44 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
Abril. 
DEPOSITORY OF 
BLAHTKI) IlDPES, 
Or Letters From iIionc wlio have made Bee 
Culture a Failure. 
y-rlOthe Editor of Gleanings:— W e have lost 15 
;l ' colonies out of 57. and what is more, several otli- 
— * 1 era are so weak in bees, we l'enr we shall lose 
more. Can you give us any advice? 
From your old mend, Novice. Medina, Mar. "24, 1874. 
Yes. Stop trying to teach others how to 
winter bees, until you can winter your own. with- 
out Ions ; meanwhile listen to those who do doit. 
I put lute winter quarters 4:1 colonies, took out 27 
alive, probably will not get over 20 through till fruit 
blossoms appear. Father put in 38 colonies and took 
out 5 alive. In even ease without an exception those 
that are alive, are those that were strong in the fall. 
Probable cause of tlielr death was dividing and subdi- 
viding to raise Queens last season. Now sir If 1 don’t 
have strong swarms alter this. I am mistaken. 
We have just got our high board fence done around 
them, and think it will be a great help, lam not at 
all discouraged yet, but, sometimes get a little blue 
over it. 
Father and I will have 40 to 50 swarms to commence 
with; he has purchased 12 swarms to-day and will 
get more. 1 never saw bees carry in rye meal as fast 
as they have in the last few days, little anil big 
swarms, and the Queens are doing their best; no de- 
serting yet. If hemp will supply bees with pollen we 
shall raise it. .Just got some seed to sow. 
Chatham Center, O. March 10, 1874. F. It. Shaw, 
That’s the time to wind up with, friend S. 
If some of our “hopes” are “blasted,” we ain’t 
“ licked” by considerable. It may be tveli to state 
that botli S., and ourselves used stoves in our 
bee houses when the weather was quite cold, 
while the rest of our Medina bee-keeper’s used 
none ; we are the only losers ; Dean, Blakc- 
slee, Shane, Daniels, and Parsons, have all 
done well, the two former losing none. If our 
“tinkering” with stoves shall prove a warn- 
ing to others, we don’t know but we “feel 
happy” after all . - ■ 
l’UUBLEM 20. 
'.if TS been a long while coming but here it is; 
.''I. we wish our readers to get at it, just as we 
did. We wish friend P. lived near us that we 
might compare notes with him as we are 
almost “in the same boat;” besides we really 
have much sympathy and respect for all hon- 
est preachers', but not for the class who 
put liev. before their names simply for a lever 
lo help them sell goods, ns one of their number 
once expressed it ; but our friend has the floor ; 
we're rather backward*— never "talk” much. 
Mk.NoYHK. Dear Sir:— 1 wish to ask you a few 
questions. Four wars ago 1 commenced bee-keeping. 
First vear Increased from 12 lo 2ti swarms, lost all but 
i ne tirst winter— dysentery. Made of that one left, 
and one more bought in spring. 8. Sold the s in fall 
because bad to move, (am an itinerant Preacher.) 1 
now have onlv 2 .-Warms, w ish to build up an 'Apiary 
of 50 to ICO. 1* would build up to that, this summer 
and -ell % of them In tall if 1 could, as bees are nearly 
all dead around here and would sell well, 1 think. 
Now how shall 1 do? shall 1 use full swarms, or 
Nuclei? or shall I use both? 1 suppose I should use 
imiic lull s will ms bill vhat proportions f 
Ami now t omes J he Pnom.KM part. 
Will it pov to use syrup to make combs when there 
is no pa-lufage? or will it be cheaper to buy combs? 
1 am located 1)4 miles from a Basswood grove. 
Would bee.- do well that distance? or would It not be 
better to move a it w ol the strongest ewnnns lo I lie 
edge of tlie grove during the Basswood yield ? 
flow would it do as the Basswood harvest com- 
mences, to strengthen some few of the strongest 
swarms ill two story hives, or long Gallup hives, and 
lake them In the grove during the halves! and ex- 
tract as often os possible? Z. J>. Paddock, 
Light House, Ills. March 13th, 1874. 
Since -our losses we are getting afraid to 
advise, but will hazard this much ; We would 
use only full strong stocks, and do all out- 
dividing by taking a full comb from each and 
making a strong stock at once; then when 
you are compelled to stop on account of win- 
ter, you are all right. 
From the experiments we made in artificial 
comb built on foundations, we think nice 
combs can be made by feeding sugar, cheaper 
than they can be bought, see page 4. A very 
little feeding will keep comb building going 
on, in warm .weather. 
In regard to the Basswood grove ; Italians 
will work very well 1 >.< miles. We should 
say, take all or none, and be constantly with 
them wherever they are. 
HOW TO MAKE A WAX EXTRACTOR, 
|®]JAKE this paper to your tin-smith. Tell 
J*tL, him to make a bottomless tin dish, (with 
a close fitting cover,) about !)).f inches high by 
12},', in diameter, as seen at A. 
„ c 
It will be observed that the bottom edge has 
a rim attached, tapering inward, this is to be 
made just right to fit inside of a common tin 
pan, which we use to generate the steam. 
B, B, is a plain basket or can, made of coarse 
perforated tin ; it has strait sides and bottom, 
and joints are simply lapped and soldered; 
size is high, by 10% in diameter, this is to 
hold the comb or cappings. Now, if this were 
simply suspended inside of A, the wax when 
melted would run down into our tin pan boil- 
er. To prevent this we have a tin plate C, 
11}^ inches in diameter, with a rim 1}X high 
around the edge, held permanently by three 
supports soldered from it to the outer case A, 
(besides spout D,) so as to hold it sufficiently 
on an incline to allow the wax to run out ot 
the spout D. Now when we have three sup- 
ports fixed in this pan in such a way as to 
hold our comb basket B, B, in a level position, 
and exactly in the middle of A, (the back edge 
E, nearly touching the bottom of the pan (’,) 
it is done. The spout D, only projects about 
1 }a inches, but another one about (i inches 
long is made to slip over this, to carry the wax 
off from the stove into a proper receptacle. 
The whole arrangement is to be kept in the 
honey house set over a common tin pan as 
mentioned, and the cappings, waste bits ol 
comb etc., are thrown into it as they accumu- 
late. The short tube D, must be kept tightly 
corked to keep out bees, and to keep in the 
honey. When the comb case gets full, lift it 
off the pan containing the honey that has 
drained out, and set it over a similar one con- 
taining boiling water on the stove. 
By having them made at home you save 
freight,, but if your tinner can’t make them ft* 1 
$3.00 tell him we will. P. G. says they should 
have “ears” to lift them by. 
