1874. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



59 



duces workers after having at first only laid 

 drone eggs, but a drone layer at this season, 

 rarely if ever produces any thing better. The 

 deserted queen cell is a common occurrence, 

 and only indicates they have discovered some- 

 thing to be wrong. If given worker larvae, 

 they will probably rear a Queen just as if they 



had none. 



» 



My bees have, on account of the very backward and 

 cold spring, no brood yet. Not until last Friday did 

 I finish taking out all my bees. I found so far 32 dead 

 and Queenless ones, out of 850, but fear I will lose 

 more. A good many of them are weak, and 5 of them 

 froze only a week ago. A. Fuerbringer and my broth- 

 er C. have lost but very few stocks. On an average 

 bees have wintered very well so far in this part of the 

 country. 



Jefferson, Wis. April 14. Adam Gkimm. 



As the above loss is less than i per cent, we 

 must call it very well, and that reminds us 

 that we have been thinking of making up a 

 list of those who have wintered with a loss not 

 exceeding one per cent, and calling it the "Roll 

 of Honor'but as we cannot call them wintered, 

 until about June 1st, we will postpone the mat- 

 ter until next mouth. Of course our next friend 

 will be included for she has had no losses. 



We hope she may continue, to do as well. 



FRIEND NOVICE:— I enclose 75 cts. for Glean- 

 ings in Bee Culture. Should have done so before, 

 but I have only one hive and 1 waited to see if it 

 would come out alive. Put them out-doors the 7th of 

 this month; they seem strong, so I send the money. I 

 tnink Gleanings very suitable for small folks, I can- 

 not afford a 82.00 magazine for one hive. I hope to 

 Italianize them, although I think they have a prolific 

 Black Queen. Hannah W. Williams, 



Springfield, Iowa, April 9, 1874. 



DEAR NOVICE :— Do you know anything about the 

 Buckeye as a honey producing tree ? I see it spoken 

 of on page 36, Vol. 5, A. B. J. 



And do you know whether it is true that the leaves 

 of that tree are poisonous ? I never knew of cattle 

 being poisoned by them, but intended to cut some of 

 tae trees down on account of the popular belief. 



Hudson, Ills., April 7, 1874. E. Sager. 



Bees do not work on the Buckeye hei'e, at 

 least we can't find them on it. Don't know 

 about the other. 



Mr A. I. ROOT, SIR:— I find myself minus two 

 numbers of Gleanings which I am obliged to have, 

 can't get along without it ; I am afraid without a re- 

 minder I shall get back into the "patent" business 

 again, which I have discarded for life, cause why — 

 Gleanings. I find my bees with more honey than I 

 left them in October, leaving no space for brood ; I 

 have therefore extracted four frames from each colo- 

 ny, which they seem to be disposed to re-fill with 

 honey. I am going to try to raise Queens this spring; 

 send me a chapter in Gleanings on the subject, one 

 that will not fail. I received a colony of Italians from 

 Mr. R. M. Argo, of Kentucky, last April, which prov- 

 ed to be all I bargained for. 



Sparta, Ga. March 7, 1874. Jcjdkins Hunt. 



Little Blue eyes may like to know that there is a 

 iiti boy here, who is very fond of bees. He was just 

 two years old last November, and yet last spring he 

 found out and told me where two swarms were issu- 

 ing. He lives a mile away now, and the first thing he 

 says when he comes, is, "Let us go see bees," and 

 right into the hive almost he will go, not being at all 

 deterred by the stings, or even crying for them. We 

 are afraid of his being badly stung sometime, but he 

 never shows a disposition to trouble them and we try 

 to keep him away, as much as possible, from them. 

 Blue eyes are at a premium here. We would like to 

 see a pair of which we have so often seen mention, 

 tell little Blue Eyes from her Aunt Anna, 



Woodville, Miss. 



