.504 



GLEANINGS IN I3EE CUETUllE. 



Oct. 



the same way the spider plant and buck- 

 wheat do, at the ai)proach of night, and very 

 early in the morning. When we get sugar 

 cane to bearing honey where the bees can 

 reach it, then indeed we are on the high road 

 to putting bee culture side by side with the 

 great sugar industries. It is a coming, 

 friends, it is a coming ! 



•WORKER VERSUS DRONE FDN. FOR SECTIONS. 



Send 1 lb. thiu foundation for sections (worker). I 

 want no more drone in " mine." B. Hamm. 



Houstonia, Pettis Co., Mo., Aug-. 19, 1882. 



Friend H., I last week purchased a ton of 

 the prettiest and whitest honey in 1-lb. sec- 

 tions, that it has ever been my lot to behold, 

 and every bit of it was built out on drone 

 fdn. I offered 20 cents per lb. for the whole 

 lot, just because it was so white and pretty I 

 " couldn't help it." I presume I shall as- 

 tonish the friends again, by saying it was al- 

 so all built out without separators. A good 

 large starter of drone fdn. was all he had to 

 keep the honey straight. It was raised by 

 Thomas C. Crilly, Grafton, Lorain Co., O. 



SWARMING UP TO ONE'S — " EARS." 



I am,4;his 8th day of August, considerably surpris- 

 ed at my bees. Natural and nuclei-raised young 

 queens have been leading out swarms, and are still 

 at it, leaving full hives of brood and stores; but all 

 the tempting I can do to entice them to stay at 

 home and make stores in sections and empty frames 

 is of no avail. They had all swarmed around and 

 through, as I supposed, by July 10th, and since that 

 date over 30 have swarmed again, all alighting in 

 the topmost branches of my tall oak-trees. They 

 seem to have a perfect fever, and will come out as 

 soon as eggs are laid in the partly formed queen- 

 cell. Cutting out cells is of no account ; they will be 

 idle until they are allowed to come out, then work 

 hard to fill their new quarters. Ha 1 1 been prepar- 

 ed with more hives, I could have had over 100 from 

 my 31 colonies; as it is, T am working hard to con- 

 trive how to keep them down and get my usual crop 

 of section honey. My bees arc now all pure Italian, 

 and nearly all the queens raised this season. My 

 first swarm came off the 38th day of May, and I had 

 3 large ones yesterday, so you see my head and 

 "ears" have been among swarms for over two 

 months. F. A. Ticknob. 



Austin, Mower Co., Minn., Aug. 8, 1882. 



DRONES BEARED IN QUEEN-CELLS. 



Can the leopard change his spots or the Ethiopian 

 his skin, or the drone bee his sex? Did the moun- 

 tain labor and bring forth a mouse? I this day send 

 you by mail a drone bee, and the queen-cell that he 

 was hatched in. Last spring I had a weak colony of 

 bees; they bad no queen. I transferred them to a 

 chaff hive in June, and gave them a frame of un- 

 sealed brood from a young colony. They immedi- 

 ately started several queen-cells, and very soon de- 

 stroyed them and built several others; introduced 

 the larvae and royal jelly, and placed the latter ia 

 several cups near them; but before they were 

 capped over, they too were torn down. They seemed 

 to enjoy cell-building, but refused to be governed 

 by a queen. They evidently had a fertile worker, as 

 there was drone brood in the old hive, aod none in 

 the new hive. After the worker brood was ex- 

 hausted in the frame I gave them, they built sever- 

 al cells and destroyed all but two of full size, which 



they capped over. After waiting a long time, and 

 watching them closely, I to-day fltid the first one 

 capped over, hatching a common drone, which I 

 send you. No. 2 is not hatched jct, but will very 

 soon. I will watch it closely and report. The bees 

 refused to defend their hive until the two cells 

 above described were capped over. Then they be- 

 came cross as bears. Thomas Bushnell. 

 Hayesville, O., Aug. 29, 1832. 



The above shows conclusively, that when 

 queen-cells are built ove)' drone larvte, the 

 royal food does not always kill the larva?, 

 but that it may hatch out a drone, in spite 

 of it. ^Ve have had similar reports of the 

 same thing before, if I am correct. A drone 

 egg can, under no circumstances, hatch out 

 a worker or a queen, but recent facts seem 

 to indicate tliat a worker egg may hatch out 

 a drone. 



a BEGINNER IN A QUANDARY. 



The 211h day of Aug. found me in a quandary. My 

 bees are in one-story L. hives, 8 frames. The bees 

 had filled their hives with brood and honey, after 

 having extracted about 35 gallons of nice white- 

 clover and bass wood honey. It being late in the 

 season I did not know what to do, and the bees show- 

 ing strong signs of swarming, I made up my mind to 

 seek the advice of an experienced bee-keeper in this 

 State. He must have experience, as he secured 

 20,C00 lbs. of honey last season. I will give you my 

 questions and his answers to them: — 



1. Would it be safe to extract as late ia the season 

 as this date? 



It would be sifeto extra*^*^ nf.er securing 2 or 3 

 nice combs of ripe honey to tall back on for winter. 



2. Would it pay to put on sections? 



I would advise putting on sections filled with nice 

 light foundation; if not filled this fall, you would 

 have so much of a start next season. 



3. Would it be advisable to divide, using dollar 

 queens? 



You could increase by using dijllar queens, but I 

 would prefer to keep the stocks heavy for winter. 



Cato, Mich., Sept. 1, 1882. S. J. Youngman. 



It don't seem to me I should ever be in a 

 quandary, friend Y., Avhen my hives were 

 full of honey, and more was coming, no mat- 

 ter what season of the year it was. I quite 

 agree with all the advice your friend has 

 given you. 



THE NAME BACK OF IT. 



1 believe the first I ever heard your name men- 

 tioned was by N. C. Mitchell, in one of his bee 

 pamphlets. He entered a train of abuse which is 

 calculated, I think, to harm himself more than any 

 one else. I have seen your name favorably men- 

 tioned by some of the leading bee manuals and jour- 

 nals— something lean not say for him. I merely 

 mention this as my first introduction to you. 



W. B. Mitchell. 



Mt. Pulaski, Logan Co., 111., Aug. 28, 1882. 



The above illustrates a point it were well 

 to keep in mind. It is not what some single 

 individual says of us, but our whole past 

 life, that is damaging to our reputation. If 

 you have a character to back you, it doesn't 

 matter very much what some one may say ; 

 but if you have none, what you may say of 

 others counts but little. Hence the impor- 

 tance of building up character, little by lit- 

 tle, and day by day. Take care of the little 

 acts and every-day occurrences, and in time 



