DEJV0TE:I> to I?I2E^ A?««I> HONEIY, AT^I> IIOMIE! I]??TEK3£:@T». 



Vol. VI. 



OCTOBER 1, 1878. 



No. 10. 



A. J. KOOT, ") PuMisbed Moutlily. rTEKOTS: ©l.OO Fer Annrun in A*- 



Publisher and Proprietor, > s vamce; 3 (7o/ite«/or S2.50; 5/or63.7o; 



Medina, O. ) Estalilislied. in 187a. ClO oi more, 60c. each. Single Number, lOc. 



MY EXPERIENCE. NO. 10. 



RESULTS OF OXE VEAR'S BEE-KEEPING. 



fN the winter of 1876, I boug-ht 6 swarms, lost two 

 of them, and one of those that lived was very 

 — I weak. I made new hives and transferred the 

 remaining 4 swarms, increased them to eleven 

 swarms, sold three and bought an extractor'and a 

 smoker, Italianized the remainins- eight, and car- 

 ried them all through the winter. In the spring, one 

 lost its queen, as mentioned in the Sept. No., so that 

 in reality, I had but seven swarms with which to 

 commence the season of 1ST8. From the four 

 swarms and their increase, I had 281! lbs. of honey, 

 94 of which was extracted. 1 have kept an exact ac- 

 count with my bees, and after deducting five dol- 

 lars each for the two swarms lost while they were in 

 box hives, and six dollars for the swarm that lost its 

 queen, there is still a profit of $G0. 



SELLING HONEY. 



Just after basswood had blossomed, I had what 

 seemed to me considerable honey. I had sold some 

 at two hotels and one store, and to a few of the 

 neighbors; still, it did not go off fast enough to suit 

 me, and I feared it would be some time before it 

 was all sold. Finally, I concluded to "hang out a 

 shingle." I took a nice piece of planed board, and 

 painted upon it the following: "Nice new honey, 

 only IC cts. per pound." I then nailed it up where 

 passers-by would be sure to see it, when they were 

 looking at my "nice bee hives." In less than a 

 week, 1 had to pull down my "shingle," for my hon- 

 ey was all gone; and, during the remainder of the 

 season, I could have sold at least a thousand Ihs., 

 right at home, if I had had it to sell. 



GIVING UP PET THEORIES, 



When I first commenced bee-keeping, I had a 

 great many pet theories and ideas (I thought I knew 

 .iust how I was going to manage my bees); but acr 

 tual practice entirely demolished most of them, and 

 "fearfuUv shattered" the few that remained. 



I was intending to use honey boxes with glass 

 sides, and the wooden tops, bottoms, and corner 

 pieces were all ready to nail together, when I visited 

 an apiary where section boxes were used. I saw at 

 a glance, that they were far superior to boxes, but 

 it was hard work to give up the glass honey boxes. 

 I thought how nice they would look filled with hon- 

 ey, and how I should pile them up in the shape of a 

 pyramid, castle, or something of that sort, show 

 them to admiring friends, and then— why then, sell 

 'em. But now I must use section boxes, and I 

 didn't think they would look half so nice "piled up"; 

 out r now know that I had a bigger "pile" of money 

 than I would have had, if 1 had used the glass honey 

 boxes. 



The above is a fair sample of the fate of perhaps 

 a dozen of my favorite "notians," and I presume 

 there are a few more that only some "bitter" exper- 

 ience will entirely destroy. 



When reason and common sense teach us that 

 some other implement, or plan, or idea is better 

 than ours, why not say pleasantly, "Your way is 

 better than mine," and not cling to the wrong, 

 simply because it is our idea? 



RogersviUe, Mich. w. Z. Hutchinson. 



Your coil chiding remarks, friend H., are 

 excellent, and I wish we conld all bear theui 

 in mind. Your plan of putting up a ''shin- 

 gle" is the idea exactly. I have been many 

 years engaged in a retail trade, and know 

 very well the effect of a pretty little sign, to 

 invite people to make you a call, and to let 

 them know your business. The greates.t 

 part of our people are Yankee enough to 

 want to know what everyone's business is, 

 and especially in the country, does one look 

 about as they ride along, and see everything 

 in the shape of a card attached to one's prem- 

 ises. Among our reformed men, we have in 

 our town one who used to be about equally 

 celebrated as a hard drinker, and as a paint- 

 er of ornamental signs and cards. He has 

 stopped drinking, and now does the beauti- 

 ful lettering and japanning on our extract- 

 ors. To furnish him work this winter, I will 

 have him try his hand at some little signs to 

 be put up in the dooryard, or near the gate- 

 way, for bee-keepers; such as, "Bees, 

 Queens, and Honey for Sale." Those of you 

 who have facilities for doing such work, can 

 make them at home, during tlie winter sea- 

 son. 



THE FIRST YEAK IN THE ABC CLASS. 



^ BECAME a scholar in your class just a year ago, 

 JSII at which time, I purchased .5 swarms of black 

 ~i bees in common box hives, and took my first 

 lesson in bee culture. 



I followed you closely all the fall and winter, and 

 visited several of the most successful bee men of 

 our neighborhood, with a view to ascertain which 

 hive would suit me best.. 



My bees wintered through finely, and when fruit 

 bloomed were ready to transfer; but the weather 

 proving cold and frosty, I concluded to wait until 

 later. I transferred all safely, in Juue. 



I procured! an Italian queen (a SI one) from you, 

 which has since proved to be perfectly pure" and 

 gentle, and produces progeny which are good work- 

 ers and death on moths, which are very bad here. 

 I proceeded to Italianize, and have raised 9 fine 

 queejis and have still more on the way. I have in- 

 troduced 5 successfully, after they were fertilized 

 and laying, and have increased from 4 swarms (for I 

 drowned ont one In getting it home) to 10 strong two 

 story stocks, and 7 strong nuclei, and have about 

 200 lbs. surplus comb honey, 



I have met with many queries and obstacles, but 

 have ever found a ready solution in Gleanings. 

 So much for the first year. 



The coming year, I propose to use fdn. and sec- 

 tions, and also an extrastor; and hope by your aid 

 to still advance toward perfection. 



Now, friend Root, how can I best keep queens 

 over for early swarms ? If in bottle queen cages, 

 at what temperature must they be kept ? 



