1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



317 



That motion called "raking," so puzzling to 

 many of ns, is, I think, simply a part of their 

 manner of during this job. A. S. Martin. 

 Roanoke, Va., March 4. 



[It can scarcely be doubted that propolis is 

 put on in a liquid, or partly liquid, state. The 

 bees secrete some soi't of fluid that seems to cut 

 it enough to render it plastic and liquid. lean 

 hardly think that the "raking motion " has 

 any thing to do with propolis. The motion is 

 witnessed only at the entrances; at least, I do 

 not remember to have seen it elsewhere. At 

 all events, there is no sign of propolis where 

 they have been raking: but I do find particles 

 of paint removed. — Ed. J 



GOOD WINTERING SO FAR. 



I have been much pleased to-day, Feb. 19. 

 AS I was sitting in the office a hen cackled in 

 the workshop, and I opened the back door to 

 see what was the matter. The sound that 

 struck my ears caused an alarm. I thought 

 robbers were at work in the apiary, and hur- 

 ried out. A glad surprise met me. It seemed 

 that all the bees from every hive were in the 

 air giving one glad hallelujah for a free foot, or, 

 rather, a free wing. I went to the hives, and 

 pulled away the blocks which some of them had 

 in front, and they had a general house-clean- 

 ing. I think there were not more than 100 or 

 150 dead bees thrown out of each hive, notwith- 

 standing the severe zero weather and the snow 

 15 or IS inches deep for the last three or four 

 weeks. They were in single-walled Dovetailed 

 hives, without a particle of protection; for if 

 they can not live in such hives through our 

 winters, only 6 below zero, I want to know it 

 before I get any deeper in the business. 



Port Norris, N. J., Feb. 19. J. R. Prichard. 



gained some very valuable pointers from his 

 writings, and believe he is one of the safest 

 guides in the United Stales. 

 Mt. Pleasant, Mich. H. S. Wheeler. 



[The sample of wood sent is considerably dis- 

 colored on one end. I think Doolittle is all 

 right, and that the trouble was in your giving 

 the honey too much sulphuring. Too long a 

 sulphuring will turn every thing yellow, as I 

 happen to know. Let me give an illustration: 

 Years ago, when I slept in the shop as a sort of 

 " night watch,"' I discovered, much to my dis- 

 may and sorrow one morning, that bedbugs — 

 yes, real live crawling ones — had gotten into 

 our little room. Now, you know I couldn't 

 stand that, so I sulphured the room a little, in- 

 cluding its contents. Bul it didn't kill 'em. 

 "Next time I'll kill 'em sure." I said, and ac- 

 cordingly built up a big sulphur fire in a large 

 kettle, and shut the room up tight for three or 

 four hours. Did it kill the bugs? Indeed it did, 

 and, more than that, the side walls of the room 

 were covered with a yellow sulphur deposit; in 

 fact, every thing was covered. There! don't 

 tell any one I've slept with bedbugs. — Ed.] 



danger in sulphuring comb honey; a bed- 

 bug STORY. 

 I should like to caution beginners in the bee- 

 business about using sulphur smoke on comb 

 honey to destroy miller-worms, as directed by 

 Mr. Doolittle. Last fall I sold my honey to 

 Byron Walker, of Evart, Mich. He directed 

 me (after grading up the honey) to burn sul- 

 phur in the room; to cork it up around the win- 

 dows, and burn a pound of it. Inclosed I w ill 

 send you a piece of wood showing what sulphur 

 smoke will do. 1 had to put more than 1(X) lbs., 

 out of 1400 lbs., that Mr. W. had graded A, into 

 grade B; and some of grade B was not fit to 

 send to market at all— not that Mr. Walker 

 would not have been obliged to take it, but I 

 could not afford to sign my name to it. After 

 I wrote him about it he said he had tried burn- 

 ing sulphur on old comb only, but got his au- 

 thority from ^Ir. Doolittle. By the way, Mr. 

 Walker buys a very large amount of honey 

 every fall. He is a square man to deal with. 

 His own honey amounted to about 3;.'.()00 lbs., 

 counting in what he got from one apiary that 

 he has in Wisconsin. Now, I am very much in- 

 terested in Mr. Doolittle's writings, and have 



THE FOOD SUPPLY OF FLORIDA. 



This is the fourth winter that I have spent in 

 Florida, and I've watched with much interest 

 to see where the food-supply of the inhabi- 

 tants came from. In mingling with them on 

 sailing excursions I took note of their lunches, 

 and I invariably discovered food obtained from 

 the stores. I can speak intelligently of only 

 this portion of the State. Plums, peaches, 

 pears, mulberries, dewberries, nectarines, and 

 scuppernong grapes grow in great profusion. 

 Christmas day, oranges and lemons amid the 

 green leaves were a thing of beauty; but now, 

 not a green leaf decorates the trees. This is a 

 new town, settled by Northern people, and 

 fruit-trees are too small to bear much. 



In the issue of Gleanings for Feb. 15, there 

 is a good representation of the head of saw- 

 palmetto, under the large letters " red cabbage- 

 palmetto." In looking at it I wondered where 

 th"? head "of"cabbage was, and I failed to dis- 

 cover it. I think what is said of the edible 

 part is rather misleading. I've questioned 

 many persons who have lived among it all 

 their lives, and they tell me that the cabbage 

 is the bud; and in order to make it palatable it 

 must be parboiled to remove the bitter. I 

 would obtain one of these cabbage-head if I 

 did not consider it sacrilege to destroy one of 

 these noble trees to obtain a bud of about the 

 size of my fist, which would require a great 

 stretch of imagination to think was cabbage, 

 which can be raised in a short time, of much 

 finer quality. If I'm not mistaken, the name 

 is not derived from this bud, but from the im- 

 brication of the leaves. If you look at the 

 trunk of one of these trees you will see the bark 

 imbricated, overlaping each other like the 

 leaves of cabbage. 



Most of the native women know how to make 

 palmetto hats. They take the center leaf 

 while it is folded together, before it spreads 



