GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1.5. 



top of the hive, so that the next spring I can 

 tell just what was in each hive the fall before, 

 so that in case of loss I can form some idea of 

 what occasioned it. This little piece of section 

 also helps me in deciding what queens to super- 

 sede during the next season, for on it I keep 

 quite a record of when the colony swarmed, 

 how much honey it made, etc. After having 

 the bees prepared as above, they are to be 

 snugly tucked up in their chaff and sawdust 

 cushions, at any time before the 20th of No- 

 vember, when most convenient, when they are 

 to be left undisturbed till spring or placed in 

 the cellar, according to where we winter our 

 bees. 



THOSE NAUGHTY FIVE-BANDEKS AGAIN. 



Possibly you would like to know how I came 

 out on the $5.00 golden five-banded queen I got 

 of you last year in June. I built her up with a 

 fine swarm, and plenty of honey. I put the 

 strong colony into our dry cellar in October. 

 The swarm lived till January, then all dwin- 

 dled away. Thus ended my nice tender bees. 

 No more live-banded queens for me. 



Canova, S. Dak. L. R. Hillman. 



LIFE -MEMBERS TO UNION. 



In the matter of uniting the Bee-keepers' 

 Union with the N. A. B. K. A., I^^am in favor, 

 and would have not paid $10 to become a life- 

 member of the latter if had not understood 

 that it was to make me also a member for life 

 of the Bee-keepers' Union. 0. R. Coe. 



Windham, N. Y., Sept. 21. 



[Yes, some provision should be made by the 

 committee to include life-members in the new 

 organization.— Ed.] 



12-FKAME LANGSTROTH HIVE. 



Keep the hive question going. You remem- 

 ber you made for me last winter ten 12-frame 

 hives. I have been using them with an equal 

 number of 8 and 10 frame hives this season, and 

 the results so far are about equal — about 70 lbs. 

 per colony of comb honey. The 8 and 10 frames 

 require a little more work than the 12. This 

 has been an average season in this locality. 

 Last year was a poor one, and all the surplus I 

 got was from 12-frame hives. I am of the opin- 

 ion that the queen is the greatest factor in the 

 matter of surplus, all else being equal. 



Bristol, Tenn. M. D. Andes. 



ALFALFA; HOW IT RESEMBLES RED CLOVER. 



In the Sept. 15th issue of Gleanings you ask 

 for a sample of alfalfa. I will describe it so 

 any one can tell it. It has a stalk and leaf 

 slmi ar to red clover; but it is smaller, and the 



blossoms extend up and down the stalk. The 

 seed from it is in a hull that curls up like a 

 snail; and those hulls, or pods, will extend up 

 and down the stalk from two to four inches. 



Let the hive discussion continue, by all 

 means. I have summed it up as follows: 

 where the honey-flow comes late in summer I 

 think the large hives, say 10-frame L.,the best. 

 Where the honey-flow is early I should prefer 

 the 8 frame. I have tried two 8-frame L. hives, 

 one on top of the other, but I don't like it. It 

 is too unhandy to work with, and doesn't do as 

 well for comb honey as the single 8-frame. 



J. A. Taylor. 



Wynnewood, Ind. Ter., Sept. 13. 



RAPE AS A HONEY-PLANT. ALSO FOR CATTLE, 

 HOGS, AND SHEEP. 



I received 1 lb. of rape seed from you last 

 spring, and sowed perhaps a third of it on poor 

 sandy land, and my bees just fairly swarmed 

 on it for fully one month; and I also cut it up 

 to feed my hogs on, and they ate it in prefer- 

 ence to corn. I had the rape along my pasture 

 fence, and was compelled to cut up all near thfe 

 fence to prevent their reaching through to get 

 at the rape, and my cattle were not short of pas- 

 ture either. I think it is one of the best honey- 

 plants I ever saw, not even excepting white 

 clover. I do not know how much honey my 

 bees gathered from rape, simply because I was 

 running them for increase this year; and I 

 thrashed 2}4 bushels of seed. 



A QUEEN WHICH I RECEIVED FROM .JOSEPH 

 NYSEWANDER, DES MOINES, IOWA. 



Mind you, this is no ad't, for Mr. N. knows 

 nothing of it. I received a golden queen from 

 him, and on the 2Sth day of June she laid her 

 first eggs. She was introduced to a poor miser- 

 able weak colony of bees, and she filled it up to 

 a good colony. This is an eight-frame hive. 

 She got so strong I feared she might swarm, so 

 I took her and two frames of brood, and put 

 her into a ten-frame hive, and she has also fill- 

 ed it and given me 28 lbs. of nice section honey. 

 Now, if we can have sucli queens as this, then 

 I say we must have larger than eight-frame 

 liives. Perhaps I might add, that I had plenty 

 of old combs, so they had none to build. 



Cumminsville, Neb., Sept. 25. Jas. Pratt. 



[We are very glad indeed to get so good a 

 report from rape, for I have been feeling that 

 it was a rather neglected plant. We have 

 plenty more of the same kind of seed furnished 

 friend P., which we can supply at the following 

 reduced prices: 1 lb., by mail, 15 cts.; 10 lbs. or 

 over, by freight or express, 6 cts. per lb.; 100 

 lbs.. $5 00. With favorable weather it will be 

 in bloom in 30 days after it has been sown. 

 This latter fact makes it especially valuable to 

 put in after digging potatoes, or after other 

 crops are taken off. It will also stand quite a 

 little frost. On account of the above remark- 

 able facts, it ought to be more extensively used 

 by bee-keepers. This rape for the bees should 

 not be confounded with the new Dwarf Essex 

 rape. The latter is used for forage, especially 



