaded them with straw packed around 

 and between, being careful not to stop ventilation. 

 The first da.y (April 17th), the roads were rough, and 

 the horse baulked, so we were very late at night 

 getting to our stopping place; consequentl.v the 

 hives were much jolted over rough places in the 

 dark. The next day it rained, aud we had more 

 baulky horse trouble. I hired another team so as 

 to lighten the loads, and drove 20 miles that day. 

 Plent.v of honey was under the wagons in the morn- 

 ing. The next day was hot and we got home. I 

 opened some of the hives and found the bees all 

 daubed with honey, and some dead entirely; at least 

 in 2.5 hives the bees were all dead. I went to work 

 at once doubling swarms, fastening combs in the 

 frames, &c. The brotd was all killed, and the comb 

 was broken down in almost ever.v frame. A more 

 demoralized, sorry sight, I presume it was never 

 your lot to look upon. But to make a long story 

 "short, I have saved 27 swarms, which aie in fair 

 shape now. 



Here comes another blasted hope: Basswood 

 honey is what we depended on, but the frost has 

 spoiled the bloom, and there is hardlv a smell of a 

 chance there. Bees have not made enough to live 

 on since May 1st, until last week. Now ihey are 

 picking up on clover, and may get some fall honej'. 



If you know of an.vone who has more "Blasted 

 Hopes," tell them to "send for our hat. If not we 

 shall consider ourselves the champion in this line. 



Now, after all is over, and we can sit down and 

 coolly think, we see where we miaht have done bet- 

 ter, find even have succeeded with all our mishaps. 

 We should have taken out all the hone.v, leaving on- 

 ly enough for the journey, and then turned the 

 hives liottom upwards; with this additional prepa- 

 tion, we feel confident it would have been a success. 

 There would have been no honey to daub the bees, 

 and all the weight being in the tough brt od combs, 

 I think thev would have come through safely. Let 

 others profit bv mv experience. C. A, Hatch. 



Loyd, Wis., June 15, 1878. 



