108 



GLE^ANINGS IN BEE CTTLTIiTtE. 



IS'I^.. 



On the '!nl of July as 1 was out i)loughinK close to 

 apiece of wootlland, T heard the bees makinar a bis; 

 noise, and l)esan to loolc around, and I saw then> on 

 the leaves jratherinar the Ai)hide hone>', as I call it. 

 The leaves were full of AphiiTes on the under side, 

 and they ejected the honey so fast tlvat I could see 

 drop after (Ir op fall down oh the lower leaves. I tiX)k 

 a double mafrnifler, which I always carry fn n>y pock- 

 et, and found on some leaves over a hiirrdred drops; 

 then I took my knife and laid the blade on some of 

 the lar,8:est Tiphides, and they all had a drop of the 

 same honey on their extremities, that there was on 

 the leaves. I made an examination of all the trees 

 and shrubs aroamd ;■ on spicowood I found no Aphides, 

 and not a drop of honey, lender some trees the dead 

 feaves on the si'ound were coated all over with iDome- 

 thina: like varnish. Jfow I would like to sec the man- 

 that can make me believe that it falls from heaven. 



D. N. Ke1£N, Shimcrsville, Fa. 



We liave seen precisely tlie same phenomena, 

 and altliongli all the honey dew that has come 

 under our own observation, doubtless came 

 from the Aphides, we should hardly feel excu- 

 sable in saying that such was always the case, 

 especially since others who apparently are 

 equally faithful, have come to such a different 

 conclusion. 



There arc hundreds of acres of white (;lover here in 

 full bloom, and no bees to gather the honey. I have 

 got one swaru! left, and this is the case with nearly all 

 the bee-keejievs in (ieauga Co. It made no diflerence 

 what number of swarmsHiey had last fall, all are re- 

 duced to one or two swarms, and they are not very 

 good; those that had only two swarios saved one, and 

 some that had one saved that one. while those that 

 had 30 or 50 saved only one or two. 



V. McBriue, Chardon, O. 



1 h.Tve to-dav transferred a colony under your in- 

 structions in Maj' No., with splendid success. I came 

 near losing the (^ueen. however; when I had got all 

 done, and was cleaning up, watching hovvcver, as I 

 had not seen her, I found her in the grass by herself. 

 She trotted happily in among her children on being 

 put in front. This is all a new experience to me, 

 but I am very much interested in the care and work- 

 ing of the bees. 



L. S. Ellis, Manistee, :Mich. June 14th, '75. 



Very glad to hear that we helped yon, friend 

 E., but we fear you only partially complied 

 with our directions, if you allowed any grass 

 to remain for her to get lost in. We certainly 

 have had good reasons for so continually in- 

 sisting that all grass and weeds be kept away 

 from the hives, when transferring, extracting, 

 etc. 



In my account of the death of Emmett Fuller, in 

 (tLKAn'ings for July, you misinterpret luy abbrevia- 

 tion of the word "iVesident, (Pres't.) and print it 

 "Priest." This savors somewhat of Catholicism, 

 toward which President Abbot does not in the least 

 incline. (i. E. Coriun, St. Johns, Mich. July 3, '75. 



We sincere)}- beg pardon, and sliall have to 

 admit that it was not until you pointed it out 

 that we discovered what our compositor had 

 done. 



Queens c«» be sent safely to California by 

 mail, see the following : 



Mu. OATMAN, Dear Sir :— The Queen you started 

 the 17th came the 2!Uh, all right. I am w'ell ])leased 

 with her. E. E. Shattick. 



Los Angeles, Cal. June 30th, '75. 



A. I. ROOT:— I notice in (iLE.VMNOS for July, that 

 Adam Grimm says his fli"st natural swarm came out 

 ■May '24th. Three days prior to that, (May Slst), a large 

 uatui'al swarm issued from my only box hive. I put 

 it into a '-franv hive" lilled with cniiity worker comb, 

 .lust four weeks from thai day I inspected them care- 

 fully, and found 15 or KiOO siiu'are inches of brood and 

 eggs, and numerous Queen cells nearly- ready to cap 

 over, preparatory to a second attempt at emigration. 

