434 



GLEANINGS IN J3EE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



cious after all, that the Italians had, by some 

 of their wonderful flights, carried their blood 

 even over the 40 miles, when no one suspect- 

 ed it was possible. Will you not, friend M., 

 mail us a cage of these yellow-banded bees 

 that have no Italian blOod about them V 



STATISTICS FOR lOAVA WANTED FOU 

 THE NATIONAL CONVENTION. 



TO ALL ijEE-KEEPERS IN IOWA. 



fBIEND POPPLETON asks us to give 

 ' room for the following, to Avhich we 

 — ■ call the attention of our readers in 

 Iowa : — 



At the next annual meeting of the North Ameri- 

 can Bee-Keepers' Society, to be held Oct. 3cl, in Cin- 

 cinnati, vice-presidents are expected to report the 

 status of the industry in their respective States. 

 This can be done only by the help of bee-keepers in 

 different parts of the State, and I wish that every 

 person interested in bees would, as soon as they see 

 this notice, send me, by postal or letter, a report of 

 the condition of bee-culture in their section, from 

 the close of last year's honey season until the present 



ime. I hope all who see this will respond, as I will 

 not even attempt to make the report expected of 

 me, unless I have sjifBcient information so as to 

 make a reasonably coirect one. O. O. Poppleton. 



Williamstown, Chickasaw Co., la., Aug. 15, 1883. 



ENEMIES TO BEES, ETC. 



ASILtJS MISSOURIENSIS. 



f INCLOSE a "bird" that eats bees. I have seen 

 several of these insects, and with one excep- 

 — ■ tion every one that I saw had a bee on which it 

 was feeding. They are not as common as flies in 

 this section; still, if they subsist entirely on a bee 

 diet they do me a good deal of damage. 1 hope it is 

 not identical with the Missouri bee-bug, and that it 

 is not so disastrous to the bee-keeper. 



MARTINS AND KING-UIRUS. 



I saw in one of the bee-papers that it had been ob- 

 served that martins and king-birds kill only drones. 

 Our king-birds here, I must say, are not so consid- 

 erate. I watched them last spring when cherries 

 were in bloom, and was in such a position that the 

 birds could not see me. One was at work not six 

 feet from my nose, and I saw it take at least ten 

 bees from the flowers. It would dive up to a tree, 

 snatch a bee, and then alight on the fence, give it a 

 pinch and swallow it, when it was ready for another. 

 I tell you, if one comes within rang«, and if I have a 

 gun, and don't miss it, it's a dead bird. 1 have seen 

 martins swooping about after the returning beeS 

 when no drones were out, and I put them down also 

 as bad birds that must keep aloof when I have a gun. 

 I am more afraid of the bugs I send you than of the 

 birds. The latter are soon thinned out or scared 

 away. 



The sumacs give a good lot of honey now, in the 

 early morning. The Rhus globi-a is at its height, 

 and yields fairly. Buckwheat promises well. I have 

 not seen bees on sweet corn. 



ALBINOS. 



I had not seen albino bees until a few days ago. I 

 have a dollar queen from Valentine, of Maryland, 



that produces— well, they are— the prettiest and larg- 

 est bees I ever saw. They do not fly out yet; but as 

 they travel about on the combs they appear a fourth 

 larger than the old bees in the hive. I wish that 

 those who know about these albinos would give us a 

 good full report of what they are, and caa do in the 

 tiild. I admire their appearance, and must albinoize 

 two more stocks in buckwheat time. S. J. H. 



Spotswood, N. J., Aug. 9, 188.'. 



The fly you send is indeed the Asilus Mis- 

 souriensis, so much talked about. I believe 

 they are found in almost all localities where 

 bees are kept in great numbers, but I do not 

 anticipate mucli harm from them, unless 

 they should increase so as to get to be quite 

 numerous. — Your report in regard to the 

 king-birds and martins, seems conclusive. 

 True enough, we do not often (V) see drones 

 on the blossoms of cherry-trees.— We have 

 the albinos, but I have never thought them 

 larger than the average Italians. Uur albi- 

 no, received from Valentine, has not proved 

 as prolific as average queens, but it may be 

 only accidental. Neither have they been 

 above the average Italians as honey-gather- 

 ers. 



^ igi ** 



REPORT FROM KANSAS. 



FEEDING AND FEEDERS. 



FEEL disposed to send you a meager report 

 from this region. Bees did finely last winter — 

 very little loss so far as I know; but the spring 

 proved to be unusually cold and wet. We got no 

 good from fruit-bloom, on account of cold and wet. 

 I fed several stocks till the middle of June, and hav- 

 ing to feed so long caused me to try to get up an- 

 other feeder, which I did. I like it much better 

 than any that I have yet used. I will tell you how 

 it is made, and run the risk of being told that it is 

 obsolete. 



I take a piece of board ''a in. thick and 5 in. wide; 

 cut a slot in the edge =3 wide and Hi in. deep. This 

 slot runs to within H in. of the end; then fit it in, 

 slot side up, H in. from top-bar ia a common brood- 

 frame, and brad it fast; then cut a ?a-in. hole in top- 

 bar, and insert a tin tube to carry the syrup into the 

 feeder. This tube extends M in. above the top-bar; 

 then a hole is cut in the quilt, that leaves the tube 

 always accessible, by simply removing the cover. I 

 insert a small funnel in the tube, and pour the feed 

 down near the cluster, not disturbing a single bee; 

 in this way one hundred stocks could be fed in a 

 very short time. 

 HOW to make strong frames of light stlTfF. 



Tell Mr. Heddon to have a pot of hot glue standing 

 by when he is putting frames together, and just dip 

 the ends of the different pieces in it, and I think he 

 will not care for heavier end-pieces. 



My bees will swarm, even yet, in spite of cutting 

 out queen-cells, or giving more room. I had a 

 swarm Aug. 1st that has 11 frames of fdn. drawn 

 out and filled with honey and brood. A swarm came 

 off on Sabbath while I was at church; I did not find 

 them till late in the evening; they were getting on 

 the wing; they went across the street and entered 

 a vacant chimney-flue, where they are still. I shall 

 try to dislodge them this afternoon. 



J AS. W. M-4.RGRAVE. 



Hiawatha, Kan., Aug. U, 1883. 



Friend M., my objection to your feeder 



