^SLEANINGS IN BEE "CULTURE. 



IT!) 



AVe boliovo our tVieiul roiVrs t-o wire staples 

 • u>e(l to keej) tho I'raiiie.s tlie |)ro])er dislaiiee 

 ■rom tlie liixe, and from each other; although 

 ■wyiMiwriy ofteu iusit^t that .somethiug of the 

 Jvlnd is needed, we believe they usually come 

 to the sitme coiiclusioa sooner or later, ;i,s our 

 friend iibov^. 



The ^)l•«sent Juis been a very jioor !!uu>'.?y sewson in 

 Somlioni C'aliluiiiia, owiny; to a vii y lieavy i'rost in 

 .\)jiiJ \vh»:h exiwulcd over th'j wJioie 6t.ali% J iloubt 

 ii ill this county,— vvlucli probably biUlerod less tliau 

 any otlicr,— tlie ]irodiicuoii will exceed halt' a case 

 (say -i") or 30 lbs.) to the stock, thcuKh an e-xceptjonal 

 .Ai."i,:iry h;us yiekliHl uearcr turee'CUbes (say l.'iO lbs.) to 

 ilio stock, 'i'liere arc about I.Midi) si.-mtls oi bees iu Uic 

 <-.(>unty. Yours resiieellAilly, Jo. W. Mookic. 



S;in"i)icgo,-C'aL, Aug. ;>d, ~a. 



1)KA.U N<:>V10E:— Thu.>? far this has been but a lue- 

 •I'um season lor bees in tlils section, sotne oallil very 

 ,;)oor. 1 have oxiraciod about .N.'O lbs. white howey 

 ironi locust, raspbeiay, and while clover. I5asswood 

 :uaounted to nothiug ; biickwheat is just ccvrnnaenciiig 

 to bloom, and gives promise of a good crop of botii 

 Jiouev and grain. 



\V. 1). \i lU'-iiiT, Knowersvilie, .\. V., Aug. ilUi, "5. 



I have only fiO colonics, all in your Standard hives, 

 witiiyoiir corners ajid rabbets; about half Italians 

 •and hybrids, and balance, our native grey bees. The 

 season opeaieil a little Jate this spring, but it was un- 

 itsually good, in lact tlie best we have liad for several 

 },ears. i have made :i new colonies each, fro.ra a ma- 

 . loritN' of any oki stocks, aii'l have exti'a<;t'ed-50 lbs. of 

 .uoney from esich ; and tliey are all in good condition 

 aor tile second season. 1 have also extracted 140 lbs. 

 trom all thoso 1 did not divide, and expect as much ia 

 September an<l October from all. The Jew colonies 1 

 .v:in for box honey have given me an average of lu sec- 

 tional boxes weighing about -2 lbs. The Italians did 

 not gather any more than the others this season. 

 The only didiculty is that we have no sale for our 

 .honey, and have to iicop a niajoritj" on hand. The 

 leason is that oar market is lull of adulterated honey 

 trom Xew York and Chicago. 



I'AUL, ViALixiN, Uayo'u Cioula, La,, Aug. 1st, 1S75. 



.DKAE NOVICE ;— In the August number of Glean- 

 .iSGsl see one of your correspondents raises some 

 iloubt as to the possibility of intro<lucing virgin 

 «.^>«eens. I think it can be safely uone every time if 

 Alie Queens are less Uian li liours old. jMyway is ao 

 loSlows: I remove tJte top of the hive, and droj) the 

 yuung (-iueen, after being smeared with honey, thro' 

 ihe hole in tlie honey board. By this method I have 

 .iiU roducett a number of virgin ijueens with uniform 

 ■riuccess this summer. 



in my opinion, your lamp nursery is going to revo- 

 lutionize the present methods of Qiieen rearing. If it 

 will do what you claim for it, is there any iie<;essit5' 

 for liaving nuclei ? At any rate I shall try one next 

 season. 



We cauuot think .smearing the Queens with 

 honey at all necessary, but there may be some- 

 thing in having young or old bees, to introduce 

 them to. In the house Apiary we soon had 

 only \'oung bees, for the old ones very (juickly 

 went home, and on removing a hive and giving 

 the Queen to the bees remaining on the old 

 stand, Ave afterwards found her dead. There 

 may be however, some other reason for this, 

 i'or when we put her with them she crawled all 

 about anil among them without being noticed 

 iu the least, l)ut as };ees in this case will be re- 

 turning to the old hive for two or even three 

 days, some of them may not have seen her un- 

 til she was so old as to be noticeable. 



