616 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



probably take much longer than simply 

 catching a loop of wire over the staple. An- 

 other thing to be gained is, that we should 

 then have a smooth clean top-bar. I confess 

 these holes and wires running along the top- 

 bar have always been a sort of eyesore to me. 

 I have thought of tinned tacks, with the 

 wire given a turn around them; but I am a 

 little afraid they would pull out ; and unless 

 the staples are put in well, we may have the 

 same troubles with them. Make a gauge- 

 mark along your top and bottom bars, inside, 

 so you can drive the staples on an exact line, 

 for we want the wires to lie perfectly level. 



EXCESSIVE SECRETION OF WAX. 



Inclo?ed please find sample of what I found on the 

 bottom-board of hive, being completely covered. A 

 strong wind was blowing at the time, so I saved but 

 little. This Is my second season with bees. I have 

 17 colonies, all of which will be wintered in chaff 

 hives. No surplus this yeai-. I have fed 150 lbs. of 

 A sugar. I read Gleanings and ^.B. .7. I lilse to 

 handle bees better than any thing I ever did. I do 

 not use any covering for face or hands when work- 

 ing among them. Let me say here, that I have fed 

 12 lbs. of syrup to the colony that produced sample; 

 that may account for shedding of wax secretions. 



W. M. Chapman. 



North Monsee, Maine, Oct. 28, 1882. 



The sample sent is scales of wax, exceed- 

 ingly large, and of a pearly crystalline appear- 

 ance. It was, as you suggest, friend C, 

 probably caused by the sugar you fed; and 

 for some reason, instead of being used for 

 building comb, was allowed to fall to the 

 bottom-board of the hive. Very often, in 

 artificial feeding, we get something wrong, 

 or not quite in accordance with nature, and 

 this wax is produced in such excess as to be 

 wasted. I have sometimes thought white 

 sugar produces whiter and harder wax than 

 honey. The specimen sent looks and tastes 

 like the hard bleached wax of commerce. 



CYPRIANS. 



I write this note to warn any person who may be 

 without expetlence, to have nothing to do with 

 Cyprian bees. They are no better workers or breed- 

 ers than Italians. The most vicious hybrids I ever 

 had are turtle doves compared with Cyprians. 

 Gloves and veil are no protection. Smoke is only an 

 aggravation. They will stick to you and crawl over 

 you, and squeeze through you ckthes and get into 

 your eyes. And they will follow you and rem'-m- 

 ber how you look, after you have retreated. They 

 will fill your clothes full of stings, many nf them 

 going clear through. Their stings are larger and 

 more poisonous than other bees'. They ought to be 

 killed as we kill vipers and rattlesnakes. I killed 

 mine with brimstone, and the man who gave them 

 to me wrote that he killed his. Indeed, I had hard 

 work to get them killed; thej' seemed almost brim- 

 stone-proof. J. H. Creiqhton. 



Lithopolis, Fairfield Co., O. 



Well, friend C.,you make one point pretty 

 clear, any way, and that is, that they do dif- 

 fer a little from Italians. 



queens reared under the swarming impulse. 



In the report of the North American Bee- Keepers' 



Society, as published in November Gleanings, T 



am made to say, that " queens reared under the 



swarming impulse are not necessarily any better 

 than those reared at other seasons." This expres- 

 sion as it stands, without the context, would only 

 give a fragment of my meaning, and would certainly 

 leave the readerunder a wrong impression. The lan- 

 guage quoted (a fragment) was used during 1 he discus- 

 sion of my paper on "Queen-Rearing." In that paper 

 I "pictured " out the conditions of the hive during 

 the swarming impulse, and most distinctlij stated that 

 these conditions must be kept in mind by the queen- 

 breeder, and conformed to, if we wish first-class 

 queens. The report should read: "Queens reared 

 under the swarming impulse are not necessarily any 

 better than those reared at other seasons, provided 

 the necessary conditions are complied with." As an 

 act of simple justice to myself I hope you will give 

 this, and also the paper referred to, an insertion in 

 Gleanings. J. P. H. Brown. 



Augusta, Ga., Nov. 4, 1882. 



We gladly give place to the correction, 

 friend B., although I confess I do not clearly 

 see that it materially changes the sentence ; 

 the point being, that as good queens can be 

 reared, etc. The paper referred to has es- 

 caped in some way, if it was ever handed me. 



FROM ONE TO 20 BY NATURAL SWARMING. 



I am a beginner. This last spring I bought one 

 swarm of Italian bees just to have honey for our own 

 use, and they began to swarm the 17th of May, and 

 did not stop until they threw out 20 swarms. I tried 

 to stop them by taking out queen-cells, but some 

 way it did not answer. 



ABOUT PACKING. 



I have made chaff hives of dry-goods boxes to win- 

 ter in. I made two bottoms — the t p one to Fet 

 hifc'cson, stuffed below, and then all around; good 

 roof, mat on top. I should like to know what you 

 think of it, if it is done up right. I am 74 years old. 



Polo, 111., Oct. 30. 1882. T. Wilber. 



Why, friend W., you almost make us hold 

 our breath. You mean, I presume, that the 

 old swarm and the new ones together sent 

 out twenty? It seems almost incredible; 

 and yet I know that, where swarming com- 

 mences so early as about the middle of May, 

 they may do wonders. You have doubtless 

 had a most unusually good season. Can you 

 not give us a full account of how it came 

 about, and how they behaved? Of course, 

 you did not get any honey? Like a prudent 

 man, you are going to try to take care of 

 them, since they have come to you. Your 

 arrangement will answer just about as well 

 as chaff hives, and the only objection is the 

 trouble it takes to rig the hives up so each 

 fall, 



"GIVE PATENT-HIVE MEN A WIDE BERTH." 



The above advice is offered in Nov. Gleanings, 

 page 567, under the head of "Humbugs and Swin- 

 dles," and the letter following, by Mr. Malone, seems 

 to show that more people need guardians than have 

 them. Many are liable to be fleeced by patent-plow 

 men. by patent-washboard men, by patent-sewing- 

 machine men, by bogus-jewelry men, by dealers in 

 small things as patented, which are not patented, 

 and many are deceived by white-throated evangel- 

 ists with black hearts who "steal the livery of heav- 

 en to serve the Devil in." Fraud and deception 

 meet us at every corner. Strict business rules will 

 usually meet the traveling fraud with defeat, what- 