Is it not a fact that small children are sel- 

 dom stung? Years ago, a blue eyed chick who 

 is older now, used to terrify her mamma by 

 running away to the hives, and. throwing saw- 



dust into the entrance until a shower of Ital- 

 ians hummed about her ears, while she crowed 

 in great glee, to think that "mamma" durst 

 not come and get her. Was she stung, think 

 you? Of course not, for she unconsciously 

 preserved just the demeanor that secures the 

 safety of an experienced bee-keeper, whilst 

 bystanders at a respectful distance are sure to 

 be attacked. 



I hail four swarms of bees last spring in box hives, 

 but transferred them to Simplicity hives, which I had 

 made at the cost of 90 cts. each. Had an Extractor 

 made for about 810.00. Extracted 180 lbs. Clover hon- 

 ey, and sold at 23 cts. per pound for 120 lbs., and gave 

 away and used the rest. Increased my swarms to 9. 

 One being weak, I took the bees and empty combs of 

 a neighbor's box hive, and put with it, and fed sugar 

 syrup. Also took the bees and empty combs of anoth- 

 er swarm late in October, and transferred to Simp lie-! 

 ity hive, and fed sugar-syrup. The rest had natural 

 stores, and all are doing well in cellar, to date. The 

 last one fed has six spaces tilled with bees, and plenty 

 to eat. What is the use of the quilts ? 1 have not 

 used them. Wm. H. Root. 



Port Byron, N. Y. Feb. 23, 1874. 

 By the use of Quilts Ave are enabled to secure 

 the benefit of closed top frames with none of 

 their disadvantages in opening and closing 

 the hive ; they can be pressed down on the 

 bees without hurting them, the hive can be 

 opened or closed without noise or jar, and we 

 can turn up one side to take out one or more 

 frames, without uncovering the whole hive, 

 when robbers are troublesome. 



A. I. ROOT, Dear Sir:— I herewith enclose view of 

 my Apiary, it was taken two years ago when I had 

 upwards of 100 colonies, now I have but 22. I have 

 just made an examination of them and found them all 

 in good condition ; wintered on summer stands. I am 

 not educated up to anything but box honey as yet ; in 

 fact I have only the box hive but have had good luck 

 with it and hesitate to quit it ; to tell the truth I have 

 8500.00 invested in 200 box hives, with cross bars, well 

 made and painted, and am not satisfied that I could 

 get any more box honey in any other way, so I contin- 

 ue on in the old way, it having paid me very much 

 better than any thing (in proportion to outlay) that I 

 have ever engaged in. I began bee-keeping 16 years 

 ago with 9 colonies, and have now 22, having lost in 

 wintering in that time, perhaps 300 or 400; had at one 

 time 165, that was in the fall of 1871, this being the 

 best figures that I ever reached ; in the mean- time 

 however, I have sold box honey to the amount of 

 thousands of dollars. J. F. Temple. 



Ridgeway, Mich. Feb 24, 1874. 



Weather very cold and windy here ; a good many 

 bees blown away and lost every day that they fly. 

 Work well on flour nice days, but they don't come 

 often this spring. A. J. Hoover. 



We have few honey producing trees in our neigh- 

 borhood: we have plenty of white clover, but for 

 some years the bees do not gather much hoaey from 

 it, and buckwheat yields almost none at all with us. 

 Rape might help us if there was a market for the seed 

 but unfortunately there are no oil mills near, and 

 without having sale for the seed, I doubt whether it 

 would pay for the honey alone. Alsike clover I un- 

 derstand blooms at the same time as white clover and 

 when the one fails I think the other would too, and I 

 doubt the utility of raising any other plant, that re- 

 quires the yearly tiUing ot the soil, for honey exclu- 

 sively. S. Leuthi, Gnadenhutten, O. 



B. H. Stair & Co., Cleveland O., will purchase 

 rape seed. Our experience with honey plants 

 confirms friend L's statement. Has any one 

 had honey from Alsike, at a season when white 

 was not yielding it also? Would it not be ad- 

 visable to expend the time and money toward 

 building up strong colonies in time for the 

 usual harvest, instead of venturing very much, 

 as yet, on artificial pasturage? Of course, 

 careful experiments, by those who can afford 

 to risk losses, are always to be approved. 



