1874 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
143 
Italy for it, but we will stop now if we can only winter 
those we have ; still our success in the past makes us 
dcel hopeful. 
Novice asks the question “cannot bees almost al- 
ways gather pollen, when the weather is warm 
enough ? ” I answer yes, our two colonies containing 
our best Italian Queens, which we have been feeding 
to stimulate breeding, were gathering pollen yester- 
day and the day before, but 1 am afraid this is a bad 
omen, they have used uj> all their supply of pollen I 
fear, and have none on hand for winter. And now I 
shall propose a problem: Can bees be wintered suc- 
cessfully without any pollen? . I la Michener. 
Low Banks, Ontario, Can. Nov. Oth, 1874. 
We will call above Problem 25. Who tells? 
DEAlt “NOVICE”:— I suppose you must “mean 
me,” in your remarks on pictures in the Nov. No., no 
matter which horn of the dilemma 1 take hold of; I 
therefore herewith send you my Photo. I also send 
you Mrs. Lane’s because', 1st, they were both on the 
same card, and secondly, because she and I have run 
this institution including the little “buzz” all by our- 
selves, this season, and therefore I hope the pictures 
may prove equally acceptable. 
Last spring we had 84 colonies, and wo now have 72 
“such as they arc.” W e are such “old fogies” that we 
nun the Apiary exclusively for box honey, and we 
have secured only 2409 lbs. Whether these results 
constitute a success or not “this deponent saith not.” 
D. P. Lane, Koshkonong, wis. Nov. 7th, 1874. 
The “Photo’s” are coming in quite plentiful- 
ly and ’tis amusing to see how differently our 
friends look many of them, from what 
we had judged by their letters. For instance : 
who would suppose from the light boyish tone 
of friend L’s letters that he was so far on life’s 
road as to show streaks of gray. May we all 
grow old as cheerfully. 
Send along the Photo’s of the “better halves” 
too, by all means, whenever they assist at bee- 
keeping or bee-losing either, for that matter, 
they are certainly entitled to join our throng. 
A trifle over 64 lbs. of box honey per colony 
besides more than doubling the stock ought to 
be success sufficient to satisfy almost any one. 
Several half barrels of Clover honey already crys- 
talized. Do you know of any way to" get it out with- 
out taking the barrel head out? 
G. C. Miller, Mt. Hanley, Nova Scotia. Nov. 2nd. 
Sec page 60, May No. 
Mr. ROOT: -Please permit a humble “perusalcr,” 
of your paper to bid you God speed in your task of 
airing humbugs and swindles. And great may be 
your reward for taking right hold of mastiffs as well 
as little curs, is the prayer of one who appreciates 
“Gleanings” and despises hum buggers. 
Yours truly, L. B. Hogue, Loydsville, O. 
FRIEND NOVICE Frank Langdon, of Kirkwood, 
V Y., had one stock of Italians that tilled two 50 lb. 
cases of small frames, and he made one stock from it. 
About the first of June .1 fixed up 4 stocks of hybrid 
bees for Itoswell Bump, Blnghnmpton, N. Y., they 
were in Langstroth hives, but many combs were built 
crooked. I told the boys to take off’ the sticks in two 
or three days, and I suppose they were never opened 
after the sticks were removed. They tell me one hive 
iilled twenty three 0 lb. boxes, besides swarming once. 
I hat beats me. 
. As you seem to have had some trouble about divis- 
ion boards, I will tell you how I made some to winter 
two nuclei in one hive ; take some lath such as we use 
to make small frames, Jn' inch thick by lAf wide, cut 
two pieces (ends) long enough to reach from the bot- 
tom of the hive up to the quilts, cut one piece (bottom) 
the length ol' the nive inside; and one piece (top) the 
length of the hive over the rabbet, and notch the 
lower edge so as to fit the rabbet ; Now take some old 
'\ooien cloth hard twisted and close woven, nail all 
together with cigar box tacks and clinch and tack on 
jo the trame, and you have a division board, that the 
Y’ ,U ®l l| ster up against, that will not warp or 
• iirink and will give each the benefit of the heat from 
me other. j. i>. Moore. 
mnghampton, N. Y. Nov. 3rd, 1874. 
riiankts for the suggestion. We think such 
51 ^vision board might be made to “keep tight,” 
and they would be light and neat to handle. 
