foot under the lower end of the pitman, and yet escape with badly pinched instead of crushed toes. MY REPORT. Two or three weeks ago the editor of one of our county papers, while driving through the country, called upon, chatted with, and quizzed me a few minutes, and the next issue of his paper contained the following: "Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, of Rogersville, who a year or two ago wrote for publication in the Globe a series of exceedingly interesting articles upon bee culture, gives us the following in relation to his operations in that line the present season. He commenced the season with 25 swarms of bees, and closes with 65 swarms, all having sprung from the original 25, and all supplied with sufficient honey to winter them. He has sold 528 Italian queen-bees, at an average price of 7 shillings each; 800 lbs. of light honey at an average price of 14 cts. a pound, and 500 lbs, of dark honey at an average price of 11 cents a pound. Estimating the bees that he now has on hand at $5.00 per colony, Mr. H. has, the present season, received from his bees, in clear profits, the snug little sum of $650 - exactly $26.00 per colony. We have strong hopes of inducing Mr. Hutchinson to prepare a paper on the subject of bees and honey, to be read at the winter meeting of the State Horticultural Society, to be held here in December." FROM 3 TO 30 IN ONE SEASON. I started last spring with the determination to increase 3 colonies to 50, and, by furnishing the new colonies with laying queens, and supplying the old colonies with empty comb or comb fdn. in place of the combs of honey and brood that were removed in making up new colonies, and had, upon the opening of the buckwheat-honey harvest, increased them to 30, when somebody carried off all of my empty hives. Now, don't be alarmed: the hives were not stolen. Last spring I had in my possession 25 empty hives belonging to a bee-keeper living a few miles distant, who gave me every assurance that he would not need the hives the present season, and that I was perfectly welcome to use them. About the middle of August he called upon me and said that his bees had increased altogether beyond his expectations, and that he would be obliged to have the hives. Of course, I let him have them; but it put an end to my "increase experiment." As my time was wholly occupied in the aplary, not a minute could I spare for hive-making. The 30 colonies remained undisturbed, and became very strong in numbers, and heavy with honey. Perhaps it is all for the best. W. Z. HUTCHINSON. THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY RESULT ONE COLONY AND A NUCLEUS INCREASED TO 87, I WILL give you some of my success in handling bees this summer. Last May, a year ago, I bought an Italian queen of you, and in getting it here it was crippled so it died, and you sent me another, and from this queen I built one strong colony and one nucleus during the summer, and the nucleus had only about one pint of bees when they went into winter quarters (as the summer was very poor for bees here), but I brought them through all right, having to feed the nucleus, and they commenced swarming April 8th, and from those two colonies I now have 37 stands of Italians, and I let three swarms get away from me, making 39 stands in all from the two stands. You may open your eyes at such a statement, and say "bosh!" but I have the bees as living witnesses, and have taken from them 1662 lbs. of honey. To show the contrast between the blacks and Italians, I would say, that in the spring I had five colonies of blacks and now I have 15, and gave them the same treatment. You can publish this if you think it worthy a place in your journal. Send the journal, for I have tried doing without it for a year, and find it up-hill business when I want to know any thing, and don't know where to find it. J. W. MCKEE. Southland, Camden Co., Mo., Nov., 1882. I don't say "bosh" at all, friend M., but, on the contrary, thank you for telling us of it; and I congratulate you on your success. We should be very glad to have a fuller report of the way they did it. The whole secret of it was the swarming, or commencing, rather, in the fore part of April. This year has given us results showing possibilities we hardly dreamed of before. A VISIT AMONG THE BEE FOLKS SKETCHES BY E. R. ROOT. EAR PARENTS:- Last Saturday I took a general stroll around the immediate vicinity, to visit bee friends whom I had never seen, but who knew us indirectly. I had a grand good old Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich.. Nov. 15, 1882. time, as you might expect. Mr. Fowls was along Your invention to avoid pinched toes is with his team, so that we had an opportunity of seequite an important one, friend H. In foot-ing a great many more bee-keepers than we would power printing-presses, and other similar otherwise have done. We first went to Mr. Jump's. machines, the same thing is accomplished This gentleman, as you know, has the Diamond hive, by having the pitman turned into a hook at after his own pattern. It possesses some good its upper end, and this hook catches over the features over other hives; but on the whole I do not crank or cranks. If any thing gets under the treadle, the pitman simply unhooks.