26 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



MIGNONNETTE AS A HONEY PLANT. 



Can you tell us how we are to tell when wo get 

 that variety of mignonnette that is recommended 

 for bees to work upon ? I bought some seed of this 

 last spring and sowed it. The plant grew about one 

 foot high, ripened in Sept., died down, then sprouted 

 and came up again, and to-day it is green and in 

 bloom. The bloom is about the size of the head of 

 an ordinary pin and is wholly worthless as a bee 

 plant. C. Bates. 



Beda, Ohio Co., Ky., Dec. 10th, 1878. 



Yours is the first unfavorable report of 

 mignonnette I have ever heard, friend B. 

 The tall varieties yield the most honey, I. 

 believe, but usually the bees work on all 

 kinds. I think yours must have been very 

 busy on something else, or perhaps, like 

 most other plants, it does not yield honey 

 every season. We can supply the seed of 

 the grandiflora this season, at the same 

 prices as the common. 



FROM THE EGG TO THE PERFECT QUEEN, HOW LONG? 



My imported queen, referred to in Gleanings for 

 Nov., was introduced to her bees the same day that 

 she was received. The next morning I found her 

 depositing eggs. Within an hour or two of sixteen 

 days from this time, I had queens hatching, that 

 were raised from these eggs, and when I first saw 

 the eggs they could not have been more than fifteen 

 hours old, even if the queen had commenced to lay 

 immediately after she was turned loose. The queen 

 cells were built by a full colony during pleasant, 

 warm weather, at a time when the bees were gath- 

 ering scarcely any stores. They were hatched in 

 the lamp nursery, in which the temperature was 

 kept at about 95°. E. M. Hayhurst. 



Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 13, '78. 



Please state how long a drone will live. I think 

 they will live as long as a queen. A. S. Smith. 



Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 12, '78. 



I have generally supposed that drones 

 lived about as long as workers, and little, if 

 any, longer. I have never known drones to 

 winter over, although they are sometimes 

 hatched out during the winter, and are found j 

 in the hives in the spring. It is true, we can | 

 keep them in queenless colonies, but they j 

 seem to be gone, when they are about a ! 

 month or two old, even during pleasant j 

 weather. Can our friends tell us anything j 

 about their longevity f 



DRONES IN QUEEN CELLS, ABSCONDING, ETC. 



I saw one colony go to the woods, leaving a hive j 

 full of comb, eggs, and brood, and 1 am still wonder- I 

 ing "what in the dickins possessed them." Saw a | 

 colony, belonging to a neighbor, with plenty of i 

 stores, attempt to leave at least a dozen times in as 

 many days. They swarmed out about 4 o'clock P. M., 

 and started in the same direction every time, but 

 the queen's wing being clipped they had to return. I 



I saw brother Plunket at the state fair, with his j 

 bees and improved Simplicity hive, and exchanged | 

 a few ideas with him. Brother Moon was there also, 

 but he was so engaged in sight-seeing that I could 

 not overtake him, although he goes on crutches. 



Hawkinsville, Ga., Dec 7, '78. J. B. Mitchell. 



It seems probable that live drones some- 

 times hatch from queen cells. Bees do, at 

 times, desert their hives when it seems diffi- 

 cult to assign any good cause. 



I obtained nearly 150 lbs. of surplus honty, and a 

 large swarm. This was doing remarkably well, and 

 the honey was in the best possible shape, pro- 

 nounced "just the thing" by every one that saw it. 

 The closed end frame which I tried this season was 

 not well adapted to section boxes, and besides had 

 other objections; sol decided that the Simplicity 

 was the hive for me, and sent to you in Oct. last for 

 a sample hive to work from. I made several hives 

 and transferred two colonies last fall, but found 

 that to make the hives to advantage, 1 must have 

 a circular saw. I have a tread power which I use 

 for cutting feed for my stock, and I took the cylin- 

 der shaft of an old thresher, which belonged to the 

 tread power, to Buffalo, and Frank & Co. put an ar- 

 bor on for a saw. They did a good job, and when I 

 got the tables etc. rigged, it worked very true ami 

 well, a great deal better than I dared expect, and 1 

 was surprised at the amount and variety of work 

 one could accomplish, with such a saw. 



