232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



$&$$ and §mri%§. 



PRUSSIC ACID IN WILD CHERRY. 



S NOTICE in Gleanings the question, whether 

 the blossoms, like the fruit, of wild cherry 

 contain prussic acid. There is no prussic acid 

 in either the cherry or peach, any more than there 

 is alcohol in corn or rye. Prussic acid is distilled 

 from the cherry and peach fruit, bark, or leaves, 

 just as alcohol is obtained from corn, by fermenta- 

 tion and distillation. 



GRAY'S FEEDER. 



To use syrup in it, the hive must be set level, or the 

 feeder will not hold much. It will do to wet pure 

 sugar with water, but if it contains any Hour, it will 

 sour very soon. That is my experience. 



Oxford, Ohio. D. A. McCord. 



LI am inclined to think you at fault, friend M. 

 Peach stone meats certainly contain prussic acid, for 

 a child was recently killed from eating too many of 

 these, and an examination showed the presence of 

 prussic acid in the stomach. I once had some honey 

 that tasted so much like peach stone kernels, I was 

 inclined to think it contained prussic acid. The 

 bees that gathered it died in wintering, but you 

 know that is not a very uncommon thing for my 

 bees to do. You are right about the feeder.] 



WHEAT BRAN AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR POLLEN. 



Bees work first rate on wheat bran. It's fun to 

 see them roll in it ; they just wallow around like old 

 hens in dry ashes, and then go off with their legs 

 full. I suppose it's an old thing, but it surprised me. 



Greenwood, Col., Apr. 20, '79. H. H. C. Bheece. 



I started in bee culture last spring, with 2 colonies. 

 Now I have 6, and one in the woods. 

 Collinsville, 111., Apr. 19, '79. B. G. Marcum. 



tenement chaff hive. 



The Tenement chaff hive, or 4 in one, illustrated in 

 the Feb. No., is ahead of all others. It cast a large 

 swarm the 25 of this month, April, which is the 

 earliest swarm I have heard of about here. This 

 hive now belongs to Mr. Silas, of Anderson. His 

 bees have wintered nicely in it the past severe 

 winter. J. M. Brooks. 



Columbus, Ind., April 26, 1879. 



HOW TO BECOME AN A B C SCHOLAR. 



I think I will send for your A B C in a few days, 

 and would like you to explain how I may become 

 one of your scholars, as I am a new beginner. I 

 start this spring with 13 stands of bees, and will 

 have them all to transfer, as they are all in old hives 

 and boxes. Christian E. Rohrer. 



Rippon, W. Va., April 35, 1879. 



[The way to become an A B C scholar is to get 

 some beos just as you have done, and commence 

 transferring, queen rearing, introducing, Italianiz- 

 ing, and all the other things you read about. Get 

 into the Smilery, Ornwlery, Blasted Hopes, and every 

 where else, except Humbugs and Swindles. I never 



want to see a scholar of mine in there. If you can 

 go through it all, and keep cool and careful, proba- 

 bly you will finally get a great crop of honey, and 

 then will come the hardest lesson of all, perhaps. 

 Keep cool as before, do not get slack in your work, 

 or lazy, and by and by, you will have a class of 

 your own, and I hope teach them a great deal bet- 

 ter than I have done.] 



WHY SO MANY QUEENS DIE IN THE SPRING. 



What is the cause of so many queens dying this 

 spring? I have had 6 die. Isaac Jones. 



Martinsville, 111., April 28, 1879. 



[And I have had more than 6 die. Friend J., and I 

 can hardly say why they died either. This much I 

 do know, that strong colonies, well protected in the 

 chaff hives and house apiary, neither died nor had 

 their queens die, so I conclude it is in some way 

 connected with the spring dwindling and conse- 

 quent demoralization of the colony.] 



CALIFORNIA. 