-It think I should like it. His hives were all arranged seems to be quite the fashion nowadays for with neatness and order, numbering upward of 150. both the bees and their keeper to see how A strange fact is, that his bees, with one or two exmany can be made from a few, as this num-ceptions, are all blacks, and Mr. Jump says he would ber of our journal abundantly testifies. Had you not run out of hives, I presume you would have easily doubled the 30, and so made 60 from three. Am I right, friend H.? Well, if you winter the 30, I presume that will be much better than to have had 60 and lost half; so, now, let us see you winter the m not have any other race. But what interested me more was his large collection of stuffed specimens, including all wild species, both bird and quadruped, within the surrounding district, besides many others gathered from different parts of the U. S. In my estimation his collection in taxidermy was much more extensive and better than{that contained in the college museum. When you make me another visit I intend you shall make Mr. Jump a visit also, TABLES FOR CIRCULAR SAWS, FOR as I am sure you will be well repaid. We next went to the apiary of Mr. Fowls, where his hives are arranged in a hexaga, in a neat, tasty manner, according to the directions given in the ABC. His hives are chaff, and, from all appearances, seem to be well equipped for winter. Mr. Fowls' enthusiasm really inspired me anew on the subject of apiculture. I found, also, that he was well read on subjects pertaining both to bees and agriculture. We next went to Amherst, a town about 9 miles from Oberlin. After some inquiry we found where HIVE-MAKING. ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT HAND AND FOOT POWER HILE a foot-power saw does very well for making, say 100 or even more hives a year for one's own use in his own apiary, when it comes to making hives for his neighbors, or perhaps to ship off to distant customers, almost every one soon finds it too laborious to be pleasant. It is true, he can hire help; but I believe it is generally a pretty hard matter to find help with the necessary enthusiasm to be willing to tread a buzz-saw many hours in the day. The owner of the bees will do it, I know, and thrive on it, for that matter, especially when fighting his way to making a start in the world: but most people during this present of steam, or something else, to do the work of bone and muscle. Mr. Hopkins lived. By the way, he is not only a beekeeper, but quite an extensive fruit-grower. He has about 70 colonies, all in the American hive, such as were once in our old apiary. After having shown us his methods of putting his bees into winter quarters, he invited us to take a look over his fruit farm, consisting of 80 acres, all devoted, if I am correct, to his favorite pursuit. He showed us a straw-age will very soon want to bring in the aid berry patch of about an acre. The plants were set out in May, and when I was there the ground was just one heavy mass of strawberry leaves, so that it seemed impossible for weeds to grow. According to my notion it was in about as fine a condition as one could ask. Then he showed us his peach orchard, which was one of the grandest sights I have seen in the shape of an orchard. It really made me feel enthusiastic on the subject for once. I am sure that you would have enjoyed that visit too, had you been there, as Mr. Hopkins explained his different methods of fruit-growing, which I know would have been very interesting to you. Mr. Hopkins made me partially promise to bring you out there some time, especially during peach or strawberry harvest. During supper I was asked a number of questions relative to the journal, etc. Among them was, Who is Merrybanks? and whether he were a fictitious character; and if not, how long he had been in that business. He said he thought it was rather strange that. if Merrybanks were a true character, he should make such rapid advancement; and, also, since he was almost a dunce, should turn out to be a smart business man. You remember Mr. Hopkins' little