254 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



grow, except in a strong alkali bed; and, as has al- 

 ready been said, it blooms profusely; and so sweet 

 are the blossoms, that, in chewing a head, you seem 

 to get two or three drops of honey; but I am of the 

 opinion that the bees can not reach all the honey 

 the blossoms contain. You may guess that it is 

 very sweet, for our bees work on the dry hay in the 

 spring by the thousands. I am not an expert in 

 honey, but I should say that this honey is of the 

 first qualify, both in looks and in flavor. I raised 

 3000 lbs. in 1 lb. sections, of this honey, from 34 colo- 

 nies, spring count. Many of the farmers in this lo- 

 cality are getting a few bees for their own use. But 

 two or three are producing honey and bees for the 

 market. The L. frame takes the lead here. 

 Ashley, Utah, Feb. 27. Geo. Freestone. 



A REMEDY THAT DOES NOT COME OUT OF A BOT- 

 TLE, FOR BEE-STINGS. 



I notice in Gleanings, page 60, that J. F. Craw- 

 ford uses heat for bee-stings, getting relief. For 

 years I have used the nozzle of a smoker to remove 

 bee-stings, performing a scratching motion, or, 

 rather, a push, to remove the sting, which does not 

 bother me by swelling or itching very much, if re- 

 moved at once. At times in extracting! could notdo 

 so immediately, and the pain would be greater. I 

 used a smoke to destroy the scent. I learned that 

 the heat from a hot smoker destroys the scent, and 

 also relieves the pain very much. 



Green Hill, Ind., Feb. 23. J. A. .Johnston. 



BEE STINGS AND RHEUMATISM. 



I was speaking to a lady friend, who is a practic- 

 ing homeopathic physician, in regard to the bee- 

 sting remedy for rheumatism. From her I learned 

 that a remedy prepared from bees is used in a form 

 of that disease. As I understand the matter, rheu- 

 matism characterized by swelling and redness as 

 two prominent symptoms is likely to be relieved or 

 cured by bee-stings; while in other forms of the 

 disease that remedy would be useless. This may, 

 perhaps, account for the conflicting testimonials 

 sent you as to its eflicacy. Emily E. West. 



Flint, Mich., Feb. 17. 



BEST WAY TO REDUCE INCREASE ; HOW TO UNITE. 



I have 16 hives of bees, which is just double what 

 I want to have, and I have been considering in what 

 way to double them up. My latest idea is to place 

 the contents (10 L. frames) of our hive in a second 

 story, and shall place it over the same number of 

 frames in another hive; cover up, and let them 

 take their chances as to amalgamating or frater- 

 nizing, and the strongest queen her chance of life, 

 thinking the bees in the second story will go down 

 below, and those below will come up, empty the 

 second-story frames of honey, take it below, and 

 make a common supply for all. Is that way as 

 good or not, as to take the ten frames In the lower 

 story of one hive and shake off all the bees in front 

 of another hive, letting them go in in front, as in 

 hiving new swarms? W. J. Conklino. 



Springfield, 111., Feb. 17. 



The plan you mention is all right, friend 

 C. — that is, iiroviding you do not care which 

 queen is saved. Wait until the weather is 

 so cool that the bees will not fly much, then 

 set the contents of one hive very quietly on 

 the upper story of the other hive. It is a 

 very rare thing to have them kill each other 

 unless you stir them up into a fighting 



mood. If the bees should fly the next day^ 

 however, a great part of this hive would be 

 likely to go back to their old locality, and it 

 is a pretty hard matter to prevent more or 

 less loss in this way unless you can manage 

 to move one hive, say a mile or more. If the 

 two hives are very close to each other, say 

 Ave or ten feet, jiist carry the empty hive 

 away after uniting, and the returning bees 

 will either find a proper hive or divide them- 

 selves around in the neighboring hives. 



4000 LBS. FROM 60 COLONIES. 



I commenced in 18?9 with 60 colonies, run mostly 

 for extracted honey. I took over 4000 lbs., and in- 

 creased to 97. I had but 25 empty hives for my in^ 

 crease, and concluded, when they were filled, to 

 keep them from swarming. But I soon found that 

 the bees had something to say about it. I did all I 

 could, hut they swarmed all the same, and I had no- 

 hives for them. I put tivo large swarms into a salt- 

 barrel, two into tubs, four into large box hives, four 

 into log gums, and eight into shoe-boxes. These I 

 concluded to kill and extract, and make wax out of 

 the combs; but when the time came to kill them, 

 my heart failed me, and 1 put them all into the cave. 

 That salt-barrel is full; one of the tubs is full; and 

 all of the boxes. I shall have a nice time transfer- 

 ring in the spring. I have sold all my honey— ex- 

 tracted 8(^, and comb 12>^. It has brought me 

 something over if3J0. This will make over $5.00 per 

 colony, besides the increase. If we count the in- 

 crease it will make ir,0 per cent on the capital In- 

 vested. Wm. Malone. 



Newborn, la., Feb. 8. 



alfalfa; 15 lbs. to the gallon. 



I have only 14 colonies of bees, l^it I have built 

 them up from one colony. I have I >^<\ bees since 

 1886. Some of our best bee-keepers thought at 

 that time that alfalfa did not secrete nectar in this 

 climate. Our wild flowers here produce little or no 

 honey. One year in particular my bees got very 

 short of honey in June; but as soon as the alfalfa 

 commenced to bloom I could see that the bees were 

 putting in honey. Then the alfallawa cut, and 

 immediately the bees were almost down to starva- 

 tion again until it blossomed again in July. Then 

 part of the field was left to go to seed; and they not 

 only put in a bountiful supply for winter, but gave 

 me a surplus of about 60 lbs. to the hive. This year 

 13 hives gave me a surplus of 108 gallons which 

 weighed 15 Ihs. to the gallon. The honey is very 

 thick, white, and of excellent flavor. It granulates 

 very easily, even in the hives, if extracting is de- 

 layed. My bees will fly over a field of freshly blos- 

 somed alfalfa to get to some that is going to seed, 

 and I sometimes think it has little nectar in it when 

 it first blossoms. We have a field of 60 acres on our 

 ranch, acd all our neighbors raise alfalfa also. 



Fort Collins, Col., Mar. 5. Mrs. J. Armstrong. 



Are vou not mistaken, my good friend? 

 The thickest honey I ever heard of weighed 

 V2 lbs. to the gallon, and then it would hard- 

 ly run. To weigh 15 lbs. to the gallon it 

 would be so thick, even in warm weather, 

 that you would almost have to cut it with a 

 knife. Either your scales were wrong, or 

 else the honey was of greater f-pecific gravi- 

 ty than any thing we have ever heard of 

 before. 



