Various

“ Can the work be made of real value? Take one item. For myself, I have become more and more impressed with the importance of a thorough knowledge of foundations designed for use in sections for the production of comb honey. Much has been guessed, but so far as I can learn little is yet known on this subject. In the experiment of which I recently gave an account, one of the objects aimed at was to determine, if possible, if there was a difference among them, and, if so, what kind was of such a nature as to enable the bees to work it down most nearly to the thinness and character of natural comb. ”

“ The next time we may [121] hear from you, you may be sitting in a corner crying, because the sting got into your nose a little below the tip, and it is hurting you in a way that a sting never troubled you before.
The mission of The Stinger is to reform the bee-keeping world. (Did I hear you say that that is impossible, dear reader?) There is no man in the world that needs reforming more than the Rambler, and so his threats to expose me if I do not cease troubling him, fall upon me as uselessly as if he had never uttered them. For shame, on you, Rambler! ”

“ I am no journalist—I make no professions of knowing how to conduct a journal, and, I am not going to offer any advice on that point, but I wonder if some of them without detriment to themselves could not give a little more active assistance in sustaining the work by an effort to create a more general interest in its behalf. ”

“ I have a case of dead brood on my hands, which I do not understand. The bees are in a 10-frame hive that I bought of a neighbor last June. At this time they have a hive full of honey and young bees; they are carrying out young brood that is just ready to cap over. ”

“ It can hardly injure the sale of honey for consumers to know that we are trying earnestly to improve its quality, but if on eating it a heavy wad of wax forms in the mouth, that will do the work though the eater may hardly know exactly why. Nothing finds so ready a market as goods that give a fine sensation to the palate in every particular. We are bound to make our comb honey equal in every respect to that produced by the bees unaided by foundation, if we can. ”

“ I know that too much business of any kind is worse than not enough business, and I think we should avoid having too many irons in the fire at one time, but I do believe that to get the best of enjoyment and pleasure, we should have something else to go with bees, whether it pays or not; and I believe that nearly [109] all successful bee-keepers are lovers of flowers and poultry. ”

“ As to there being any danger, should it so happen that honey from a foul-broody colony was used, I would say that there need be no fears, for if the honey is stirred in as above given, it will all be scalded, and the scalding of honey anything else having the germs of foul brood about or in it, effectually kills these germs. However, care should be used in handling honey which may have come from a foul-broody hive, as the least bit of it carelessly left where the bees can get it, while in its raw state, will carry with it the seeds of foul brood, just as surely as corn grows from seed corn. ”

“ When I was extensively engaged in rearing queen-bees, the call was for the leather-colored Italians—and very few of the light-colored queens were called for; now it seems to be the reverse, all queen-breeders are advertising the Golden Italian bees and queens.
The Holy Land and Cyprian bees seem to have gone out of fashion; so also the Albino. I see that the Carniolan race is not much advertised in the bee-papers any more. Well, I shall pin my faith to them for awhile yet, until I find something better. ”

“ Right here I want to say one good thing for those golden 5-banded Italians, which race almost every one wishes to condemn. They were working almost every day, while the others did not dare venture out. This shows them to be very strong on the wing, but as to their superiority as everyday honey-gatherers, over the leather-colored variety, I am not prepared to say. For a hardy strain, long livers, and a business class of bees, give me uniformly marked leather-colored Italians, every time. ”

“ In all these counties they get their honey principally from raspberry and willow-herb. The willow-herb coming soon after the berry bloom, and lasting until frost. In all these counties I did not see a section of dark honey, and here comes the sequel to their successful wintering—the brood-chambers are well filled with this white, well-ripened honey, and very little pollen (the willow-herb produces but little pollen) ; the bees breed up so fast, and the hives are teeming full of good, healthy bees. ”

“ No, Doctor, I do not live in a mountainous country, nor where the people I trade with live miles away from groceries, nor where honey-producers are unknown. The country where I live is just about as level as where the Doctor resides, and groceries are just about as convenient and numerous. ”

“ I think I will be able to convince every well-informed bee-keeper—one who has well learned the nature, habits and instincts of the bee—that there is some truth in my theory, or at least it will cause him to do a little thinking, and that is healthful. ”

“ I find that I can handle bees very rapidly; can shake the bees from the combs without even breaking the comb loose from the frame; with the Langstroth hive, or frame, rather, the combs will give way occasionally in hot weather, if not wired.
I think that I shall always run for extracted honey at this apiary. In Placerville, Calif., where I used to rear bees for sale, I had a decided preference for Carniolan bees. I think that I shall rear them largely. The so-called Golden Italian bees—if I can prove to my satisfaction that they will equal the Carniolans, I will insert a number of queens. ”

“ I was pleased to see in the Bee Journal a report from Kern county—a county joining Tulare county on the south—of my neighbor realizing nearly 300 pounds per colony. Now I have reasons to believe that bees will produce a great deal of honey per colony in Kern county, as I own a small ranch containing 685 acres down there, and am quite familiar with the country. We have the largest alfalfa fields in the world in Kern county, Calif. We have a man in Kern county who owns in one body almost 1,000,000 acres of land. ”

“ I know from experience, not theory nor imagination, that any lady or gentleman competent to sell books, can be instructed to sell extracted honey in thousands of cities and villages, and at remunerative prices. ”

“ A cross between the Carniolan and Italian race of honey-bees, makes wonderfully energetic bees; they protect their hives well, and are marvelous honey-gatherers.
There has been a greater interest manifested in bees this season than for a long time, and I contemplate, from now on, that a great many will engage in this industry in the Sierra Nevada mountains. ”