Some of. my neighbors wanted a few hives, so I 

 planned to make 30, thinking that number would be 

 a great plenty for all demands this season; but 

 when May came I transferred 17 swarms for other 

 parties into the Simplicity, and with what 1 wanted 

 for my own use my stock of hives was soon exhaust- 

 ed. I kept on making, however, and up to the pres- 

 ent time have sold 67, and used myself 26, making 

 93 two story hives in all. All the swarms I trans- 

 ferred did well, averaged, I think, 60 lbs. of honey and 

 a swarm; but I got my hands too full, and was un- 

 able to supply sections as soon as needed, or some 

 would have got more than they did. All that bought 

 hives are however satisfied, and the reputation of 

 the hive stands high. 



If bees winter well, I expect a demand next sea- 

 son which I am taking steps to supply, intending to 

 manufacture all I can this winter. Many thanks to 

 you, and your journal, for directions and instruc- 

 tions in the bee business, in which I have become 

 deeply interested, and in which 1 have been success- 

 ful beyond my expectations. 



I have made 10 chaff hives, and put swarms in 

 them for trial this winter. The only objection I see 

 to the chaff hive is the difficulty of cleaning the bot- 

 tom board, and why would it not be a good idea to 

 make the cover to the simplicity after the pattern of 

 the chaff hive cover? Fdn., 1 consider a necessity to 

 the most profitable management of bees, and have 

 used and sold with hives some #25.00 worth. 



Honey in sections has sold for 18 to 20cts. for clo- 

 ver, 15c. for buckwheat. C. C. Long. 



Williamsville, N. Y., Nov. 14, 1878. 



HOW A BEGINNER SUCCEEDED WITH THE SIMPLICITY 

 HIVES, SECTION BOXES, ETC. 



Two years ago, I had several stocks in Quinby 

 hives, suspended frames. During the winter, I 

 made some new hives with closed end frames, think- 

 ing to adopt that style as the best hive for surplus 

 honey in boxes. By subscribing for Gleanings, 

 however, I became interested in the plan of having 

 honey stored in section boxes, and accordingly made 

 an upper story for 2 of my Quinby hives and 

 filled them with sectoln boxes. From these 2 hives 



BADGES FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



Would it be an extravagance for bee-keepers to 

 wear a badge, or pin, appropriate to their calling? 

 If we had a nice, golden, Italian queen, life size, 

 mounted upon an imitation piece of comb, say of 

 silver, wouldn't it look "perfectly killing," as the 

 girls say? We have masonic pins, trade pins, 

 and pins for all branches of human industry. I sup- 

 pose you have heard of the chap (a carpenter) who 

 wanted an appropiate pin, and chose a masonic pin 

 with its square and compass. He would have liked 

 a hand saw on it; but what was the G for? "G— G— • 

 lemme see; G stands for— for —gimlet; that's it; 

 square, compass, and gimlet; I'll take it." 



You are a'practical jeweler; give us the pin— the 

 queen-bee pin. J. H. M. 



Hartford, N. Y., Dec. 16, '78. 



Although I have been for 18 years in the 

 jewelry business, to tell the truth, I have 

 never been much of a friend to jewelry, or 

 badges. I do not know that I should wish 

 to criticise the taste of others, but whenev- 

 er I receive money for jewelry, it gives me 

 no such satisfaction, as it does when I get it 

 for a bee hive. I could make the pins you 

 mention, without much trouble, but should 

 I get up something remarkably neat and 

 tempting, and thus encourage my A B C 

 class, in spending their money in such a 

 way, I am sure I should not have a really 

 clear conscience. It may be well enough for 

 those who have the money to spare, but as 

 by far the greater part of the letters I receive 

 speak of close economy, and trouble in 

 making expenses come inside of the income, 



