1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



85 



two of the ordinary honey-gates in it. The 

 usual one at the bottom is for drawing off 

 the impurities that settle, while one about 

 six inches higher up draws the clean wax 

 into the dipping boiler, which sets right un- 

 der this gate. The melting-can is right up 

 against the wax-bin, so no wax is dropped 

 on the floor in the almost constant replen- 

 ishing needed. If your tinner and black- 

 smith can not make them for you we will 

 furnish the whole outfit for S25.00. The 

 pipes must be tinned, or covered with tin, 

 where submerged in the wax, orthe wax will 

 be colored by them. 



that last winter was a hard one, and nearly every- 

 body's hees froze to death. My success with bees 

 was put into the papers, and peopl? who had lost all 

 their bees came to see me. They asked me how I 

 saved them. I told them that 1 read Gleanings, 

 and I would go right straight to my little drawer 

 and hand them on c, and tell them to take it homo 

 and read it, and keep it, and then they could tell 

 more about bees than I could. I also sold between 

 50 and 100 lbs. of honey, at 20 cents. My bees are 

 hybrids. B. F. Bark. 



Flaglcrs, Marion Co., la., Dae. 3i\ 1881. 



nONEV FROM CORN. 



Friend Oren says, '• I do not believe that honey is 

 ever gathered from the tassels, or the male organs, 

 of corn." Now, that may be so; but who is it that 

 has not seen grains of corn on the tassel? If there 

 is not female bloom on the tassel, how can that be? 

 I have seen bees gather honey from corn-tassel, and 

 friend Root will not need his microscope if he gets 

 out early (as he generally does) to see the bees gath- 

 er honey from corn. I thinlc it is secreted only at 

 night, like the buckwheat. It is a fact not to be dis- 

 puted, that corn-tassel docs ijic^d lumcij — sonic years 

 more than others, and that there is female bloom on 

 the tassel. "But," says one, "that is a freak of 

 nature." Now I believe (others to the contrary not- 

 withstanding), that there is female bloom on the 

 tassel; but with undeveloped organs of generation; 

 and only in case of freaks of nature do these organs 

 become impregnated, and that said bloom yields 

 honey, to a greater or loss extent, as the case may 

 be. I think yellow corn yields more honey than 

 white corn; and in a dry year it seems to yield more 

 than a wet year. I have good reason to believe that 

 my bees, Italians, almost made a living from it this 

 last dry spel., till Spanish needle came, for, on ac- 

 count of the dry weather, the corn was very irregu- 

 lar in sending up tassels, which seemed to be a prov- 

 idential circumstance. Now, if there is one kind of 

 corn that will yield more honey than another, let's 

 have it. Perhaps friend Oren is like one of my 

 neighbors, who says, "The drones lay the eggs." 

 Now I have been three years trying to convince him 

 of his error, and I have failed. 



Geo. W. Stites. 



Spring Station, Spencer Co., Ind. 



Gently, friend S. You think bees get 

 honey from corn ; but, if I am correct, you 

 haven't actually seen honey on the corn, and 

 that is the point friend Oren wants brouglit 

 out. If there is honey in the corn, it should 

 be seen and tasted, like the honey from clo- 

 ver and other plants; but I must confess, I 

 have so far been unable to lind any, although 

 the bees were very busy when getting the 

 pollen. The sweetest diied corn we have 

 ever found comes from our Mammoth sweet 

 corn ; and as bees are always busy on it, it 

 looks probable that they may get honey, or a 

 very sweet pollen. How about the latter 

 idea V 



CHAEF hives; ANOTHER GOOD REPORT. 



Last spring I had 4 stands of bees that I brought 

 w th me, packed in chaff, just as your book says. 

 They took to swarming, and kept on till I had 30 

 now swarms and the 1 old ones, and one I caught in 

 the woods made me 2.5 colonies. Now don't forget 



NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET. 



I am not out of the woods yet by about 3 months, 

 but I think I will " holler" a little anyway. I have 

 50 hives of bees, all in L. hives, on their summer 

 stands, or, rather, in rows, with plank nailed close- 

 ly together, and placed at the west side, leaving a 

 space of 4 or 5 inches, which I have filled with dry 

 sawdust, and covered nicely, save one. 



NOISE AND DISTURBANCE IN WINTERING. 



I built a hexagonal house, 12 ft. to the side and 23 

 ft. high. I use the lower room for a work-shop, and 

 the upper for a band-room. There are 15 members, 

 and we have IB horns and 3 drums, so you see wc 

 can make quite a noise; well, I put one hive of bees, 

 that weighed 46 lbs., into this room, with the en- 

 trance on the outside of the building, for an expei-i- 

 ment. I had an idea the noise from the band would 

 kill them, and so it has, or nearly so. After they 

 had been there 60 days I examined them and found 

 about 5 lbs. of honey, and about 1 pt. of bees. When 

 it was warm enough for them to fly they would dis- 

 charge their fieces on the house so badly they would 

 nearly ruin the white paint. On examining those 

 put away first mentioned, I found them as nice and 

 di-y as I could wish for, and I don't think they had 

 consumed over 5 lbs. of honey to the hive. I write 

 this to show beginners the danger of making noise 

 about bees in winter. J. F. Kight. 



Poseyvillo, Posey Co., Ind., Jan. 11, 1883. 



Let US draw conclusions slowly, friend K. 

 Although the noise has probably injured 

 them, it is not really certain they Avould not 

 have done just as badly in such a room if it 

 had not been for the band. 



"PROPOLIS DAUBERS." 



I have a dollar queen (hybrid at that) from D. S. 

 Given, that is wonderfully prolific. Her colony gave 

 me the most honey last summer of any; but I never 

 saw such persistent propolis daubers in my life. I 

 am sure I earned every pound of honey 1 got from 

 them. She would just suit your cheap hives (see 

 your advice to friend Ballou, page 141, 1881). 



OUM-TKEES. 



Can some of our Southern bee-keepers give me the 

 value of the different species of gum-trees for hon- 

 ey, as compared with linn, quality of honey, etc.? 



A. S. Davison. 



AuUville, Lafayette Co., Mo., Jan. 13, 1883. 

 I too have noticed that certain colonies 

 were inveterate "pollen daubers;"' but as 

 they were good workers, and wintered al- 

 most invariably well, why not keep such for 

 extracted honey, and let them "daub "y — I 

 do not think any gum tree, will compare 

 with linden. 



