1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



"03 



As I intimated befortj. the dummies seem to 

 work all right in the hives with the latest Hoff- 

 man frames. 



On page 635 George W. Martin says, after he 

 clipped the queen she was balled ; and on 

 smoking the bees off he found her stung to 

 death. I think that, if bees are left to them- 

 selves, they rarely sting a queen immediately 

 after she is balled. Most likely, if he had clos- 

 ed the hive quickly he would havt- found the 

 queen all right the next time he opened it — at 

 least, it has worked that way with us. Blow- 

 ing hot smoke directly on bees when balling a 

 queen is about the surest way to cause them to 

 sting her to death immediately. A very good 

 way to free a queen, although it is an old way, 

 is to drop the ball into water, when the bees 

 will separate, and the queen can be easily pick- 

 ed up without any damage to her. I've never 

 known a queen to be injured while freeing her 

 in this way. 



We had a very curious experience to-day, 

 Aug. 27, while clipping a queen. Immediately 

 after she was clipped she curled up and ap- 

 peared to be dead or dying. She had caught 

 her foot in the hind part of her body, and re- 

 mained in that condition for some time. Just 

 as soon as she was released she was all right 

 again. Dr. Miller says he had read of such in- 

 stances, but in all his experience he never saw 

 any thing of the kind before. 



About the first of August, while on our way 

 to a Sunday-school convention, when we were 

 six or seven miles from home I called the doc- 

 tor's attention to a field of hay that was just 

 ready to haul, by remarking, "Do you see that 

 hay? It is the heaviest crop of hay I've seen 

 for a long time." Dr. and Mrs. Miller were 

 expressing their surprise when Dr. M. suddenly 

 exclaimed. " I do believe it's alfalfa," and was 

 out of the carriage very quickly, and found that 

 it really was a large field of alfalfa. We halted 

 and had quite a talk with the German who 

 rented the place. He said that was the second 

 crop they had cut this year. He was very en- 

 thusiastic in regard to its value, especially when 

 fed to cows. He said this was the third year 

 since sowing. If he could get such a crop of 

 hay this year, when the hay crop was almost a 

 total failure on account of drouth, it seems to 

 me that alfalfa will prove to be a great boon to 

 farmers. I wonder if it's not a little diflicult to 

 get a good stand in the first place. But, once 

 there, it will come up of itself year after year. 

 May be that's where our future honey crops are 

 to come from. 



Marengo, 111., Aug. 27. 



[Division-board is usi»d by us in the catalog 

 because it is an old name; and we don't like to 

 confuse beginners by he change of a name, 

 even though the new huh might be, as it prob- 

 ably is in this case. nn. e accurate. Experience 

 that you and Dr. MUhv can not appreciate has 

 taught us the folly ( i these changed names 

 when so very little is t'l be gained. 



As you suggest, with the new-style Hoffman 

 there is more room for the removal of the board 

 than the old-stylt^ or real Hoffman. In the 

 case of either, there are limes when it is easier 

 to take out a frame first. I myself follow no 

 invariable rule. 



I have had queens cramp in this way a num- 

 ber of times; but even when disengaging the 

 foot, the "cramps " didn't gooff' immediately. 

 I liave had queens cramp or kink up tlieir bod- 

 ies when I was quite sure the feet were in no 

 way responsible. I never knew the cramps to 

 prove fatal to the (lueen. 



In regard to the; balling of queens, your ex- 

 perience is quite in line witti ours. — Ed. J 



THE POPPY 



AS A honey-plant; how the bees bevel 



IN IT. 



By Em Dee. 



There are a few facts a close observer may 

 notice, though he be but a tyro in bee-lore. I 

 have read, and heard mentioned, the many and 

 various flowers from which honey-bees mostly 

 obtain their substance, and this summer I have 

 taken special interest in observing their caprices 

 among the flowers in my front yard. Passing 

 by all other blossoms that have been mention- 

 ed by old and interesting observers I come at 

 once to the flower which seemed most to inter- 

 est them, and which I have not elsewhere seen 

 mentioned — the poppy. I have, perhaps, a 

 hundred different flowering plants on the 

 premises, and, by reason of frequent irriga- 

 tion with the garden-hose, it may reasonably 

 be conjectured how thriftily those plants are 

 kept in growing mood. All flowers received a 

 liberal share of attention — some more, some 

 less — some for honey, some for pollen; but I 

 can safely say that none were so sedulously 

 courted, none so pronouncedly caressed, as the 

 single poppies, often termed '* golden- gate." 

 Early morning found from one to half a dozen 

 of the mellifluous insects upon each newly 

 opened petal, and at dusky eve they were still 

 to be seen actively filling their pockets with a 

 pale-yellow pollen. But what most attracted 

 me was the manner of their working, their 

 reckle.-s '• bee-havior " in the frantic acquisi- 

 tion of the elements they wished to secure. 

 Both Bro. York's Italians and the writer's 

 German bees were equally rampageous. They 

 had forgotten their staid and decorous methods, 

 and now abandoned themselves to acts of ap- 

 parent lawlessness. They pounced down, re- 

 gardless of previous possessors, and rolled in 

 the mealy substance until every pistil was di- 

 vested of its golden powder, and off they go, 

 heavy laden, to their homes. 



The question uppermost in my mind was, 

 and yet is, whether possible that they obtain 

 some particles of the narcotic elements of the 

 plant (the poppy being, as your readers well 

 know, that from which opium is made), which, 

 if so, would account for their hilarious antics; 



