782 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Nov. 1. 



the drone season. They have learned to dis- 

 tinguish between di'ones and workers. Tliey 

 will take their stand close to and at om^ side of 

 the entrance of the hive: and when the drone 

 emerges from the hive, and takes wing, the 

 chickens take him in wjiile he is on the wing, 

 and that is the last of him: and wiien the 

 workers get a little too thick around them they 

 retreat to the back part of the hive, and further 

 if pursued by the bees. In a very short time 

 they are back again, take in anotiier drone, and 

 get' back out of the way. All these perform- 

 ances I have seen. I have thought it is a good 

 tiling to kee]) chickens in the bee-yard to pick 

 up all kinds of bugs, and to keep grass and 

 weeds down, which they effectually do. Noth- 

 ing green grows there except trees and gra])e- 

 vines: but if these chickens are guilty of killing 

 and eating queens when going out or coming in 

 fi'om thcii' wedding-tour, we shall have to sep- 

 arate them. A. W. AUSENHAXTM. 

 Grant Park, 111., Oct. 8. 



Well, friend A., having chickens taught to 

 pick out the drones is a good idea. Why are 

 they not cheaper than drone-traps? 



SOFT WATEK VERSITg HARD AVATEK FOK BEES. 



I see by your answer, p. 713. 1 was not explicit 

 enough about the bees and the well. The water 

 is soft — the only well of soft water in the town. 

 I have a well of hard water right near the bees, 

 and have kept water in a trough all the time. 

 The neighbors emptied their trough, and the 

 be( s went into the i)ump and were pumped up 

 by the handful. During the dry season they 

 went thei'e by the thousands. They stung the 

 stock and the people going to the well. The 

 owner thinks I ought to move my bees. I never 

 tried fixing a place with pebbles and moss. I 

 will try it. John Burr. 



Braceville, 111., Oct. .5. 



Well, friend B., you have given us a new idea 

 — that bees prefer soft water to hard; but even 

 if they do, I think it is a compliment to their ' 

 good sense and taste. But you have struck on 

 something else that interests me: Why should 

 this one well be soft and all the rest hard? Is it 

 not because it was drilled deepei"? If so, per- 

 haps some of the rest of you had better go down 

 to this same soft-water-bearing stratum. 



SUCCESSFUL bee-hunting; .5 BEE-TREES AND 

 KXJ I,BS. OF HONEY. 



One week ago, after dinner I took a notion to 

 cut a bee-tree, without veil or smoker. A 

 neighbor. Mr. Richardson, said he would smoke 

 them while I did the chopping and took -honey. 

 I cut the tree, and was opening the same, aiid 

 bees were fighting like mad, when, who should 

 come but the mail-man with the veil and smoker 

 1 had ordered. As the ti'ee was on the road. I 

 filled the smoker and put on the veil with much 

 pleasure. I expected to get very little honey, 

 but we took 38 lbs. of as nice honey as usually 

 comes out of a frame hive. The Monday follow- 

 ing I cut another and got 20 lbs. of fair honey. 

 I have now got o colonies, all in good frame 

 hives made by myself. P'irst swarm are hy- 

 brids, some of them are beauties. The queen 

 is a beauty. She must have come from Mr. 

 Adam Bradfoi-d's. a patron of yoiu-s, some 12 to 

 14 miles from here, as he is the only one having 

 any station in this section. Blacks are the rule 

 here. Some 30 days ago a man seven or eight 

 miles from me had found 39 bee-trees; another, 

 15; Mr. Winslow, 4; Mr. Kennedy and Roberts, 

 one or two; myself, .5. The woods are full of 

 them. Out of the five trees I think we took over 



100 lbs. of honey. I am much pleased with the- 

 tools and Gleanings, as I am a Buckeye my- 

 self. M. R. SCUDDER. 



Grandview Ranch. Tex.. Oct. 4, 1890. 



Why friend S., you must have a wonderful 

 locality for bees. I am very glad your smoker 

 and veil came to hand so opportunely. 



ITALIANS AHEAD FOR W^INTERING AND HONEY. 



The past winter developed a i)oint of superi- 

 ority in Italian bees that was not known to me 

 previously in wintering in chaff-protected hives. 

 During the changeable and warm weather they 

 remained clustered quietly, and so consumed 

 less honey, and in the S))ring were well supplied 

 with honey, while hybrids had to be fed, and 

 many of Jiiy neighbors" black bees starved. Our 

 season has not been very good. The Italians 

 are far ahead of the blacks, though, and give 40' 

 lbs. per colony of white honey as against noth- 

 ing from blacks, and the fall crop yet to extract. 



Payson, III.. Sept. 17. D. E. Robbins. 



Your testimony is like hundreds of others we 

 have received. Where we receive one report 

 where the blacks did better, we receive ten 

 others for the Italian superiority. 



THE SUFFERING IN IRELAND. 



Dear Sir: — You state in Gleanings, that you 

 gave twenty-five hundred dollars to hel)) a rail- 

 road. What will you give, and what effort will 

 you use to induce others to give from that 

 which God has permitted them to retain for 

 their own coinfort, to keep the peoi^le of Ireland 

 from suffering the misery of starvation? I trust 

 we shall hear from you in this matter. 



Oct. 13. A Subscriber. 



My good friend, there are a few things in the 

 above that I wish to take exceptions to. The 

 first is, you do not sign your name. You may 

 not have so intended, but there seems to be a 

 disposition to find fault, and perhaps to ques- 

 tion a little my Christianity. But why in the- 

 world do you not stand up and speak out like a 

 man, and let folks know who you are? Sending 

 a communication to an editor or anybody else 

 (without giving at least the editor your name) 

 seems to me like throwing a stone and then 

 dodging behind a tree instead of letting your 

 opponent see who it is that takes exception to 

 your course of action. Many peoi^le, however, 

 send anonymous letters, without thinking; but 

 no true man or woman ever ought, under any 

 circumstances, to be guilty of such an act. I 

 wish it might be done away with. Again, you 

 say that I gave twenty-five hundred dollars to 

 help the railroad. In one sense this is true; 

 but as you put it, I think it conveys a wrong 

 impression. Until the present day we have 

 been at the mercy of a single railroad line. 

 This line moves freight only twice a day: and 

 where goods are urgently needed, if they fail 

 to go by the morning train they must lie in the 

 depot, even if the consignee is suffering, a ic/ioZe 

 day. Another thing, we have never had an 

 east and west railroad. All our goods have 

 been going either north or south, until they 

 could find some east and west line. Now. the 

 money I have agreed to pay is not only to help 

 the railroad, but still more to help you and all 



