83 



GLEANINGS IN BEE (TLTTRE, 



Jcx r. 



MESSRS A. I. ROOT& Co.— Enclosed please find '25 

 r.ts. for strip of worker bee comb, with eggs suitable 

 for raising good Queens, send Monday morning, loth 

 iust., if the weather is not too cool, E. Fkanks. 



Inland, < >. June ISth, 1*74. 



P. s. My bees removed all the eggs bat three, from 

 the strip 1 got of you last year; those they raised into 

 ijiiitiis, now mothers of good colonies. 



The above comes from an adjoining County, 

 (.'mild we sent} them to all our subscribers as 

 mi rely, 'twould be a grand thing indeed, but 

 candidly, we have no hope that it can be done. 

 Therefore, instead of sending to us, send to 

 some one near yon, who has a choice, or im- 

 ported Queen. 



MORE ABOUT STRAW MATS ETC. 



FKJEND NOVICE:— I noticed in the last Glean- 

 ings some, instructions for making straw mats; you 

 have seen one of ours I believe, friend Muth having 

 sent von one. I will try and see if I can describe our 

 machine, which simplifies the making very much; it 

 Is simply two rows of ash rods, seven in a row, mor- 

 tised In a base so the rows are about an inch apart; 

 the rods must be thick enough to not spring, ours are 

 \ of an inch square. We commence by putting a 

 handful of straw in at the top and forcing it down be- 

 tween the strips to the base, and so on till tilled to the 

 required higtat, lx-ing careful to reverse the ends at 

 each handful. With two blunt needles we now sew 

 between the strips saddler fashion, and when finished, 

 '■ut the surplus and loose ends off with a sharp knife, 

 leaving the outside rods to guide you. after which the 

 mat is slid out of the top. With a very little practice 

 ;t very neat tidy mat can be made. Any carpenter can 

 make the frame, if this is not plain enough 1 will be 

 glad to give any further information. Those of us in 

 this neighborhood who used the mats last winter did 

 not lose a swarm. 



I see some are inquiring how close they can put 

 their hives. 1 use the Langs troth, they are ranged in 

 rows four or live feet apart at the most, and as close 

 in the rows as I can get them. It makes them very 

 unhandy being able to work only from back to front, 

 but we have to economize space when we have to 

 keep on the roof, or in a small yard ; however we ex- 

 perience no inconvenience as far as the bees are con- 

 cerned, and I don't think I lose more than the average 

 number of Queens, lam surprised myself at so few 

 losses in that way. 



This is not a first rate year with us. I have taken 

 out over 2000 lbs. so far and hope to get as much more, 

 but that of course depends on the season, several 

 showers have brightened things up and made it more 

 promising. 



Will close by hoping Novice's bees are making rapid 

 headway in regaining their old numbers and standing. 



C'in. O. June 17th, 1874. H. E. CUKKV. 



I united my bees down to 51 stocks, one of which 

 was found afterward to be Oueenless, so I call it 50 to 

 commence the season with ; 25 ot the best will average 

 brood in 10 Gallup frames, or about 800 square inches 

 of brood. The twenty live poorest, 7 frames, or 500 

 square inches. Am surprised to see that you do not 

 seem willing to acknowledge that Black Queens com- i 

 mence to breed earlier and faster in Feb. March and 

 April which is certainly the case, but in May and June 

 the Italians ont-strip them by nearly one half. I have 

 hail Italians that had not even an egg the 20th of 

 April, that made the best of stocks. 



Borodino, N. Y. June 10th. 1874. G. M. Dooi.rn i,k. 



Tell me how I can get rid of the little red ants in my j 

 hives. Tell me what is the matter with the young ; 

 bees, when they become uncapped and die in their i 

 cells before it istime for them to hatch, and what I 

 shall 1 do when 1 find it so? E. HtlNTKU. : 



Pour boiling water on the ants if you can, if 

 you can't conveniently, sprinkle tine sugar in i 

 a sponge, and when full of them dip in boiling ; 

 water. If we can have our hives full of bees I 

 as they should be, the ants or any thing else 

 are perfectly welcome to in> in if they can 

 stand it. 



