1882 



GLEA^IKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



533 



for switching on to the side tracks, with the 

 following remarks : — 



As per request, we inclose a pencil cut of oui- 

 track, which will show how we switch from one track 

 to the other. Had not noticed that the original pic- 

 ture did not Eliow it. There is one movable length 

 of track that easilj' moves from the main track to 

 the switch, on either side. The picture rather short- 

 ens the yard, as the distance from the maple-tree to 

 the honey-house is greater than tho breadth. The 

 two rows on the left are chaff hives, and the remain- 

 der are Langstroth. The pencil cut will show you 

 how we are located as to the depot, railroad, etc. 



M. A. WiLI-IAMS & Co. 



Berkshire, N. Y., Oct. 24, 1882. 



It will be noticed, that our friends run 

 their honey right to the station on this same 

 car, so that their honey is shipped without 

 the need of a team at all. Now, by having 

 otlier apiaries along the line of the main rail- 

 road 10 or even lOU miles away, where there is 

 found unusual pasturage, the car with all its 

 appurtenances may be quickly and easily 

 transported, and then, with suitable switch- 

 es, the honey can be taken with little bother 

 and expense. It rather seems to me now as 

 if this were a more promising tield to devel- 

 op than the floating apiary that made such a 

 sensation a few years ago. 



SOME IDEAS FROM THE "BOY BEE- 

 KEEPER." 



REMEDIES FOR BEE-STINGS. 



^ ^ 1©;^^^-^ "^^ things; hold fast to that which is 

 Jsp* good." Excuse me, friend Root, for quot- 

 ' ing this text, but last season I had oc- 

 casion to write a short article which appeared in the 

 October No. of Gleanings, 188], and in which was 

 originally a paragraph on the alleviation of pain 

 from bee-stings. You were so much at variance 

 with my idea, that you struck this portion from the 

 manuscript, but I see that no good thing can be hid, 

 and others are now inviting your attention to the 

 same principles; though when you published some- 

 thing to the effect in a recent issue of Juvenile 

 Gleanings, it was with doubts and wavering. For 

 a long time my theory of bee-stings was like yours — 

 nothing would do any good; but by the mere ac- 

 cident of smoking my hands to destroy the smeU of 

 where I had been stung, I discovered that, for me at 

 least, there was yet a balm in Gilead, for a fjood 

 smoking from a hot-blast smoker afforded a timely 

 relief to the wounds. Try it yourself, friend Hoot; 

 theory is very good, but experience is better. 



THE dry-excrement M.VTTER. 



In regard lo the subject spoken of by the corres- 

 pondent from Maine, I will also say that I have re- 

 peatedly seen bees void comparatively dry excreta, 

 though I admit the probability of its being oftener 

 of a more moist character; but in either case, so far 



as my observations extend, they invariably void 



iheir ffpces in a state of repose, and not upon the 



wing. 



CANDY ran queen-cages - still moke upon the 



SULMF.CT. 



Everybody and his customers are jabbering about 

 queens by mail, water-bottles, candy, etc. A queen 

 passed into my bands early the past summer from 

 one of our "big bee-men," as you call him, and when 

 I released the queen I was in a quandary as to how 

 she had come several hundred miles with such food. 

 It was necessary, after an effort to moisten it, to 

 take a mallet and chisel to get the can ly out, and 

 surely the bees would never have eaten it. I doii't 

 wonder that so many queens are sometimes lost by 

 the amateur, if our criteiions give us such speci- 

 mens of their skill. When Vinllon's candy was first 

 introduced it was supposed to be par excellence, and 

 is now, in my estimation, the best yet treated of in 

 Gleanings. The sugar and honey, and the saturat- 

 ed sponge, each has its merits and its defects, and 

 so, perchance, it will be with all other preparations; 

 but since the subject is inviting so much attention, 

 I would like to say, as I promised in my former arti- 

 cle, something about bee feed. My favorite for 

 queen-cages, which, for want of a better name,! will 

 call "Mitchell's candy," is very simple of prepara- 

 tion, and mny be alvvays on hand. Take common 

 stick candy, such as we find at almost every store; 

 moisten it a little, after breaking it up into small 

 pieces, and work it into a stiff paste — so stiff that 

 it scarcely spreads at all, and just moist enough to 

 stick in the feed-holes of an Alley's Peet cage. Fill 

 one feed-hole with candy, shortly before caging 

 j-our bees, and they will be comparatively safe on 

 the food question, for a journey of several hundred 

 miles, water or no water. If the weather is warm, 

 the heat will assist in keeping the candy soft; if it 

 is damp, the dampness, ditto; but in any ordinary 

 journey it will need no assistance, and will never get 

 so hard that sl/cw drops of water will not render it as 

 good as new. If you do not use all the cages you 

 have prepared, drop a little water on the candy next 

 time, and you need have no fear. We also feed our 

 weak colonies with the same, by simply laying the 

 sticks of candy across the frames. There is no daub- 

 ing nor mussing about it; no bee-feeders, etc., and 

 it answers every purpose. It is eaten in preference 

 to any thing treated of in Gleanings. I have ship- 

 ped all my bees with this candy the past season, and 

 refer the readers to my customers, and especially to 

 friend Root, as to my success. If I mistake not, I 

 have lost only one queen of my own shipment; she 

 was probably smashed. 



Hoping that, in these few remarks, you will And 

 nothing amiss, or to the discredit of the hoy bee- 

 heeper, the witness is with you. 



Chas. R. Mitchell. 



Hawkinsville, Ga., Oct., 1882. 



Friend M., I haven't a doubt but that the 

 bee-sting would feel better after I puffed 

 some smoke on it, for they always feel bet- 

 ter when I don't puff any smoke on them, or 

 do anything else ; and if you will excuse me, 

 I must still holtl to the idea, that it is this 

 tact that accounts for so many remedies we 

 have offered for bee-stings. If I were to 

 commence publishing them, I verily believe 

 they would till Gleanings from beginning 

 to end, and all of them Avould be sure to 

 afford relief too. Puffing smoke on the place 

 is a very easy remedy ; but can it be possi- 



