856 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



Another idea has gained ground— that honey 

 is flavored with formic acid by the bees. May I 

 suggest tasting honey in which several bees 

 have drowned, so that their poison is in the 

 honey? The flavor is certainly not the natural 

 honey flavor. 



I have learned another lesson — never pay in 

 advance for sugar for winter feeding. I did it 

 last fall, and received my barrel Dec. 3d, which 

 delay caused the death of 75 per cent — a dozen 

 medium and half a dozen weak colonies from 48 

 in the fall, in good condition. I did not want to 

 order it till I had the cash, and then they de- 

 layed it three weeks. Cold weather set in then, 

 and that settled them. 



I have only about 600 lbs. this season; but I 

 am building up and buying some more, and 

 getting ready for next season, as there will be a 

 larger acreage of clover than this year, on ac- 

 count of the continuous wet season. It has 

 been another poor season here. One apiary of 

 liSO colonies produced 200 lbs. of comb honey; 

 another of 60 colonies brought in 600 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey. All around me for several miles 

 report the same. I have an extra good range 

 here, or I should have fared worse. 



George E. Fraoenbukg. 



Kansas City, Mo., Sept 19, 1893. 



[Your plan of transferring would work, ex- 

 cept that, as soon as the box was set on the 

 movable-frame hive with a bee-escape between, 

 the brood would all be deserted in a very short 

 time. It would probably chill and thus leave 

 no chance for it to hatch.] 



SWARMSctLTNITING AND SWARMS RETUKNING; 

 MR. MA.JOR EXPLAINS. 



In regard to Mr. Hutchinson's reference, on 

 page 712, to my item on page 6.52, I will say that 

 I was speaking of swarms returning to their 

 own hive when their queens were clipped. At 

 the same time I believe that swarms seldom 

 unite and go into the wrong hive. I think 

 that, on an average, not more than one-third of 

 my bees swarm each year, and it is not often 

 that two swarms come out together. I lemem- 

 ber that, in 1892, two swarms came out at the 

 same time, and united ; but after hanging 

 awhile they separated, each swarm going into 

 its own hive; and a few days after. I had two 

 swarms come out. fly around for awhile, then 

 go back to their own hives without settling. 



A few years ago I had three swarms in the 

 air at once — when a nucleus hive swarmed out, 

 and all united in one huge swarm. Of course, I 

 had to hive them. That same year three 

 swarms came out and united; but when they 

 went back I thought that one of the hives got 

 more than its share of bees. I have so few 

 cases of two or more swarms coming out at the 

 same time that I can not tell the rule from the 

 exception. I only know that one swarm out 

 alone is sure to go back to its own hive — at 

 least, that has been my experience during the 

 last ten years with clipped queens. 



Cokeville, Pa., Sept. 22. John Major. 



and bottom-boards far outweighed any small 

 benefit there was in having the combs " cleared 

 up." If you can give a word of advice in the 

 matter, it may be of use to more than one. 



We report 56J^ lbs. per colony, spring count. 

 Wm. Russei.l. 



Minnehaha Falls, Minn., Oct. 17. 



[You must have failed to follow directions in 

 some respect. You say you closed the en- 

 trance to one bee-space. In a stack of four or 

 five hives there should be only one entrance for 

 the lot. When you first start the bees going, 

 apparently there will be a bad time of robbing, 

 but it will soon quiet down. We are quite sure 

 you will have no trouble, providing only one 

 bee is allowed to go in and out at a time. Our 

 own experience all this season corroborates it, 

 as well as reports that are coming in. Dr. Mil- 

 ler has tried it, for instance; also Mr. Vernon 

 Burt, years before we ever tried it. We, like 

 yourself, could not be convinced but that it 

 would make mischief, hecaiise we concluded, 

 from the apparent uproar at the heyimiing^ 

 that the whole thing was dangerous, and there- 

 fore closed the entrance without giving the 

 plan a test sufficiently prolonged to see how it 

 would actually turn out; peihaps you did this. 

 We would advise you to read our article on the 

 subject over again very carefully, and see if 

 you have not omitted some important detail.- 

 Others are making it work — why not you '? 



As a result of this stack-hive feeding, we 

 have had brood-reaiing going on quite vigor- 

 ously, even up to and within this last week of 

 October. We never had such a state of things 

 before, and we attribute the result largely to 

 " quiet robbing."] 



WINTERING qualities OF QUEENS RAISED IN 

 THE NORTH AND SOUTH. 



[Z'Will you tell us whether there is any differ- 

 ence in the wintering qualities of queens raised 

 in the North and South? Some claim that a 

 Northern queen will stand the winters best. 

 D Anita, la., Oct. 17 ;1C. H. Talbot. 



"[If there is any difference in the wintering of 

 the two kinds of queens we were not aware of 

 it. We have had both in our apiary for many 

 winters; and although we have made no care- 

 ful comparison we have not noticed but that 

 one would winter as well as the other.] 



A NEW PLAN OF WINTERING. 



Friend Root: — To those who winter on sum- 

 mer stands, the time has arrived to fix up the 

 bees for the winter. I will give you my plan, 

 which differs a little from yours. I use the Hill 

 device and burlap as you recommend; but in- 

 stead of making a cushion I take 13^ yards of 

 ch(>ese-cloth, and spread it evenly on the super, 

 and then fill it with chaft' or dry sawdust: then 

 draw ihe four sides of the cloth together on top 

 of the super; put on the cover, and the work is 

 done. I tried this plan last winter, and it work- 

 ed to perfection. C. H. Sherwood. 



Newton, N. J., Oct. 7. 



QUIET ROBBING — IT DOES NOT WORK. 



I have read with a great deal of interest the 

 accounts of "'quiet robbing" that have appear- 

 ed in (irLKANiNGS lately; but after trying it two 

 seasons I have almost concluded that it can't 

 be done successfully — at least with the bees I 

 have. After the last extracting we stacked up 

 the supers six high, 30 feet from the yard, clos- 

 ing the entrances to one bee- space, and the first 

 warm day made me almost wish I had never 

 seen a bee. They crowded the entrances, hung 

 all over the front of the hives, and fought like 

 furies. The amount of dead bees on the ground 



I commenced keeping bees a year ago with 

 seven colonies. In the spring I had three good 

 colonies, and three very weak ones, having lost 

 one entirely. I have now 16 colonies in good 

 shape, except one queenless. I got no surplus. 

 This immediate vicinity was so extremely dry 

 that very little honey was secured by any one. 

 Would you consider this report " encouraging " 

 or "discouraging '" for a beginner? I have and 

 read the A B C of Bee Culture, Cook's Manual, 

 and other standard works. O. F. Knisrley. 



Port Col borne, Ont., Oct. 7. 



[We should consider it encouraging.] 



