144 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov-- 



Somo one wrote in Gleanin'GS that honey bees 

 worked on siiotluwers, I wrote you that it w;is a mis- 

 take, that ( had seen a kind of hoe satherin.ur pollen 

 ofl' sunflowers, bat never one." the real honey bee. 

 Yon wrote me a postal saying that bees (to work on 

 sunflowers. There were, say" 1<K) siinfiowers growing 

 witliin two yards to four rods of my door this year 

 anil I watched them every day while in blooin "and 

 never saw a honey bee on them. In 55 years that I 

 have keiJt Ijees I fiave never seen a real honey bee on 

 a sunflower. Another thing: 1 sometimes read in bee 

 pai^er.s, of bee-keepers watching their Queens coming 

 home from their flight, tliey tell us they have 5«en 

 the sign of impregnation, on tlie Queen. Now wliat 

 is that sign? I would like to knov/ I have both read 

 and lisard that in the act of copulation a jiart of the 

 <lrone remains attached to the cjueen ami that she 

 carries it away, and this is what the bee-keeper sees 

 and knows that all is right. [ know that a single 

 tViread of a sniiier will hold a bee till it dies, l)ut a 

 h.alf <lozen of spider's tlireads will not pull a drone 

 asuniler in tliat way. I have tried it and so may you. 

 "^'ou may tliereCoreput these two item« in your list of 

 Humbugs, they are so, at least to John Dawson. 

 Pontiac, Mich.. Oct. 4th, '75. 



No, no, ffieiid Dawson, please don't think 

 oiiv friends have made false statements just 

 because you have not happened to see things 

 as they mention. There are many things in 

 nature as well a>^ in science that seem utterly 

 impossible, and even in your Bible you lind 

 many things that at first view might appear 

 glaring inconsistencies, yet is it not very un- 

 wise to say yon do not believe them ? 



"Blue Eyes" wantfd a garden, — her papa 

 planted tjie seeds, explaining meanwhile that 

 They v/ould make trees that would grow "way 

 up high," higher than he could reach, and that 

 they would bear "great big posies," as big as a 

 dinner plate, etc. Now this garden with its 

 fence about it — pine sticks stuck in a circle- 

 was a source of much watching and many vis- 

 its, and when the great blossoms unfolded, our 

 bees were almost constantly at work on them ; 

 in vain did we try to have her put her tingers 

 on the yellow Italians as we did, "I 'fraid," 

 was her reply. 



Now we think Ave know why your bees do 

 not do thus ; if we had the autumn flowers 

 here that you have, we should think our bees 

 "idiots" to waste their time on sunflowers. 



Have you not seen bees so busy during bass- 

 wood time that they would not touch a frame 

 of comb honey if left on the top of a hive all 

 day long? 



Again : it is a very common thing for all who 

 rear man}^ Queens, to see them return with the 

 marks you mention. We see such more or 

 less every season. The appearance is much 

 like a Ijee that has lost its sting, except that 

 the white substance is mncli larger, and is so 

 white that the Queen is plainly conspicuous as 

 she flies in the air. It is important to know 

 this, as such a Queen may be introduced at 

 once where wanted. As the e3"e of man has 

 probably never witnessed this mysterious 

 meeting, we shall have to remain in ignorance 

 somewhat, perhaps. Did you never see the 

 seed pods of the touch-me-nots when they are 

 so ripe that they explode at the slightest 

 touch V Well, it is supposed that the drone 

 expires somewhat in the same wa.y, for we do 

 know that the mass of matter attached to the 

 Queen, is really a portion of the drone's body. 



This has been the poorest season for Iioney (been 

 have done rail-road business swarmingl since 18(i8. 

 We commenced wilii tU colonies, increased to !)(!. 

 nearly all large, [we like such best for winter) and 

 have extracted .S200 lbs. of hone v, nearly all basswood, 



and have about 490 lbs. in frames. We think the- lo)i(f 

 idea hives are most convenient, biTt we can see iia 

 difference between the amount of honsr stored in 

 them and the fcell idea hives. The host yieUT was tron^ 

 our cM6e idea hives of which we hail T.wvtb 13 comb?-- 

 17 inches square in eacb hive. Fronj the poorest one 

 we obtained lOS lbs., from the best one l(J-2; 11? ot it 

 liasswood, stored in 12 days, nsost stored by it in one 

 day, 17 Ite. Why they &h<'n?ld have done better than 

 the others we are unable to explairs, perhaps another 

 trial n>i^ht chnnge the result. J. H. Townlkv. 



