GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jak, 



drone and Queen have I dissecteil for my microscope; 

 but at last coiicliiiled it would not ]n\y and had almost 

 flecidcd not to exjieriment more, liut when your 

 I'rolilem No. '25 came out I thought I Avould try to 

 ^solve it for mv satisfaction, and as the result may be 

 of some benelit I jrive it to von below: 



I made luo arlilicial swarms by the driving process 

 and i)btced them in a room arranged for the purpose ; 

 frave them nothing- but water for three days so I would 

 be certain thcv woulil have used all the honey taken 

 durinirswarm'in-,'. Before feeding sutcutallthe combs 

 they had made— Fed No. 1 with one llj. brown sugar 

 nia(le into s^ rup and No. 2 with one lb. white sugar 

 also made into svru)). No. 1 gave 81 square inches ot 

 comb and No. 2,"3U sfiuare Inches— Reversed the teed- 

 ingandNo. 1 gave 3(5 inches andNo. 3, "-2 inches— Fed 

 boih with 1 11). honev and got from No. 1,2') inches and 

 from No. 2, 20 inches-No. 1, had 5% lb. bees and No. 

 2. 6!4 lbs. You will judge and see by the above which 

 gives the most wax. The 2.5 inches of comb weighed 

 1 ounce and its average thickness 1 'u inch. Judging 

 fi-om that it would take Ki lbs. of honey to make 1 lb. 

 of wax. The 81 inches comb weighed 2 l-KJ ounces. 

 No pollen given in any shape. During the fecMling 

 process the Queen lai(t but a few eggs and when 1 

 took the combs out all those hatched seemed to be 

 dead. [Just as thev always do without pollen.— Kd.] 



I was myself asto'ni-heirthat the brown sugar should 

 have given more than the white, but after reversing 

 the feedins I was convinced. My opinion is that the 

 molasses contained in brown sugar has something to 

 do with It ; am 1 right? This would be an interesting 

 fjuestion to solve and would be of great benelit and 

 economy for feeding Itccs should it prove as good as 

 sugar, as molasses is cheaper, would not crystalize, 

 and would not require the manipulation that sugar 

 does. But I am afraid that molasses would cause 

 tlysentery, judging from some one's report I saw, I 

 don't remember exactly where; though my bees feed 

 around sugar houses liere for tliree months of the 

 year— I am surrounded by sugar houses and I never 

 saw thte disease. 



After obtaining the result sent you I put the bees 

 back into their previous hives. 



Paul Viai.lon, Bayou Goula. La. Nov. 27th, 1874. 



Gleanings in Bee Culture, 



Publislictil MontBily, 



EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS 



MEDINA, OHIO. 



'rerixis : 7 5c. Fev Aniixim. 



\_Including Postage.'] 

 • For Club Rates see Last Page. 



"gone heavy," against something or other, we hope 

 you will excuse it, hoping M'ith us, that she may soon 

 be able to lireside again as usual. 



is/rETDiisr.A^, j-.A.isT_ 1, is-rs. 



bTiCKH B, D, in the honey box, are just b}i inches 

 long. Wc forgot to say so in the ])roper place. 



A. B. J. for Dec, was on hand in good time ; Maga- 

 zine on the 14th, and World on the ISth. Those who 

 take all three, will have "Reports of the Convention" 

 "right smart." 



Dk. J. P. H. BkoVvn, of Augusta, Ga., sends us one 

 of the neatest and most exjjlicit circulai-s in regard to 

 Queens, bees and implements, we have yet seen. 

 Without doubt liis locality gives him a great advan- 

 tage for Ciiieen rearing. 



Editoiis of the Bee World have given us better rates 

 than at first, which enables us to club with them at 

 same rates of ^. B. J. ; see club rates. All those who 

 have sent us $2.0'0 for both, or tfri.OO for all, can have 

 the 35c back if they will notify us. All tlie Bee Jour- 

 nals now for :iH..'JO ])ost-paid. 



In the absence of P. G. on account of sickness, the 

 wliole of the Editorial woi-k of this No. has devolved 

 on Novice. If he hasnow and then mixed his ^ch.vc.s, or 



In our recent price list we omitted to mention tha 

 very convenient implement in the Apiaiy, the Wax 

 Extractor, price ^im. For description see Apr. No. of 

 Vol. 2. Also Bee veils for the timid ones, price 75c, 

 the only i)rotection we can recommend. Gloves and 

 mittens of any kind are Avorse than useless. 



W^iiAT does possess our exchanges that induces them 

 to keep jiublishing such nonsense as the little item 

 now going the rounds, entitled "Pruning Broods,^'' and 

 credited to the British Bee Journcd. If any such Jour- 

 nal exists, will some one be so kind as to send us a 

 cojiy, or an advertisement of it. Bee Culture is not 

 Greek or Latin, and if pajjers wanting matter of that 

 kind would get it from some practical Apiarist In 

 their own vicinity they would stand a much less 

 chance of being considered fossils of a bye-gone age. 



We have procured some Glucose for examination 

 It is astliick as honey, but is not near as sweet; im- 

 agine a thick solution of gum-arabic, with sweetish 

 taste and a flavor a little like sugar cane, and you 

 have it. Mixed with honey it would undoubtedly pass 

 very well in cities. We are told a Chicago honey 

 dealer— we don't know which one- has purchased 27000 

 lbs., at a cost of about 4c ])er lb. Those who know all 

 about it evidently proi)ose to let him get it all retailed 

 out. There certainly can be no trouble in getting jnire 

 honey nowadays if any one is very anxious to have it. 



Wiiv, Novice, what an agreeable surprise you gave 

 us, to be sure, with the "-Present!" I never dreamed 

 of so good a present. It is the very best one you could 

 have sent. A thousand thanks. 



W. M. Kellog, Oneida, Knox Co., Ills. 



We are very glad indeed to hear that our little "jires- 



ent" has pleased so manj'. As Jan. 1st is passed, we 



will hereafter send it on the same terms as the Litlio- 



graph viz : to any one sending us one name besides 



their own, leaving j^ou to choose which you prefer, or 



it will be seat to all who subscribe for 1876, dui-ing 



the present vear. 



' * ♦ • — 



Were Conventions all as productive of good as 

 those held in York State and Michigan, we might be 

 induced to change our views in regard to their utility. 

 We are under obligations to Secretary Burch for pro- 

 ceedings of the latter given in the Kalamazoo Tele- 

 graph of Dec. 17th, and 18th. The whole would well 

 merit a place in our Journal, but we have onlj' room 

 for a few comments. Did they not overlook the great 

 good that would accrue by having the number of sizes 

 •of frames reduced to, say about five instead of live 

 hundred or more, as is the case at pi-esent, even should 

 we be obliged to admit one universal standard, an 

 impossibility? In other words decide definitely just 

 the outside dimensions of a Langstroth, Quinby, 

 American, Gallup and Adair. If our attempts in this 

 direction are not correct, set us right before we go 

 farther. 



Feeding to Stimulate brood rearing: (|uito contra- 

 dictory statements were made in this matter, some of 

 them so nearly aiq)roaching harshness (although wc 

 liope not so intended) that on this as well as some 

 other matters, wc feel like advising the combatants to 

 droj) the matter until they can experiment, some warm 

 si)ell when no luuiey is coming in. 



Although the meoling com]irised a large number of 

 our keenest intellects as well as successful Apiarists, 

 their oi)inions remind us much of a ])ilo of valuable 

 letters on our table. T^argo, and small hives; perfect- 

 ly closed, and well ventilated hrney boards; deep and 



