36 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1875. 



I have given my bees some rye flour, they take it 

 first rate, for tlic last two days they have been carry- 

 injc it in jjretty freely. It is bolted flour such as the 

 bakers use. Is it as good us the unbolted or not ? I 

 have not lost a colony yet and they all liave sealed 

 honey enough to spring them I think, but I have com- 

 menced to leed for brood rearing; feed syrup made of 

 white sugar. 



Now friend Novice, I want some advice. I want to 

 adopt some other iiive than the Buckeye, but I want a 

 two story liive that I may procure, not bo.x honey, but 

 frame honey, and I want the frames in both stories 

 alike so I may use them interchangeably. 



T. IJ. Pakkeu, Goldsboro, N. V. Feb. 1st, '75. 



The bolted fine flour, is just as good as the 

 unbolted, except that the bees sink down in it. 

 If mixed with bran or sawdust it does very 

 well. When they can choose, bees always 

 prefer rye and oats, to wheat flour. 



Use the Langstroth frame by all means, if 

 you are going to have a two story hive. If 

 you have not seen the L. fi'ame you had better 

 have us send you a sample by mail. We should 

 also use the Simplicity hives to hold them, for 

 then you can have both stories also, just alike, 

 and perfectly interchangaeble. We can furnish 

 a one story hive, frames, quilt, and all com- 

 plete for $1.75, and two of these makes a complete 

 two story hive. We decidedly prefer the L. 

 frames for two story, on account of their shal- 

 lowness, any of the other frames loom up so 

 tall when placed one above the other. We 

 think we have ample evidence that the Lang- 

 stroth hive winters equally as well as any 

 deeper frame in any climate. 



Our only reason for giving a preference to 

 the Standard frame over the Langstroth, under 

 any circumstances, is that more ihan 10 L. 

 frames, placed side by side, make a hive incon- 

 venient to make and inconvenient to handle. 

 Therefore if you are going to get your surplus 

 above the brood combs, use the L. frame every 

 time. The Quinby would come next to it, as 

 it is much the same thing on a larger scale, but 

 the American, Gallup, or Standard, are not 

 suitable to be used two stories as a general 

 thing. Single instances 'tis true, may some- 

 times seem to point otherwise, but we have 

 gleaned the above from a large number of re- 

 ports extending over several years. Any 

 of the frames will we think, work very 

 well on the plan given on another page by 

 friend Joiner, but the last three mentioned 

 would stand a little the most compactly. 



Do you believe a pure Queen fertilized by a black 

 drone will produce pure drones? and do you believe 

 pure Queens fertilized bv such drones, will produce 

 pure stock, and do you allow sucli drones in your Api- 

 ary ? Wliat would you charge for— say 3 cards 4x5 

 Inches each of drone coniii fll'lcfl with fresh laid drone 

 eggs from your imported Q\ui;'u, with l)ees enough to 

 keep up the lieat, and send bv express in Mav next? 

 Gkouge 1{. Huffman, Eflingham, Ills. 



So much time has been wasted in discussing 

 this question that it is questionable whether it 

 be best to hazard an opinion, until Ave can 

 be Hure of solving the cpiestion positively. If a 

 black Queen could be fertilized, hei/oiid mldake, 

 by an Italian drone, we might readily decide 

 the matter, for we should then have one or two 

 >)andcd workers, and black drones invariably. 

 Will those who are equal to to this task, if any 

 such there be, please experiment and report. 

 Will. H. King, of Franklin, Ky.. did claim to 

 have made such an experiment, but evidence 

 was brought forward almost immediately, 

 showing that his statements were only a scries 



of falsehoods. [See page 93, Vol. 1.] We see no 

 reason at present to doubt the experiments of 

 Ijan^troth and Berlepsch ; l^esides we find 

 Italian workers, in almost all Apiaries of black 

 bees in our vicinity, but the colonies producing- 

 them show only black drones. 



So long as our object is honey, and we 

 only procure Italians because they gather more 

 honey, we cannot see that the question matters 

 particularly either way. Every Apiary of 50 

 colonies should have at least one Imported 

 Queen, and all colonies should be made with 

 Queens reared from this one. You will then 

 have good bees in every hive without bother- 

 ing about drones at all. All Apiaries of less 

 than 50 stocks can have an Imported Queen's 

 daughter — as they cost but $1.00 each, you can 

 buy 4 or 5 if need be, until you get one whose 

 workers suit you. Every one who rears Queens 

 for sale should certaialy have an Imported 

 Queen. At the low price at which they are 

 now ofl'ered there is no excuse for such blun- 

 dering, and if our readers would decide to pat- 

 ronize none but those having bonajide Imported 

 Queen mothers, advertisers would make haste 

 to supply themselves. The plea that Imported 

 Queens do not always produce three banded 

 workers, we think a mistake. All the re- 

 ports from Queens of the Nunn importation 

 agree without an exception that the workers 

 are not only three Itanded, but that they are 

 quite superior as honey gatherers. James Bo- 

 lin's letter just at hand is a sample of one of 

 them. 



The idea of judging a (Jueen by her looks and grant- 

 ing a diploma etc., on the strengtli of it, is simply ridic- 

 ulous. Concerning Imported Queens, I would say tliat 

 I obtaine<l one of friend Nunn and if there are any 

 better ones ajiywhcre I would like to know it. Her 

 progeny and tliose of Queens reared from her are the 

 very best workers I have in my Apiary. 



James Bolin, West Lodi, O. Jau. 7th, '75. 



Friend II. had better have sealed drone 

 brood instead of eggs, it can then be 

 sent safely by mail without bees. We can send 

 it at the same price we do eggs from our Im- 

 ported Queen, viz., 35c for a piece 2x3 inches. 

 We have little faith however that the drones 

 can be made available. 



I have a hot-bed and my bees ai"c doing well In it. 

 I have about 60 plants in it, I think they help the at- 

 mosphere a great deal. 



A. N. Dkapek, Upper Alton, Ills. Feb. Ist, '75. 



My boy had when we came here a small box of sun- 

 flower see<ls, which he kept as one of his playthings, 

 last spring be accidentally spilt them down in tne 

 garden by the I'cncc, and, old as they were, they came 

 uii ))i<)fusclv. They looked so thrifty, I took it into my 

 liead I (vould transiilant them. I went to work and 

 set them all around in the fence out of the way where 

 there would nothing else grow to advantage, and if 

 you will believe me, 1 liad an enrmous crop; and be- 

 hold when they blossomed the bees went at them in 

 earnest, and after the bees got through with them, 

 there were several quarts oi seeil. I solii a dollar'.s 

 wortli to my druggist, and the balance 1 fed out to my 

 hens, and as a writer of old has said, I found nothing 

 so good and nourishing for laving hens as sun-flower 

 seeds. Then I cut otT the heads and place them near 

 the bee hives, HU them with sugar and water, and that 

 suits the bee-i to a T. So you see I wa's to no expense, 

 and they i)aid well, I write this that others may be 

 benclittt'd as well as myself, by so doing. 



Ooninuin sense, i)hilosoj)hy and religion, alike teach 

 us to receive with becoming reverence, all undoubted 

 facts, whether in the natural or sniritual world ; as- 

 sured that however mysterious tliey may appear to 

 us they are beautifully consistciU in the wight of Him 

 whose" "understanding is iniinite."' 



Du. Ri HiTcucoCK, South Norwalk, Conn. Feb. 2na 