If rearing Queens for sale you certainly must 

 have nuclei in which to get tliem fertilised. 



Does a pure Italian (Jueen have dots on her back as 

 represented in cuts ? 



We think it accidental, ami not important 

 whether she does or not. 



Would it be advisable for me (o juirchase an import- 

 ed Queen and take the risk of introducing her this fall, 

 or should I wait until next spring. 



Use e<)ml)s of hatching l)rood as we have ad- 

 vised, and there need be no risk in introducing 

 at all. If you are in the habit of losing many 

 l)ees in wintering we would advise waiting 

 until spring, otherwise we do not see that i't 

 makes an.y matt-rial ditt'erence. 



Will the black daughter of an Italian i^ieen iJui' 

 has mated wrong jiroduce a bla-ck jirogeny y 



The (luestion is iiidelinite. If the mother is 

 pure her daughter will be a hybrid, and will 

 produce one, two and three banded bees, but 

 none — so far as we can find — that do not show 

 a tntce of one band. If the mother is mismatcd 

 and the daughter also, we shall have bees near- 

 ly black — perhaps some of them one or two 

 banded. About a month ago Ave found a. sec- 

 ond swarm of black bees, and carried them to 

 our Apiary, Avhere the Queen was shortly fer- 

 tilized ; to-day young bees are hatchinn- out. 

 some having -! bands, and none less than one 

 or two. 



How can suri)lus combs built from sugar in the lall 

 be kept from mollis until wanted the next s))ring I-" 



Hang them in the hive or anywhere else, s(» 

 that they are l^o or 2 inches apart, and Ave 

 think you will have no trouble. We have nev- 

 er had any trouble with combs out of the hive, 

 unless in -very warm Aveather. 



How much sugar syrup is requireil to winter a colo- 

 ny of bees iu a hive ot S frames, ami what is the pro- 

 portion of water and sugar ? 



.F. 1. Mack, Johnstown, AVis., Aug. (ith, 187."). 



Depends much on the size of the colony ; 8 L. 

 frames Avell covered Avith bees would need on 

 an average about 10 lbs. of sugar. If they have 

 to be fed in Aug., and brood rearing kept uj) 

 all through the fall, say 16 lbs.; if combs are to 

 be built out also, say 20 to 25. 



I sent to nine diflerent states lor dollar Queens, all 

 came right with the exception of 4 ; one not here yei. 

 3 killed by the paper getting torn oil' and the i.'o?unas- 

 ter playing with them. For a short distavice ihey wil) 

 stfind shaiiiug and blOAVing. I got them from Mew 

 Y'ork and Maiyland, just as fresli as Avhen jiut up. 



E. E. SiiATTUCK, Los Angeles, <.;al., .July id, '75. 



We think we may noAV consider the matter 

 •settled ill regard to sending Queens to Califor- 

 nia ; Avho is going to send the llrst Queen a- 

 cross the ocean % 7nail 'i 



It is said Avorker bees live only about !Ki days, an(i 

 yet 1 read of liees being shut up in a cellar lor 4 or .'> 

 months at a time in the winter. Please explain. E. t'. 

 Working bees live only from 40 lo <)0 days 

 (luring tlie working season ; if confined to their 

 hives as in winter, they may live months or 

 more. If Ave are correct, they lose their lives 

 by Avearingout their wings, hence, their length 

 of life depends much upon the Aveather and the 

 yield of honey. 



Mk. John Long, Dear Sir :— Your samples of Comb 

 Foundations were received some time ago, but owing 

 to press of business, Avere not tested as soon as should 

 have been. The bees go right along, and complete 

 Che work tlius laid out ; anil 1 can say that as lar as 

 test has been made it Avorks Avell. Tltc value of your 

 Comb Fomidalioii.in this s/ate, would depentl greatly 

 on the price at which it could be furnishe<i, the cost 

 of labor introducing it, etc. J. ft. IL\ui?ison. 



vSan Diego City. Cab, July -iyth, '75. 



Mh. J<)H<i Long, Dear Sir: -1 have tested your 

 Comb Foun<lation and it AVorks to a charm. Please 

 send me .5 lbs. 



O. L. Uali.aku, Malone, X. Y., Aug. (!th, '7.'). 



.Since the middle of June AVe have had an abundances 

 of white clover, but it has produced no honey. I think 

 the bees arc getting something from it since last Sun- 

 day. I had my best stock nearly ruined by goiu" to a 

 grocery cellar, had to move it to the country. 'Ihere 

 are some line colonies in toAvn without an ounce of 