We fear you have spread your combs too 

 fast and thus forced some of the brood outside 

 the cluster, which has become chilled. We : 

 have been guilty of the same thing several: 



times this spring. Watch closely the result of 

 your work, and go slowly. 



One year ago Shaw & Son sent me an Italian Queen 

 from which I have raised quite a number, all of which 

 are exactly like her. they having only one chance out 

 of fifty to meet pun' drones. I bad forty nine half 

 blood stocks, ami one invre), yet two tilths of the young 

 Queen's progeny are regularly marked three banded 

 workers. 1 think that very good, what do you think 

 of her ? 



I have no faith in raising October Queens- Went 

 into winter with plenty drones-, yet some of my young 

 Queens came out barren or drone layers this, and last 

 spring. Good success in wintering, lost but one 

 stock, but any man that will keep bees in swrh a pat- 

 ent hive as that was, slnuild lose them all. Please ac- 

 cept my sympathy fw your loss. A, Baih- 



RoUe'rsville, O," 



DEAR NOVICE:— Supposing I should commence' 

 bee culture this spring with about 50 stocks of bees, 

 and should extract all their honev, year after year, 

 not allowing them to swarm at all. would not their 

 Queens after four or five years become unfertile and 

 my stock Ifeeoine depopulated; or would they rear 

 young Queens in place of the old ones? Another 

 thing. I would like to know, supposing some of your 

 bees should swarm naturally, would you give them :i 

 whole New Idea Standard hive at once, or would j on 

 only give them a part at first 'i Ii,a MlCHEXKK, 



Low Banks, Canada. June 14th. 1874. 



Our bees always rear a new one before the 

 old Queen tails, and we have now two hive- 

 containing both an old and young Queen. Tib- 

 old Queen sometimes keeps on laying eggs for 

 several weeks or even months after the young 

 one has Ijeeome fertile. 



We Would .give a new swarm only as much 

 room as they could comfortably till, dividing 

 off this space by a division board, or with a 

 half of the quilt. The quilt we use on the 

 Standard hive is long enough to cover half the 

 frames and also to drop down and perfectly 

 divide them from the other half. We would 

 hive the bees in the front half near the entrance, 

 and after their combs are well started, locate 

 them in any part of the hive that may be 

 deemed best. We should, a» a general tiling, 

 keep the bees at the end nearest the entrance, 

 extending them backward as the colony in- 

 creased in size. 



Bees- seemed almost as if they had deserted their 

 hives here in April and first of May, by the strong 

 winds blowing them away. 



Two hundred and sixty colonies of last fall (Oh ! 1 

 had intended to say nothing about this), have dwin- 

 dled down to fifty two Queens and about enough bees 

 to make live good colonies. 



Don't you think 1 will do exploits in the great Bass- 

 wood forests of this region ? 



1 have twenty four hundred Eangstroth and Gallup 

 frame combs unoccupied, which I am putting through 

 the purifying clement of purgatory. By the way I am 

 soaking a large number of combs' in a tank of water 

 for forty eight hours, then throw the water out with 

 the extractor and hang them in a frame work under 

 the shade of my grove, as worms seem less likely to 

 breed there. I find that 12 or 15 hours soaking will not 

 kill all the moth. 11. Wii.kin, Oscaloosa, low a 



I believe raspberries ought to be en! ivated more 

 for bees, as they come ni between sipple blossoms and 

 white c over. Mrs. s. J. W. Axtki.I- 



Rosevi.le. 111. 



We heartily agree with our friend Mrs. A. 

 Those who are desirous of raising honey plants. 

 could start an acre of rasplxrrics with very 

 little danger of their not being able to get their 

 money back, even if it did not pay for the hon- 

 ey alone. Reports of the quality of raspberry 

 honey all agree in pronouncing it extra tine. 

 For directions for cultivation, see Fuller's 

 Small Fruit Cultunts which we can mail for 

 $1.50. 



