454 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Sept. 



BEES, SMOKERS, AND ROSE LICE. 



I am among- the bees all the time I have to spare, 

 and then is the time to observe their habits. I am 

 now satisfied that when there is a good honey-flow, 

 bees fly faster, or with more speed, than when hon- 

 ey is scarce. 1 think the sting of the bee is more 

 painful in hot summer weather than in cool weather 

 of spring and fall. That Clark smoker I got of you 

 is one of the best tools I have in my apiary. When 

 I hive bees I shake them into a largo tin pan, and 

 turn them in front of the hive; in a few minutes I 

 take the smoker and give those that return to the 

 limb or tree a few whiffs of smoke, and they will 

 immediately quit trying to form another cluster on 

 the tree, and go to the hive with the rest of the bees. 

 There is another use for the smoker that sliould 

 cause you to sell hundreds of them to those who do 

 not keep bees, and that is for killing the lice on 

 , rose-bushes. Mix tobacco with rotten wood ; cover 

 the bush with a sheet, and the pest of the rose-bush 

 is a pest no more after giving them a thorough 

 smoking. T. Rothwell. 



Austinville, Bradford Co., Pa., July 20, 1883. 



SOMETHING ABOUT SUMAC — AN EXCITED ABC 

 SCHOLAR. 



1 should like to know if bees work on sumac every 

 year or not. Will H. Perry, of Southbury, Conn., 

 please answer? Friend Root, I sec you say that you 

 never saw bees working on sumac. I wish you were 

 here to see my bees going for it. A neighbor of 

 mine has about one acre of it on his farm, and he 

 tells me that they work on it every year. Now, if it 

 is the case, I shall plant 10,000 this fall, for I think I 

 have never seen such a pretty sight. This patch of 

 sumac has been in bloom for about 10 days, and it 

 looks as if it would last 30 days longer. 



Geo. Thoun. 



Willmoths, Barbour Co., W. Va., July 24, 1883. 



We have got some on oitr grounds, friend 

 T.; but altliough it is making a beautiful 

 show of foliage, not a blossom have we seen 

 yet. Go on with your 10,000. 



THE VICIOUS " CYPS." 



Both of my Cyprian queens died last fall, and I 

 was glad of it, as they were exactly like hornets. I 

 could do nothing with them. They never hunted 

 for a " bare place" to "bite," but made a straight 

 dive for you, and it made no difference to them 

 where they "lit." Often my pants legs would be 

 nearly covered with them, with their backs bowed 

 up, trying their best to reach " bottom;" all their 

 young queens met Italian drones but one, and are 

 not cross; they are as easy to handle as pure Ital- 

 ians. Henry S. Shull. 



Wellsville, Ohio, August, 1883. 



I believe the testimony generally agrees 

 with yours, friend S., that cine cross with the 

 Italians usually removes most of this intense 

 vindictiveness. 



the man who married a GIRL THAT LIKED HONEY. 



Back in my boyhood days I used to ramble over 

 the woods to hunt bee-trees; yes, and I foimd them 

 too. But time passed away, and about four years 

 ago I got married to a girl who likes honey, and can 

 work with bees too, so my boyish inclinations for 

 bees rose in me again. I saw your advei-tisement, 

 and got your ABC book, so we have got the bee fe- 

 ^'er pretty high now. Some of my friends tell me 

 that the business has been tried in this part of the 



country, and that it will not pay me. I am a poor 

 man. I have a black-eyed boy and a blue-eyed girl 

 to raise. I have forty stands. I am now doing well. 

 First swarm May 7; next swarm May 16th, from the 

 same colony. The same queen came out with a 

 large swarm the first of July. I think, if the honey 

 weather continues a little longer, she will come out 

 with a large swarm. She has done 300 per cent bet- 

 ter than the blacks. All of my hybrids have done 

 better than the blacks. Nearly all of the bees in 

 this part of the country are blacks. I am " talking 

 Italian" to my neighbors. 



Now a word about tobacco. I have been a user of 

 it for several years; but by the grace of God I in- 

 tend to quit it: I can not without. 



Georgetown, 111., July 32, 1883. J. R. Lindley. 



FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 



I had 10 colonies in the spring; I now have TiO; 

 have taken between 300 and 400 lbs. of honey. Bees 

 did well up to June 30, when the honey crop was cut 

 short; since then they have done but little. 



candied HONEY, AGAIN. 



The honey gathered in the latter part of May and 

 first of June candied so we could not use the ex- 

 tractor. Will bees winter well on candied honej'? 



OVERSTOCKING. 



How manj' colonies will overstock, or be too many 

 for one apiary with only natural pasturage? 



W. D. Thorp. 

 Eagle Mills, Iredell Co., N. C, July 31, 1883. 



As a rule, when you get over 50 colonies 

 in a place, you will be likely to get less hon- 

 ey than if you had a less number, although 

 the convenience of having your bees all near 

 you may make it desirable to keep a hun- 

 dred or more in one place. For queen-rear- 

 ing, where we expect to feed, two or three 

 hundred may be kept protitably. 



HONEY -DEW. 



Last Sunday I saw and tasted honey-dew, while in 

 a hickory and oak grove near our cemetery (where I 

 buried my Christmas baby a year ago last May). I 

 heard bees at work, and after some search discover' 

 ed it to iDC a syrupy substance on nearly every leaf 

 of both hickory and oak trees. I did not discover 

 any extra amount of honey gathered by my bees, 

 nor have I had a chance to look for it again; so I 

 don't know that it continues. C. B. Potter. 



deneseo, N. Y., July 14, 1883. 



God gives, and God takes away, friend P., 

 and he loves at one time as well as the oth- 

 er, lie who knows the mystery of the hon- 

 ey-dew as well as the mystei\v of that other 

 land, where you shall see the little loved one 

 again, doetli all things well ; and may our 

 faith in him never waver. 



extracted HONEY FOR CANNING FRUIT. 



I think you ought to recommend extracted hon- 

 ey to all those who have fruit to can, for I think 

 it is a great deal cheaper than sugar; and the fruit 

 put up with it will not spoil. It takes only ^a of 

 the weight of honey to make the same sweetness 

 that it does of sugar, and therefore you will see 

 it is a great deal cheaper. Try some by all means, 

 if you ha\'e any fruit to can, and try it in different 

 proportions; I think you will say it cans the nicest 

 of any thing that you ever saw. Boil the honey a 

 Httle before putting the fruit in. J. CraiG. 



Mt. Meriden, Aug. Co., Va., July 29, 1883. 



I 



