1882 



GliEANlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



401 



STILL MORE CANDIED HONEV, ETC. 



Bees have never done better than they are doing 

 now. My honey is all granulated in the comb. 

 There are no Italians near, except those I have sold 

 — some that are mixed. Well. T do not know what 

 to do with my bees; they will notstay in their hive. 

 I give them a frame, but they leave it, and out they 

 come; some have come out as often as three times: 

 what shall I do with them? Nearly all arc large 

 swarms, and do well, when I can get them to stay. 

 At 4 p M., out came a swarm hived yesterday; I put 

 them back, l>ut they will be out to-moriow again, I 

 suppose. The bee fever is high in this section, and 

 people are making frame hives this spring. 



J. L. McDaniel. 



Moorsboro, N. C, June lo, 1882. 



The bee fever does indeed .seem to be 

 "high," friend ]\[., especially among the 

 hers. I did not know at lirst but that they 

 might have swarmed out more, on account 

 of that granulated honey ; but I think, after 

 hearing you through, that it is only the usu- 

 al swarming fever that we often see when 

 honey is very plentiful in the fields. I would 

 divide the heaviest swarms that seem so 

 bent on decamping, and let one part of them 

 raise some queen-cells, just to tone them 

 down a little. The absconding mania will 

 soon pass over, and then — look out for the 

 honey. 



SWAKMINO EARLY IN THE MORNING. 



My bees are doing nicely; never bad them worlc 

 better, and are swarming every day. I had a swarm 

 come out tifteen minutes l)efore C on the morning of 

 the ICth. Can you beat that? T never had a swarm 

 earlier than 8 o'clock before. Bees are storing hon- 

 ey from white clover now, and are making up for 

 the loss in conscquenct^ of the cold wet spring. 



Merritt, 111., June 10, 188:i. H. W. Hitt. 



Such early swarming is very unusual, 

 friend 11., and I stippose, of coiirse, it was 

 an after-swarm with a young queen. First 

 swarms seldom come off before the sun is 

 pretty well up and all tlie dew well dried oif 

 the grass. 



SALT FOR BEES. 



I have rea 1 with interest all the " big " bec-mens 

 experience, but have never seen any one yet who 

 ever tried salt in breeding-lime. I salt mine once a 

 week during spring and summer; l)y so doing I 

 keep them from sucking al)Out the kitchen or slop- 

 barrel. 



POLLEN AND PROPOLIS. 



There has been a good deal said about pollen, 

 about whence it comes. I think Mr. Doolittle is right, 

 but I don't think everything they l)riug in is pollen, 

 as I have seen them getting gum from the sweet- 

 gum tree. They also get giim off the goldenrod, 

 when the stalk breaks or splits. D. A. Gakdner. 



Dytr Station, Gibson Co., Teun., June 18, 1883. 



CUrXINO OFF LI.MBS, ETC 



I bought 4 swarms of bees this spring for $3(1. Oil. 

 I have made 8 hives for the new swarms, Langstroth 

 style. One swarm came out Tuesday, the 1:5th, and 

 clustered on an applc-trce limb that I didn't want to 

 saw, but I did saw it, and hived them alone — the 

 first swarm I ever saw in the air. Tliey came out 

 the next day at 11 o'clock, and cbisteredon a cherry- 

 tree, and I hived them again, and left them there 

 until dark; then I carried them to the stand, and 



they are contented, so far as I know. They have 

 been there five and a half days. 



Edgar Kawley. 



DeWitt, Onon. Co., N. Y., June 10, 1883. 



Well, r think, friend H,., you should not 

 have cut off any liml>s from your apple or 

 cherry tree either ; but instead, I would 

 have shaken the bees right into the hive, or 

 taken tliem down Avith a swarming-box or 

 basket. If you saw off a limb every time 

 when your apiary gets to be large, you might 

 sadly disligure ail your shrubbery. Letting 

 them stand until ttark, I do not think made 

 any difference ; but putting in a frame of 

 larva', as we have so often talked about of 

 late, would, I think, have made them stay 

 the lirst time. 



FOUNDATION ON PAPER BASE, ETC. 



I have been experimenting a little this season 

 with paper for the base of fdn., and have had very 

 fair success, even with common straw paper, by dip- 

 ping sheets of paper in wax, and rolling, while the 

 wax is yet quite warm. Almost uU the wax will be 

 forced into the side wall, leaving the base almost 

 entirely of paper. Now, if a very fine quality of 

 paper were used, say silk paper, would there not be 

 a saving of wax, while at the same time adding 

 to the strength of the comb? And further, if the 

 supply of wax should give out, as you intimate, 

 would not paraltine work better in paper than in 

 wired frames? It may be that you have gone over 

 that ground before, and know all the objections 

 thereto; if so, 1 should be glad to have you mention 

 them. 



This has been a very p^or season to get fdn. 

 worked out by the bees, but thej' have taken to the 

 fdn. on paper much better than that without; this I 

 attribnte to its being pressed while soft, and the 

 surplus wax i-olling back on the other gives the 

 sheet a rough appearance, and enables the bees to 

 get a better hold to nibble than where a smooth sur- 

 face is presented. 



No surplus honey so far; weather cold and foggy. 

 I think the honey crop will be an entire failure. 



K. TOUCHTON. 



Santa Baula, Cal., June 14, 1883. 



The idea is an old one, friend T.,and it 

 has been several times revived. The great 

 objection is, that when the How of honey 

 stops, and the bees are looking out for any 

 kind of mischief, they will tear the combs 

 all in i)ieces, in their efforts to get the paper 

 out. Tliere is also a waste of wax on the 

 scrap, and it seems very hard to get it out. 

 Your idea of rolling it quite Avarm, may be an 

 imi)rovement ; but the two objections men- 

 tioned, I hardly know how we shall get over. 



HONEY IN CITIES, DARKENED BY COAL SMOKE. 



We intend to extract this season, because our bees 

 can not make comb In the city without getting the 

 smoky tinge on it, and then the very whitest clover 

 and basswood has a dingy-looking comb, which nev- 

 er sells satisfactorily. We would not mind selling it 

 4 or !> ets. per lb. less, but those who buy it can not 

 sell it without grumbling. We left 35 colonies on 

 their summer stands as usual; all came out well, 

 except one lost its queen, which we replaced, and all 

 are now in working ord'.r, waiting only for some- 

 thing to do. A. C. Kendel. 



Cleveland, O.. June 8, 1883. 