Another thing, in using these for strong stocks 
they could not be gummed down so firmly as 
to be almost a fixture. We have never known 
bees to gnaw woolen cloth. 
REPORT OF MICHIGAN APIARY FOR 1874. 
Began with 48 stocks in good condition. Have in- 
creased to 55 and taken not less than 8500 lbs. of sur- 
plus, only 1000 of which was comb honey. I have, as 
you well know, started a “Honey House” on a small 
scale for the purpose of selling my own crop, but havo 
met with such good success, that I shall handle about 
20.000 lbs. before next season. Have already bought 
the crop of several Michigan bee-keepers, but shall 
try in future to raise all the honey I can handle. Hope 
all bee-keepers will retail their own honey, thus cre- 
ating a greater demand for it. Our home demand has 
increased fivefold since I started an Apiary here. 
James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. Nov. 5th, 1874. 
Mu. ROOT, Dear Sir:— 1 will send you by to-mor- 
row’s mail, a Queen. I would like your opinion as to 
purity and value. 1 bought her (a dollar Queen) of a 
breeder well known to you and re commended by you. 
She may be pure but I would’t give away such a Queen 
if I cared for my reputation. 1 had her in a strong 
colony about a week and as she didn’t lay any 1 re- 
moved her to a nucleus. She laid a few eggs soon 
after that. I don’t wish to spoil a stock by using her. 
You can do what you please with her. I presume she 
will be dead, but you can judge something about her, 
she is the smallest Queen I ever saw. 
E. KlMPTON, Cedar Creek, N. Y. Nov. 6th, 1874. 
The Queen came to hand alive and is cer- 
tainly small, but our friend should remember 
that all Queens generally look small and in- 
significant in Nov., also that they usually lay 
but few if any eggs either in Oct. or Nov. 
Please remember also that selling Queens for 
$1.00 is pretty close business, and if occasion- 
ally one should prove poor it is no more than 
we might expect. When orders are crowding, 
we often ship a Queen as soon as she has laid 
her first dozen eggs, and consequently wcliave 
no means of knowing what they will prove to 
be. At the same time we hope none of our 
Queen rearers have been guilty of selling 
Queens from other than choice pure mothers, 
and from cells that were well supplied with 
royal jelly. The Queen in question was so te- 
nacious of life that she lived several days 
in the green house after the bees with her had 
died. She might have lived longer had we not 
(regretfully) pinched her life away. 
A. I. ROOT & Co., Sirs:— The Wormwood has been 
of great service to me this season, especially in those 
hives used for extracting. A little of the smoke blown 
among the combs drives nearly all the bees down into 
the lower story, then by the use of a brush made of 
White Cedar boughs tied together, the combs are 
ready for the extractor as soon as one could wish ; the 
smoke does not seem to stupify or injure them in the 
least. One brush of Cedar boughs has lasted through 
the honey season. This has been a poor season for 
box honey but have had a good yield from a few hives 
on which the extractor was used. I do not know that 
any of your readers feel as I do about the reports of 
such large yields of box honey from J. 1\ Moore, 
Binghumpton, N. Y., and others in his vicinity. I am 
very anxious to know what kind of hives are used and 
how managed to secure such results. Perhaps he is 
llooded with inquiries and I am waiting and noplug 
that all the particulars will come before the pub- 
lic without making him too much trouble. We cannot 
all go there to get the information but it might be 
worth many dollars to some of us, if wo knew all the 
particulars, such as size of hives, size of brood cham- 
ber, comb frames, honey boxes, and way of access to 
boxes etc. A. C. Hooker, Middlebury, Vt. 
Friend Moore we think will be happy to as- 
sist in any way he can, but we fear ’tis not 
every one who can succeed as do he and 
Doolittle, even had they their locality. 
