1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



271 



cage and killed her. I don't know when I ever was 

 so sorry as I was then ; but we all will lose some- 

 times. I had a fine swarm of Italians to-day. 

 Washington, Ky., June 9, '79. J. R. Anderson. 



You will probably never kill another 

 queen in that way, friend A. When the 

 cage is being closed, queens are very apt to 

 put their heads out just in time to be caught, 

 and to avoid such mishaps, I always place 

 my finger on the opening, while I push in 

 the slide. I once killed owe queen in that 

 way. 



BEES IN MISSOURI ; A SURPLUS OF POLLEN. 



My bees, nearly 100 colonies, wintered finely. In 

 South-west Mo., we have no need of chaff hives and 

 all such fixings. Bees here winter well on summer 

 stands, if prepared in the fall with plenty of bees, 

 plenty of honey, and winter passages through the 

 combs. We have one great drawback here; our 

 bees gather so much pollen that we have to cut out 

 some of the comb. There is no need of feeding rye 

 meal here. E. Liston. 



Virgil City, Mo., June 12, 1879. 



Glad to know it, friend L., but, if I am 

 not mistaken, the good people of Mo. have 

 had terrible times with spring dwindling, in 

 some localities. I think I should make the 

 bees rear brood, and use up that pollen, in- 

 stead of cutting it out. I have never seen a 

 surplus of pollen here. 



Will you please suggest something which is so dis- 

 tasteful to bees as to drive them off '< We are very 

 much annoyed by these useful insects about our 

 soda fountain. To kill them would be useless, as 

 they keep coming by thousands. Could you recom- 

 mend any kind of perfume which would be unpleas- 

 ant to them? Aug. J. Bogel. 



Shrieveport, La., June 9, 1879. 



Such troubles occur only when the yield of 

 honey has ceased, and it is rather a difficult 

 matter to suggest a remedy, unless the syr- 

 up can be kept cleaned up so that not a bee 

 ever gets home with a load. If the first bee 

 that commences to load up is killed, and the 

 next, and so on, being sure that not one ever 

 gets home, they will very soon stop coming 

 of themselves. Last fall, I gave the candy 

 makers at our fair a shingle, and begged 

 them to be sure to kill the first bee that 

 came near. The consequence was that no 

 bees were seen near the candy stand, be- 

 cause none ever got home with a load. 



Coal oil is offensive to bees, but it would 

 also be offensive to customers. I do not 

 know of any perfume offensive to bees, and 

 not to people. 



Nucleus received. It is splendid; better than I 

 expected. Thanks. Bees are all hard at work, and 

 we shall see which kind will win. A man has noth- 

 ing to fear, who does business on Christian princi- 

 ples. Your ideas of business, friend Root, are but 

 a nucleus as yet, but are sure to grow. These little 

 business postals should carry good will, and a word 

 for Jesus every time. J. Mattison. 



Ocean View, N. J., June 9, 1879. 



Many thanks, friend M. I am sure you 

 give me more credit than I deserve, for. al- 

 though I get glimpses of that better way 

 now and then, it only shows me how sadly I 

 do err, as it seem to me, a greater part of 

 the time. May God continue to lead us all, 

 in that better way. 



scattered and blossoms out slowly, though it yields 

 good honey. The tar weed is just in bloom. Last 

 year, it yielded a large quantity of honey of a flavor 

 similar to that of its namesake; hence our honey 

 from this source is not fit for market. I suspect 

 some dishonest men shipped tar weed honey last 

 year, and spoiled tbe sale of some good honey. 



I am a beginner; I commenced with 4 colonies last- 

 year, and have increased them to 42 colonies. Hard 

 times are upon the Pacific coast in spite of our gold 

 mines, and other great resources. 



Rout. Beeton. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., June 2, 1879. 



THE NEW SECTION BOX QUEEN CAGE. 



Now 1 thought those section queen cages 

 would please every body, surely; but just 

 see what this friend says. 



That section box contained some bees and a little 

 thing, smaller than the bees, which I took to be the 

 queen, and I let that out trying to yet it out. If I 

 ever send for another queen (and I don't expect to, 

 if it keeps as dry as it is now), please send it in a 

 dry goods box, if you haven't any queen cages. I 

 should think you would lose l /k of them, trying to 

 get them out. I would, anyhow. 



R. P. Waldron. 



Havana, 111., June 9, 1879. 



Why, I never thought, friend W., of hav- 

 ing any trouble in getting the queen out. 

 Remove the wire cloth from one side, lay 

 the cage on the top of the frames, and drive 

 bees and queen both out with a little smoke. 



a queen that stops laying and commences again. 



The queen I was inquiring about, that had not 

 laid an egg for about a month, has commenced lay- 

 ing again in good earnest, filling comb very fast. 

 She was a "dollar" queen and some were looking on 

 to see how it would come out. Wm. Blake. 



Buchanan, Mich., June 10, 1879. 



If the queen refused to lay in May and 

 June, with a good colony of bees, the case is 

 indeed a singular one. Queens, after a long 

 journey, often refuse to lay for several days, 

 and it is much on this account that I have 

 decided on a larger cage. You can see how 

 I have succeeded, by reports in this No. 



CALIFORNIA. 



We have a small crop of honey this year; our ear- 

 ly plants failed to yield any. Mustard was our best 

 honey plant this season, but that is gone now. The 

 white sage is a rare plant in this part. The button 

 sage is common at the foot of the hills, but is widely 



FROM A VERY NEW ABC SCHOLAR. 



Well, here I am again to report. You may not 

 want to hear from me, but here goes. We trusted 

 to you entirely, but just see what a trick you "put 

 up" for us. The colony appeared strong, very; 

 threatening to swarm; so, fearing we would lose 

 them if let alone, wife and boy of 13— my bee-boy — 

 divided them, May 28th, taking 4 frames with brood 

 and eggs of various ages for the new hive, but 

 in issi d ttie queen ; left this where the colony had been 

 standing, and removed the old colony to a new loca- 

 tion, 20 feet or less away. The young colony went 

 to work at once, and have been very busy every fine 

 day since. This colony must have about 2 -, of the 

 original colony, and, we thought, the queen. The 

 old colony kept quiet, coming out very little. We 

 thought they were rearing a queen. June 4th, Dr. 

 Durstine looked them over. Old colony were busy 

 rearing brood, and were eating the honey in their 

 hive, gathering little if any outside. The young 

 colony have worked like heroes; made considerable 

 new comb, and some honey. He found in one frame 

 1 queen cell, well developed; in 2d frame, 10 queen 

 cells; in 3d frame, 3 queen cells— 14 in all. Some 

 were almost ready to leave the cell; all were look- 

 ing well, and will be out in a few days. How is this? 

 Did you intend to treat me so? Be(e) careful, or I 

 may expose you. Is this a rare freak V Who wants 

 a queen ? Jesse Miller. 



Alliance, Ohio, June 5, 1879. 



This is not a very rare freak for Italians, 

 friend M. I am very glad you and my old 

 friend, Dr. 1)., are succeeding so well. 



I think your wax extractor has paid for itself this 

 season. ' J. S. Barb. 



Bristol, Ohio, June 7, 1879. 



