1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



531 



have a fine frolic. Her circles included about two 

 acres; and as she cut the air it was fine music to 

 hear. In about ten minutes she returned, as nice 

 as a veteran worker. After I found her laying I 

 clipped her wing-. All is well that ends well. I 

 took a look at the cage and found three cells com- 

 pletely torn down. I think she liberated herself 

 very quick. I lost my lirst queen about twelve 

 days before I ordered this one. The most probable 

 cause, I think, was, she took a flight and was 

 caught by a bee-bird, as I have shot 35, and exami- 

 nation proved they really catch my bees. 

 Vine Creek, Kan., July 2. Wm. H. Dodge. 



Friend D., you have struck upon some- 

 thing tliat was fully discussed some years 

 ago, and called forth considerable comment 

 and some anxiety. You say a fertile queen 

 took wing, to the extent of flying over per- 

 haps a couple of acres. In your case she 

 did not meet a drone. May be a queen that 

 has once laid worker eggs never meets a 

 drone afterward ; and I believe that is the 

 general rule in teaching. But for all that, I 

 am sure I did see one queen, that we im- 

 ported from Italy, take wing just as yours 

 did. I do not know what she took wing for, 

 nor just how long she was gone, for 1 only 

 saw her returning. We have other testi- 

 mony that seems to indicate quite strongly 

 that queens, after meeting the drones once, 

 fly out one or more times after this meeting. 



AI.E BEES ASSESSED AS PROPERTY? 



I should like to know whether bees are assessed 

 in your State or not, or in any other State that you 

 know of. The county officers wanted the assessor 

 to assess them. I told him them were not as- 

 sessable unless there was a State law to assess 

 them. He thought I was right. He wanted me 

 to write and see if they were assessed in other 

 States. Jas. K. Whipps. 



Le Sueur Center, Minn., June 18, 1890. 



I do not know what the prevailing custom 

 is ; but I think bees should be assessed with 

 other property. In fact, if the assessor 

 should pass by my bees I should feel slight- 

 ed. If hives of bees are not property, then 

 we had better all of us quit the bee-busi- 

 ness. This matter has been up before, and 

 there was some discussion on it some years 

 ago. I do not want any thing from my 

 neighbors unless it justly belongs to me ; 

 neither do I want any thing nor any privi- 

 lege from the government of the "United 

 States unless it is fairly mine. Of course, 

 I agree that there are things of so little use, 

 or of a value so uncertain, that it is not 

 worth while to tax them. If your bees and 

 tixtures would not sell at public sale, then I 

 should say they were not worth taxing. As 

 hives of bees do, however, sell for some- 

 thing with other stock, this customary sell- 

 ing price, it would seem to me, should be 

 the proper value for taxation. 



WHY BEES SWARM OUT, ETC. 



Can you give me any reason why a new swarm 

 will settle in a new hive, and remain a few days, and 

 then start out and leave the hive? Also, why a new 

 swarm will enter an old hive where there is a good 

 working colony already in it, and remain in it, and 

 apparently work with perfect harmony? I had 

 such a cHse the other day. Is it not advisable for a 



very strong colony to have as many as four or five 

 supers placed ui>on the hive at once for ample room 

 to work in? C. W. Youngman. 



St. Paul, Minn., June 21, 1890. 



The matter you mention is fully discussed 

 under the head of "Absconding," in the 

 A B C book. Al)sconding swarms often try 

 to force an entrance into any sort of hive- 

 one containing bees or one Avithout. Some- 

 times the colony occupying the hive will 

 receive them peaceably, and sometimes they 

 will not. I would place enough supers on a 

 strong colony to give them all the room to 

 work, but not too many at once. 



QCEENS FAILING TO HATCH BECAUSE WRONG END 

 UP. 



I have been a bee-keeper for seven jears, during 

 which time I have had three queen-cells that, hav- 

 ing failed to hatch, an examination showed the 

 queens were wrong end up— that is, their heads 

 were turned toward the hat<e of their cells. Is such 

 a thing common? I have read my A B C book, but 

 I don't find that you say any thing about such mis- 

 haps. The latest one I find I send you by to-day's 

 mail, which has not been removed from the cell; 

 but those that I have examined before, appeared 

 perfectly developed, and I suppose that, if the cell 

 could have been torn open just at the right time, 

 they would have been all right. The one I send you 

 should have hatched a week since. Do worker 

 bees ever turn up that way? L. Hall,. 



Sparta, Miss., July 4. 



This matter of queens and worker bees 

 being found in cells wrong end to. has been 

 commented on several times thiongh our 

 journals. Sometimes they gnaw out near 

 the base of the cell, and at other times they 

 are found dead in the cells. I do not know 

 where the trouble is, unless friend Doolit- 

 tle's suggestion hits the point— .somebody 

 shook the frame to get the bees off, and the 

 queen wiggled around. If the frame, how- 

 ever, was never removed from the hive, and 

 shaken, I suppose we shall have to admit 

 that nature sometimes makes a blunder. 



BURR-COMBS ; PREVENTING WITH CROSSWISE 

 SECTIONS. 



a. Would sections tend to prevent burr-combs if 

 put on crosswise of the frames? b. Would as much 

 surplus be stored in them crosswise as lengthwise? 



Falfa, S. C, June 3. G. D. MiMS.n 



I believe as much honey will be stored 

 where the combs in sections are at right an- 

 gles with those in the brood-frames as by 

 the usual way. I do not believe the burr- 

 comb will be any better, but, on the con- 

 trary, rather worse. 



QUEEN SENT. 



The queen ordered of you June 28th arrived in 

 good condition July 3, and was introduced accord- 

 ing to directions July 4th. I looked in the hive to- 

 day, and found her released and all right. Thanks 

 for your promptness in filling orders. She was 

 darker than I expected to see, but, of course, she ia 

 all right. This is the first one I ever saw; but I 

 supposed they were very bright, like the workers. 



The honey-flow is about over here, and has been 

 very poor indeed. I notice reports in Gleanings 

 from apiarists, that vary from 50 to 300 lbs. per 

 colony. Now, I should just like to have you tell 