“ Kretchmer is one of the pioneers of Western apiculture, a man of whom the bee-keeping fraternity may be proud, and one who has received many honors, both from those of his calling, and the public at large.
As mentioned on another page, it was Bro. Kretchmer who superintended the Iowa honey exhibit at the World's Fair, and his successful efforts are well attested by a glance at the illustration on page 104, and also by the awards secured. Incidentally, we may say that he is one of the largest manufacturers and dealers in bee-keepers' supplies west of the "Mississippi creek." ”

“ Every assessor has a long list of questions provided on purpose to get at the statistics of the country. When these statistics are finally compiled, they are sent out all over the country, and we can see at a glance just how much wheat, oats, corn, etc., each State has produced the previous season. Now, I don't think it would require very much persuasion on the part of the bee-fraternity to secure the placing of two or three more questions on that list, viz.:
1. How many colonies of bees did you have, spring count, on June 1st, last year?
2. How many pounds of comb honey did you produce? ”

“ I ran one colony this year for increase, and made 10 colonies from it, and they only cast one natural swarm. I got the idea of artificial increase from "Bees and Honey." That alone has been worth ten times the price of the Bee Journal to me. Those 10 colonies of bees could not be bought for $20. People will say "times are too hard—I can't spare the money." ”

“ As a caution to my brother bee-keepers, I will say: Don't climb unless you are sure of your footing. On the 26th of last May, I was called on to hive a swarm of bees that had settled high up in an apple tree. Having been a great climber from childhood's days, I bounded up to the top of the tree, and sawed off the limb containing the swarm while I stood on a limb below. The additional weight of the bees and limb split off the one on which I stood, and down came Smith, bees and all—a distance of 22 feet. ”

“ Atchley wants to try sorghum next winter, I think if she will go to some of her colonies of bees in warm, dry weather in October—some that have plenty of bees and not much honey—and raise the front end of the hive a little higher than the back, and pour in the pure sorghum just a little for one or two evenings, to get them started to eating it, then increase a little more, feeding every evening, I think in a week or so her bees will have plenty of sealed stores to last them through the winter—if they should live that long. ”

“ What is the per cent. of wax wasted, not to say worse than wasted, when so made into foundation that the septa of comb resulting is 60 per cent. thicker than the septa of natural comb? or, to put it in another way, if foundation whose septa the bees will work down to a thinness of 90/10,000 of an inch is worth 60 cents, what is that worth whose septa the bees will work down to a thickness of 60/10,000 of an inch? Probably from 25 to 40 per cent. more. If a man uses much foundation, this should touch him at the tenderest point. ”

“ The first advantage to be derived from these newer localities is the early flow. In springs following winters of deep snows our bees are bringing in pollen and some from the willows before the snow is all gone. The soft maples soon follow, then the hard or sugar maple, from which we get large quantities of honey. I have said that I believed were the bees in as good condition to store honey as during the basswood flow, it would come in nearly as fast. The honey very much resembles maple syrup. I think, however, that it gets its color from the mixture of dandelion that comes in at the same time. ”

“ I don't know, unless that it is often very funny to get honey out of a bee-hive when the bees are all about your head, and because it is worth all the money one gets for it to get the honey from the bees. I heard a man say that he would not take honey from bees at any price. ”

“ If, as I suspect, the correspondent lives in the North, he should have fed the bees in October what they needed to carry them through the winter. This is a duty he not only owes to himself, but to the bees also, for, while bees often do come through the winter when fed during cold weather, yet the chances are that a loss of colonies will not only waste the bees, but the syrup fed as well.
Borodino, N. Y.
Bees in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Written for the American Bee Journal
BY S. L. WATKINS.
The honey season, the past year, was above the average, and bees have paid well. ”

“ The dry weather set in just as the basswood came into bloom, and cut it short. It was just a little cool for white clover, so our crop was short. I have always worked for comb honey, and for that reason I have never had very heavy returns.
My bees came out of the cellar in fair condition last spring. I put away 20 colonies, and lost 4 through my neglect (the breaking up of my family unnerved me for business) . The bees increased to 30 colonies, which are now in the cellar, as that is my method of keeping them. They are heavy with winter stores, and so far are doing well. ”

“ Be sure that there are bees enough on the comb next to the honey so that there will be no doubt about their commencing on the honey right away, for there might be such a thing as their starving without ever touching it, unless it were pushed right under their little noses. If the first frame in the brood-nest has too few bees, it may be best to put the honey between this and the next comb with bees on. If the temperature of your cellar varies, don't take the time when it is coldest. ”

“ I presume the people are just about as wealthy and intelligent, with possibly one or two exceptions, as those in the Doctor's neighborhood This being the case, the Doctor does not seem to understand why my customers do not find out that they can buy honey at a lower price than they pay me. Why, doctor, they do know they can buy comb honey, in wooden sections, at about the price you mention, but they have intelligence enough to know that when they pay for a section of wood and honey they do not get, on an average, to exceed 12 ounces of honey. ”

“ Who knows but this may be the secret to which the Tennessee honey-prophet, Sam Wilson, has been so tenaciously hanging on? We shouldn't be a bit surprised if it should prove to be that very secret. If so, every bee-keeper can now be his own "honey-prophet"—whether he gets any honey or not.
Mr. N. W. McLain—once in charge of a United States experiment apiary, and an apicultural writer—has been visiting recently at Mrs. Atchley's home. Mr. McLain's address is Hinsdale, Ills.
The Iowa Honey Exhibit at the World's Fair, we have pleasure in illustrating and describing this week. ”