1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



457 



and then this single openinsc can be covered 

 with a piece of waxed cloth, and your honey 

 is safe from any danger, even if kept for 

 years. Of course, it will have to be attend- 

 ed to if moth worms are seen inside ; but of 

 late this is so rare a thing with ns that we 

 hardly think it needs considering. 



kingsley's fdn. fastener. 



It is simply a shaft with three small wheels upon 

 it, made of half-inch boards. Although these wheels 

 arc perfectly round, the shaft goes through a little 

 out of the cent'^r, and of course they do not describe 

 u perfect circle in turning. The center wheel, in 

 turning, raises the lever that presses the fdn. in the 

 box, and at the same time the two outside wheels 

 come around and push the box out while it is being 

 pressed with the lever. It is geared to a balance- 

 wheel on another shaft, to make it run regularly. 

 The whole thing works together in one frame, and 

 can bo run by hand, or in connection with other 

 machinery. Free to all! Ciias. Kincslky. 



Greenville, Greene Co., Tenn., August 10, 18S3. 



Cjuite an ingenious idea, friend K.,and no 

 doubt but that many of the friends skillful 

 in the use of tools will i)rotit by it. If the 

 whole arrangement could be made of cast 

 iron it might be (luite small, and yet do the 

 work perfectly and rapidly. Who will work 

 it up y 



TEXAS AGAIN. 



We have an unbounded yield of honey this season. 

 I never saw anything to equal it. I have 3500 lbs. of 

 honej', and hives full again. Two hives of Dr. Mc- 

 Cuilock made each 300 lbs. of extracted honey. 

 Mine averaged 175. We did not make any box hon- 

 ej'; will have to next year, for extracted is hard to 

 sell. We shall have to get, for ne.xt year, a fdn. ma- 

 chine. Bees swarmed the most this year I ever 

 knew; and when the flow of honey commenced, 

 when they swarmed I never could find a queen-cell 

 in the hive! I have read of such cases, but never 

 saw it till this year. I am glad you send the Juve- 

 nile Gleanings. It is my little boy's (Joseph's) 

 Gleanings. It makes a kind of semi-monthly. The 

 bee fever is raging here at an alarming rate. By 

 another year I expect a great many to embark in 

 the business. S. C. Fox. 



Maysflcld, Milam Co., Tex., Aug. 1, 1883. 



SUB-EARTH VENTILATION. 



The sub-earth ventilator is 6-inch tile; I think the 

 bigger the better. Suppose it is as big as a barrel, as 

 long as the air is pure, dry, and of the right temper- 

 ature. 



SMOKER WOOD — AN OFFER. 



Yes, I will furni'h the right stutf. Rotten maple, 

 broken up suitable for smokers, 75 cts. per bushel; 

 $1.50 per bbl., at depot, so long as the supply lasts. 



F. H. Cyrenius. 



Scriba, Oswego Co., N. Y., Aug. 10, 1883. 



I think you mistake, friend C. in saying 

 it does not matter how large our sub-earth 

 tube is. If as large as a barrel, the air would 

 not get warmed in passing through. I would 

 by no means hiive the pii)e larger than six- 

 inch tile ; and if that wouldn't give capacity 

 enough, I would have two or more, laid far 

 enough apart so that each might be sur- 

 rounded on all sides with warm earth.— It 

 seems to me that 75 cents a bushel is high, 

 even for nice rotten maple; but I am glad 



to see the matter started, even at that price. 

 The editor of our county paper suggests, that 

 if one wants rotten wood, he should start a 

 paper and take subscriptions in wood. It 

 might not, however, be of just the sort we 

 bee-men want. 



FOUL BROOD. 



Last spring, 3 of my hives of bees were sick with 

 what I supposed was foul brood. The new swarms 

 which come out of those hives are, to all appearance, 

 all right; they are good thrifty hives, and all the 

 young bees seem to hatch. But the old sick hives 

 look the same as ever; there will be from 100 to 300 

 dead bees in each comb Can it be foul brood? Will 

 you favor me with an answer by mail, if it is not out 

 of your line of business? Paul Scheurino. 



West Depere. Brown Co., Wis., Aug. 7, 1882. 



From the description you give, friend S., 

 I should not call it foul brood ; but if the 

 cells of dead brood have the characteristic 

 pin-hole in the center of the cap, and the 

 disagreeable smell, I should call it so un- 

 questionably. 



MORE ABOUT SEALING UP HONEY-TUMBLERS. 



Since the matter from friend Green, in re- 

 gard to sealing up honey in the glass-tum- 

 blers, we get the following : — 



In putting on the paper caps now, I complete the 

 caps before putting them on tumblers with honey 

 in, using for this purpose an empty tumbler having 

 two or three thicknesses of pasteboard in the cap to 

 prevent it from coming clear down. Then cut off 

 close with a pair of cissors. I presume, however, 

 that you can make such caps, or at least plain disks, 

 much cheaper than they can be made by hand; and 

 if so, I shall want some with my next order. 



J. A. Green. 



Dayton, 111., Aug. 9, 1883. 



Every suggestion in this matter is im- 

 portant, for the sales of honey-tumblers are 

 now getting to be immense. We are just 

 now unloading a single order of 100 gross. 



WHY BEES COME TO OUR APIARIES, ETC. 



1 was interested in the reasons given in August 

 Gleanings, why bees come to our apiaries. That 

 bees do have certain lines of flight, is certain; and 

 that they will go some distance out of the direct 

 course to get into these highways, I have proved to 

 my satisfaction by hunting bees. I have come to 

 the conclusion, that the oft-quoted "bee-line " is not 

 always as straight as it might be. By the way, I 

 must tell you of my luck in finding a bee-tree a few 

 days ago. I cut the tree and got a pretty good 

 swarm of bees, and the first sumac honey I ever 

 tasted. The honey had a peculiar taste, which I 

 didn't fancy. Perry Hansford. 



Troy, W. Va., Aug. 8, 1883. 



drones from worker eggs, again. 

 According to the various illustrated descriptions 

 of the generative organs of the queen bee, the eggs 

 are formed in the ovaries; where, after becoming 

 perfected in size and form, they possess all the re- 

 quisites of the future bee, except the qualifications 

 necessary for the development of the female sex by 

 impregnation from the male fluid deposited in the 

 spermatheca, at the time of the queen's mating with 

 the drone. When the act of deposition is perform- 

 ed by the queen, and the passage of the egg through 

 the oviduct, impregnation is accomplished by its re- 