 G. E. (JtJRBiN, St. Johns, Aficb. Jiily'rith, '75. 



In the above we think Ihc empty combs 

 should have a srrekt share of the credit. 



DEAR NOVICPI:— I find in some of my hives work- 

 er piipre unsealed. The pnpcc have the" shape of the 

 pcrioct bee, yet are perfectly white excep-t the eyes, 

 wliich are of a dull blmsli folcr. Have these pupa 

 been sealed rmrt'agam iTTisealeti by the bees-, or have- 

 thoy never been crav)ped ever? TTill tlVey eon»e out 

 ar.tl be as good as those which have >>een "scaled and- 

 hatched in the natural way? How do yeni aeiirount 

 for their being unsealed ? 



Again I tind among naturally etvpped' worker brood 

 some cells leugth'ened^ and capjjed over a& 'ii they coii- 

 tairred brood froiiT a drone-laying Qtieen or a fertile 

 worker. How ifo ywv accouni! for tbem?' 



How do you determine wlnether a swarm has a 

 drone-laying Queen or a fertile worker, folding the 

 worker cells lengthened and containing drones, but 

 not being able to find a (?ueen, whx) iiKty nevertheless- 

 be there, or not ? 



Which is the l>est way o-f getting rfd of a fertile- 

 worker, and supplying a hive tlius aflTected with ;. 

 (^ueeii? Yours respectfuHv- 



Wm: MCTK-R'A9MLSSE.V. 



I^os Angeles, Cal. June '2t*th, '75. 

 llie phenomena mentiojied of brood i^ncap- 

 ped during very wann weather occurs every 

 season, yet every- little while some one uoticc.s 

 it for the h'rst time, and thinks there is some- 

 thing wrong, thfit the extractor Iras* killed the 

 brood, etc., etc. Kest assured the bees know 

 perfectly well what they aj"e doing, and have 

 not forgotten how, or any thing of the kind. 

 Tlie lengthened cells are prolmbly a part of the- 

 same phenomena. 



We always make it a point to see every 

 Queen in ea»h hive, and to keep a kind of su- 

 pervis-ion ovej' each young one, until she is 

 laying worker eggs ; drone egg's are never de- 

 posited with the rc^tiularity and system of 

 worker eggs, but yet we cannot l")e perfectly 

 sure, until the brood is capped, then the great 

 diflerence between worker and drone brood is 

 apparent at once. See Fertile Workers, on 

 page 91, last numl?er. 



MESSRS. A. I. ROOT & CO.— Accepting with pleas- 

 ure your kind ofler, I beg leave to beg for a sample 

 copy of your "Gleanings in bee nrLTLiJE.*' We 

 Germans here acknowledge freely the progressive 

 spirit of America in all branches, particularly in in- 

 dustry and hnsbandrj', and therefore are desirous to 

 see how far yon are "advanced in the above named 

 Culture, whicli we, .as von well know, consider a sci- 

 ence. 'ITie University Hall at Basle, the jjlace where 

 Sept. loth, '74, was the (irand xix BiencnzucJitcn Van- 

 do'wersamluncj, could bear witness to it. 



Very respectfully, A. EtyiT.VAN. 



Weiman, Germany, June '20th, "5. 



Many thanks friend L., for the very generous 

 compliment you pay to oitr countrymen ; we 

 will try to deserve it. In saying that in our 

 humble opinion bee culture could scarcely have 

 become the substantial branch of industry that 

 it now is, witliout the invention of the Honey 

 Extractor, which your countryman gave us, 

 we do you no more than justice. If we some- 

 times forget to accord the fall cretdt due you, 

 please excuse it on the ground that we simply 

 need a reminder of something we are always 

 disposed to agree on. Although two of the 

 girls in our employ htive procured the necessary 

 books, and have essayed to learn German, wt^ 

 regret to say that our montlily cop\' of the 

 BU'iien Zeiivrirj is usually tiled away without 

 giving us any enlightenment as to what our 

 worthy cousins across the -water are doing. 

 Rest assured that there is at least mi.c in Amer- 

 ica, who only awaits ;i fitting opporturity of 

 showing his good will towards your people. 



P. iS. — It is with some trejiidation that we 

 put the long word in print that our girls as- 

 sure us means nothing more than "Bee-Keep- 

 er's Convention." 



