322 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



Commencing Atiar. 3Cth, 13V7. 

 Atwr 26, 1877. To 4 stands bcH:>s in old 



"^^ ' box hive ®?t;» ei7;» $ 



S^t. 20. By lOlbs comb honey® 20c. 3 00 



Oct. 30. To samp, copy Glean ings . 01 



r» .» I. " " Am D. Journ. 01 



». >» " " " Bee Keepers 



Magazine 01 



Oct 25. To 3 mo. sub. to Gleanings 



and postage \--:- ., ^? 



Nor. 10. To .50B>s gp. sugar and post, ^ 03 

 " 16. To freight on grape sugar. . 1 Oi) 



" 20. To lumber for 10 hives 3 03 



" 30. To nails, paint, etc 50 



Ma». 1, 1878. To labor on hives 5 03 



June 17, To vrs. sub. to Gleanings. 1 00 



" '• To feeder, fdn., etc 50 



Postage 03 



Jutyl To 1 Italian queen 100 



To tin smoker 25 



Aug. 3 By 15ms comb honey @ 15c. 2 25 



'^ 13. By 301bs •'' " " " 3 00 



•' 26. By 93t()3 surplus honey on 



hand^Uc 13 95 



A\SK- 36. By 1 Italian queen 1 00 



" " By 7 stands blacks in mov. 



hiv's and up. stories @ $3 5t 00 



Ave. 26. By 2 stands hybrids @ -$3. . 18 00 



■' " B" 1 stand Italians 10 00 



" " By 7 nucleus hives, 2 frame 



@$2 1100 



By 5 Young Queens @ $1 . . 5 00 



By 25flr>s grape sugar 1 50 



By 6 m. sub. to Gleanings 



unexpired 5'3 



To making 7 nucleus hives 1 75 



Totals 8=33 57 ? 127 20 



1 Years Ballance Cr ^93 C3 



1 enclose my report for 1878. Harry Pittock. 

 Falls City, Neb., Sep. 7th, 1878. 



I have given the above to show what can 

 be done even in commencing ; also to show 

 AtTiiit is needed to make a good healthy 

 start, and to exhibit onr friend's system of 

 book-keeping; his report is, in fact, a 

 couple of leaves torn from his account book. 

 Hy this method all the items, both debt and 

 cre<lit, follow along in succession on the 

 same page. You should have a book with 

 broad pages, properly ruled, that the partic- 

 ulars may all be put on one line. I would 

 advise you to put down only the cash trans- 

 actions", and at the end of each vear, to take 

 a faithful invoice of stock. This invoice 

 w\\\ take in all other items ; such as, in- 

 crease, stock on hand, bees from the woods, 

 capture of vagrant swrams, swops and 

 trades, etc. Come to think of it, I do not 

 know but that we can get up a blank book 

 tor the purpose, with some plain printed in- 

 structions for our A B C scholars for keep- 

 iug their accounts neat and clean. We shall 

 see. 



Many reports have been given of bees 

 building comb in the open air, but none with 

 the amount of honey you mention. I once 

 knew of a swarm that had located between 

 two broa<l rails of a rail fence, but tlrey 

 starved out after having built three pretty 

 good sized combs. When bees are obliged ' 

 to take up with sucli quarters, it would seem 

 that there is much need of decoy hives, 

 which have been so often spoken of, of late. 

 During warm summer weather, I prestime a 

 swarni migJit do very well without any hive, 

 but at the approach of frosty nights, unless 

 they are a powerful colony, they will not 

 hold out long. 



AlVOiriBE>TJ ABC SCUOLAK. 



ABOirr SECTION BOXES, ETC. 



HONEY WITHOlfT A HSVE. 



VENTILATION AMPLE. 



s^p THINK your smoker just splendid. I must tell 

 'iB you what I did with it last week; a gentleman 

 *=( living near here found a swarm of hecs on the 

 fence, within two rods of the path leading to his 

 barn, and about the same distance from the barn 

 door. The path was traveled many times daily, but 

 the V)3es were not discovered until they had made 

 about .")0 lbs. of honey. I purchased the bees and, 

 with the aid of the smoker, made a successful 

 transfer of bees, honey, brood, and all to a simplicity 

 hive. They have fixed up their comb in good shape, 

 and are doing nicely. I want tne queen for the a- 

 bove swarm. If I am successful, I will Italianize 

 my eight swarms this fall. This is new business 

 for me. J. H. Lee. 



Nashville, Mich., Sep. 16th, 1878. 



fHIS is a rainy day, so open your door and let 

 me in. The object of my call is to ask a few 

 questions which I hope will benetlt others of 

 your ABC class. 



Come in! Come in! out of the rain, by all 

 means; make yourself at home, and ask all 

 the questions you please. Now then: 



Well, how can the bees work in the sections above, 

 when you put 7 broad frames in the top story, and 

 have to jam them tight uo together to get 7 in? I 

 can't see where there will be any room fi>r the t»ees 

 to get between the sections &-c. If you have to jam 

 the top bars right close together, what's the use of 

 any enameled cloth for the top story? 



Why, my friend, what do you want the 

 bees above the top bars in the upper story 

 for? If you mean, when you have a swarni 

 strong enough to work in a third story too, 

 why, just take out one of the broad frames, 

 and put in a brood comb. You surely have 

 read your journal and price list enough to 

 knowthat the top and bottom bars of the 

 sections, as well as the bottom bars of the 

 broad frames, are narrower than the sides, 

 just to let the bees through, have you not? 

 To be sure, we do not use the enameled 

 cloth over the upper story when filled with 

 sections; have you forgotten the picture on 

 ]iage 92, of how to wedge up the 7 broad 

 frames, and close the i inch space with a 

 little strip of wood? I am glad to answer 

 questions, but it would hardly be using the 

 rest right to take very much space for what 

 has been made so plain in the ABC book 

 and back numbers, would it? 



Is the enameled cloth the same that cirriage mak- 

 ers use for tops, dash, &c.? Also, would not black 

 oil-cloth answer, or would it be too nearlj' air tight? 



The enameled cloth is just like that used 

 by carriage makers, only, perhajjs, a trifle 

 lighter. I have found no trouble in using it 

 for wintering, Avhen covered with chaff 

 cushions. 



Would not the top story be better with only om 

 tier, or just four sections, to tho frame? There 

 would be plenty of room, as you could take out as 

 fast as they wore tilled, and repbico \vith empty 

 ones. It would have this advantage, thoy would not 

 need any separators to hold them to their places : 

 there would be nothing of a rickety nature about 

 them; they would be close to the bees, and they 

 would not have the second row to climb up to, which 

 consumes a little of their precious time. 



We used all our sections in single tiers 

 until about 3 years ago, and I liave hnd such 

 in use every year since ; but / think them 

 more trouble, and not as good for a honey 



