558 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTUBE. 



Nov. 



Bees are now making up for the time they lost in 

 spring. My wife's stock is in better shape to-day 

 than it was a year ago. But I find that those who 

 usually let their bees take their own course are com- 

 ing out very poorly, and say they can not see why 

 thej' get neither honey nor swarms. Our bees have 

 swarmed well enough, and are filling up every spot. 



A CKOOKEU QUEEN. 



I looked at one swarm to-day that took me back a 

 little. It sent out a swarm the 3d of June. I put the 

 surplus case on July Ist; took it off the ~5th and put 

 on another one, and took it off to-das', and found 

 every thing all right but the queen, and still she 

 must be too; but she was all crooked up, and did 

 not seem to have any wings on her. She looked like 

 some little old woman all drawn up. 



I think the little feeding I did in spring will bring 

 back double the amount spent. My wife has 54 col- 

 onies. I shall go into winter quarters with about 3C. 

 I shall have sold 20 as soon as they can be moved, 

 and every one goes into chaff hives. Bees are at 

 work on the large heart plant and fireweed,and they 

 do get lots of honey from them. I went out last 

 week one morning to cut and pull up a large patch, 

 and I believe there was a good swarm on three rods 

 square of it. I told my wife I should sow some an- 

 other year, instead of cutting. 



EMPTY COMBS IN THE CENTEH. 



— What do yoii think of the plan of extracting the 

 center frame in hives, and putting the dry comb 

 back with three or four holes cut into it to let the 

 bees pass through? I fixed three that way last year, 

 and I think they come out with more bees. It gives 

 them dry comb to cluster on, and they can get at the 

 honey through the holes. I also wintered some with 

 1' frames ; took out two on side ones, then put back in 

 spring. But last winter Avas one we can not depend 

 on having again this year. I guess they came 

 through anywhere and almost anyhow. 



A. F. ElEENBERGER. 



Laddsburg, Pa., Sept. 5, 1883. 



FrieDtl E., you can't always tell by her 

 looks what a queen may do, any more than 

 you can tell about some people by their 

 looks. Such queens as you describe are oft- 

 en the mothers of some of the very best 

 honey-producin<? colonies.— AVhere the bees 

 liave their hives filled up solid with honey, 

 it may be an advantage to put a couple of 

 empty combs in the center of the brood-nest; 

 but we never have that state of affairs in 

 Medina County. 



THAT SYMPHORICARPUS. 



As I set that sijmplioricarjJiis ball in motion, I feel 

 Interested that it should keep riglit on. As things 

 look now, we are likely to have too much of the vul- 

 gate in it. Whether it be the doctor, Freddie, your- 

 self, or I, or all four together, it has got switched off 

 the track. It must be spelled .vyHip/io/icannis — not 

 symphora carims, much less iiympJtoi'a Varpun. The 

 doctor is right, in the main; it comes from the Greek 

 word phorco, to cluster together, and harpos, fruit. 

 Like so many of our words or names borrowed from 

 other languages, although composed of two words it 

 is only one name. Its varieties, )actm,os«,(7Zom(.'rata, 

 occidentalism etc., are added, and always commence 

 with a small letter, except the variety when named 

 after a man or place; as, mjmphoricarjjus Swciiia. 

 Stelton, N. J., Sept., 1883. G. W. Thompson. 



Many thanks, friend T., for your correc- 



tion, although the error began with yourself, 

 as you wrote the word in your note on p. 513, 

 Oct. Ko., as two separate words, and the 

 Juvenile was led into the same error for 

 the same reason. It will appear as one word 

 hereafter, i^roperly spelled.— The meaning of 

 many botanical terms is involved in uncer- 

 tainty, and it is sometimes difficult to get at 

 the Greek derivation ; and although your 

 definition or the doctor's would describe the 

 plant very accurately, he says yours is more 

 correct, upon further investigation. 



SALT WATER FOB BEES. 



I thick salt water a necessity for bees in the breed- 

 ing season. My 153 swarms have been carrying 

 away about three gallons p:r day since the first of 

 June. That amount of water contains a good hand- 

 ful of salt. We have been giving salt water in this 

 way annually for 18 years. When the salt-feeders 

 are empty, the bees swarm around the dung piles in 

 the feed yards. To explain this: About five barrels 

 of salt are used in salting our hay in mows. When 

 this hay is fed in winter time to the stock, it is fed in 

 racks 33 by 8 feet, surrounded by an offset of about 

 10 inches, to keep cattle from boring into the racks. 

 By spring these racks are surrounded by embank- 

 ments of hay and dung from two to three feet deep. 

 From these piles, containing much of the five bar- 

 rels of salt, a continual sipping takes place. The 

 bees can be kept away from these piles only by keep- 

 ing the feeders filled with salt water. When feeding 

 sweets is ended, we continue with salt, etc. 



RUBBER FDN. PLATES — A GOOD REPORT. 



We made up over 200 lbs. of wax on your rubber 

 dies, and were glad to put Mrs. Dunham's rolls aside. 



Jesse Oren. 

 La Poite City, Black Hawk Co., la., Sept. 8, 1883. 



CROSS bees, and A SUGGESTION. 



I agree with Mr. Paine when he says, "A cross be- 

 tween the black bees and Italians are cross." One 

 of our neighbors call^ them j'cllow-jackets. I have 

 transferred several hives of blacks; they ai-e usual- 

 ly quiet, but hybrids or Italians gather the most 

 honey. But Mr. Williamson, in August Gleanings, 

 seems to think that clipping the wings of a queen 

 will produce wingless bees, and bobbing the tails off 

 dogs will produce tailless dogs. Why not bob the 

 sting of a queen, and produce stingless bees? Mr. 

 Paine, shall we try this? If the rule works one waj-, 

 why not the other? John McBride. 



Fredericksburg, Wayne Co., O., Sept. 25, 1883. 



BE NOT WEARY IN WELL DOING. 



TQis season in Minnesota has been a very remarka- 

 ble one for bee-keepers. During the spring and 

 early summer it was wet and cold. I felt, for one, I 

 was almost ready to join our Blasted Hope friends. 

 I love, as Mrs. Tupper used to say, my little pets; 

 but, brother, just think ; after " feed, feed, feeding," 

 to keep up the "steam" till our usual swarming- 

 time, when I visited my apiary, to find the poor dis- 

 couraged creatures hauling out their drones! the 

 prospect was bad; but the good Lord has sent us, as 

 Mr. Vennor says, a warm " wave," and along with it 

 a shower of honey, filling our hearts with joy and 

 gladness, fulfilling the promise, " Cast thy bread up- 

 on the waters, and thou bhalt find it after many 

 days. A. R, More. 



Pilot Grove, Faribault Co., Minn., Sept. 16, 1883. 



