822 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



WATER FOK BEES: HOW TO MAKE THEM LET 

 YOUK NEIGIIBOKS AT.OXK. 



I will come to your and Mr. John Bnri-'s relief 

 about giving bees water, page 713. To keep 

 bees from bothering your neighbors and your- 

 self, and at the same time give the bees just 

 what they want, give them salt water. As soon 

 as the bees commence to fly and breed up 

 they require salt; and I know if it is properly 

 applied it will cure such diseases as foul brood. 

 For watering bees, fill a nail-keg nearly full of 

 sawdust: set it on a grooved board, with cleats 

 nailed at each end to keep the water from I'un- 

 ning out. Place the keg one foot oi' so from the 

 ground, under the eaves of some building in a 

 warm and sheltered place. Throw in a handful 

 of salt every other day; and if it does not rain, 

 turn two or three quarts of water on the salt. 

 In dry weather they will take more water; and 

 if you have never tried it, or something of the 

 kind, you will be sui'prised how many bees will 

 work on it at all times of the day. 



Bees go into winter with plenty of honey, but 

 of poor quality. Look out for a loss this winter 

 in New York. I have 600 packed for winter 



now. W. L. COGGSHALL. 



West Groton, N. Y., Oct. 4. 



SPANISH NEEDLE AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



Within is what is called here stickweed flow- 

 er. This is not more than half of the top in 

 length. I had to cut them to suit mv box. 

 These were gathered right after a hard rain. 

 The bees were thick on them when I gathered 

 them. You ought to be here to see those black 

 bees hustle out before daylight, and come in so 

 heavily loaded tliey dio]) all around the hive. 

 Please give me the proper nam(> of these flowers. 

 I will send you sonn* seed this fall. They com- 

 mence to bloom about the 20th of August, and 

 last until after frost, up to October. 



Brush Creek, Ky., Sept. 10. D. H. Webb. 



Friend W., the plant you send us is the well- 

 known Spanish needle— bicZen-s. In localities it 

 furnishes great quantities of honey. We have 

 had no repoi't before that bees worked on it di- 

 rectly after a heavy rain. It must be yielding 

 tremendously in your locality. It has been 

 said, that a bee-keeper should locate where 

 there is vei-y I'ich soil and very poor farmers, in 

 order to get honey from this plant, for its fa- 

 vorite place is poorly cultivated cornfields. See 

 what is said elsewhere about Spanish needle on 

 the rich river-bottoms of the Illinois and Miss- 

 issippi Rivers. 



THE DOVETAILED HIVE ; irOW TO MAKE A 

 WINTER HIVE IN KANSAS. 



Having just begun last spring to learn to take 

 cai'e of bees, and having purchased 10 colonies 

 in Dovetailed hives. I have been watching for 

 instructions for wintering. In this latitude 

 there is so much mild weather that it would be 

 difficult to keep a cellar at the desired tempera- 

 ture for bees. Then, too, there is sometimes 

 extremely cold weather for several days, follow- 

 ed again by warm winds. I do not like the 

 thin-shell idea of strengthening the credit of the 

 Dovetailed hive— not if the thin shell is put on 

 the outside; but to place thin followers on each 

 side, inside the hive, and a chaff cushion on top, 

 is about the simplest thing to do. The ABC 

 book says four to six frames are enough; and 

 even if seven frames are left, there is i-oom for a 

 half-inch follower on each side. This is just 

 what I settled down to: I removed one or two 

 frames from each hive; and to those needing 

 more supplies I uncapped one or two frames of 



honey and hung them over night in the second 

 story, just drawing back the burlap at one cor- 

 ner, for the bees to get up. They did not fail to 

 carry it all down in a single night, and a frosty 

 night at that. 



I have 13 colonies in the Mitchell hive, which 

 is 25 inches long inside, and deeper than the 

 Dovetailed. I shall cut these back as soon as I 

 can drive the bees next spring into Dovetailed 

 hives. They will make iiine-franK^ hives, Icav- 

 ingroom fora followei'. I exhibited a Dovetailed 

 hive at our county fair, and I learn to-day that 

 it took the premium. Ezra Y'oder. 



Paola, Kan., Oct. 31. 



LETTER FROM FATHER LANGSTROTH. 



Dear Friend Root: — In reply to your letter, 

 inclosing a check for $50, sent to me by request 

 of the N. A. Bee-keepers' Association, recently 

 held at Keokuk, 1 would return my sincere 

 thanks for their very kind and helpful remem- 

 brance of their old bee-keeping friend. I am 

 still in a feeble and suffering condition, al- 

 though much better than I have been for near- 

 ly two years. Thanking you for your many 

 acts of kindness in the past. I remain 



Yours affectionately, 



L. L. Langstroth. 



Dayton, O., Nov 7, 1890. 



CALIFORNIA ROBBER-FLY'. 



I regret to say that the sand-bees and mos- 

 quito .sent by J. C. McCubbin, Selma. Cal.. wei-e 

 ground to powder, and so can not be identified. 

 I wish all would send ins<'cts in strong boxes, 

 tin or wood. \\"rapp(^d in cotton, then they come 

 in good condition. A small tin box, like a cap- 

 box, will go for a cent. 



The large insect which was' carrying the bee 

 is an asilus fly, new to me. I wish it were not 

 broken. It is one of the robber-flies. I have 

 illustrated sev(M'al in my Bee-Keeper's Guide. 

 fi'om wliich figures this could be easily identi- 

 fied. These bee-killers ar(> usually gray and 

 sober colored. This one is ornamented with 

 brown, and is quite handsome. I should like 

 very much to receive a ixMt'ccf specimen. There 

 are several of these bee-killers in the vSouth, 

 and it seems that California is not exempt. [ 

 hope that Mr. M. will try again, when I shall 

 hope for better success. 



BATS. 



Mr. Thaddeus Smith, Pelee Island, Lake 

 Erie, Ont., Can., wishes me to name a bat 

 which he sends me. This bat is large, quite 

 whitish, so that it is called the hoary bat. The 

 scientific name is Vespertlllo pruinosus. It is 

 not very common, and is easily told by its whit- 

 ish appearance, and a yellowish band across its 

 throat. I was glad to get the specimen, as we 

 had none in our museum. Bats often collect in 

 great numbers in caves, where they domicile in 

 summer and hibernate in winter. Bats are 

 nocturnal, and feed on insects; so they are our 

 friends. 



CROWN BEARD. 



Mr. Lewis K. Smith, Gainesboro, Jackson Co., 

 Tenn., writes me regarding a plant which he 

 says grows abundantly in his vicinity. The 

 bees gather most of their fall crop of honey 

 from it. He asks for name. I have never 

 heard of this plant as a honey-])lant before, I 

 think. It is crown beard, or ^'(•|■h<'silnt ocel- 

 dentalis. It is closely related to beggar-ticks 

 — bidens — and wild sunflowers. Indeed, it is 

 next to the Actinomerls Sqliarrosa. which is 

 much praised as a valuable honey-plant in 

 West Vii-ginia. No wonder that it affords 

 honey. Many of its near relatives do so. 



A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Oct. 27. 



