142 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
Dec. 
again honey by extvacting as wc would if we had 
made t/heitl store in boxes. We had three ol our 
strongest with boxes on— got tired of their slow work 
took them* all out except from one hive which we 
made finish up thoso that were nearly full, and ex- 
tracted the rest. , . . . 
Our bees are mostly Italians, think they arc much 
better than the common blacks. I have a few ques- 
tions I would like to a9k. 
1. IIow do you manage to keep track of your hives 
that vou have extracted? do you commence and go 
through the whole apiary at once ? If you skip around, 
one so soon gets mixed up unless accurate account Is 
kept, on paper. 
We take each hive in regular order. 
Some may not be ready ’tis true but we look 
them over and see that they need nothing. In 
this way we are sure to see that all Queens are 
doing tfleir duty etc., also we can readily com- 
pare one colony with another. 
2. How did yonr hemp pay you ? I noticed in 
Gleanings yon thought ot trying it this year. Would 
vou advise raising it for bees. 
We did not try the Hemp although Messrs. 
Shaw & Son did. Bees worked on it some in 
the morning but perhaps not more than on 
corn and some other pollen yielding plants. 
We do not think it would pay to raise it exclu- 
sively for bees. 
:i. Could yon tell us the best method of harvesting a 
crop of mustard s"C‘ti ? and if the black mustard is 
better than white for honey, could the seed be sold to 
advantage do you think ? Is the white ever sowed 
for bees? 
We will try to collect information in regard 
to mustard before another season. See page 
124 last month. 
4. What sized honey jar sells best, one, two, or 
three lb. ? 
We now use Mason’s 3 lb. Fruit Jars. We 
prefer them because consumers, having no use 
for jars made expressly for honey, wish us to 
take them back when emptied, and coming one 
a' a time, they arc too much trouble. The 
regular fruit jar can be sold with the honey, at 
the market price, and thus afford a small profit 
also. 
5. Do you think bees would go back to their hives 
if put in a warm room with one south window, and 
allowed to take a tty in the winter time, if the hive 
were set against the window ? if they would, would 
it not he n benefit to any colony troubled witli dysen- 
ff you could have a window that reached 
down to the floor, so that the entrance to the 
hive could be placed very near where they 
would fall when tired of flying against the 
glass, it would probably succeed. Perhaps a 
broad table placed tight against the window 
sill, that they might not get down on the floor, 
might answer. The room must not be too 
warm. We are inclined to think from CO to 70" 
enough. They will buzz on the window a good 
deal the first day, but soon get used to it, and 
fly about the room safely. 
Will vou please describe golden rod and aster? 
how tull do they grow ? 
Both belong to large families, show many 
varieties and usually grow from 4 to 6 feet 
high. The Golden rod may be known by its 
solid masses of golden lined bloom, composed 
of many small blossoms. The Aster on the 
contrary bears flowers singly that arc perhaps 
an inch or more in diameter, and somewhat 
resemble a Sun Flower on a small scale. Dif- 
ferent varieties arc found of each in different 
localities. To furnish honey profitably, like 
all other plants, there must be acres of them. 
(i. In using your surplus bees to raise Queens in top 
of hive will bees enough stay there ? or is it necessary 
to shut them in ? 
Bees enough will usually stay if brood be 
moved up with them. Sometimes however, 
we have found it necessary to fasten them in 
for two or three days. 
7. Somo recommend turnips to be planted so as to 
blossom just after fruit blossoms. Should the turn ips 
he set out In the spring early, for that purpose? i 
think the seed would not blossom so early, and tur- 
nips would not live in the ground if left in through 
the winter in tills climate. I would think it quite a 
task to set out a very large bed of turnips, and unless 
of considerable size, it would not benefit bees. 
We think you are right. Unless one had a 
job of raising turnip seed for the market, 
'twould “cost more than it come to.” If cover- 
ed witli light top dressing, they might stand 
the winter, but even this would be rather ex- 
pensive. To derive any appreciable benefit, 
we really must have acres of the flowers. 
8. We use the Peabody extractor. Don’t see how 
an extractor could work better, hut wc have never 
seen any other. 
The Peabody machine certainly does good 
work, but it runs hard and works slowly. 
Witli thick honey, it must be brought up to a 
high speed requiring a man’s strength ; when 
this speed is attained, it requires even more 
than a man’s strength to stop it instantly as 
we readily do those machines in which only 
the light frame that holds the combs revolves. 
Your husband is doubtless strong (and pa- 
tient?) or he would have complained of heavy 
Quinby combs ere this. 
9 . We also use the Quinby hive and like it real well, 
don't see that we could netter it very much. 
The Quinby frame is certainly a good one ; 
.perhaps the best, where only a man handles 
them. 
10. We made a universal feeder for each hive, ex- 
tracted all their honey, made good thick syrup and 
fed the bees for their winter stores. We have now 47 
good colonies witli plenty of good sugar syrup sealed 
in their combs ; for winter feed we used about 20 lbs. 
sugar per colony, they seem to have plenty. 
Wc like the feeder, only one has to learn how to 
use it. We got the strongest Indian Head Factory we 
could find hut syrup of what we thought the right, 
thickness would run through too fast, so we took a 
swab and rubbed a mixture over it, X beeswax and }; 
rosin melted together, not all over it, but just enough 
to prevent the syrup from running through too fast. 
Use canvas, or “duck,” as it is sometimes 
called, and you can feed even clear water in it 
if you choose. 
11. Husband made a tent which lie thought very 
handy to finish extracting in, or rather to put over the 
hives while taking out combs. We did the extracting 
In the house, the hack of the tent was fixed on two 
wheels, and when ho wished to move it he only halt to 
lift the front and move it like a wheelbarrow, we only 
needed to use it at the close of the last honey harvest. 
We could not have taken all their stores without it. 
Sarah J. W. A.xtell, Roseville, III. Nov. 3rd, 1874. 
We presume such a tent is an excellent idea, 
although we have never used one. In remo- 
ving the honey preparatory to feeding syrup in 
the fall, robbers are so troublesome that ’twould 
be difficult to get along without some similar 
device. If you put your tent on four wheels, 
and place it on a track which runs between 
two rows of hives, you have friend Blakeslees 
idea precisely. Thanks for your very practic- 
al and useful letter. 
A. I. ROOT & Co. Why Novice! assure as thu 
world if what 1 find wav down in the corner otoovu 
jf Nov. Gleanings is correct, all our dollar Qu°eii 
ire pure, and also the one sent mo by II. Alley- ('» 
we had learned how to Introduce Italian Queens si e, 
■essfullv, (which we have done with more success i.i 
this fall Ilian early last summer) we thought « u 
would have one pure If we had to send all the lv»j 
