124 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
Nov. 
RE13S AND THINGS “AWAY OVER 
THE WATER.” 
FKOM ONE OF OUB MUM BEK IN AUSTRALIA. 
NOVICE:— I rcc'd four Nos. Gleanings, 
]?| !?)) two packages Queen Registers, and King’s Text 
book, all in good shape. I must certainly com- 
mend you for the manner in which you send your 
goods out. 
I see you arc about to have a Standard frame and 
hive also. I think it about time; now, the “horizon- 
tal” as you call it, has been in use at my Apiary just 
three years. I have only worked six ot them as vet, 
but I am about to have my Apiary composed of hfves 
holding 40 frames each, the frames are 18x10, which I 
intend to keep to. 1 have hives at the present Lime 
working frames of the following sizes: 23x8 )£, V2H x 
13'“, 18x10, 10x10, and 13^x8. The different frames 
have been brought into use just by way of trial, 
And of all the frames I ever did see. 
Eighteen by ten is the frame for me. 
Adair is right in saying that a large hive will pre- 
vent swarming if properly managed. 
Your Queen Register is a first-class affair, but for 
this fair land of ours, we should require every month 
in the year. 1 thought I should have had some use 
lor the cards by the time they arrived, but alas ! I am 
doomed to disappointment. I told you about Quinby 
sending me two colonies of bees, in my first letter, the 
bees were not ordered in my name, but Novice I 
must not forget to tell you that it was my money that 
paid for them. And what do you think the charges 
were? lust 134k 5s. 7d. (about $70.00). Now the only 
tiling that I blame myself for is this, I ought to have 
written to Mr. Quinby stating full particulars. We 
have now a Royal mail from San Francisco which 
makes the run In about -'10 days, they wont refuse to 
take bees now. If Mr. Q. or any other bee-keeper in 
America will try their hand at sending a colony of 
Italians, and the Queen is only alive wlien 1 receive 
them, I promise to forward by ihe return mail $25.00, 
and if it proves a failure I will pay the usual charge. 
I refer them to my Banker in Queensland, any mem- 
ber of the Legislature, any Newspaper Editor, or to 
the Governor himsell. Money is no object providing 
we can get the bees safe, and for my part I see no 
difficulty whatever in sending them. I have tried 
from Neighbor & Sons, London ; some bees arrived 
bpt the Queen was lost shortly after leaving England. 
1 wrote them about it and they expressed their sor- 
row at the failure and said that if I could devise a 
better plan they would send out another colony. 
it is mid-winter witli us, and our bees are gathering 
honey and pollen at a good pace. We have something 
blooming all the year round in this fair and happy 
land. 1 wish poor old Mr. Langstroth were here, J aiii 
sure he would live much longer. 
I have sent the Blue Eyed baby a photograph of one 
of our Natives. j. Carroll, Mohawk Valley, 
Ennoggera, Queensland, Australia. Via San Fr’isco. 
Who will send friend Carroll the bees and 
thus successfully introduce the first Italians 
In Australia? Quinby, and Neighbor & Sons, 
have failed but with better facilities now, we 
think it can be done. Observe he offers to bear 
all expenses, and run all risk, whether the bees 
arrive alive or not. Those who arc willing to 
try had better drop a letter to him. The let- 
ter must be prepaid 10c. Perhaps Dean can 
send him a Queen by mail. He has never failed 
yet to our knowledge. The Photo, mentioned 
will make a rare addition to our “Medley/* 
HONEY RESOURCES, I1EE-KEEPERS 
ETC., Or THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY. 
BY M. II. TWEED. 
* nfllltlEND NOVICE :-Th e following week after re- 
jlp J turning from your place, 1 started for Virginia, 
hhj was away six days and had a very successful and 
deasant trip. I called at the little towns between 
larper’s Ferry and Winchester, and from there I 
drove up the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah, was 
on the road with my horse for four days. I found a 
great deal of honey in the valley and at reasonable 
prices. I bought some in large caps— beautiful honey 
at what they call a shilling per lb., a Virginia shilling 
is cts., and we are getting considerable at 20 cts. 
there. 1 do not think there is so favorable a place for 
bee-keeping east of California as the Shenandoah 
valley. The principle reason is that the Blue Thistle 
abounds in the whole valley. Then the climate is 
most favorable. The Blue Thistle makes rich white 
honey, is in bloom fully four months of the year, each 
plant has from 25 to 50 blossoms on it. One great ad- 
vantage it lias over white clover is that in pastures the 
cattle cut down the white clover while the thistle is 
never molested. A blue Held looks handsome though 
it is a great pest to the farmer. I cut a sample and 
brought it home as a curiosity and it you have never 
seen one and care to look at the great honey produ- 
cing plant of that valley, drop me a postal card and I 
shall gladly semi it to* you. There is great room for 
such a man as Novice down there. With the excep- 
tion of about a half dozen, the bee-keepers of that 
valley know very little about bee culture. 1 saw two 
extractors and they had not been used to any extent. 
