408 



GLEA2^INGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Atjc4* 



enjoying a day, and few things more in- 

 structive, than visiting a real live modern 

 bee-man. I do jiot know but that it would 

 be in order to advise the friends to take care 

 to make at least a few little purchases after 

 taking up very much of the time of one who 

 is comparatively a stranger. For my part, I 

 always feel a little more free about troub- 

 ling a man, when I liave just bought some- 

 thing of him. 



THE HOLLYHOCK AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



Tell me what kind of a honey-producing plant the 

 common hollyhock is. There was a good large plat 

 in my garden, thick with it, that grew up six or eight 

 feet high, and for a long time I have never seen 

 bees work on any thing as they did on that. It 

 seemed there were three or four large swarms at 

 work on it at one time. The Spider plant here was 

 a complete failure. It blooms a great deal, but I 

 have never seen a bee at work on it. 



Wm. S. Boyd. 



Lincolnton, Lincoln Co., Ga., July 13, 1883. 



I have seen bees on the hollyhock to some 

 extent, but nothing like what you mention, 

 friend B. All of the Mallow family, to 

 which the hollyhock belongs, seems to yield 

 honey and pollen, and we have a small vari- 

 ety on our grounds that has been several 

 times mentioned. I would like to test those 

 you have, and if you will send us some seeds 

 we will see how our 4U0 colonies will look 

 after the honey. 



foundation in wired fr.\mes. 



I PUT in some fdn. with the wire and tin bars; it 

 is just splendid. I don t think I shall ever 

 ■ want any more wired foundation. I would 

 rather put it in myself, it is so nice. 



James B. Mason. 

 Mechanic Falls, Me., June 19, 1882. 



Prospects are not good for honey this jear in Cali- 

 fornia. J. P. M. Rainbow. 

 Fall Brook, San D. Co., Cal., May 1, 1883. 



I am wintering 152 swarms; sold $1050 worth of 

 honey. Kufus Comstock. 



Plattsburgh, N. Y., Jan. 36, 1883. 



I don't like the "Underbill tenement hive;" it 

 may be extra for winter. Too unhandy to move. 

 Marseilles, 111., June 13, 1883. M. W. Akeks. 



I never saw bees work as they do now, since I have 

 kept them. Had 66 to begin the season with. 



A. F. Staufpek. 

 Sterling, Whitcsides Co., 111., June 23, 1883. 



wintering in a greenhouse. 

 1 have had good success with ray hives of bees 

 wintered in the greenhouse. W. J. Kidd. 



Logansport, Ind., June 28, 1883. 



I have had to feed ray 100 colonies considerably, 

 but now you can hear that glorious white-clover 

 "hum." Wesley Dibble. 



Middleburgh, N. Y., July 1, 1883. 



CANDIED HONEY. 



Our honey is all candied in the comb; I fear they 

 can not live on it this winter. They are making 

 very little honey now. J. L. Mc Daniel. 



Morsboro, N. C, July 3, 1883. 



DARK HONEY DURING POOR SEASONS. 



No honey to speak of yet; white clever a failure; 

 bees are getting very dark honey from some source. 

 I never experienced such a poor season thus far, 



Hartford, N. Y., June 30, 1883. J. H. Martin. 



"AWFUL BUSY." 



The preparation for surplus honey, and taking 

 caro of an avalanche of swarms of bees, has been 

 more than I could attend to. I had the money in 

 the house all the time, but could not send it. I had 

 to work day and night. A. S. Griffith. 



Lebanon, III., June 30, 18S3. 



A NOVEL SMOKER. 



For a smoker, I use a smoothing-iron, one of the 

 self-heating kind. I put a few coals in the bottom, 

 and then a few fine chips and bark from the wood- 

 pile, and give it a draft, and get all the smoke I 

 need. P. H. Adams, M. D. 



Florence, Williamson Co., Texas, June, 1883. 



CLIPPING QUEENS NOT ALWAYS A "SAVING" OP- 

 ERATION. 



The last queen you sent me was " Neighbor H.'s," 

 and she was excellent; but I clipped her wing, and 

 they swarmed while 1 was from home, and she was 

 lost. Jennie W. Humphreys. 



Woodstown, N. J., July 1, 1883. 



My 387 hives of bees have increased to 560, and 

 prospects are now favorable for our getting 34 of a 

 crop of honey. I have just received a postal order 

 from New Zealand for queens. The order was cashed 

 in my own postoffice here at home; thanks to good 

 postal arrangements. K. Wilkin, 



San Buenaventura, Cal., June 4, 1883. 



DANDELION HONEY, ETC. 



I wintered 37 colonies, Italians, without loss. Hare 

 sold 14. The remainder have increased to 45 stocks; 

 some are now making honey in sections. I have ex- 

 tracted 50 lbs. dandelion honey, the first I have ever 

 had of that sort. F. A. Ticknor. 



Austin, Minn., June 20, 1882. 



The wax-plant spoken of in last month's paper is 

 one of the Hoya. They bloom every summer, and 

 I have noticed those large drops of honey. Often 

 they have to be strong plants before they bloom. 

 Could not the bee-keepers in California try it in a 

 shady place, as it will not stand the full blaze of the 

 sun? Will A. Hammond. 



Kichmond, Va., JulyS, 1883. 



.JONES ENTRANCE-GUARDS. 



I find that they are a "big thing" for the purpose 

 for which they are intended, and more especially in 

 my case, as I am away from my apiary almost every 

 day during the day time. They answer a good pur- 

 pose in preventing the queen from coming out, and 

 a swarm running away, In case they get a little 

 start. J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Fo.xboro, Norfolk Co., Mass., June 5, 1883. 



