1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



889 



nice as I ever extracted. I increased some by 

 aniticiiil swarming; but the extracted honey 

 ail came from the spring count of 22 colonies. 



I luive now to show, from my 47 colonies, 

 spring count, 1300 lbs. of comb honey; 4(140 lbs. 

 of extracted honey and several pounds of wax, 

 and 87 colonies of bees. I began four years ago 

 with three colonies and Root's ABC, having 

 nevei' seen the inside of a hive before. Last 

 year I had to treat for foul brood, which put 

 me back; but by a close study of A B C and 

 •Gleanings, and a good deal of hard work, I 

 am ready to handle my bees for profit. 



What has become of the '" Ladies' Conversa- 

 zione"? ] am afiaid the bee-kerping sisters are 

 backward about giving reports. I hope we 

 shall hear more from them. 



Mancos, Col., Oct. 21. Mrs. A. J. Barbek. 



[Your experience is directly in line with 

 what was said at the "Big Convention" at 

 Chicago. The great majority agreed that 

 much more honey would be secun^d by letting 

 bees swarm; that it was bad policy, from a 

 honey point of view, to tiy to ptwt^nt nature's 

 way of increase. Non - swarming would be 

 very nice: but so far it means, iii most cases, 

 little or no honey.] 



A HOOSIEK LADY MAKKS INQUIRY FOR RAM- 

 BLER. 



I had the pleasure of being at the grand bee- 

 keepers' convrntion at Chicago a part of the 

 time, and learned a few of the leading bee- 

 keepers whom we have been reading about, 

 and heard our brother from Australia, which 

 was all very interesting indeed. But my curi- 

 osity was not quite satisfied, for I saw no one 

 with an umbrella strapped across his back, who 

 claimed to be the Rambler. Tlien I came to 

 the conclusion he must look so much like other 

 people I did not recosnize him. So I have kept 

 watching and watching through the i)aper to 

 hear some one say they met Mr. J. H. M. at the 

 convention, but iiave failed so far; so I should 

 like to know what he was about, to let such a 

 convention oass by without his being there. 

 Snrely Mr. Wilder has led hiin astray, or some- 

 thing terrible has happened to him. 



A HoostKR. 



He/ids of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



PICKING UP ROYAL .lELLY WITH A PIPETTE. OR 

 DROPPER, NOT A NEW IDEA. 



On page 811, in your footnote to Mr. Jas. Cor- 

 mal. you say: "Our friend Mr. Cormal lias 

 struck a very ingenious way of extracting royal 

 jelly from the cell -cups. We never before 

 thought of the dropper (or, as it is sometimes 

 called, pipette) for this purpose." In 1888 or '8',t 

 I wrote you an article for (iLEANixos in which 

 I informed you of the success [ had in the use 

 of the firojjper. such as is used for dropping 

 medicines, in tran-^^f erring qne<>n larv;e from 

 queen-cells which I did not want, and substi- 

 tuting young larvic just hatched. I also wrote 

 to Dr. Tinker at the same time about luy siu*- 

 cpss with the dropper, as he and I were then 

 experimenting, "^'oii thoiislit so little of the 

 article you did not publish It. but wrote me you 

 did not understand what I meant, and. .not 

 having time to write again then, it passed "off. 

 Since then I have continued to use droppers of 

 different sizes for removing larvtc I don't care 

 for, and substiiuting such as I do want, in 

 queen-cells, and also for transferring royal 



jelly. If yon are careful in transferring, with 

 a suitable size of dropper, the royal jelly and 

 larv;e just hatched to drone-cells, as with Mr. 

 Fooshe, you will seldom fail in getting bees to 

 accept them, and they produce large tine queens 

 too. Abbott L. Swinson. 



(ioldsboro, N. C, Nov. 10. 



[You are probably right, but we do not re- 

 member of your having written regarding the 

 pipette; but it seems we must have published 

 the article, froin what follows below from Mr. 

 H. L.Jeffrey: 



On pap^e 811 you say, " We never liefore thought 

 of the dropper." At least four years ago, may be 

 five. I tried tlie dropi)er. The idea I got out of 

 Gle.\ninos, and I found it g-oi)d for ttiin jelly, also 

 tiptop to mix warm water witli tlie thiols jel'y to 

 makf it usable in cell-cups I have seen Mrs. M. E. 

 Tanner, Nortli Woodbury, ft., suck the jelly up 

 with a pipette, as far liack as 1890. She got it out of 

 Gi.KANiNGS. H. L. Jeffrey. 



Woodbury Ct., Nov. 5. 



This illustrates that, whatever wisdom or 

 knowledge the editor may lack, the subscribers 

 of GLEANiN(is are fully capaple of making up 

 the deficit. We are always glad to be corrected. 

 Both of the letti'rs above testify to the value of 

 the dropper, and there can be no doubt but that 

 it is a, good thing: and the queen-breeder who 

 fails to give it at least a trial may be missing 

 something of value.] 



SHALL AVE LET THE MOISTURE FROM A COLO- 

 NY, PACKED IN SAWDUST, ESCAPE THROUGH 

 A VENTII-ATOR? 



I am but a beginner in the bee-keeping busi- 

 ness, consequently I know but little about it. 

 But the experience 1 have had has taught me 

 that, in putting up bees for the winter, two 

 things sliould be had in mind: first, keep the 

 bees moderately warm; secondly, allow foul 

 air and dampne^s to escape from the hive. 

 Now. the question is. How shall we combine 

 these two principles? My plan is as follows: I 

 use the Hill device, burlap, H4 yards of cheese- 

 cloth, and sawdust, the latter coming up to 

 within an inch of the top of the super. I then 

 place in one of the back corners of the super a 

 ventilator, which is a block of wood A^i inches 

 long, wiih a :5< hohi through the center; wire 

 cloth is tackeu on one end, and four wire nails 

 are driven in so they stand out '4 of an inch, to 

 stand on the tin that holds the section-holder. 



Newton, N(iv. 6. C. H. Sherwood. 



[We are afraid your ventilator will sooner or 

 later lead you into trouble. We have tried 

 what amounti'd to i)ractically the same thing, 

 and have lost colonies. The difficulty seems to 

 be that an ope/i ventilator let- 1 he heat escape 

 too rapidly. 15(^tter u-e chiilf cushions, and 

 then if, toward spring, they b. rome damp, open 

 up the hives on the first warm sunny day, and 

 let the cushions dry out. T'le moisture will 

 U8Ui(Uy escape slowly throiiirh the cushions, 

 but not fast enough to allo\\ )ie<it to escape — 

 the very thing we must economize as much as 

 possible.] 



THE RAISING OF SWEET CLOVER SEED; A FEW 

 HINTS FRO.M II. P.. HOAKD.MAN. 



There is no reason why the raising of sweet- 

 clover seed will not succeed if treated the same 

 as other clovi'is and grasses should l)e treated 

 10 insure successful seeding. I{ut don't be de- 

 luded into the general iu)tion that a few secnls 

 scattered carelessly over th<! field will he all 

 that is needed to stock it. to the exclusion of 

 every thing else, for you will be disappointed in 

 getting a seeding unless you take as much pains 

 with it as with any other clover; and I advise a 

 liberal seeding, not less than 8 or 10 quarts per 