I will try to get you some seed of the sage this 

 fall; it is only now commencing to bloom. I must 

 try next spring to get a dozen lynn trees by mail 

 from you, to plant on the banks of our creek, to see 

 if they will not grow in California. I have had only 

 a dozen swarms of bees yet. At the rate they 

 swarmed last year, I would have had 350 by this 

 time. Bees are killing their drones, and it now 

 seems probable that Southern California will not 

 yield more than a third crop of honey this year, 

 perhaps not so much. R. Wilkin. 



San Buena Ventura, Cal., April 29, '79. 



I have wintered safely, on summer stands, in Sim- 

 plicity hives, with bees on 3 frames. The hives were 

 contracted with chaff division boards (a la Root), 

 and the upper stories were filled with chaff. Most 

 of my neighbors lost heavily. The two, one dollar 

 queens purchased of you last year proved to be 

 purely fertilized, producing finely marked workers 

 and they are also good layera. 



John T. Gardner. 



Hamilton, Ohio, April 21, 1879. 



IMPORTANCE OF SKILL AND CARE IN HANDLING THE 

 COMBS. 



I received your card and am sorry enough that I 

 cannot reasonably ask you to send me another 

 queen, right off, although I am ever so anxious to 

 have her here. I have now three queenless colo- 

 nies. I accidentally killed one queen the other day, 

 while fussing in the hive ; and, by the way, Mr. 

 Root, it does seem a little strange that I hear of no 

 more such accidents. Why, Sir, I scarcely ever 

 work round a hive any length of time, without kill- 

 ing some" bees, when I am quite careful, too. 



Milford, Del., Apr. 22, '79. Alex. Henry. 



The three, dollar queens you sent me last Aug. 

 and Oct., prove to be beauties. One raises the larg- 

 est and yellowest bees that I ever saw. My bees 

 came through good and strong, but three swarms 

 having been lost; two starved, and one winter 

 killed. I have over 50 now. H. S. Ross. 



Brighton, Mich., April 28, 1879. 



SPRINKLING SULPHUR ON WILD BEE 5 TO FIND THEIR 

 TREE. 



I have a box hive with glass sides, in which I have 

 a colony of blacks. I have given bees going into 

 the hive, a thorough coating with flower of sulphur 

 (see letter of Dr. Ruff, on page 381, Nov. 1878), and 

 have failed to discover any disturbance in con- 

 sequence thereof. Some of the bees would keep 

 right on into the cluster ; others would stop on the 

 inside of the hive and brush themselves with their 

 legs, the same as if they had been rolled in meal. 



D. H. Kelton. 



Ft. McKavett, Texas, April 28, 1879. 



I am sorry to see that you lost so heavily in bees, 

 the past winter. I followed your advice in prepar- 

 ing for winter, and did not lose a pint of bees out of 

 10 colonies, wintered on the summer stands. One 

 morning, the thermometer showed 22° below zero. 

 Two thirds of the bees in this vicinity are dead. The 

 spring is two weeks later with us, than last spring. 



Shamburg, Pa., May 7, '79. D. L. Oiler. 



[It was once Faid of a physician, that he, like a 

 guide post, pointed the way continually to others, 

 but never went himself. If the way I have pointed 

 out is a good one, I will try, friend O., and go in it 

 myself hereafter.] 



GIVING BEES A FLY. 



I went into winter quarters with 41 colonies of 

 Italians and came out with 40, all in good condition. 

 The other died of starvation. I put my bees in a 

 dry cellar, in Nov., and leave them entirely alone 

 till I take them out in the spring. Don't believe in 

 giving them a fly. Jeremy Lake. 



North Easton, Mass., May 8, 1879. 



You should warn beginners, and all, against wear- 

 ing black hats among bees while working with them. 

 The liability to be stung w hile handling bees with a 

 dark colored hat on, is much greater than it would 

 be, if a light colored hat is worn. You perhaps have 

 noticed this. John A. Buchana n. 



Holiday's Cove, W. Va., May 10, 1879. 



[I have never noticed that bees objected to dark 

 colors, but that fur, or anything of a wooly nature, 

 seemed particularly offensive to them. Would not 

 a light fur hat be as disagreeable to them as a dark 

 one, friend B. ?] 



