1882 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



615 



tive bees are ahead of any thing we have 

 here. 



PLAN FUK A HONEY-HOUSE WANTED. 



Where can I find a statement of how to build a 

 house that will be most convenient for extractinj? 

 honey, for storing box or section honey (especially 

 that taken off early in the season), with an eye to 

 fumigating the same when necessary to keep out 

 the moths, how to light the same, and have good 

 ventilation, and yet keep out every bee, and make 

 It also mouse and rat proof ? I want to know the 

 height, whether one or two stories ; the length 

 and breadth sufficient to store the honey from 200 

 colonies of bees, half extracted and half comb hon- 

 ey, and RulHcient room to do the work well, and 

 store away the combs when done extracting for the 

 season; Avhat material to use, so as to build such a 

 house in the cheapest possible manner, and yet good 

 enough to answer the above requirements. I should 

 like to hear through Gleanings from those who 

 have cheap and convenient honey-houses in actual 

 use. Under the head of " ITouse Apiary," in A B C, 

 are some items given, but not exactly what I want, 

 and I know of several persons besides mj s°lf who 

 want to build a good honey-house, and want to hear 

 from those who have handled a large amount of 

 honey, and know from experience what is wanted. 



Belleville, 111. E. T. Flanagan. 



Friend F., we do recognize the need of 

 plain directions and drawings for sucli a 

 structure, and I would give ?100 to-day for a 

 plan of one that would just suit me. Will 

 those who have such structures in use give 

 us some facts and ideas in the matter? We 

 want a house so neat that it will be a plea- 

 sure to show our visitors our crop of honey. 

 Who has one ? 



SPIDER plant six FEET NINE INCHES HIGH. 



My bees did very well this summer. I don't think 

 1 shall need to buy any more spider or Simpson 

 plant seed, for I have plenty of both kinds now. I 

 think the spider a wonderful plant; it commenced 

 to blossom the fore part of July, and was not ended 

 till frost came. The bees worked well on them. I 

 think I had some nice ones. I measured some 

 which were 6 feet 9 inches high, and 5 inches at the 

 base. I have 16 bearing limbs, 8 of those limbs hav- 

 ing from 3 to 7 bearing branches. 



Louis Mertz. 



Williamstown, Ohio, Nov. 16, 1883. 



I guess you have beaten us a little, friend 

 Mertz ; but I don't believe we have ever yet 

 had ours out early enough, nor on as good 

 ground as they might have had. 



FERTILE QUEENS "GOING VISITING " 



It has for a long time seemed to me that the mat- 

 ter of "queens going a visiting" is one of much im- 

 portance as a factoi in the pi-oblem of improvement 

 in our races of bees. I have given some considera- 

 ble thought to the question, and the result is, that I 

 am led to firmly believe that many of our fertile 

 queens do leave the hive for some unexplained pur- 

 pose of their own, and more often than we have usu- 

 ally supposed. Certain facts that have come under 

 my own observation, and which I have already 

 stated to you in previous letters, would seem to 

 strongly support my idea, if not to conclusively 

 prove it. I of course am constantly looking for 

 facts in support of my theory, and I now ask you 

 why the circumstance which you relate on page 283 



of A B C does not support very strongly my idea. 

 You there mention giving a neighbor a black queen 

 for an observing-hive, which queen shortly after 

 came home to you, bringing her colony with her. 



My explanation of that matter is this: The queen 

 had been in the habit of making excursions from 

 her old hive; and when can-led to the new one, or 

 shortly aft«r, started out on another excursion; and 

 the bees not being used to this thing, or for some in- 

 explical)le cause, went with her. The queen hav- 

 ing become fami'iar with the surrounding country 

 in various directions, by rea'^on of prior flights, rec- 

 ognized the old landmarks; and when she was tried 

 of her excursion she went back to the old home, of 

 course taking her retinue with her, where she was 

 recognized at once, and welcomed. Is not the above 

 a natural solution of the matter? It so seems to me, 

 and I never look for a mysterious or a miraculous 

 cause when a natural one can be found. 



The fact (if it is a fact), that queens do often leave 

 a hive, would explain many other mysteries, and 

 make perfectly clear some things which are now 

 enveloped in doubt. I opine, that bees are " f unnj' 

 critters," and that we hardly understand all their 

 itidiosyncrasies yet; but if we strive to learn, and 

 that without being governed by prejudice, we shall 

 eventually rise out of the darkness which now en- 

 velopes us, into the bright light of intelligent and 

 liberal knowledge. J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Foxboro, Norfolk Co., Mass., Nov. 9, 1883. 



Thanks for the sugsrestion, friend Pond. 

 May be you are right ; but how about clipped 

 queens that are foiuid in so many apiaries? 

 W^iy don't we find them lost, or hopping 

 about in the grass, as they do in swarming 

 time ; or do they go out on the alighting- 

 board, and have good sense enough to go in 

 again, when they find they can not fly? 

 Clipped queens do occasionaUy get into 

 neighboring liives, but not as often as I 

 should think, if your theory be true. I do 

 think we are learning. 



WIRED FRAMES — A NEW IDEA. 



Since reading friend Clark's article on wired 

 frames, it occurred to me to use wire staples J4 inch 

 long, and clip one end off thus P. Drive these in top 

 and bottom bars at the points where you wish to 

 have the wires, leaving just room enough to slip the 

 wire over the short point. Hang the wires on loose- 

 ly, drive in the staples till the wire is tight, and it is 

 done. It works like a charm, for I have just tried it. 

 If the staples could be bent thus ' they would be bet- 

 ter. C. H. Deane. 



Mortonsville, Ky., Aug. 4, 1882. 



Something similar has been several times 

 suggested, friend M. ; and although driving 

 in so many staples will be much moi-e ex- 

 pensive for us than drilling holes by machin- 

 ery, it will doubtless not be as expensive 

 when the children at home are set at it dur- 

 ing the winter. They might be paid so 

 much per hundred for putting in the staples 

 and wiring. The next point is to get staples 

 ascheaply as we should have them. The or- 

 dinary blind staples, smallest size, are per- 

 hai)S the cheapest of any thing to be had; 

 but we must cut one leg off. 1 presume the 

 blind-staple makers could modify their ma- 

 chines so as to give them to us very low. 

 Of course, we could use them as ihey are by 

 putting the wire through ; but this would 