girl wrote in the May number of the JUVENILE about the death of her little sister. There are several "blue eyes" in the family yet; one just about Caddie's age. This made me long to see that young “Cad," but she will have to wait till Christmas. Well, it is about time for me to study now, so I shall have to close. E. R. ROOT. Oberlin, O., Nov. 13, 1882. Our friends will notice that the above was not intended for print, and. in fact, it was only after arguing the case that I obtained it. I wished it, chiefly because it gives one a vivid idea of the good that may be gained by both parties in these friendly calls, by the mutual interchange of ideas. It occurs to me just now, to mention that friend Fowles has a novel package for extracted honey, in the shape of a glass pitcher holdinggallon. He sells these in the city for $1.00 each, honey and all; and from the number of pitchers we are selling him, I think he is doing quite a trade in honey by the "pitcher full." Speaking of taxidermy and the strawberry bed reminds me of how often bee-men are given to excelling in some such specialty. Are we not, as a class, a rather progressive people? Now, it is almost always suggested by a new hand, that steam or other power be ap plied to the foot or hand power machine. This can be done, it is true; but as a rule it does not in the end prove satisfactory, for the reason that all foot-power machines are of necessity made just as light and easy running as they can be consistently, and are than the power of a man. If you put on a therefore not calculated for much more strain horse-power or two they will quickly wear out, or break down. What you want to stand a horse or steam-engine, is something like the cut below. BUZZ SAW TABLE FOR HIVE-MAKING BY POWER. The table is made of 4x4 hard-wood scantling, say maple or ash. The sticks are sized, and the “wind" taken out of them, and then the whole is put together with mortise and tenon, and then drawn up tight with lag screws in. in diameter, by 6 in. long. The table is 48 in. wide, and 42 in. long. It is made of hard-wood boards securely screwed fast to four bars of hard wood about 2x2. A bar is placed at each end, and the other two at equal distances under the middle. The table-top is hung on hinges at the further end as it stands in the cut, and at the end nearest us, in the picture, it rests on hinged strips, resting in mortises, as shown. Setscrews fasten the table at any desired height. Strips of iron should be let into the wood where the points of the set-screws strike, or the wood will soon be injured and mashed "PARALLEL BAR" GAUGE, This is to be made of the best piece of seasoned maple or cherry you can get. It needs about a 3x4 scantling, one foot longer than the table-top. Rabbet out a piece as shown, to make a bearing for the bars of iron that it swings on. These bars are iron, 1xt, pivoted at each end with heavy screws. They allow the bar to swing clear up against the saw and back away from it. far enough to cut off the cover of a Simplicity hive, which is in length 20 inches. To fasten this parallel bar securely at any point, a third iron bar, C, is placed between these two. Instead of being screwed fast to the parallel bar A, it is simply slipped over a steel pin driven into A There are, in fact, two of these pins, at a distance of perhaps a foot apart. This is to keep the adjusting bar always at pretty nearly a right angle to the parallel bar. Now. this strip of iron has a long slot in it, and a thumb-screw D goes into the slot. By this arrangement it will be noticed that the parallel bar can not swing or move, unless the thumb-screw lets the slotted bar slide under it. By tightening the screw, the parallel bar is a fixture at any point, and it is always parallel to the saw, when once adjusted as described in the A B C book. our $7 00 one, generally; but for a great deal of work I would advise the heavier one, costing about $0.00. A still better one, with united boxes, and self-oiling attachment, is worth about $14.00. While I am on this subject, here comes the following: Would you please inquire in Dec. GLEANINGS for a description of, or how to build, a hand-power circular saw? Perhaps you have had some experience in hand-powers yourself. If so, please let us have it. GEORGE CORK. Niagara, Ont., Can., Oct. 31, 1882. Well, friend Cork, almost in the same mail with your letter comes one from one of our juvenile class, describing a home-made hand-power saw. We have had an engraving made of the sketch he sends, and below it we give you his letter: THE "FIGURE FOUR" GAUGE. This hardly needs explanation. That it may slide easily, and without shake, it runs on an iron