GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



real graham flour. The real graham flour will 

 not keep long. Better to procure it 25 lbs. at a 

 time. Have the miller catch it as it comes 

 from the roller. The graham by the roller 

 process is vastly superior to that by the old 

 way. Try this and verify my words, and then 

 publish good words for the plain graham flour 

 in every issue of Gleanings for a year. 



TO MAKE GRAHAM GEMS. 



Take graham flour, and water sufficient so 

 that the mixture will flow very freely; add a 

 tiny pinch of salt. Have the cast-iron gem- 

 pan on the top of the stove, and made very hot; 

 grease with a swab and a bit of butter, and 

 quickly fill the gem-pan with a spoon, and 

 place from the top of the stove in a hot oven. 

 Serve hot. 



TO MAKE GRAHAM RUSK. 



With water and graham flour make a pretty 

 stiff dough; knead, and roll as for biscuit; cut 

 out with a cup, or slice in strips; bake. These 

 served warm ai'e preferred by some persons to 

 the gems. But to make the rusk, after baking, 

 place in a warm oven, not hot, for half a day, 

 or until all the moisture is dried out. Now 

 break these dried crackers or strips in pieces, 

 and grind in a hand-mill. Serve with cream 

 and milk. J. Cadwal,l,ader. 



North Madison. Ind., Sept., 1S93. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM Dl f= FERENT FIELDS. 



HONEY-DEW IN IOWA. 



After looking Gleanings for Sept. 1st over, 

 and seeing no report from this part, nor from 

 the State, and also your statement on page 668, 

 Sept. 1, that there were no reports of honey- 

 dew in the country. I thought I would try to 

 put you right on this question so far as this 

 section is concerned. I will give a short report 

 of my own apiary, which is about an average 

 of the country up and down the Cedar River 

 for 25 or 40 miles. The timber skirting the 

 Cedar River is about 10 to 12 miles wide. I live 

 just on the edge between prairie and timber. 

 The bees came out of the cellar all right, for 

 that is the way most are wintered here; but the 

 spring was cold and wet. I lost 23 out of 75 by 

 spring dwindling. Clover came out nice, and 

 made a big growth, but no bees worked on it. 

 They commenced on honey-dew as soon as the 

 leaves were half-grown — burr-oak first, then 

 on hickory and all kinds of trees. I got 2 bbls. 

 of honey-dew. almost as black as tar. They 

 stuck to the honey-dew till linn came in bloom, 

 then went to the linn and clover for ten days or 

 so, from which I got 2 bbls. of pretty fair honey, 

 and this is about the ratio of all the honey in 

 this section. I sold my 4 bbls. at 5 and 6 cts. to 

 cracker- factories. We have had four seasons 

 before this, so we are not feeling very rich. 

 The above amount of extracted honey was from 

 45 stands, spring count. The other 7 ran for 

 comb honey. Robert Quinn. 



Shellsburg, la., Sept. 4. 



your combs. Fill with combs, then putthe boxes 

 in a dry place; set the first box on four little 

 blocks. The air will k«ep your combs dry. I have 

 combs that are just as nice as when made, that 

 I kept for three years. If there are any moth- 

 eggs laid in combs you will have to brimstone 

 them or the eggs will hatch. 

 Moulton, la., Sept. 3. S. S. Buckmaster. 



[Combs kept in a tight room or box, after a 

 good winter freeze, will be perfectly safe. There 

 is no excuse for moth-worms getting into combs 

 out of the hive.] 



the old-fashioned HOFFMAN FRAMES. 



In the ABC you mention, as an objection to 

 the straight-top-bar Hoffman frame, the fact 

 that bees will propolize it more than the Sim- 

 plicity, since it always rests in the same place. 

 Why not occasionally change the division- 

 board from one side of the hive to the other ? 

 This will move all the frames, and give no 

 more opportunity for sticking propolis than 

 with the loose frames. J. A. Ressler. 



Ronks, Pa., Aug. 30. 



[This would help the matter, but not obviate 

 the trouble entirely.] 



preserving brood-combs FROM MOTH. 



I see persons advising us bee-keepers how to 

 preserve combs. I will tell how I keep them. 

 I take a box or empty hive, and nail common 

 door-screen on the bottom. I then take a crate 

 or another empty hive, and tack wire on top, 

 the same as on the bottom of the first one; set 

 one on top of the first one. and so on as high as 

 you can, then put on your top box. If your 

 joints aie good, the moth can't lay their eggs in 



DATE OF SECOND SWARMS. 



I see the experience of those keeping a record 

 is requested as to the length of time between 

 first and second swarms. The past season, of 

 those which I have a clear record, one sent a 

 second swarm in 5 days; one in 7 days; one in 

 8 days; one in U days; one in 10 days; two in 13 

 days; one in 17 days, and in looking over my 

 record for three or four years I find but little if 

 any more uniformity. 0. B. Barrows. 



Marshalltown, la., Sept. 18. 



MATING THE SECOND TIME. 



On page 705 of Gleanings for Sept. 15 you 

 ask if others have observed queens mating 

 more than once before laying. I have had one 

 or two cases of that kind, but it was always 

 where the queen was balled on her return to 

 the hive; and their struggles to fi"ee themselves 

 from the ball of bees may have caused them to 

 mate a second time. I have also noticed that 

 some queens thus balled became worthless, 

 and were superseded before the close of the 

 season. Fred Bechly. 



Searsboro, la. 



Reports Discouraging. 



POOREST SEASON IN 14 YEARS FOR JOHN 

 NEBEL & SON. 



This has been the poorest season for bees 

 that we have ever had in all of our bee-keeping 

 experience, which has been fourteen years — 

 not a single pound of honey nor a swarm, and 

 we have had to feed to get our colonies strong 

 enough for winter. We lost SO colonies by 

 spring dwindling in April and May. Another 

 year like this, and we shall be out of bees. 



John Nebel & Son. 



High Hill, Mo., Sept. 26. 



REPORTS ENCOURAGING. 



good pall crop. 



Our fall honey crop has been excellent; all 



the surplus boxes were filled in three weeks. 



One of our farmers said to me, " This has been 



a poor year for honey." I afterward found out 