One owned by Henry Slagle who understands bee- 
keeping very well, takes two or three Bee Journals 
and makes ‘money out of his bees; he has 100 hives 
and has this year 4000 lbs. comb honey, he lives in 
Winchester. The other extractor Is also owned by a 
Winchester man— Oliver Brown, a very line old gen- 
tleman. He knows all about Novice and had many 
questions to ask about you. With the exception of 
your Apiary, his is the finest I have ever seen— 50 col- 
onies in Langstroth hives. Slagle’s are also in the 
Langstroth hive. In wintering, they in the whole 
valley scarcely ever lose any ; in nearly all cases they 
winter outside. I found very few Italians, only such 
men as Brown and Slagle know anything about them. 
The principal hive is the obi box hive, where they 
have anything else it is the Langstroth, and in a few 
cases the American. The majority of them call any 
kind of a hive a “bee gum” and many of them call a 
colony “a bee.” I found an old watch repairer in Front 
Royal who had GO hives, had been keening bees for 25 
or So years, and had never seen a Bee Journal or 
heard of an extractor. Had heard of bee veils but 
had never seen one. lie took me out to look at his 
hives and when within 20 yards of them, he said we 
had better not go any nearer as the bees were very 
cross. I did not wonder at that man not getting 
much surplus honey. I left him two copies of Glean- 
ings and bought what honey he had, some 500 lbs. 1 
found one of your subscribers, Steed & Sou, near Front 
Koval. They have quite a large Apiary and seem to 
be learning something in the way of bee management. 
I was looking at one of their hives which resembled a 
coffin very much in shape and the old man told me 
that Jamie put a “bee” in that in the spring, and now 
he had it nearly full. There seems to be no question 
but that they can with any reasonable care get a fine 
quantity of surplus honey in comb, any season. I 
was well pleased with my Visit and came away satis- 
fied that the valley of the Shenandoah is the spot for 
successful bee-keeping, and that we can always rely 
on getting a large quantity of white clover honey for 
our purpose and at reasonable rates. 1 was astonish- 
ed at the bitter feeling they still hold towards tin* 
North, it was very interesting to me to talk with a 
bee-keeper who hail formerly held his slaves. 
I have made inquiries about mustard seed and can- 
not learn that any of the genuine seed is raised east of 
California (it is raised profitably there in large quan- 
tities), the seed used in this city is all imported from 
England. There is a kind of mustard raised in the 
Eastern States but it is not of much account. If you 
wish to try it I can get you some genuine English 
seed at any time at 12U cts. per lb. 
There is a party in California who has offered best 
strained honey (as clear as water) by the car load to 
cost about 12 to 13 cts. delivered here, we have sent 
for four barrels as a .sample. 
Have you ever heard of “Virginia wild honey?” 1 
had often heard of it, but never understood the mat- 
ter thoroughly until my recent visit to that state. I 
had heard it spoken of as having an unpleasant taste, 
and those who knew nothing about bees attributed 
Its peculiarity to the fact of its being gathered by 
what are called wild bees. 
On each side of the valley extends a great range ol 
mountains, the North mountains on one side and the 
Blue Ridge on the other, on these mountains a plant 
or small bush grows called Laurel, it is poisonous y> 
itself but on it there is a pretty llower which yield*? 
honey largely; rank and bitter it Is, and I was tom 
that a liberal dose will always be followed by sickness. 
I know the taste for I got some for breakfast at Shaus- 
burg. Now as no bees are kept that arc confined 
entirely to the mountains, there is no Laurel honey 
of any account excepting such as Is got from bee trees, 
and it is natural enough to suppose that the difference 
is caused by the bees that gather the honey. 
Pittsburgh, Pa. Sept. 26th, 1874. 