track. This iron track is simply a straight bar, inch square, screwed fast to each of the strips on the under side of the table-top. It is made of hard-wood stuff about thick. The longest piece, which is grooved to run over the iron bar, is exactly the length of the table. The right-angled piece is two feet long. All are about 4 inches in width. This right-angled piece must be so adjusted as to cut boards off exactly square; and when right, it should be screwed down and braced with iron, as shown, so it can never get racked out of true. On the accuracy and fineness of this adjustment depends all your work. If one could afford it, it would be a fine thing to have the whole table-top, and all of these gauges, of planed iron. The mandrel used for these saw-tables is A HOME-MADE HAND POWER BUZZ SAW. I see in father's GLEANINGS a sketch of a homemade circular saw. I thought I would give you a drawing of one I have made. I use a 12 and 18 inch saw, 1-inch mandrel. The cog-wheel I got from an old fanning-machine, and the speed-wheel I got from an old hand corn-sheller. This machine saws all our firewood, besides hive-making. I find it a useful machine. A W. BEARDMORE. Annapolis, Maryland, Nov. 18, 1882. The above machine will answer an excellent purpose, I know, for we used one of Barnes' hand-ippers in our establishment for several years. Even though two men, with a couple of good sharp carpenter saws, might do nearly as much work in cutting and ripping, they could not possibly do as accurate work. With the above machine, rigged with the gauges described above, a couple of boys would do the amount of work that men would, and it would be more accurate than an expensive carpenter with trysquare and smooth-plane could possibly make it. I have no doubt but that the boys would cut up double the firewood they could with the ordinary hand saws, as our young friend describes. Such a machine would be so very handy, we may decide during the coming year to get up something of the kind. for about $25.00. How many of you want one? I almost forgot to add, that all kinds of buzz-saws are dangerous. Since we have been in the business, four different boys and men have lost a large part of one hand, by letting them slip against a saw while in motion. If you work with buzz-saws, be careful! NLESS in localities where the bees can fly, I would not now undertake to feed liquid food any more. Feed either candy made of granulated sugar, in the way that has so often been described, or use the "Good candy," that has been so much talked about of late. There can be no possible objection to it, unless it is that the granulated sugar may rattle down to the bottom of the hive after the bees have licked the honey all out. If the sugar is well stirred into the honey, and the whole allowed to stand several days before it is fed, I think it will become so well incorporated that the bees will lick it all up. I have just directed that some that has been several weeks mixed up may be put over the hives this morning, and before night I will report to you how it works. If all is well, as I am sure it will be, feeding in cold weather will hereafter be summed up in about the following: "Go to the store and get some granulated sugar; wet it up with honey, until you make a stiff dough. Lay it right on the frames, over the cluster, in quantities of from to lb. at a time; and as often as you find it gone, put on some more, until your bees have enough. After putting it on, lay right over it a Hill's Device, then a sheet of burlap or coarse bagging, then chaff. For convenience you may have a chaff cushion, made of this same coarse bagging; but even if you do, have enough loose chaff also to make all so tight that no bee can ever work his way up in any of the corners, and die on top of the cushions." This last point I think very important. I can not bear to find dead bees around, when I open a hive. A dead bee on top of a cushion always makes me feel dismal, even after I have closed up the hive and gone away. I wouldn't have it. If bees die in the cluster, and are carried out at the entrance, it is probably no fault of yours; but if your hive is so made that they get up over the cushions, and they die because they don't know how to get back. it is your fault. Every single bee is valuable. Not only that, but God made this little speck of animated life, and intrusted it to your care. Have you any right to let them die by your carelessness? Don't let mice get into your hives. They are ravenously fond of honey; and if the entrances to the hives are large enough they will be pretty sure to get in. The chaff cushion over the bees is a grand place for | mice to winter