1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



401 



pie is perhaps a mixture of persimmon and bass- 

 wood. The bees are ready and waiting for another 

 harvest. I hope we shall have no more candied 

 honey, as it is difficult and unpleasant to work with. 

 I took about 100 lbs. of honey like sample, but did 

 not take more than a third from colonies working 

 for extracted honey; took about 100 lbs. in sections; 

 it was nice; about 1100 lbs. in all, to date. 

 Coronaca, S. C, July U, 1882. J. D. Fooshe. 



The honey sent is of fair quality, aside 

 from this unpleasant candying feature ; in 

 fact, it has a flavor not unlike dried figs. If 

 some sort of confectionery could be devised 

 to work it in, it seems as if it might find fa- 

 vor. As it can be spread upon bread like 

 butter, it seems as if it might answer just as 

 well, for home consumption, even if it won't 

 liquify ; but I suspect the main trouble is, it 

 doesn't look handsome. 



WHY DID THEY SWARM OUT? • 



Well, I went into winter quarters last fall with 11 

 colonies on their summer stands; lost one by winter- 

 ing, and one in May by swarming out, and one as 

 late as June 6th, from same cause as the last. The 

 season now bids fair to be good and long, and I think 

 will turn out all right yet, even if the spring was so 

 unfavorable. A few days ago 1 divided a neighbor's 

 bees that were in box hives, just making two colo- 

 onies out of one, giving each colony brood in all 

 stages, and pajing no attention where the queens 

 were. In three days I went back to look at them, 

 found two colonies rearing queens; and one colony, 

 to which I had given brood by transferring combs 

 from the old hive, proved to have the queen; but 

 the combs had broken down, and I had to take thoni 

 out; but they had built several new combs in the 

 hive, and were woiking nicely. But they swarmed 

 out the same afternoon, and clustered, when I hived 

 them again in the same hive, moved it to anew 

 stand, and they are doing well now. Now, what was 

 the cause of their swarming out after they had been 

 working so nicely, and they are a large swarm? 



J. K. Eby, 10. 



NoTth Robinson, Crawford Co., O., July 5, 1882. 



They swarmed out, friend E., because the 

 combs broke down. Very likely they held a 

 council of all the wise little heads in their 

 little community, and, after due considera- 

 tion, looking at the tumble-down mass from 

 all points of view, they resolved that, to the 

 best of their judgment, the wisest thing 

 would be to just go off and leave the whole 

 thing, and start over again, and l\x things 

 better. (^Id-fashioned cross-sticks, or mod- 

 ern movable combs, would very likely have 

 prevented the mishap When combs tum- 

 ble down, you need to get at it and fix tliem 

 without delay, or the bees will be pretty sure 

 to desert and start somewhere else. 



BEE-VEII.S WITH (JI,ASS BEFOUE THE FACE. 



As the question of what kind of bee hat or veil is 

 best to use for the eyes has been discussed, I will 

 send you a description iin<l illustration of the kind 

 that I use. There is no wire cloth or veil to obstruct 

 the eyesight, and every thing can be seen as clear as 

 day. Take a strip of wire cloth about V inches wide 

 and 28 long; have your tinner make a frame out of 

 doubled tin tixT inches, and rivet it to the ends of 

 the wire cloth; then cut apiece of good, heavy, clear 

 glass that will just slip into the tin frame, and fast- 



en it there; then bind the top and bottom edges of 

 the wire cloth; sew it on to the brim of a hat, and 

 sew cloth or netting to the bottom of it, to put under 

 your coat, and you have a bee-hat that will not hurt 

 your eyes. I have used mine two years, and have 

 not broken the glass, nor does it get smoked up. 



My bees are doing well; have increased from 6 

 swarms to 16 by natural swarming ; first swarm came 

 out May 25. Wm. A. Jay. 



Jayfleld, Mich., July 10, 1882. 



JJee-veils with glass were suggested some 

 time ago, friend J. ; and while the matter 

 was being discussed in Gleanings, we made 

 and sold a few of them. My objections to 

 them were, that the glass would soon get 

 sticky and dim, and then it Avas much hard- 

 er to see through than the silk lace we now 

 use. Besides, when kept washed and clean, 

 the retlection of the glass was to me quite a 

 hindrance when looking for eggs in the cells. 



BEES GETTIXfi HONEY FROM THE CASTOR-OIL 

 PLANT. 



I observe that my bees are getting honey from a 

 saccharine substance that exudes from the imma- 

 ture capsule of the castor-oil plant {Riciniis com- 

 munis). It appears that the sweet watery juice, or 

 the honey-like matter, exudes nocturnally; but on 

 exposure to the sun it becomes hard, and has the 

 granular aspect of brown sugar. It is very sweet, 

 and my bees consume it voraciously. They also get 

 pollen from the bloom of the plant. Is not this a 

 rare occurrence, for the castor-oil plant to yield 

 honey? If not, I should think it a very profitable 

 plant for bee-keepers. Wm. A. Smith. 



Merriman, Tex , July 5, 1882. 



I am inclined to think it is unusual, iiiend 

 S., or that you have a variety of castor-bean 

 different from ours. We have had the large 

 variety in our garden, as an ornamental 

 idant, but have never seen a bee around 

 them so far. Will you please send me some 

 seeds V 



A VISIT to a "big BEF.-M.\N." 



I visited oui bi^j bee-man in this part of the coun- 

 try yesterday — Mr. Wyatt Morehouse. I suppose 

 he is well known to you, he having dealt with you 

 considerably. After a ride of about 14 miles along 

 the side of the Catskill Mountains, through valleys 

 and dense woods, over rocks and stones, we found 

 him settled in a pretty iittle opening on the south 

 side of the mountain. AVhen we arrived he was in 

 his yard, with smoker in his hand, hard at work. Al- 

 though a perfect stranger, we were not long in get- 

 ting ac(iuainted. We found him to be a very pleas- 

 ant and sociable gentleman, ready and willing to 

 show and tell us all he knew, which to us (we being 

 novices) seemed to be almost every thing. After 

 spending the afternoon with him I bought a Root 

 chaff hive and started for home. And now I am 

 waiting patiently for a swarm of bees from an ohl- 

 fashioned hive which I have on band. I would rec- 

 ommenil all bee-keepers, or those interested in bees, 

 in this part of the country, to call on Mr. Morehouse. 



lirodhead, N. Y., July 4, 1882. Herbert Shaw. 



Now, friend Morehouse, if this brings you 

 too prominently before the people, you must 

 keep hives and things enough for sale, .so 

 that you c;in afford to stop and talk and ex- 

 plain, or else keep somebody to do it for 

 you. I know of no more pleasant way of 



