GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
141 
1S74 
,11 si <1 « O f <» i’:i i it, 
FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 
■fljmRIEND NOVICE Owing to tlio unfavorable 
[jf]^ and unprecedented dry summer, we are not able 
-Ai to give a very flattering report of our Apiary. 
We began the honey season with 31 very weak hives 
and extracted 32(55 lbs. of very nice honey, nearly all 
Linden. One hive gathered 165 lbs. in ten days and 
carried it nearly three miles. We have increased to 
75 colonies, mostly in good condition. Sonic are weak 
but all strong enough to winter. We wintered 35 col- 
onies lust winter several of which were nuclei, with- 
out loss, till they got the swarming out fever, which 
was con fined to the hybrids ; the swarming out only 
occurred when they could not get natural pollen. 
Hence the remedy is not to set out the weak stocks 
until they can get natural pollen, provided they can 
be kept in a healthy condition. 
The Rape, 17 lbs., was sown at different times in 
June, and came up but was a total failure as I suppose 
every thing else would have been this drv summer. 
E. C Lakcii, Ashland, Mo. Nov. 3rd, 1874. 
It liad not occurred to us before, that the 
swarming out in spring was particularly caus- 
ed by lack of pollen, but from what wc now 
call to mind, we have no doubt that it is oue 
of the causes if not the cause. 
Our Green House is enabling us to study the 
pollen question as we have never been able to, 
heretofore. As for swarming out in there, 
bless you ! wouldn’t that be a joke for certain — 
on the bees. So many reports have come in in 
regard to Linden honey being brought lorg 
distances, that we fear we shall have to admit 
they do at times go 2 or 3 miles profitably. 
The structure of these blossoms enables bees to 
load very quickly, during a heavy yield. 
We are sorry to say that but few flattering 
reports of Rape culture in this country have 
yet been rec’d. 
DEAR FRIEND NOVICE:— We call you friend, but 
seems to me I hear you say, who arc you * Oh ! Pin 
the chap that used to get the old American Bee Jour- 
nal from the Post Office, tear off the wrapper, hunt up 
Novice’s article and devour it, yes fairly eat it, before 
I’d go a step farther, and years before I knew he had 
;t Root to his name. Finally he got stuck up and start- 
ed a Bee Journal “Ills sell',” anil wc looked in vain for 
the old familiar name, till we couldn’t stand it longer 
and came pattering after Gleanings and the Photo, 
with ye requisite $1.00. Lithograph received all O K, 
as also back No’s of Vol. 1, and we have read ’em all 
too. Can’t get along after this without Gleanings to 
complete the list for wo take all the Bee Journals. 
Now about flying bees in a hot bed. Am going to 
make one for two or three stands, how do you, or 
would you ventilate it ? or does it need no ventilation ? 
Had one strong stock last spring, and one light one, 
increased by purchase and artificial stocks, all light, 
Jo 7 strong stocks, plenty of honey for wintcV, and 
have taken 330 lbs. honey, 116# lbs. from one, and also 
*n\ es of brood and honey from same one. IIow 
will that contrast with Mr. Adam Grimm’s report of 
‘/•^ flocks and 25919 lbs. honey? 011 1 well, guess 
vou 11 have to put us away down In the “wee” corner. 
* send herewith a Photo, of self for vour medley, if 
it 8 not too homely. Your friend \V. M. Kellogg. 
Oneida, 111. Nov. 5th, 1874. 
P. 8.— A kiss for “Blue Eyes.” 
Some provision must be made for ventilation, 
<xr father for reducing the temperature, in warm 
weather at least. This was our greatest blun- 
der for we made the glass the full size of the 
room at first, and found it insufferably warm 
1 uside while icicles were hanging to the eaves 
on the outside. This to be sure was remedied 
>y a wire cloth door, but to prevent its being 
00 cold when the sun had gone down, this 
door must be opened and closed twice a day or 
' itencr, and evon then we lose this volume of 
heated air that is so much needed in the night 
Hne - Reasoning from this we presumed ma- 
king the buicling much larger and having the 
glass only cover part of it would give a more 
even temperature and also economize the sur- 
plus heat furnished during the day time. 
Our room now is something over 12x24 feet, 
and all except the glass is protected by 18 
inches of dry earth, all carefully roofed over, 
to guard against frost iu winter. It seems to 
answer as we had anticipated, but we cannot 
report fully until colder weather. 
In regard to Grimm’s report : our Journals 
have for years been teeming with reports of 
great amounts of honey obtained from occa- 
sionally a single hive, or the product of a sin- 
gle season. Certain parts of York SUhtc have 
this season produced great results, yet for three 
seasons previous they have not reported at all, 
or at least but little worth mentioning. In 
order to get at the real profits of bee-keeping 
should we not have the average amount per 
hive, and if we arc to make an estimate of 
what can be depended on in the future, shall 
we not also have reports every season V Adam 
Grimm lias we believe always reported, and 
has given us the benefit of the results of his 
work poor seasons as well as good ones. 
Also, if it be possible to secure $50.00 each 
from 3 or 4 hives, or even half a dozen, it 
will not pay us to spend our whole time on so 
few. The bee-keeper who can so manage 50 
colonies as to secure $1000 from them per sea- 
son, on an average is in our opinion far ahead 
of the one who gets $50.00 as the product of 
one hive in a dozen, once in 3 or 4 years. 
Could our readers make as good a result on an 
average , as the lady who writes the following — 
really, wc don’t know what would happen, 
only that we should feel quite happy to see so 
many others happy. The 24 colonies mention- 
ed were wintered entirely on coffee sugar. 
See page 21, Feb. No. 
DEAR BEE KEEPING FRIENDS:— I commenced 
my letter on a postal card but have laid It by, as not 
half large enough to write what I want to. ' 1 wrote 
you a letter last winter which was so full of “palaver” 
(as the old lady called it) that I was heartily ashamed 
of it afterwards, especially when the returning postal 
card thanked me for my good opinions, but really 1 
was sincere and I believe most any one else would 
have been just as thankful as I was. I should say 
we, husband and myself, for last year we had a very 
unsuccessful year and it was our first year with bees. 
Just then came such a bundle of good things (the 
Gleanings) that it gave me a great deal of comfort, 
hope, and I trust profit. Comfort, because they told 
us we had been doing just about the best thing that 
could be done considering the poor year; hope for 
the future, and profit through the experience of oth- 
ers. 
This year has been a very poor one for bees, (judg- 
ing from our neighbor’s bees), for I do not know of a 
single colony kept on the old system, in box hives 
with no care, that have given their owner any surplus, 
or swarms that have built their hives full of combs. 
We feel well repaid for the care we have given our 
bees; each of the 24 colonies with which we started in 
the spring has given us about 825.00. Husband says 
no stock on the farm has paid so well for their care 
and feed. We think it will pay well to raise catnip, 
we had a small bed of it which we set out in the spring ; 
the bees swarmed on it for weeks. Buckwheat ilia 
well, Mr. McLny says it seldom fails in this vicinity. 
We sowed some three times, the first did not amount 
to much, dry weather and grasshoppers injured it 
badly, but it gave a little picking for bees. The two 
last sowings did well, 1 think husband sowed them 
from 3 to 4 weeks apart. We think we shall sow acres 
to catnip and mustard next spring. Of our Rocky 
Mountain plant only a few seeds came up, the bees 
do not swarm over it as they do catnip and buckwheat 
or else it was because the plants were more scattering. 
Extracted honey retails here for 26c, and box honev 
lor 30 and 35, we are satisfied that we got as much 