in; and if you should neglect to have wire cloth over the ventilators, you are almost certain to find them there. They will tear your cushions all to pieces, and make every thing smell. Why, if I wanted to find something emblematic of shiftlessness, ruin, and devastation, it would be the litter left by a lot of mice, and the attendant smell. Don't have it anywhere, no matter what it costs to get them out. A few days ago the apiarist said he could not keep the mice out of his chaff cushions. I told him to clean out the whole room, and get down to the bottom of the matter. What do you suppose was the "bottom of the matter? Why, it was a bag of rye and oat meal that we used for feeding the bees last April, that had been put into a hogshead, and then corn-cobs for the smoker had been piled over it. You can imagine the jubilee the mice had among those cobs, and about how that bag looked when it was unearthed. Now, is there nothing of that sort around your premises? Are you short of money? I wouldn't wonder if it were lucky for you if you are, for you are then in a frame of mind to learn prudence and economy. Can you see any thing about, or think of any thing that has cost you money? If so, is it properly cared for, and not going to waste? That tin pan out there, that the chickens have been eating out of, cost a dime or more, and it will soon be transformed into nothing but an ash-pan. Bring it in, clean it up, rub it with a greased cloth to arrest rust, and it will do good service a long time. Use stone dishes for any thing that must be put out into the weather, and bring them in speedily before they get broken. I have known a few bee-keepers who would borrow their wife's pans and dishes, and forget or neglect to bring them back. Well, it is customary among business men, good business men, to insist on having settlements with everybody before the beginning of a new year. Every thing borrowed is to be returned, or accounted for. All unsettled transactions are to be closed up some way, even if such settlement entails loss. Well, now, wouldn't it be a good idea to bring back all those tin pans and other utensils, nicely cleaned up before the first of January? If you are busy all the time, just go over your stock of implements for bee culture some evening, and get every thing in nice trim for the next year. Try it and see if you don't feel "good" after it. Not only clean up and save the wax, but clean up and save the honey. Be ready to say you haven't a pound anywhere, when the bees begin to bring in honey again next summer. not going to say good-by yet, for you see I have one more visit to make you this year, any way. That is one good feature of the JUVENILE. I am It is now two o'clock; just five hours since the Good candy was placed over the cluster of three colonies. They had about onefourth lb. each, and it is all gone on two of them, and no grains of sugar are found on the bottom-board. Can any cheaper way of feeding, either for warm or cold weather, be devised? A QUEENS FROM ITALY, BY MAIL. SOME HINTS ON PROVISIONING THE CAGES. S the subject of provisioning queen-cages has been extensively discussed through the papers of late, and as many reports indicate that quite a number of queens are lost in the mails on account of improper food, perhaps, I take the liberty to send you a queen-cage, without bees, provisioned ready for a long journey. This I do, because, if it gives others the satisfaction that it has me, I shall be well paid for the little trouble. You will see that the food-receptacle is simply a tin tube with a 4-inch hole in the center, like the bung-hole of a barrel. The ends of the tube are closed with corks. The food is simply extracted honey (if candied, the better), and white sugar, mixed to the consistency of a thick paste. You remove one of the corks, place your thumb over the bung-hole, and fill the barrel full of the mixture, using a round stick to tamp it full. The cork is then replaced, and the tin barrel so adjusted in the cage that the bung-hole will be accessible to the bees. To remove the barrel from its place in the cage, insert a stiff awl, or point of a knife, in the bunghole, and slide it out. Please notice the condition of the mixture in the food-receptacle, as it has been prepared two weeks. It is really amusing to see the queen's suit passing in and out of the miniature bung-hole of the miniature barrel after the contents is partly exhausted. I have given this method of provisioning a fair trial, and I am convinced that it is superior to any other method now in use. The tin barrel excludes the air and prevents evaporation, and does not absorb the moisture in the food, as in the