1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



145 



DISTANCES WHICH BEES ELY. 



The following, cut from a newspaper, was 

 sent us by a correspondent : 



"Bees often make long journeys in search of food. 

 A bee owner in the West, thinking that they per- 

 haps visited the clover field of a friend 40 miles 

 away, sprinkled their backs with flour one morning 

 as they left their hives, having previously request- 

 ed the friend to watch for them. A telegram came 

 during the day, saying, 'Plenty of your white jacket 

 bees here.' " 



This is evidently a mistake. It should 

 read, probably, 4 miles. Our Italians have 

 been found 3i miles from home, and this is 

 the greatest distance we have ever known 

 them to go. Bees are often seen in the fields 

 with a white substance on their backs, which 

 comes from the blossoms they have visited, 

 but which much resembles flour, and has 

 sometimes occasioned mistakes in estimat- 

 ing the distances traveled by them, in the 

 way mentioned above. 



BEES LOST ON THE SNOW, AND "SALTING" THE BEES. 



I notice that it is customary for some bee-keopers 

 to spread str >w in front of their hives during warm 

 days, when there is snow on the ground, so that the 

 bees can rise from it and not be chilled by the snow. 

 Do you think there is any advantage in it? Why do 

 you wish to make bees eat salt? H. P. Nichols. 



Bridgeport, Conn. 



I do not think there is any especial advan- 

 tage in it, and I do not like the straw lit- 

 tered about the apiary. We do not make the 

 bees eat salt ; Ave only allow them to satisfy 

 their natural craving for it. like horses, 

 sheep, and cattle. The evidence lately fur- 

 nished seems to indicate that they, as well 

 as the animals mentioned, thrive better 

 when given access to it, and it may be they 

 suffer for the want of it. I have just been 

 thinking of putting a judicious pinch of salt 

 into our flour candy. There ! no one can get 

 a patent on that now. 



TOADS AND WHAT TO PO WITH THEM. 



I will now write you a chapter on toads. During 

 last season, I noticed large numbers of toads hop- 

 ping about my apiary, and having often seen them 

 eat bees, I devised a plan to dispose of them as fol- 

 lows: I made a pair of wooden tongs, and with a 

 deep tin pail, I went into the apiary just after sun- 

 down one evening, and in a short time, picked up, 

 with the tougs, 32 toads; and jt was not a good day 

 for toad hunting either. Well, what should I do 

 ■with them? I did not really like to kill them, so I 

 took them on to the bridge and dumped them into 

 the Tuscarawas river, telling them to swim for life. 

 About a week after that, I disposed of 16 more in 

 the same way. Who is next? A. A. Fkadenburg. 



Port Washington, O., Nov. 3, 1879. 



Thanks, friend F.; I commend you for 

 your humanity, as well as for your ingenui- 

 ty ; that is, if you are sure the toads couhl 

 swim for their lives. Our friend, Prof. Cook, 

 would have ignored yonr wooden tongs, if I 

 know him correctly, and would have taken 

 the toads in his hands with as little scruple 

 as he would newly hatched chickens. 



WHAT ONE COLONY DID IN 7 YEARS. 



Tn 1872, 1 bought one hive, and have made no ef- 

 fort at increase, but have in the last 3 years sold 30 

 hives at from $7 to $10 per hive, and now (March 3d) 

 have 40 good hives. We have had all the honey we 

 could eat, and sold a good many dollars worth, and 

 still my bees are only secondary to my farming. 



Last June, my wife's help or that of some of the 

 boys was not refused when I had 3 swarms in the air 

 at one time, and yet I have never but once let 2 

 swarms get together; but it is lively sometimes. I 

 have sometimes divided. I. N. Cotton. 



Traders Point, Ind., March 3, 1879. 



BEES AND HONEY ACROSS THE WATER; HONEY FROM 

 THE HEATHER. 



