1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



607 



chievous colonies, to get rid of their com- 

 pany. Now, who will work out the problem 

 of getting bees to work by moonlight? The 

 spider flower would afford a promising field 

 for experiment. 



QUEENS FROM DRONE EGGS, AGAIN. [SEE P. 561, NOV. 

 NUMBER.] 



Nov. Gleanings is at hand, fresh and full of inter- 

 est as ever. T want to ask you if you think the queen 

 laid just 6 egg-8 for worker bees only, and all the 

 rest hatched drones, and if the bees kiKW they were 

 worlter eggs, and so made 6 queens? If you say she 

 did, then I'll laugh. I watched that frame closely, 

 and am sure there was not a worker hatched from 

 that drone frame till the new queen filled it with 

 eggs, then they all hatched workers. They had 

 plenty of drones, and didn't make any more. As 

 for drone -laying queens, I know nothing — never 

 had one. Of course, workers' eggs are a sort of mon- 

 grel; they could make nothing but drones, and they 

 good for nothing. I will not bother you any more 

 now, but if I live, I will try the experiment again. 



Foristell, Mo., Nov. 6, 1883. A. Bixby. 



We want to be " bothered," friend B., right 

 along, at least until we find out a little more 

 what we don''t know, as well as what we do 

 know. I, too, have several times seen nice 

 queens come from cells that I thought con- 

 tained only drone larvjB. Now let us look 

 carefully into the matter. 



QUEENLESSNESS IN THE FALL, ETC. 



Do the bees continue to gather pollen after brood- 

 rearing has ceased In the fall, or is it a sign that they 

 are still rearing brood when they gather pollen in 

 November? From what signs would you judge a 

 colony to be queenless at this season, supposing that 

 the queen had been but recently lost, and that you 

 had no positive proof of the fact? Do you make it a 

 practice to supersede your queens on account of age, 

 or do you let them i-emain as long as the colony pros- 

 pers? Please give your practice on this point. 



H. D. Stewart. 



Landisburg, Perry Co., Pa., Nov. 6, 1883. 

 Bees are more disposed to gather pollen 

 when they are rearing brood, than when they 

 are queenless; and we seldom find a queen- 

 less stock very active in carrying in pollen. — 

 The actions of the bees when the hive is open- 

 ed will generally indicate whether they are 

 queenless; but it is seldom as plainly to be 

 seen in the fall, after brood-rearing has ceas- 

 ed. When the bees are in a dense, compact 

 cluster, you may be pretty sure they have a 

 queen. We never kill queens so long as they 

 do good work, but we always sell old queens 

 cheaper than young ones. 



HONEY UNDER THE EAVES OF THE HOUSE. 



As I have seen no report from my section of coun- 

 try, 1 thought a few lines would perhaps be of inter- 

 est. The early part of the season was cold, wet. and 

 discouraging for the bees; but the last half of June, 

 and all of July, August, and September, was the 

 best in all my e.vperience. There was no Inclina- 

 tion in swarms to abscond where they were looked 

 after (there never is, in my opinion, where there is a 

 good flow of honey). There are b ut few successful 

 bee-keepers in this section of country, and very few 

 persons who are posted in bee culture. I have done 

 something at it for 12 years; but for the past Ave 

 years, my time has been too fully occupied in other 



business to give the bees half the attention they 

 should have. My Italians have run out to hybrids 

 and blacks, and are as cross as hornets. Bees have 

 worked anywhere this year, even under the stands 

 in the porticos of the hive?. I know of ten or twelve 

 that are working in houses, between the siding and 

 plastering. A gentlemen in the country asked me 

 to take a ride to his house, and get some honey for 

 him. He said he had a patent hive, and could not 

 handle the bees in it. I found them under the eaves 

 of his house —about 30 combs that averaged about 

 10 inches square. I cut out 60 lbs. choice honey, and 

 nailed boards over the remainder, with bees plenty, 

 and about 60 lbs. of honey, and gave them a chance 

 to live over winter. 



EXTRA COMBS OF POLLEN. 



I have lost two hives from becoming queenless (or, 

 as inexperienced bee-keepers say, they were robbed); 

 now the combs are in good shape, but about half of 

 them are very full of pollen. I have always made 

 such combs into wax. But now the question arises 

 in my mind, if these combs would not be valuable 

 for an early swarm, or whether so much bee-bread 

 would not be in the way. Will you or some of your 

 correspondents answer as to their value, to give the 

 bees in the spring or to a first swarm ? The smoker 

 you sent me is certainly the boss, both for cheap- 

 ness and satisfactory work. 



TOBACCO. 



I am glad that you are encouraging those using' 

 tobacco to quit the useless, evil habit. I used it for 

 many years; have not used it for over six years, and 

 I think it very damaging in more ways than one. It 

 injures a person physically, mentally, and morally, 

 as well as deprives a person from the full enjoyment 

 of religion. I am not asking for a smoker. I have 

 been paid a thousand from the good results of quit- 

 ting. J. B. RlDENOUR. 



Woodhull, 111., Nov. 14, 1883. 



I should think it was time for a report, 

 friend R., if the bees are so badly neglected 

 they hang the honey under the eaves of the 

 house, waiting for some one to take it away. 

 —Of course, the pollen-filled combs are valu- 

 able for next season. In our locality, the 

 bees often suffer in the spring because of a 

 lack of pollen.— Thanks for the " lift " you 

 give us on the tobacco matter. 



WILL IT PAY TO USE LAND ENTIRELY FOR HONEY- 

 PLANTS? 



Will it pay the interest and taxes on land at $15.00 

 per acre to sow sweet clover, and to plant basswood 

 for the honey (on the same piece of land), and the 

 land is in brush? Would It be best to plant bass- 

 wood among the trees, or cut all out and sow sweet 

 clover, and plant basswood? M. Isbbll. 



Norwich, N. Y., Nov. 11, 1883. 



These questions are hard to answer, be- 

 cause we have so few positive facts in regard 

 to the amount of honey that a single acre of 

 basswood, or clover either, may yield. Your 

 basswood would sell for timber, in the course 

 of years, but your sweet clover would fur- 

 nish nothing of any account, aside from the 

 seed that might be sold to other bee-men. I 

 think I should plant the basswoods in the 

 brush, for my experience has been that 

 young trees thus situated outstrip even those 

 under cultivation. The ground seems to 

 need covering from the direct rays of the 

 sun. Even if this were not the case, I 



