70,S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 . 



tralion. \\ii<-n tln'v arc l.utli ar. lent Prohibition- 

 ists: but \vf> boiiovc these young men will not 

 lower the standard of principle, even if they do 



get lunie,! from ol'lin . 



SII.SBY BROTHERS STORE. 



W(> saw here for the first time in many weeks 

 the familiar face of Gi.EANiNOsat the residence 

 of Henry yi)rague, who is a veteran in tlie bee- 

 business, having now alioiit sixty colonies. Mr. 

 S. uses a side-storing hive, but was not satisfied 

 with it, and was studying the Dovetailed hive 

 and a non-brace-comb wide thiclv top-bar, with 

 a view of adopting them. His experience with 

 verv narrow top-bars had given liim much 

 trouble bv IxM'S filling up between with not only 

 brace-combs but with great daubs of comb and 

 honey. Sixty colonies was tlie liinitof his field. 

 Extracted honey was raised to som(> extent, and 

 thrown out with an old-style (Jray & Winder 

 machine. His Bingham smoker was an ancient 

 one. twelve years old. and good for a few more 

 puffs. Cellar wintering is practiced; and while 

 most bee-keepers put clean sawdust upon the 

 cellar-bottom. Mr. S. had a good depth ot straw. 

 Wo concluded, all to ourself. that he had an ex- 

 cellent material for mice-nests, and we kicked 

 around rather unnec(^ssarily to wake 'em up, 

 when. '^ dunder and blixenl"' how we did com- 

 mence to sneeze I 



The grip was the main occupation of people 

 generally just tlien. We had heard of some 

 very sudden attacks, but had thus far escaped: 

 but" we thought we had it sure this time. We 

 hud relied upon a large chunk of camphor as 

 a sure preventive, and got it to our sneezing- 

 apparatus as soon as possible. This prevented 

 fnrth(>r external explosions: and while we were 

 allowing the internal feelings to subside, Mr. S.. 

 who had followed our sudden exit fiom the cel- 

 lar, said I was afflicted with cayenne pe])per 

 instead of the grip. 



" Cayenne pepper!" 



"Yes. That straw you kicked around so is 

 sjjrinkled f\ill of cayenne pepper. I put in stra^\' 



and |)e|)|)er e\-er\' fall to keej) the mice out. H' 

 they get into that straw they sneeze just as ycm 

 did— ha! ha !— and get out about as fast as you 

 did." 



We found Mr. S. and family also earnest 

 workers in the afoi'csaid Wesleyaii church, and 

 a family of influence foi' good in tlie com- 

 nuniitx'. 



WiUai'd Collins is anoth"r young l5ee-ke<'|)er 

 ill this town, and it was in the large forest near 

 his father's residence we ]jhotoed the bee-iuint- 

 ers" cam]). Will, with the ax. has his eye on a 

 l)ee-ti-ee. and the other fellows are ready for a 

 ^lice of bi-ead and hon(n'. These foi'ests are 

 tilled with just such trc'es as bees delight to 

 li\(' in. 



Ira liowcn. of the town of Fremont, the hon- 

 est-looking \'oung man who conducted the 

 Rambler safi'ly into tliis region, is also a bee- 

 ke(>per. and a keeper of a maple-sugar bush. 

 Th(> family is sweetened at both ends of the 

 season, and. of course, they are sw(M>t the year 

 round. Tlu> Rambler was fed on maph' in all 

 shapes, and believ(\s that Steuben County can 

 produce a product equal to or even superior to 

 all othei's. Ira uses the L. hive and packs with 

 straw outdoors: and. though having a small 

 apiary, h" has been successful with it. His sis- 

 ter Alice hi-lps to a certain extent, but it is 

 mostly advice, foi' her first exjjerience and at- 

 tempt at hiving bees gave her a sev(n-e lesson 

 as to the deceitfulnessof the busy bee. Ira and 

 the boys were busy on a remote part of the 

 farm, when a swarm of bees came out. '" Now," 

 says Alice to her mother, "is my oi)portvuHty. 

 This is tlu' chance of my lifetime to show what 

 women can do with bees. The CfKiiitdiniunu 

 says that b(>es will alight every time on an ele- 

 vated mullein-stalk." 



Obtaining one she held it aloft among the 

 bees, but tliey gi'adually drifted around the cor- 

 nel' of the house, out oif sight. She held on to 

 the mullein, however, for half an hour, mon^ or 

 less, thinking they would come back in good 

 Chantauquan order. Of course, her arm pained 

 her not a little: and. being an exijerienced 

 schoolteacher, her heart went out in sympathy 

 to those refractory urchins she had p\uiished 

 by making them hold up a stick of wood. Her 

 reverie was. however, broken by her mother 

 calling from the window, " Why, Alice, what 

 are you holding that mullein-stalk uj) there for? 

 Th(' swarm has gone back into the hive long 

 ago." That mullein-stalk was dropped like a 

 hot potato, and Alice now believes th(M'e is 

 nothing but deceitfulness in the busy bee. 

 which oi)inion is shared in, more or less, by the 



Ramiu-er. 



DID THE BEES STEAL THE EGG? 



WII,I>ARI) roTI.IXS" r.EK-IU'NTEUS CAMl' 



TWO ()I,1) QUEENS IN THE SAME HIVE. AN1> 

 EAYING PEACEABLY. 



In (iLEANiNGS for Aug. 1, page .5()8, you say 

 you think it doubtful whether bees will steal 

 eggs from another hive. Let me giv(> my ex- 

 perience. I had a colony of blacks which I 

 wanted to change to Italians. AftcM- killing the 

 old queen I waited one week, then took out all 

 frames and gavi' them frames with foundation, 

 with the (>xcei)tion of one frame that had some 

 comb whicli I had fixed up according to Alley's 

 plan, with 10 or 12 eggs in it. The bees built 

 out two very nice queen-cells: and a couple 

 of days before they hatched I looked them 

 over, and just alongside of one of the caj)- 

 ped queen-cells was another queen-cell just 

 started, with an egg in it. Now, where did tliat 

 egg come from? I am positive there was no 

 queen in the hive nor any fertile worker, as the 



