460 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Sept. 



this may not seem much to you). A little over one 

 year ago I accidentally got hold of your ABC book, 

 and then your bee journal, and then I learned pretty 

 fast. E. Hanchett. 



Cleveland, O., Aug. 15, 1883. 



I started out with 13 swarms; increased to 25, 

 making lots of honey. It sells for 18 c. comb and 15 

 cents extracted. I have taken over 400 lbs. in three 

 weeks, and building up strong colonies fast. 



Shell Rock, Iowa, Aug. 1, 1882. J. E. Jewell. 



Do not be uneasy about my sending yoa any more 

 queens at present. I ha ve this week received orders 

 for nearly 100 Holy-Land queens, as high as 26 in one 

 day. How is that? I. R. Good. 



Nappanee, Ind , Aug. 5, 1882. 



CHAFF HIVES. 



Twentytwo colonies of common bees in your chaff 

 hives are making more honey than I can attend to. 

 I have used up the 1000 sections I got of you, besides 

 900 I made myself. J. Ball. 



Chillicothe, Wapello Co., Iowa, Aug. 3, 1883. 



Bees are booming here. About half died last win- 

 ter. The surviving ones have swarmed from three 

 to four times. The swarms have filled their hives, 

 and have plenty for winter. Albert L. M.\rtin. 



Leon ardsburg, Delaware Co., O., Aug. IJ, 188i. 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE CELL. 



Not long ago I was overhauling a hive, and came 

 across a very large queen-cell, which I opened, out 

 of curiosity, and there were two queens in it. I have 

 heard of two queens in a hive before, but never two 

 In a cell. It may not be new to you though. 



New Orleans, La., May 6, 1883. D. McKenzie. 



[We have never before, that I know of, had a case 

 of two queens in one cell.] 



TOADS EATIXC BEES. 



The first week I had my bees I saw a number of 

 toads around near the hive, and thought I would 

 watch them one night; and about dark three hopped 

 up near the alighting-board, and every bee that ven- 

 tured out was snapped up in a hurry. I used to be a 

 friend to toads ; but since then I have killed all that 

 I have seen near the hives. G. W. Stephens. 



Little Britain, Ont., Aug. 17, 1883. 



SWALLOWS eating BEES. 



Are swallows enemies of bees? and will bees be 

 crosser after a hive has been opened, and when, in 

 so doing, a great many are killed and jarred and 

 stirred up? Albert Daub. 



Eau Claire, Wis., July 33, 1883. 



[Swallows sometimes eat bees, and it may be that 

 some kinds of swallows are worse than others. I 

 rather think mashing bees docs make them cross, 

 friend D., and from the way in which you ask the 

 question, we might think yon had had a little ex- 

 perience oil the point.] 



all IS well that ENDS WELL. 



I received the queen all right. I introduced her 

 according to instructions. The bees did let her out. 

 I left her in the cage for over two days. I got in a 

 hurry then, so I let her out on a frame of brood 

 covered with bees. She ran among the bees, and 

 away she went in the air. I stood and looked, amaz- 

 ed; thought my queen had left for A. I. Root's 

 again, but in about 5 minutes she returned and went 

 into the hive all right. W. C. Lounsby. 



Wheatley, Ont., Can., July 39, 1883. 



alsike clover. 

 There is a great flow of honey from alsike. Some 

 stocks fill an upper story in 8 days, all capped over. 

 A swarm of 6 lbs. of bees, put into a Simplicity hive 

 last week on combs and fdn., filled up below and 

 went into the upper story in 8 days. 



James H. Tilly & Bro. 

 Castle Hill, Aroostook Co., Me., July 17, 1883. 



SYMPHORA CARPUS, PEPPERY HONEY, ETC. 



Do you or any of the bee friends know if elm or 

 iron-weed honey is strong or peppery? Our honey 

 we get now is frcm buckwheat, sumac, and a little 

 bush weed I don't know the name of. It has little 

 white blossoms, larger than buckwheat, and red 

 berries. Bees work on it from daylight to dark. 

 Our bees are Italian. Guyton Bros. 



Waco, Texas, Aug. 18, 18S3. 



[Who can answer ai)0Ut the peppery honey? The 

 bush mentioned is probably Symphora Carpus, or 



buck-bush.] 



penitence. 



I have 11 good strong colonies — five in Langstroth 

 hives, three in box hives, two in poor frame hives, 

 and one in nail-keg; and if I am forgiven for this I 

 never will put another swarm in a nail-keg. Some 

 of my bees are nice two-banded yellow bees, and 

 some are natives. 



lower ventilation. 



In 18t0 I wintered two colonies in box hives that 

 were open at the bottom, and set on a bench two 

 and one half feet high from the ground. 



Sunbury, O., Aug. 15, 1883. J. L. Davy. 



smoker-springs, etc. 



I have used three different kinds of smokers. The 

 chief fault in all seems to me to be in the bellows. 

 The springs to mine broke before they had been in 

 u^e six months. Why don't you put the springs on 

 the outside, so that they can be replaced without 

 taking the bellows apart? or if they must be on the 

 inside, would not a wire spring, similar to that on 

 the Star saw-set, last much longer? Another objec- 

 tion is the hinge to the bellows. As the boards of 

 which it is composed keep working backward and 

 forward on each other when in use, this tears the 

 leather out at the corners of the bellows. 



Bangor, la., July 31, 1883. M. A. Jackson. 



[One would almost think, friend J., that our ycJung 

 friend "John" had been reading your letter, for I 

 believe he has '• cured" both of your objections.] 



the new FOLDING TENT. 



Will you please inform me of the height of the 

 tent described in Juvenile Gleanings for Aug., 

 and also the square feet it occupies on the ground? 

 Also tell me what becomes of the bees which fly 

 from the hive when the tent is over them, as well as 

 what those do which return from the field when the 

 tent is over the hive. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., Aug., 1883. 



[The tent stands about C feet high, when spread so 

 that the base occupies 5 feet each way; but if not 

 spread quite so much, the height would be more. 

 The bees on the inside cluster toward the top of the 

 tent, and those outside either circle around until the 

 tent is taken away, or alight on the outside. As 

 soon as the tent is lifted, there is a scrambling of 

 both parties to take up their regular business. Have 

 you never used such a structure when robbers were 

 bad, friend D.? We could never " keep lioiisc " with- 

 out one.] 



