586 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



QCEEIVS FROM ITALY, BY MAIL,. 



SOME HINTS ON PROVISIONING THE CAGES. 



fflV S the subject of provisioning queen-cages has 

 p%^ been extensiveli' discussed through the pa- 

 "^** pers of late, and as many reports indicate 

 that quite a number of queens are lost in the mails 

 on account of improper food, perhaps, I take the 

 liberty to send you a queen-cag-e, without bees, pro- 

 visioned ready for a long journej'. This 1 do, be- 

 cause, if it gives others the satisfaction that It has 

 me, I shall be well paid for the little trouble. You 

 will see that the food-receptacle is simply a tin tube 

 with a J4-inch hole in the center, like the bung-hole 

 of a barrel. The ends of the tube are closed with 

 corks. The food is simply extracted honey (if can- 

 died, the better), and white sugar, mixed to the con- 

 sistency of a thick paste. You remove one of the 

 corks, place your thumb over the bung-hole, and All 

 the barrel full of the mixture, using a round stick to 

 tamp it full. The cork is then replaced, and the tin 

 barrel so adjusted in the cage that the bung-hole 

 will be accessible to the bees. 



To remove the barrel from its place in the cage, 

 insert a stiff awl, or point of a knife. In the bung- 

 hole, and slide it out. Please notice the condition 

 of the mixture in the food-receptacle, as It has been 

 prepared two weeks. 



It is really amusing to see the queen's suit passing 

 In and out of the miniature bung-hole of the minia- 

 ture barrel after the contents is partly exhausted. 

 I have given this method of provisioning a fair trial, 

 and I am convinced that it is superior to any other 

 method now in use. The tin barrel excludes the air 

 and prevents evaporation, and does not absorb the 

 moisture In the food, as in the case where the candy 

 is put into holes in the cage-block, as employed by 

 Mr. Good and others, though his method is an im- 

 provement on the hard candy and empty bottles. 1 

 say empty bottles, because theconcussion the bottles 

 receive In the mail-bag^jars all the water out of them 

 directly. I am confident, that, with a tin barrel one 

 inch in diameter and two inches long, filled with a 

 soft mixture, as above described, I can send a queen 

 and) her ;suit by mail to Italy safe and sound. If 

 God spares me till next summer 1 intend to send by 

 mail a queen to a U. S. official at Milan, Italy, with 

 whom 1 have had private correspondence. The gen- 

 tleman alluded to has cordially offered to assist me 

 in any enterprise relating to bee culture, li I suc- 

 ceed 1 will have Italian queens st nt to me by mail 

 from Italy, the cages provisioned by means of the 

 tin barrels. With this method <if provisioning, the 

 only quet-tion is, how long will the queen and her 

 suit endure close confinement? 



The honey season here has been a failure as to 

 surplus; too much rain and cool weather, which 

 was uiifavorable to the secretion of nectar. The 

 bloom was abundant all the season, but it did net 

 yield a surplus. I am happy, however, to say that 

 hydropiper came to our relief, and our bees are nice- 

 ly provisioned for winter. It is still giving some 

 honey mornings. The guldenrods are abundant,— 

 but are badly damaged by a black beetle, and there- 

 fore are of little force. G. W. Demaree. 



Christiansburg, Ky., Oct. 3, 1883. 



P. S.— It has occurred to me, since writing this 

 letter, that if the hole in the blocks in which the tin 

 tube is inserted were waxed with hot wax, to pre- 

 vent absorption, then filled with the soft mixture, it 



would be cheaper than the tin tubes, and would ans- 

 wer for any ordinary journey, eh? G. W. D. 



Many thanks, friend D., for calling our at- 

 tention again to the matter of getting queens 

 from Italy by mail. We have tried it once 

 or twice, and failed; but for all that, I be- 

 lieve it will yet be done, and I think it quite 

 possible your plan may succeed. Even if we 

 lose half of them, it will be an immense sav- 

 ing over the present expensive and compli- 

 cated .system of getting them by express. I 

 think I should prefer a wax receptacle to 

 one of tin, as wax is the natural receptacle 

 for food for the bees, and is soft and warm 

 for them during cool weather. I would get 

 the purest granulated sugar, or chemically 

 pure sugar, which we find in crystals of rock 

 candy. Let us have this thing accomplished 

 during the year 1883, sure. 



HONEY FROITI WHEAT STUBBLE. 



ANOTHER STEP IN THE GREAT PROBLEM, 



EN August Gleanings I see the subject of honey 

 from wheat spoken of again, also a desire from 

 you for more information. I will give you my 

 experience. 



Some twenty-three years ago ([ do not recollect 

 the exact date) the frost killed the wheat when it 

 was in blossom; the straw seemed to mature, but 

 no wheat in the ear. We cut the straw for feed, 

 bound and shocked it in the usual way; and in 

 about ten days after, or as soon as it was cured, we 

 hauled it into the barn, and now for the honey. The 

 stubbles were full of honey, very sweet, as clear as 

 water, and the bees were working on it from morn- 

 ing till night, and in driving and walking through it 

 the stubbles would fly back as the feet would strike 

 them, and throw their contents in every direction— 

 so much so that the horses, wagon, our clothing and 

 faces and hair, became stiff and sticky from the hon- 

 ey, or sweet contained in the stubble. 



Now, friend Root, I hesitated to write this, for 

 some friend, I fear, will say that it is a "fish" story; 

 but I can substantiate every word I have written, if 

 necessary. I have no doubt that like circumstances 

 would produce the same effect. If we could prevent 

 the berry from forming when the wheat is in blos- 

 som, then cut the straw when it is ripe, we should 

 have honey in the stubble in like quantities. We 

 cut the straw of which I spoke, before it was what 

 is eommonl}' called dead ripe. 



If this will be of any advantage to you, or any one 

 else, 1 shall feel that I have at least done something 

 for the friends of the honey-bee. 



S. C. Lybargeu. 



Ganges, Richland Co., O., Sept. 27, 1882. 



Many thanks, friend L., for your valnable 

 communication. J am sure no one will think 

 of disputing it. It seems tlie frost must 

 have played an important part in this queer 

 change in Nature's laboratory ; but even If 

 it did not, we should hardly want to spoil a 

 crop of wheat for the sake of getting the 

 stubble full of h(mey. All these wonderful 

 fads seem to me to indicate that we are fast 

 gat heiing facts that will enable us, by the 



aid of th<^ bees, to very soon sweeten the 



ucorld — The great frost to which friend L. 

 refers was probably that of June, 1859. 