case where the candy is put into holes in the cage-block, as employed by Mr. Good and others, though his method is an improvement on the hard candy and empty bottles. I say empty bottles, because the concussion the bottles receive in the mail-bags jars all the water out of them directly. I am confident, that, with a tin barrel one inch in diameter and two inches long, filled with a soft mixture, as above described, I can send a queen and her (suit, by mail to Italy safe and sound. If God spares me till next summer 1 intend to send by mail a queen to a U. S. official at Milan, Italy, with whom I have had private correspondence. The gentleman alluded to has cordially offered to assist me in any enterprise relating to bee culture. If I succeed I will have Italian queens sent to me by mail from Italy, the cages provisioned by means of the tin barrels. With this method of provisioning, the only question is, how long will the queen and her suit endure close confinement? The honey season here has been a failure as to surplus; too much rain and cool weather, which was unfavorable to the secretion of nectar. The bloom was abundant all the season, but it did not yield a surplus. I am happy, however, to say that hydropiper came to our relief, and our bees are nice ly provisioned for winter. It is still giving some honey mornings. The goldenrods are abundant, but are badly damaged by a black beetle, and therefore are of little force. G. W. DEMAREE. would be cheaper than the tin tubes, and would answer for any ordinary journey, eh? G. W. D. I Many thanks, friend D., for calling our attention again to the matter of getting queens from Italy by mail. We have tried it once or twice, and failed; but for all that, I believe it will yet be done, and I think it quite possible your plan may succeed. Even if we lose half of them, it will be an immense saying over the present expensive and complicated system of getting them by express. think I should prefer a wax receptacle to one of tin, as wax is the natural receptacle for food for the bees, and is soft and warm for them during cool weather. I would get the purest granulated sugar, or chemically. pure sugar, which we find in crystals of rock candy. Let us have this thing accomplished during the year 1883, sure. HONEY FROM WHEAT STUBBLE. N August GLEANINGS I see the subject of honey from wheat spoken of again, also a desire from you for more information. I will give you my experience. the exact date) the frost killed the wheat when it Some twenty-three years ago (I do not recollect was in blossom; the straw seemed to mature, but bound and shocked it in the usual way; and in no wheat in the ear. We cut the straw for feed, hauled it into the barn, and now for the honey. The about ten days after, or as soon as it was cured, we water, and the bees were working on it from mornstubbles were full of honey, very sweet, as clear as ing till night, and in driving and walking through it the stubbles would fly back as the feet would strike them, and throw their contents in every direction— so much so that the horses, wagon, our clothing and faces and hair, became stiff and sticky from the honey, or sweet contained in the stubble. Now, friend Root, I hesitated to write this, for some friend, I fear, will say that it is a "fish" story: but I can substantiate every word I have written, if necessary. I have no doubt that like circumstances would produce the same effect. If we could prevent the berry from forming when the wheat is in blossom, then cut the straw when it is ripe, we should have honey in the stubble in like quantities. We cut the straw of which I spoke, before it was what is commonly called dead ripe. If this will be of any advantage to you, or any one else, I shall feel that I have at least done something for the friends of the honey-bee. S. C. LYBARGER. Ganges, Richland Co., O., Sept. 27, 1882. Many thanks, friend L., for your valuable communication. I am sure no one will think have played an important part in this queer of disputing it. It seems the frost must it did not, we should hardly want to spoil a change in Nature's laboratory; but even if crop of wheat for the sake of getting the stubble full of honey. All these wonderful facts seem to me to indicate that we are fast P. S.-It has occurred to me, since writing this gathering facts that will enable us, by the letter, that if the hole in the blocks in which the tin aid of the bees, to very soon sipeeten the tube is inserted were waxed with hot wax, to pre-world-The great frost to which friend L. vent absorption, then filled with the soft mixture, it refers was probably that of June, 1859. Christiansburg, Ky., Oct. 3, 1882. |