636 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 1 



as we raise a great many here. Some say this hon 

 ey is better than that from clover. At any rate, I 

 am sure it is not honey-dew. The cells that were 

 not half full were just like those that were capped. 

 What do you think is the cause, or where did the 

 bees get it? 



Ridgeway, N. C. R. V. Paschall. 



[Perhaps some of our readers who know the char- 

 acter of cantaloup honey can throw some light on 

 this.— Ed.] 



Bees Clustered Out in Spite of Plenty of Koom, 

 Ventilation, and Shade. 



Very often 1 read something to the efifect that, in 

 order to keep bees in the hive, we must provide 

 plenty of room. My brood-chambers are all full of 

 comb in which there is no honey, and the combs 

 have been in this condition ever since early spring. 

 The supers are empty, and yet my bees hang out 

 all day and late at night. I have a l54-in. entrance 

 all around my hives, and shade over every colony. 

 The colonies, however, are very strong, as I have 

 not allowed any swarms because of the bad spring 

 weather. 



The bees started in this spring with plenty of 

 honey, and very strong. I had 23 colonies, but now 

 have only 9. It seems as though the bees did not 

 work, for they simply stayed in the hives, ate up 

 the honey, and then all but nine colonies died. 

 The remaining nine have been working finely, but 

 lor themselves only, there being but a scant amount 

 of honey in the hives now. 



The bees are working all the time, as they bring 

 in dark-brown pollen on their legs; still, there are 

 a great many bees idle around the hives. It seems 

 as though there were but few bees working. 



We have plenty of white clover around here, and 

 other flowers. I have sowed buckwheat lor a late 

 crop in order to give the bees enough honey for 

 winter use. What is wrong? 



Osawattomie, Kan. W. E. Stroup. 



Would Foul-broody Hive-bodies be Safe to Use 

 after an Interval of Six Years ? Vari- 

 ation in Color of Bees. 



May hives in which colonies have died of foul 

 brood be used again after having been out in the 

 open air for five or six years ? 



I have been buying queens this summer, and the 

 bees all seem to look a little diflferent from each 

 breeder, either a little lighter or darker. I always 

 send for golden Italians; but I find that the drones 

 are black, and the workers one, two, and three 

 banded. What is the exact color of the different 

 strains of Italians ? 



I have 63 colonies, most of which are hybrids, 

 and I wish to requeen with the kind of Italians that 

 suit me best. I like the yellowest the best now. 



Long Pond, Pa. Mahlon Moyee. 



[There has been some discussion as to M'hether it 

 pays to disinfect hives at all. Some inspectors 

 claim to have no trouble where they disregard the 

 hives, while others find that the disease returns. 

 We have taken this position: That it means so little 

 expense to scorch out the inside of the hives with a 

 gasoline torch or with a heap of burning straw, 

 that it is penny wise and pound foolish to neglect 

 doing it. As to whether the hives would be safe 

 after having stood out in the open for several years 

 we can not say. If the covers have been removed 

 during that time, so that the sun's rays had access 

 to the inside, it might be that every thing would be 

 safe; but it would take so little time to make sure 

 that we would advise you to be on the safe side, 

 and scorch the wood in the manner above stated. 



Unfortunately, the bee-keeping world lacks a true 

 standard of color to distinguish types of bees. By 

 the term "golden" some bee-keepers mean extra 

 yellow bees having the three characteristic bands; 

 but most breeders mean five-banded bees when 

 they refer to golden. There is an unfortunate con- 

 fusion of terms, including golden-all-over, yellow- 

 to-tip, five-banded, extra yellow, etc. 



You can not tell very much concerning the puri- 

 ty of a queen by the '•olor of the drones, for the 

 color of drones varies considerably, even from a 

 queen that is known to be pure. A great variation, 

 however, in the color of the workers — that is, a 

 variation of from one band to three bands — would 

 in most cases indicate that the queen was not 



purely bred or not purely mated. Of course, in any 

 hive there are likely to be workers from some 

 other hive that get in. For instance, if you have a 

 queen of known purity in a yard where there are 

 other colon'es without pure queens you will be 

 likely to find a few dark workers in this one hive 

 containing the pure queen, for they get their 

 entrances mixed up to some extent. 



In the end you will probably find that the extra- 

 yellow bees will not suit you as well as the darker 

 Italians, for the four and five banded bees, being 

 bred especially for color, are not as hardy, often- 

 times, nor as gentle.- Ed.] 



That "Weeping Honey," 



Some time last year we had some correspondence 

 respecting '"weeping honey." I am sending you by 

 express six sections that were taken out of different 

 hives yesterday, as sent away from here. The 

 "weeping honey " only shows by the existence of 

 the con'vex raised surfaces of the cells. There is 

 none yet regularly weeping. We took out some 

 1000 sections yesterday, and had to discard some 50 

 more for this cause — not nearly as many as last year, 

 when in some instances whole supers had nothing 

 but " weeping honey." The month of July was very 

 wet and hot. My hives on scales increased 55 lbs. 

 in the last 16 days of June, and 4 lbs. only in July. 

 Half of the sweet-clover crop was lost during the 12 

 days in August. The increase was 12 lbs. I have 

 noticed, as below, the weeping honey shown on the 

 six sections when leaving here. 



Honey is mostly from sweet clover, and bees work- 

 ed considerably on alfalfa for the first time that I 

 have observed them for several years. 



Allenville, Ala., Aug. 13. H. F. Hakt. 



[The honey came in such bad condition that we 

 were unable to see just exactly how the samples 

 looked before they were shipped; but from the gen- 

 eral statement made in your letter, and from the 

 tasting of the honey itself, we are of the opinion 

 that the bees gather something that causes a slight 

 ferment in the honey, for the honey itself seemed to 

 be slightly acid. This ferment generates, probably, 

 a little gas that causes the cappings to bulge, or 

 causes the honey to become thin — so thin, indeed, 

 that it will force itself through the cappings that 

 are slightly porous. 



You speak of wet hot weather. It is possible that 

 it was so wet that all the honey could not ripen*fast 

 enough, and as a result some of it soured a little. 

 So far from being an old honey, this is plainly a 

 product just from the hive, and is only one of many 

 other cases of a like nature wliei'e the honey seems 

 to take on a sort of acid condition. The honey is 

 not bad eating, but we would suppose it would not 

 keep long, owing to the ferment.— Ed.] 



Alexander's Apiary of 730 Colonies Operated by 

 Frank Alexander. 



I have just returned from a trip, and called on 

 Mr. Frank Alexander at Delanson. He is still run- 

 ning that big yard of 750 colonies. I had wondered 

 what had become of it since his father died, and I 

 presume many others have too. It is there the 

 same as ever; but the very dry weather this year 

 has cut the crop short. His brother, who runs a 

 grocery there, said he thought he would have about 

 twelve tons. 



Rathbone, N. Y., Sept. 8. Lekoy Lloyd. 



Two Queen-cells Contain the Only Eggs in a Hive. 



I had a colony of bees without queen, brood, or 

 eggs. I put in a queen-cell, and in a day or two I 

 looked to see if it was all right, and found two other 

 cells just started with an egg in each. They were 

 the only eggs in the hive. 



Union City, Mich., Aug. 23. J. L. Swan. 



Dr. Miller's Opponent. 



I have been much interested in the discussion 

 between Mr. Metcalfe and Dr. Miller. I think the 

 doctor has met a caZ/ that is a hard hitter; and if he 

 succeeds In taming him he will have to furnish 

 some pretty good meal. 



Lowell, Mich., Aug. 22. C. H. WIGGINS. 



