1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



571 



THAT BANANA OIL AND THE CROSS BEES. 



Contrary to your presumption, as above, 

 the odor of the banana oil does not, so far as I 

 can see (and I have noticed carefully), incite 

 robbing. It simply enrages them, and it does 

 so always at any time of the year when they 

 fly. Soil is hardly probable their crossness is 

 due to robbing. We have also noticed, but to a 

 less extent, that valerianate annyl and valeri- 

 anic acid have the same effect. 



RoBT. W. Riddle. 



Byers, Pa., June 18. 



manure, and lots of it; and the honey from 

 rape is No. 1, and white. Jas. Pratt. 



Cumminsville, Neb. 



HOW TO UNITE SWARMS. 



How can I unite three swarms at once in 

 swarming season to make box honey fast? I 

 have lots of swarms at my place. I saw in a 

 paper how a man did that, and I should like to 

 try it if I knew how to unite them properly. 



Gresham, Pa. A. L. Dillinger. 



[Dr. Miller, to whom this was sent, replies:] 



No trick at all to unite swarms. It's a good 

 deal harder sometimes to keep them from unit- 

 ing. All that's to be done is to hive a swarm 

 in a hive in which another swarm has been 

 hived. There will be no trouble about their 

 fighting if both swarms are hived the same 

 day, nor, indeed, if they are two or three days 

 apart. If you have any choice as to queens, 

 kill the poorer; but if you have no choice the 

 bees will settle the matter to their own satis- 

 faction without your paying any attention to 

 it. If the swarms are small, there will be a de- 

 cided gain in uniting; but if the swarms are 

 large it isn't so advisable to unite. Unite two 

 large swarms, and by the next spring you will 

 have no more beys in the hive than each would 

 have had if you had hived them separately. 



C. C. Miller. 



ALFALFA IN MICHIGAN. 



Inclosed I send you two stems of alfalfa, 

 raised by my neighbor, Mr. Myers. He has 

 about 1>.2 acres, about like the sample. It was 

 sown the 17th of April, 18%, with oats. I asked 

 when the ground was manured last. He said, 

 "Not since I have been on the place, being 32 

 years," and now any one can find plenty of 

 stalks 14 to 15 inches long. C. H. Austin. 



Allen, Mich. 



RAPE CULTURE. 



I have a piece of rape which commenced to 

 bloom in May, and the bees were humming on 

 it, and, as usual, my stocks made a raid on it 

 when they got an opportunity. I don't think 

 Dwarf Essex would do the bee-keeper much 

 good, on account of its not blooming the first 

 year. With the common Kind I find we can 

 sow it in the fall or early spring, and get a 

 crop of honey from it; then turn it down, and 

 sow to buckwheat and get a good crop of the 

 latter. Rape, when plowed in, makes a fine 



AGAINST THE IMPORTATION OF APIS DORSATA. 



Good for Gleanings I I am glad to see you 

 have taken a decided stand against the costly 

 importation of Apis dorsata, for I never could 

 see that it would be of any earthly use to the 

 bee-keepers of America or anybody else. 



If I made that mistake on page 356, I owe an 

 apology to the printer, to whom I had given all 

 the credit of it. I meant to say "laying-work- 

 er eggs in worker-cells." 



As to the design of the cover of Gleanings, 

 it's all right as it is, and the cover of a bee- 

 paper would hardly be complete, to my mind, 

 without bees on the wing. 



Reliance, Va. Burdette Hassett. 



[The imp jrtation of Apis dorsata may not be 

 so expensive after all. At the risk of being 

 styled fickle I must say my views on the subject 

 have undergone a revision since reading the ar- 

 ticle on page 527.— Ed.] 



THE ABSENCE OF DRONES NOT PREVENTING 



SWARMING. 



Friend Root: — On page 498 you express a de- 

 sire to know of your readers whether the entire 

 absence of drones will prevent swarming. 

 With a laying queen it will discourage it to 

 some extent, but will not wholly prevent it. 

 With virgins it has no effect. We have had 

 lots of swarms led out this season by virgins 

 from colonies that had drones neither in nor 

 out of the combs. Neither will the absence of 

 a queen prevent swarming in every case. We 

 have had two swarms this season to come forth 

 without any queen whatever. One of the swarms 

 was from a colony from which a laying queen 

 had been taken two days before; the other 

 from which a virgin had been removed one 

 hour before. Cleveland Bros. 



Stamper, Miss., July 13. 



DANDELIONS FOR HONEY. 



Dandelions are quoted in all works on forage 

 for bees as a great honey-plant. There is a 

 great profusion of them this year, but I haven't 

 seen a dozen bees on them this season. It was 

 very dry all through April and May. Is that 

 the probable cause ? Geo. L. Vinal. 



Charlton City, Mass., June 15. 



[(Juite probably. — Ed.] 



sweet clover and sweet-clover honey. 



Bees are still rolling in the honey from sweet 

 clover. As to sweet-clover honey, I can say it 

 is of a better flavor than any white-clover hon- 

 ey I ever ate. G. E. Nelson. 



Bishop Hill, Ills., July 20. 



[Tastes may vary; and while I do not think 

 the flavor quite equal to that of white, it is nev- 

 ertheless first-class white honey. — Ed.] 



