860 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



A CORRECTION. 



It seems from my article in Nov. 1st Glean- 

 ings I made an error. It should read, " 50 per 

 cent dilute " instead of 5 per cent. This is a 

 warm day. Bees are carrying pollen as in 

 spring. G. W. Martin. 



Saltsburgh, Pa., Nov. 5. 



both of the bees in capping and of their owner 

 in uncapping. Usually it is better for begin- 

 ners to let the artificial ripening alone. Our 

 senior editor's first experience was disastrous. — 



Ed.1 



OrL OF TAR AS A PREVENTIVE OP BEE-STINGS ; 

 HOW APPLIED. 



Oil of tar and some light oil like cotton-seed 

 oil, or sweet oil, mixed half and half, is the 

 best, or, at any rate, the most effective, prep- 

 aration to keep mosquitoes and other insects 

 from annoying man or beast. 



Hawk's Park, Fla. W. S. Hart. 



[R. A. Grimshaw, of England, some years 

 ago, put out what was known as apifuge. This 

 was a preparation very similar to the oil of tar 

 you refer to — at least, similar in its effects. I 

 used it some; but as our Italians from imported 

 stocks were so very gentle it was of little use. 

 It was evident, though, that the bees disliked 

 it.— Ed.] _______ 



ARTIFICIALLY RIPENED HONEY; A FINE 

 SAMPLE. 



I send by mail a sample of honey which I de- 

 sire you to test, and also get the opinion of your 

 best experts as to what it is before you give 

 them any information about it. 



This honey was taken by me, with an ex- 

 tractor, from old combs in April, 1893, before a 

 cell was capped, and so thin and watery that it 

 was difficult to get the bees from the combs 

 without spilling the honey. It was piped from 

 the extractor into a galvanized-iron tank cov- 

 ered with common muslin, and left standing in 

 the sun a few days, and then drawn off into 

 five-gallon tin cans. The can from which the 

 sample was taken has stood in an upper room, 

 through which the pipe from a cookstove be- 

 low passes. It was very white when taken, 

 and remained so until a few months ago. I 

 think it got moved too near the stovepipe for 

 summer, and that has darkened it. It has 

 never been candied. Please express opinion of 

 sample. Why wait before extracting for it to 

 get so thick that wired combs will break? I 

 seldom break a comb, and never wire. 



I have never had honey to sour, and always 

 get the highest quotations. I have been in the 

 business, in a small way. for over 40 years for 

 myself. One year I had exclusive control of a 

 mountain apiary belonging to another party, 

 from which I secured 40 tons of extracted hon- 

 ey. Delos Wood. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., Oct. 24. 



[Your sample came duly to hand. The honey 

 is certainly very fine in body, color, and flavor. 

 I never tasted anv honey ripened by the bees 

 that was better. I have" before tasted artifi- 

 cially ripened honey that I considered the 

 equal of any ripened by the bees. Where one 

 is expert, has the proper appliances, a warm 

 dry room, and a suitable climate, such honey 

 can be made, and is just as good. and. what is 

 of great importance, at a great saving of labor. 



ANOTHER BLACK EYE FOR THE " GOLDENS." 



Send nic by return mail two untested Italian 

 queens. (Jive us the good old-fashioned sort. 

 I have had all I want of the goldens. 



Corunna, Ind. S. Farrington. 



S. S. K., Wis. — Wintering in upground re- 

 positories, as double frost-proof buildings, is 

 the same as wintering in cellars. See " Win- 

 tering," on page 33 of our catalog: also A B C 

 of Bee Culture. 



B. H. G., iian.— Sorghum molasses can be us- 

 ed for feeding bees, and perhaps will answer all 

 right in your locality; but sugar syrup is far 

 better. If the molasses is very thick, perhaps 

 it had better be thinned with a little hot water 

 before feeding. As you have the molasses on 

 hand we would use it in preference to buying 

 sugar for syrup. 



W. H. P., Col. — Replying to your question as 

 to whether sweet clover yields every year, I 

 would say that no honey-plant gives nectar 

 every season. All of them seem to have their 

 off-years. Yet sweet clover, so far as I can re- 

 member, yields some honey every year; in 

 fact, it seems to be more regularly visited by 

 the bees every season than any other plant 

 with which I am acquainted. Yes, stock eat 

 it; but they have to learn to like it; and when 

 they once acquire the taste for it they will 

 sometimes browse it down in preference to any 

 thing else. It is a biennial. It springs up the 

 first year, but does not yield honey until the 

 second season, and then is visited by the bees 

 from that time until frost, when it is killed. 

 See fuller particulars in regard to this in the 

 A B C of Bee Culture, under the heading of 

 "Clover." 



D. S. O., Cof.— The disease called foul brood 

 attacks the larv;¥ in all stages of growth, and 

 even the young pup* in the cells of capped 

 brood. 



As to the difference between foul brood and 

 chilled brood, the former has a yellowish-brown 

 color and a glue-pot odor. The latter may have 

 that color, but is more often grayish or black. 

 The real distinctive difference is. that the grub 

 dead from foul brood is ropy, while that from 

 chilled brood is not. What I mean by " ropy " 

 is that, when a toothpick is inserted into the 



