52 
“novice's” gleanings in bee culture. 
those now in market, but in our opinion 
this is a grievous error; worse, far worse 
than making hear;/ and unwieldy, hives, 
for the sjieed required to throw out the 
honey tells, even on superfluous ounces or 
fractions of an ounce. 
As we have our apiary now, every 
comb goes nicely in our light extractor 
and we can work on, until a barrel is full, 
smoothly without being called on perhaps 
while a hive is left open, to get out an- 
other extractor or to lift up or strain 
honey, or any such "foolishness.” 
Tis true we have one "copy” of the 
Quinhy hive but this is not to be extract- 
ed. Their combs are full and sealed, and 
one of our very best colonies is idling 
away their time preparatory to commenc- 
ing in the thirty-two boxes; but as they 
were partly filled with comb last season, 
we hope to see them finished this, and 
the extra price of box honey will, we 
hope, make up for loss in quantity. 
NOVICE’S 
j^lcmthtgs w |)cc ^ultmrc. 
A. i. root &Tco., 
EDITORS A X I) PROPRIETORS. 
Published Monthly, at Medina, Ohio. 
Terms: 7Gc. per Annum. j 
A nu one sending us 5 Subscribers can retain 75 c. for • ' 
their trouble , and in the same proportion 
for a larger number. 
SPRINTED AT MEDIN A COUN TY GAZETTE OFFICE.l 
Medina, July 1, 1873. 
Have sold one barrel of honey for 15c. 
per pound. 
We too are rejoicing now in copious 
showers, but honey don’t show more than 
three pounds per day yet. 
ix heads of grain No. GO read “ thor - 
mii/li bred” instead of “rough bred.” 
It seems to us that with our present fa- 
cilities we can expect little from drones 
unless we can keep a strong colony rear- 
ing choice ones in large numbers and de- 
capitate them in the balance of the hives, M 
and even then, where common bees are 
kept considerably, it has seemed to us |j 
they were almost sure to "mix in." How- 
ever Italians must soon begin to prepon- 
derate (we hear they' do in many locali- 
ties), and then Italians will be the rule 
and blacks the exception. Hear all your | 
queens persistently from one having the 
most desirable points; get your neigh- j 
hors to do the same, and thoroughbred j 
male:: will be sure to be the result. 
Just before going to press Novice wish- 
es us to add. that after many experiments 
he would extract from the upper story- 
first, replacing combs as fast as emptied, 
keeping quilt over them if robbers trouble. 
When finished, let them remain until you 
have done the upper story to the next, 
hive in the same way', this will secure 
most of the young bees out of the way, 
from the lower combs (see problem 5) 
and they are most difficult to brush off. 
As the upper story is lifted off when 
empty ’tis much easier, and wo should 
use the quilt over the combs as fast as 
they are replaced. 
If hives are far from the extractor a 
light frame of pine sticks covered with 
cloth to keep off' robbers is convenient. 
Leave the top loose, except at one side, 
so it can be thrown over the combs, and 
spread a sheet of paper on the bottom to 
prevent honey dripping on the floor. We 
know of nothing to brush off the bees 
equnl to a hunch of asparagus tops, make 
it two feet long and bushy enough so that 
when simply rolled in the hand it will 
"roll" off "hybrids” without provoking 
their anger. 
It is amusing to read letters from Miss- 
ouri and Tennessee, saying it is so wet 
that bees can gather no honey, when we 
are parched and dried up hero with se- 
vere drouth. An unusual number of bees 
seem to have worn their wings out, and we 
imagine it is because they are obliged to 
visit so many blossoms before getting a 
load. A friend who “bosses” the print- 
ing of this suggests that they "snapped 
their wings to pieces, they had got so dry, 
but bless you, he don’t know. 
Our index scales show a decrease in 
weight of from one to one and a half lbs. 
between G and it o'clock a. m., while the 
workers are going out. From this time 
until 12 or 2 p. m. they just about bring 
the index back to its former position in 
the morning, and about one pound is 
gained from this until 5 or G p. m., be 
tween which time and dark it falls rapidly, 
making a total of perhaps 2.1 or 3 pounds 
on an average. This is slow work and 
quite different from the proceedings 
of former seasons. As usual, the 
Italians do much the best, and our yield 
of honey is not far from 150 lbs. of very- 
thick honey daily from our entire fifty six 
colonies. (One more actually played out 
in the month of June.) 