O. E. Wolcott gives, in Feb. No., a poor idea of 

 bee-keeping in this "land of brown heath." True, 

 there are millions of acres of it, but there are mil- 

 lions of bees working on it too, and the honey is 

 generally voted the richest in the world. The trou- 

 ble is that almo-t universally the ancient skep and 

 brimstone system prevails with its miserable re- 

 sults. Besides, those of us who know better have 

 two great difficulties to contend with— the lateness 

 of the heather season (middle of August to Septem- 

 ber) throws us into the short days and early frosts 

 with frequent rain, and the trouble of extractipg 

 the honey when gathered. No extractor yet made 

 can be warranted to throw it out; it is too rich for 

 that. I hope to get a chance of sending you a sam- 

 ple. 



BEES LOST ON SNOW. 



Sow sawdust for a considerable space over the 

 snow and not half will be lost. Their "poor feet" 

 are very sensitive. 



FUEL FOR THE NEW SMOKER. 



Our favorite fuel is old corduroy or moleskin. It 

 never goes out nor tlames up like other rags, and 

 its pungent smoke subdues the wildest "high breeds," 

 as a foreign friend calls them. Do try it. 



Blairgowrie, Scotland. W. Raitt. 



Thanks, friend Raitt. I should like to try 

 my hand on throwing out some of that thick 

 heath honey. If the weather, or the room, 

 was sufficiently warm, and the honey not too 

 old, I am inclined to think we could make it 

 come. 



CHEAP HIVES. 



As you (very unexpectedly to me) published a for- 

 mer letter of mine, in the Feb. No., in which I stat- 

 ed that I could buy Simplicity hives in the flat in St. 

 Louis @ 30c, will you have the kindness to state in 

 next month's Gleanings the following, as I am in 

 receipt of postals every day, from all over the coun- 

 try, asking information concerning it. 



The firm in St. Louis who offered to make Sim- 

 plicity hives in the flat. @ 30c each, is Philibert & 

 Johanning, mill men, S. W. cor. of 15th and Market 

 Sts. They are not manufacturers of hives of any 

 kind, hence persons ordering will have to furnish a 

 sample hive, or so much, in the tlat, as is necessary 

 to work by, and also order in lots of not less than 25, 

 to secure them at this price. 



lam afraid, friend Root, that this looks like tak- 

 ing business out of your own hands, but I should 

 not mention it were it not from the fact that you 

 "brought it upon yourself," by publishing my let- 

 ter, and because I am confident that, in so doing, 

 you were looking to the interests of your patrons 

 "themselves and the community at large, and not 

 your own. By so doing you will lose nothing from 

 me, or my small influence, and 1 think not else- 

 where, in the long run. 



I have several things that I want to talk to you 

 about. I feel as though I was acquainted wiih you 

 and not a sti anger as 1 am, but I have already in- 

 truded upon your time too long and will close. For- 

 mer hives ordered of you are ready to transfer ray 

 bees into, painted 2 coats inside and 3 outside, with 

 white lead and linseed oil. N. H. Allen. 



Kirkwood, Mo., Feb. 11, 1879. 



If anything I sell can be found cheaper 

 than I can furnish it, I hope, friend A., I 

 may always be ready to give you all the ben- 

 efit of such knowledge. "We shall not suffer 

 in the end. by considering the good of oth- 

 ers, even if we do lose temporarily. I have 

 sometimes hesitated about advising hives 

 that were offered cheaper, for fear they 

 might not be good ones. 



TRANSPOSING LARV* FOR QUEEN REARING. 



Queen cage is received. Last fall 3 out of 4 of all 

 the larvre which I put in dry cells were removed, 

 even when there were no other eggs or larva? in the 

 hive. It might be more successful earlier in the 

 season. Nearly all succeeded when put where oth- 

 ers had been. Italian drones were out the 12th. 

 We have a few sealed queen cells. C. R. Carlin. 



Shreveport, La., Feb. 15, 1879. 