Tompkins, Mich., gei>t. 2&tto, '75. 



Tlie largest sw.arm I ever had can-^e out last Friday. 

 Aug. '/Oth. Having no comb, I gave then? a sheet of 

 honey from upper story of parent hive, and seven 

 empty frames, bi ffve days they have aboiTt liall 

 filled the hive wtth comb. Last sj/riugl started with 

 four hives, two of wliicli were very weak, and now 

 have S strong colonies, and considerable box honey. 

 In the three years titat I have hail bees. I have had 

 lots of fine faacv projects tor hives, lK>xes. houses, etc., 

 most of which I have found foolisli before I had ex- 

 Ijerimentetl on them much. Last si)ring'. 1 tiiousrht 

 I had discovered just the way to ensure straight, 

 combs. It was to run strings across the frames to be- 

 built in by the bees, to act as both guides and sup- 

 ports. I nre|>ared a few franfes l)y making awl holes 

 through the sides, tljrough which I wove cotton cord 

 backward and forward, and then snteared with wax 

 to make attractive. When I had mv lirst swarn> I pur 

 in a few of these, imd congratulated myself thinking I 

 had done a big thing to help them' on. I thought 

 difterently when I saw them day after daj-, afterwards, 

 tugging at the end of a line like a lot of sailors, trying 

 to get these hinderances out of their way. Dut hold 

 on, my letter is getting longer than their string-. 



Jas. K. Dean, Fishkill, X. Y., Aug. '2(5th, "7."), 



Many thanks, friend D., we do like to hear 

 of your failures, for even if we do not publish 

 them, we rarely forget them, and when tempt- 

 ed to try similar things, have the advantage- 

 of knowing what we uiay ex|>ect. Suppose 

 now you had patented this, or had advertiged 

 receipts for $1.00, or something' of the kind, — 

 and in fact, all the receipts we have ever seen 

 ottered for sale, are much of this nature, — ^hovv 

 would your patrons have felt after having 

 made such a test as you describe y 



A. I. ROOT, I>ear Sir :— Last winter I was much an- 

 noyed by mice getting into my hives, and exjiect to bs? 

 the coming winter. To guard against it I constructed 

 "3/i^ metal iivmse-guurcV which"! enclose. 



Geo. W. ilouNKU, Dubuyue, lu., Aug. :Jd, ^.'i. 

 FIG. 1. B no. -2. 



iaarliT 



B 



A A 



Let Fig. 1. represent the front, and Fig. 2. 

 the end view of this metal mouse guard. It 

 is all made of tin. B, is 4z^^ by 2 inches, and A. 

 ^% by }.^. The o)ienings for the bees are cut 

 in the side of B., 5-16 b}"- %, and the points of 

 the teeth thus left, are folded at right angles 

 about ^^ of an inch, that they may l>e securely 

 soldered to the middle of A. To use it put A. 

 on the alighting board, and let B. come up- 

 tight against the front of the hive, the eiitr:inci' 

 blocks resting on and ng-aiust them, where 

 such are used. These guards can be made by 

 the quantitj' for about 1 cent eacli, and wlievt 

 mice avetroiMcsome, will well repay the expense. 



I commenced this season with 40 stocks of bees- 

 increase up to basswood season •Ji>. From 44, I ex- 

 tracted three and one-half tons. From '2-2, 1 got 800 

 lbs. comb honey. Increased on buckwheat 28 s warms. 

 We Iiave had abig frost and no m.)re iioney. Wili 

 have to feed some. 



D. J. Bakowki^l, Omro, Wis., Se]>t. liith, '7.'). 



I got one ton ol' honey froai 28 swarms, mostly 4 lb. 

 boxes. C. D. JoXES, Klrkwood, X. Y'., Oct. 5th, '7.'). 



