570 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



I was getting somewhat fearful that a dry 

 winter would be repeated this year, scarcely 

 any rain having fallen for some seven or eight 

 weeks; but a splendid mild rain has come, and 

 I fancy a good clover flow is now assured in the 

 spring. 



I notice in your excellent journal you do not 

 seem to know a great deal about alfalfa, or, as 

 we call it here, lucerne. In this neighborhood 

 it is extensively grown; but the honey from it, 

 though beautifully sweet, is very thin— in fact, 

 a stranger, not knowing what it was, would 

 call it sweetened water. I have tried different 

 ways of rendering it thicker, without success. 



E. TirPEK, 

 Editor Australian Bee Bulletin. 



West Maitland, N. S. W., May 1.5. 



[Here is my hand in return. But we on this 

 side of the big ball have had a good season. 

 It will be your turn next. — Ed.] 



HIVES FACING EAST FOR WINTER. 



Mr. Root:— The May 15th issue is just re- 

 ceived. The Straw on p. 380, in which my 

 name occurs, seems to need a little explanation, 

 which may account for your bees facing north, 

 south, east, and west, wintering equally well, 

 while mine perhaps do not. The fierce wintry 

 winds of ordinary seasons in this section make 

 it necessary to give our bees special protection 

 when wintered outdoors. I am in the habit of 

 placing mine in rows with a space of four inch- 

 es between hives, then boarding up in the rear 

 about four to six inches from the hives. The 

 space between the board wall and the row of 

 hives and that between the hives in the row is 

 then packed solid with maple leaves, fine after- 

 math, flax, straw, chaff, or sawdust. The front 

 is left exposed. This makes an impenetrable 

 windbreak; and, when facing south, on a clear 

 day the combined heat of the sun without and 

 the bees within raises the temperature at the 

 entrance to 70, and sometimes 80° F., when the 

 thermometer in the shade shows below freezing. 

 On such days I have seen numbers of bees fly 

 out and never return, being chilled as soon as 

 they got a short distance from ihe hive. Of 

 course, this can occur only when the sun is 

 squarely facing the hive at midday. Those 

 facing east get the benefit of a slight warming 

 in the forenoon, long enough to get up and take 

 a meal, or at least to turn in bed; and by noon 

 the entrance is sufficiently shaded so that ihey 

 will not be enticed by abnormal heat to sally 

 forth for an airing. In my letter to Dr. Miller 

 I mentioned only 13 hives that were facing 

 east. I had another lot, of nine hives, that I 

 had worked on shares last summer, which I had 

 not seen since I packed them in the fall. They 

 were packed facing east. I have examined 

 them since, and found every one of them in 

 splendid shape. 



Of course, when hives are standing out where 

 the winds have full play all around them it 



makes very little difference which point of the 

 compass they face. In this country all would 

 be equally bad (none could be called good). 

 Even chaff hives need additional windbreaks. 

 Our coldest winds being from the northwest, 

 and the hives being exposed in front, facing 

 south or east seems an absolute necessity. 1 

 shall prefer facing east hereafter. 

 Centerville, la., May 18. G. B. Replogle. 



INTRODUCING DIFFICULT; MAD BEES AND 

 BANANA OIL. 



Can the Cyprian bee be obtained to-day? 

 Two years ago I had them and found them 

 splendid workers. I imported the queen 

 through Mr. Benton. I should like to get them 

 again. 



The queen I purchased of you acted so 

 strangely I report to you. I have kept bees 14 

 years, and never noticed any thing like it. I 

 took the old queen away and put yours with 

 cork cut so the bees could eat through the 

 candy and liberate her. The next day I looked 

 at them. She was liberated, and walking 

 around; but they at once balled her. I drop- 

 ped the bunch in water, and recaged her; open- 

 ed the hive two days afterward. She was out, 

 but flew out of the hive, trying to get away. I 

 clipped her wing after catching her, and put 

 her back in cage. I repeated this at intervals 

 every two days apart for a week, and each time 

 the queen seemed to be frightened — tried to es- 

 cape, and the bees at once balled her. Then I 

 shut her up for a week with about 20 of the 

 bees, in your box, let her out then, when they 

 accepted her at last, and the hive is full of 

 brood. 



The bees are working on red clover — that is, 

 Italians. This I never saw before. 



Now I want to record a most peculiar fact 

 never noted before. The bees' five hives are 

 about 100 feet away from our factory. We 

 manufacture acetate annyl, or banana oil, occa- 

 sionally. Now. when we do so, though the 

 bees are so far away, they become crazy with 

 rage, and sting any thing in sight, even coming 

 into the house and stinging us. Of course, I 

 can offer no explanation. After we remove it 

 they at once become normal. 



Byers, Pa. Robt. W. Riddle. 



[You can get Cyprian queens of Mrs. Atchley. 

 See advertisement elsewhere. 



The circumstance you relate, of introducing 

 the queen you got from us, is nothing so very 

 unusual. Sometimes the bees will persistently 

 refuse to accept a quoen. This may be due 

 partly to the fact that the queen acts timid, or 

 because the bees are not disposed to accept a 

 new queen, for reasons that are not known to us. 



The behavior of the bees whenever you man- 

 ufacture banana oil seems to be quite unusual, 

 and I should presume the strong odor incites 

 robbing; and yet I can not imagine why they 

 should become so cross unless they had actually 

 been robbing to some extent. Have any of our 

 readers had a similar experience? — Ed.] 



Later. — The foregoing answer was sent to 

 friend R., who replies: 



