562 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



QUEEN-CAGES. 



I have just this minute received a letter from P. L. 

 Viallon, and here is an extract: "I used the Peet 

 cage for the first time this season, and the reason 

 why I wish to give it up is on account of its being 

 too cold early in the season. I never h?,d so many 

 reports of queens chilled nearly to death. My old 

 cage is very nearly like yours. Last year I mailed 

 915 queens, and GG were reported dead. This year I 

 have so far mailed 613, and 7 have been reported 

 dead. From the reports, I see the Good candy suc- 

 ceeds very well, and next season I intend to give it 

 a trial, as it is less trouble to make than mine." 



THE TIN SIjIDE — AN IMPROVEMENT WANTED. 



On page 131, Bcc-Kccpers' T)istructor, friend Hed- 

 don remarks that he does not consider the tin slide 

 of the Peet as well adapted to the nervous feet of 

 the bees; and I have often thought that this tin 

 slide might not only be "cold for their feet," but, 

 not furnishing them with a secure footing, they are 

 thrown with greater violence against the sides of 

 the cage. A queen, plump with eggs, might get a 

 bad " thump." Who will invent a carpet for cover- 

 ing the tin slide? 



Here is a report from aqueensent to California: — 



The fiiieen came all rijjrlit — only one dead bee, and feed part- 

 ly consumed in one space. Weather is cool, and bees very quiet 

 — little too much ventilation tor this time ot year. I am using 

 the same feed with success. J. D. En as. 



Napa, Cal., Oct. 8, 1882. 



W. z. Hutchinson. 

 Kogersville, Mich., Oct. 18, 1882. 



MORE APOUT QUEEN-CAGES. 



Your card of the Tth instant in regard to last mail- 

 ing-cage is at hand. I object to the "glass bottles," 

 because they will sometimes break. If a fine queen 

 should cut her foot on broken glass, and die of lock- 

 jaw, it would be sad indeed. 



THE PEET CAGE FOR INTRODUCING. 



I also object to the Peet cage for introducing, be- 

 cause it does not always work. I had to lose some 

 good queens, and had quite a lot badly balled before 

 I found that it is not infallible. We discarded it ear- 

 ly last summer, and introduce our queens now ac- 

 cording to directions given by our " old friend Nov- 

 ice." After pulling oti the wooden shields from my 

 cage, proceed according to these directions, and you 

 are absolutehj sure of your queen ; she, being over the 

 cluster and under the chatf cushion, can not freeze, 

 and, having a nice bunch of honey in the "Good 

 food," she will not starve, and you can leave her 

 there a month, if convenient to do so. 



Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 6, 1883. E. M. Hayhurst. 



But, friend II., we have some stout bottles 

 with large mouths, that won't break. Our 

 experience with the Peet cage has been that, 

 in the hands of the experienced, it is by far 

 the most successful way. Where caged 

 queens are placed over the cluster, on the 

 top of the frames, a great many of them are 

 reported dead when they come to release 

 them ; and even when there is a chalf 

 cushion over them, they have died much oft- 

 ener than when caged right in the center of 

 a brood comb, with cells of unsealed honey 

 under the cage. I don't think I shall ever 

 want to go back to our old plan of introduc- 

 ing. 



queens not TO BE JUDGED BY THEIR LOOKS. 



I was much disappointed when I received a queen 

 mailed from you June 14, she was small and black. 

 I thought you had made a mistake and sent a black 



queen; but I see by the July Gleanings that you 

 do not send out any black queens, and 1 thought I 

 would wait and see how it would come out. To-day 

 1 have the best-looking colony of bees that I ever 

 saw— large, and all have throe bands. Sept. 18, I 

 gathered 3Jt lbs. of honey from goldenrod. It has 

 been a very poor year for honey. A bee-keeper 

 near here has 20 colonics, and he has not taken a 

 pound of honey this year, and has had but four or 

 five swarms come out, and that is about the average. 

 Keene, N. H., Sept. 21, 1882. J. A. Batchelder. 



THE GOOD CANDY. 



The following has been in type, waiting 

 for a place several months, so they say in the 

 printing-olhce. I give it now to show you 

 friend Good was not to blame, even if we 

 didn't get hold of the good points in his can- 

 dy any sooner. 



CANDY FOR SHIPPING QUEENS ; FRIEND GOOD'S WAY. 



If you wish to send queens long distances without 

 loss, use granulated sugar, with honey stirred in for 

 feed, and it will go ahead of any thing you have ever 

 tried. You can send queens safely to California 

 without water with this kind of feed. Not much 

 honey in these parts. I. R. Good. 



Nappanee, Ind., July S5, 1883. 



I know by experience the above is good ; 

 but as we make our cages, I am a little 

 afraid the sugar might get all rattled out 

 where the queens go long distances ; and I 

 think, that during warm weather we would 

 prefer the water-bottles. — The foregoing is 

 what I thought July 25, but I have changed 

 my mind novv^, as I presume you all know. 



A good report from MINNESOTA. 



We started in the spring with 13 colonies in Simpli- 

 city hives, and 4 in box hives. They have increased 

 by natural swarming to 19 in Simplicity and 5 in box 

 hives. We have taken 3788 lbs. of honey, .57 lbs. of 

 comb and 2731 lbs. extr.-^icted. The box hives made 

 the comb honey, and the swarms from them made a 

 little of the extracted — not over 300 lbs. ; this leaves 

 an average of 30O lbs. for each of the Vi Simplicity 

 hives. The best colony made 340 lbs. surplus; this 

 colony made 70 lbs. in 7 days during basswood bloom. 

 Two others did neiiiiy as well. These three are hy- 

 brids. Our bees were all blacks until last fall when 

 we bought a dollar queen and raised six from her. 

 They, of course, produce hybrid bees. 



HYBRIDS AHEAD. 



Notwithstanding all we have read in Gleanings 

 about the superiority of the Italians, we were sur- 

 prised to find the hybrids so much better than the 

 blacks. They make nearly twice as much honey. 

 honey-dew. 



Between the yield of basswood and fall flowers our 

 bees gathered 325 lbs. of honej'-dew. They got it 

 from the leaves of various plants growing in a 

 swamp near by, and also from oak leaves. This 

 honey, like that they gathered at the same time in 

 1881, is dark and of poor quality. It does not candy 

 in cold weather, like other honey. While the bees 

 were gathering this honey they tracked it into their 

 hives so that the alighting-boards were quite wet 

 and sticky. We EOticcd that the plant-lice were very 

 abundant on the plants which yielded the honey- 

 dew, but there were frequently no lice on the leaves 

 which yielded the most. Pond Bros. 



Bloomington, Minn., Oct. 10, 1883. 



I would here direct attention to the great 



