1882 



GLilANlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



249 



tell it so vividly I think it may be a warn- 

 ing to others, for they will be pretty sure to 

 want to put their bees out on shares, if they 

 neglect them that way. 1 very much doubt, 

 friend S., whether you have any '' domestic," 

 or any other " affairs," that will pay you as 

 well as your 20 colonies of bees, if looked 

 after properly. 



HAVE BEES A LIKING FOU SULPHUR? 



In your notice of Dr. Peckham's article in April 

 No., page 186, you ask, " Will anybody else's bees 

 make use of sulphur?" Yes, sir, my bees will, and 

 appear very fond of it. I hud often thought of writ- 

 ing you about it, as I never saw any thing of the 

 kind laid down in " the books," or heard of such a 

 "bee feed" till I accidentally discovered it; but 

 knowing your dislike for drugs and medicines for 

 bees, I hesitated. 



The discovery was made in this way: My wife's 

 hobby is chickens, and she keeps dishes of water 

 sitting around, for them to drink. I noticed a part 

 of these dishes alive with bees, while others were al- 

 most entirely neglected. For some time I was puz- 

 zled to ttll why the bees were so thick at some 

 dishes, and not at all alike. I asked my wife what 

 made the bees so anxious to drink out of some 

 dishes, and not out of others, and she said, "Why, I 

 put a handful of sulphur in those dishes." Scarcely 

 believing that to be the cause, I changed the dishes; 

 but the bees would soon find those which contained 

 the sulphur water. The bees appeared to work 

 most during the very hottest days, when the sulphur 

 was melted and partially mixed with the water. 

 What did they want of it? They did not take it as a 

 cure for dysentery, as they were clean and healthy. 

 Perhaps they were .laying it up as a "household 

 remedy," to use in' case they were attacked by 

 "bacteria." Will Mr. Heddon please look into this 

 matter, as bacteria is his special bantling? 



C. J. F. Howes. 



Adrian, Lenawee Co., Mich., April 20, 1883. 



Why, this is more and more mysterious. 



We all know that sulphur is good for the , 



but we didn't know it would dissolve in 

 water, nor that it melts in the sun — not in 

 " these parts," at least. Isn't it an unusual- 

 ly hot locality where you live, friend II. V 

 Never mind ; the next day the sun shines I 

 will have some sulphur put into that water- 

 jar, and may be 1 will learn something I 

 didn't know. Who knows V 



DRONES FROM WOIiKER EGGS; ADDITIONAL EVI- 

 DENCE. 



On page 173 of April Gleanings, at the close of an 

 article by S. H. Lane, ycu ask, "Can anyone else 

 give us any new facts on this queer matter? " I rise 

 to give my experience. Last season, on the 17th day 

 of May I started three nuclei as follows: I took one 

 frame of sealed honey kept over winter, also one 

 frame of comb from which the honey was extracted 

 in the fall, and put them into a nucleus hive, and 

 between them I put a card of brood in all stages, in- 

 cluding fresh-laid eggs, and about a quart of bees, 

 but no queen. I formed all three of them in the 

 same way, and I knew there was not a drone-cell in 

 either of those three cards of brood, and every one 

 of those nuclei raised not only queens but drones, 

 and they raised them right in the worker comb, 

 where the new eggs were. After that I tried eight 

 or ten more during the season, and every one raised 



drones in the same way. At first I was puziled, for 

 I had no doubt of the truth of the Dzierzon theory; 

 but on mature thought I made up my mind that the 

 worker bees have the sense and skill to move the 

 seminal fluid or matter from the newly laid worker 

 egg, and raise from it a drone. Now, if any have 

 doubts, let them try the experiment; and if their 

 bees can't do it, let them send for some of mine; 

 they can do it every time. I have been watching ev- 

 er since I made the discovery, to see if some other 

 brother did not have a like experience, and, lo, it is 

 brother Lane. So now I venture to speak, for "in 

 the mouth of two or three witnesses," etc. 

 Mansion, Wis., Apr. 7; 1883. H. V. Train. 



A NATURAL HOME FOR THE HONEY-BEES. 



After reading George Grimm's article in April 

 Gleanings, and your reply, 1 concluded to try to de- 

 scribe to you a location that is on my farm, about 

 30 rods from my house; and I should like to have 

 your opinion of the location for an apiary. I will 

 call it a bluff that lies in a rainbow shape from the 

 southeast to the southwest, facing the south; is 

 about 80 to 100 feet high, and rises at about 45 de- 

 grees, and the surface is nearly flat at the base, and 

 covered with small white-oak trees from 10 to twelve 

 feet high. The brush holds its leaves till spring ; the 

 grounJ never froze under the leaves there this win- 

 ter, and never does to exceed three or four inches 

 the coldest winters. The winds can never reach it 

 from any direction. The birds come in large num- 

 bers, and shelter there from the colder storms in 

 winter. Do you think the bees would fly out, or go 

 too far from the hives, and get lost in cold weather? 

 I think they would fly on the coldest days, if the 

 sun shone. The only disadvantage I see is, it is too 

 far from the house. But I think I shall test it this 

 winter. 



I think, friend M., I should proceed forth- 

 with to establish an apiary in the spot you 

 mention ; for I believe it is just what we are 

 coming to, to look out natural sheltered 

 spots like the one you describe. The bees 

 will have the advantage of a Southern cli- 

 mate, and yet they can, in fair weather, soar 

 above the hills around them, and have all 

 the benelits of Northern pasturage. 



GRAPE SUGAR IN IOWA. 



I see so much said about grape sugar, I shall have 

 to give j'ou my experience in it. In the fall of 1880, 

 that bad winter, in putting my bees up for winter, 

 the last one was a young queen that had a large 

 amount of sealed brood, no honey — not more than 3 

 lbs., and 1 had none to give them. This was about 

 Oct. 15th, so 1 put them on 4 combs, and inverted a 

 box of grape sugar 4x0x13 inches, and filled the re- 

 mainder of upper story with rags, and then told 

 them to live or die. About the 1st of March, 1881, I 

 looked in, and the prettiest lot of Italian bees I ever 

 saw was in that box and hive. They had eaten nearly 

 all the sugar, and taken some down into the combs 

 together, and were building comb in the box. Those 

 bees had dwindled some; but I had 6 die and 6 more 

 that came as near as could be and notdie, that never 

 tasted grape sugar. I have wintered 3 this winter 

 on grape sugar, with the same results. 



So it transpires that grape sugar alone 

 will winter bees, even during such severe 

 winters as 1880- '81, and as far north as Iowa. 



DRY EXCREMENT IN THE HIVES. 



What is it that I scrape out of the bottom-board of 



