1SS2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



31 



others all swarmed, and now I have 20. Fourteen 

 are in Simplicity hives, and (> in box. I have taken, 

 •in all, 1100 lbs. of honey - lOOO extracted, and 100 of 

 comb. Just after basswood bloom they feathered a 

 quantity of very thick dark honey which tasted more 

 like mol:issos than honey. I think it must have been 

 hgnc.v-dcw. I was s^irprised to And how large some 

 swarms become when they have plenty of room; be- 

 fore, I had always supposed they had room to do 

 their best in box hives containing 200O cubic inches. 

 I had one case of two queens in one hive. I acci- 

 dentally killed one of them, and the bees very soon 

 started queen-cells, but tore tliem down as soon as 

 they were sealed up. Bees are now in the cellar. 

 Rloomington, Minn., Nov. ™9, 1881. G. IT. Pond. 



WlLLOM'o .VM) lil.PE THISTLE AS HONE V-PLA NTS. 



I have been looking over A B C respecting bee- 

 plants, or honey-producing plants. 'What have you 

 to say on willows? I herewith send you some cut- 

 tings of the Holy -Land willow, from Sunnysidc. 

 They come into blossom early - the very first to 

 make its appearance in this State, and they arc full 

 of bees from morn to night when weather will per- 

 mit bees to work them. You will see they already 

 show signs of budding. It is the most valuable tady 

 honey and pollen producing shrub I am acquainted 

 with. I will send you specimens of full llowers this 

 season. Now another thing 1 wish to correct you on: 

 Blue thistle is no thistle, and docs not belong to that 

 class. It is Bimujn (iixDuliniira, and is a perennial, 

 and you will And a few plants with the willows. It 

 is a great honey-producing plant, and remains in 

 bloom to this date. Dee. 1, in sheltered positions. My 

 bees are bringing pollen to-day, and 1 can Qnd noth- 

 ing else in bf )om, and I see a few bees on this plant. 



C. H. Lake. 



Sunnysidc, Baltimore, Md., Dec. 1, 1S81. 



I did not mention willows amonp the : 

 honey-producing plants, becan.se it did not i 

 seem to me tliat anybody would set out any i 

 plant so hard to eradicate, for honey alone, i 

 I did not at that time know that our fence ' 

 Avillows were honey-producing in some lo- i 

 calities. In a recent back number we have ; 

 been told something of the difficulty of erad- ! 

 icating willows. It has also been nientioned ' 

 that blue thistle is not a thistle ; but still, j 

 some of our friends Avho '"got a going"! 

 could not well stop ; and to keep peace in | 

 the family I took blue-thistle seed out of the ' 

 price list. i 



INTRODUCINr. BV .MAKING .4. NEW COLONY FROM j 

 TWO OI.U ONES. 



Noticing in the Dec. No. of Gleanings, p. OOt, an 

 article in which a method of "introducing" a new 

 queen to a colony of bees without being obliged to 

 hunt up the old one is described, the writer seems 

 to leave a part of the problem unsolved, or at least 

 does not carry his description far enough to cover 

 all requirements of the case. He writes, " Opened 

 No. 1, took out live frames heaviest with brood; 

 brushed all the bees from them, put the frames of 

 brood into an empty hive with queen caged on one 

 of the combs; removed swarm No. ;J a rod or so 

 from its old stand, when bees were tlying l)riskly; 

 put cage containing queen and brood in the place 

 from whence I removed No. 2." Now, from this 

 transaction the influence seems to be that the bees 

 which are absent from No. 2 at the time of the opera- 



1 tion and removal of their hive, will, on returning to 

 j their old stand, enter the nucleus placed there by 

 the operator, as it occupies the place of their former 

 home. But as there are bees in No. ;J at the time of 

 I its removal, how will they conduct themselves on 

 their return from their first trip to the fields, from 

 I their new position ? It seems that the old bees, and, 

 i in fact, all those properly belonging to No. 3, in 

 j gathering, would invariably return to their old stand ; 

 ■ leaving only the nurse bees, or those very young, 

 I with the old queen in the old hive, at the new position, 

 ' making the whole performance no more nor less 

 I than the establishing of a new colony by lUoidina 

 two others; viz., by supplying brood from one, and 

 I bees from another the queen being furnished by 

 the operator. If every thing would work favorably 

 ; by the employment of such means, there seems to be 

 I but little chance for objection to dvidino in this 

 j way. The impression derived from the description 

 seems to favor the idea that there would be no un- 

 favorable result ; but, before attempting its practice, 

 a further assurance seems necessary to establish a 

 perfect confidence in the modus operandi. Has the 

 method been practiced heretofore? If so, can we 

 not have a few words of admonition through Glk.\n- 

 iNGS, from the editor, or some of its numerous vet- 

 eran bee-keeping correspondents? 



.Tas. F. Latham. 

 Cumberland, Maine. Dec. 7, 1881. 



The method has been practiced to a con- 

 siderable extent, when queens are to be in- 

 troduced, and the number of stocks increas- 

 ed at the same time. I know of no objec- 

 tion, e.xcept the one friend Hasty alludes to 

 in his article on page 25. The queen should 

 be kept caged about 48 hours, or until bees 

 from the old hive have pretty nearly stopped 

 coming in. 



HOW far bees fly for honey. 

 I find in Dec. No. of Gle.\nings, page 596, "'31 2 

 miles is as far as we have been able to find Italians 

 working from their hives, when the first ones were 

 brought to our county." Now, when the first Ital- 

 ians were brought to this county (Monroe) they were 

 found working on the flowers 7 miles from the near- 

 est hives. Oi: this there can be no doubt, for it was 

 before there couM have Ijeen any of them in the 

 woods; and although I did not see them, yet I have 

 the fact from the parties who did, and who are en- 

 tirely reliable. As we may not soon again have an 

 opportunity, at least so good a one, of testing the 

 flight of bees for honey as we had when the Italians 

 were introduced, I think it is well enough to record 

 all the facts we can get on so interesting a subject. 



Hugh Marlin. 

 Blooinington, Ind., Dec. 10, 1881. 



Very good, friend jSI., and thanks for the 

 item. What has been the experience of 

 others? 



out ok •■ UL.VSTEI) HOPICS" into "SMILERY." 



I believe I was in the wrong pew anyhow, don't 

 you? Although I had been sick all winter, and lost 

 all my 21 colonies of bees but one weak and queen- 

 less stock, my )tope.-i were not blasted; 'twas only the 

 bees; f<ir I went right to work and bought a hybrid 

 queen for the little swarm I had left, and bought an- 

 other weak swarm with hybrid queen, and from 

 those two weak swarms I now have nine, all in good 

 trim for winter. But I got no honey — didn't expect 

 any; worked for increase altogether. It was a very 



