52 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
May. 
PROBLEM NO. 21. 
Vjf WISH you would Include In my former order u 
[•J box or hive, whatever you may be pleased to call 
— ' it, for carrying frames of honey from the Apiarv 
t" the Extractor and back. I think on the whole ft 
will be best to have two small ones, rather than one 
large one— to hold live frames each. 1 want the tops 
so they can be fastened tight, with the idea of having 
a handle in the centre of each cover, so as to carry 
them like two palls of water. I think perhaps It had 
better have a movable bottom-board to be fastened by 
hooks, for convenience in cleaning It of the drippings 
of honey. Von must have the idea now of what I 
want and you may make to suit yourself. Make them, 
of as thin lumber ‘as yon can aud have them strong 
enough, so that thev’mav be as light as possible. For 
the same reason they nad better be made of white 
pine, or basswood. 
Cedar Creek, X. J. E. Kimptok. 
Our friend seems to have a clear idea of 
what is wanted. At first we thought of ma- 
king something such as we described- in Yol. 1, 
page 52, but after studying on the matter, 
finally had our tinner make two, square, tin 
pails, with a ledge to hang the frames on, and 
a hinged cover that would open under the 
bails. Mrs. N. says nothing can be cleaned of 
honey drippings so readily as tin, and as they 
were soldered tight they can be used to hold 
honey etc., in an emergency ; if properly cared 
for they would last a life time. On the other 
hand, although they were made of the lightest 
tin, with cover and all they are rather heavy, 
and still worse the expense of the two was 
about §4.50. Have we no basket makers 
among our readers who could make us a light 
square basket for the purpose? 
A shallow tin dish might be placed in the 
bottom to catch drippings, and a cloth to be 
thrown over the top, could be sewed to the 
back edge. The handle should be very high 
to allow of lifting out the combs readily, or 
might be made to turn over ; we rather think 
the former, as it would not necessitate so 
much stooping. Perhaps something arranged 
entirely of wood and cloth would be the thing. 
Who can get up the lightest, strongest and 
cheapest implement, and : one-, readily kept 
clean, to hold five combs? 
BOTH SIDES OF THE QUESTION. 
i.\ . MESSRS, A. I. ROOT & Co. Wc did not intend 
imi our communication for publication. We have 
— discovered that some of cmr hive/S to which we 
had givvn Italian Queens hist •fnumner, contain this 
spring, crossed Queens. Our nat ive lilack Bees very 
seldom east swarms in the fall, anti hardly ever cast- 
ing more than three swarms, home of our hives had 
sealed drone brood the 1, of March. The expenses of 
our Apiary are as follows : • 
bangstroth's book on bees, 82.00 
4‘b'ox hives 12.00 
.3« L. hives, (cannot be made here less than bit.) 150.00 
Painting, Hinges, and Locks, {bocal necessity,) 12.00 
3 Italian Queens ...11.50 
Royalty, 12.50 
8200.00 
Realized only 450 lbs. of honey, we used the Honey 
Extractor on 2*0 hives last June, the average yield, one 
.gallon to the hive. We extracted all the combs— have 
bought no patent hives, ho far as we have read Api- 
arian writers, we selected the best hive— our error 
Is in changing the Native lice fpr the Italian. 
Macon, Ga. J. A. Nelson & son. 
FRIEND NOVICE You are right in your state- 
ment that Mr. Quinby asks two prices, for Ids bee 
hives, but you certainly put the average very low 
indeed. Mr. Quinby says, *• if is sale in. a (food season 
to calculate on an average of one or two hundred lbs. 
of box honey, or two or three hundred when the 
combs are emptied with a machine.” An average of 
200 lbs. box honev /should think too much* but If I 
can’t average 150 lbs. comb honey in small frames 
placed In the large frames nt the sides of the brood 
combs (with black bees too) then It Is because it is a 
poor season, the average of Extracted I will put at 
800. Last year was about an average season here, 
not a good season by any means ; clover. Poplar and 
Bass-wood yielded very little honey. Buck-wheat and 
Golden rod did not do very well. I commenced the 
first of June, with ten weak stocks in box and Amer- 
ican hives; transferred them to Simplicity hives, 
frames about 10 deep by 14 inches long, inside meas- 
ure. I averaged 200 lbs. ext’d honey, at least % of my 
honey w as Buck-w heat and Golden .rod. Besides the 
2000 lbs. of honey, I increased to 30 and saved 27, three 
of them swarmed before I commenced using the Ext. 
and flew away, so I lost at least 300 lbs. there, besides 
the bet's; so much for box and Am. hives and poor 
management, but I’ve got mv eyes open now, though 
not so wide open but that l intend to see more and 
learn more ot this interesting and profitable pursuit 
each year, as long as health permits me to keep bees. 
I suppose the seasons have been so very poor with 
Novice of late, is one reason he is so “modest” about 
giving the average yield of honey per stock at 50 lbs. 
I know we should not expect too much and ought to 
be satisfied if we only average 50 lbs., but Novice cer- 
tainly can average "300 lbs. ext’d honey in a good 
season -; if he can’t then the trouble Is in "4c. Queens, I 
don’t know what else. I only had one Queen that I 
could call poor, and I got one hundred lbs. of honev 
from it, (the stock of bees) and a lot of drone comb 
and drones In August. Theory says bees build less 
drone comb with young Queens than older ones, but 
I have hail the most drone comb with young Queens. 
New Buffalo, Mich. Mar. 10, 1874. li. S. Becktkli.. 
©UR OWN APIARY. 
J \\ LTHOUGH the weather has been quite 
cold, and the season backward ; although 
wc have not as yet, seen a bit of natural pol- 
len, and we never remember a season before 
when it was not gathered abundantly by April 
1st; and although we have lost 27 colonies and 
have only 26 remaining, this 13th day of April 
1874, yet we cannot give lip that bad weather 
should be any excuse for such losses. We have 
nothing to reproach ourselves with in the way 
of carelessness or negligence this spring; but 
on the contrary, have done the very best we 
knew how. 
Many are the kind letters of sympathy we 
have fec’d, (and we heartily thank you all for 
it) and many are the reasons suggested for their 
dying ; a few have said it was just as they 
expected, when we started into winter with 
so many weak colonies. But the weak colo- 
nies, some of them, are doing well, and our 
strong ones have perished, why is that ? Some 
have suggested that the manure kept them too 
warm ; such may be the case, for we ofte n find 
only a dozen or two bees guarding the en- 
trance, and the dead colonies are found almost 
invariably to contain only a very small clus- 
ter, scarcely larger than an egg, or an apple, 
and strangely we have not found a particle of 
brood in any of those deceased. They died in 
the midst of clean white combs, and scaled 
stores. No trace of dysentery. 
It is true some of the strongest have worked 
on the meal during weather that bees do not 
usually fly, yet we have seen no bees dead on 
the snow, and they have flown many days 
when it covered the ground. 
Wc do not believe artificial heat alone, will 
help the matter, for to test it more carefully 
we placed a Queen with what was left of her 
subjects — j ust 82 bees in all — in our Lamp 
Queen-nursery of last year, and they have now 
