818 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Aug. 



$o%^§ and §mri($. 



A WORD FROM BEECH CITT, O. 



^E had a visit, the other day, from our aged 

 friend and bee keeper, Doctor S. Wolf, of 

 Wilmot, who has to say that he now has 

 the greatest number of colonies of bees, and less 

 honey than he has had during- his experience of 

 twenty-live years. So far as he knows, he says he 

 has not one pound of section honey in his apiary, 

 owing- to the poor season. As for our apiary of fifty 

 five colonies, we have a more favorable report, as 

 we have honey enough for the use of the family, 

 and some little to sell. Our neighbor farmers tell us 

 that, while mowing their clover hay, they saw the 

 Italians were working on the red clover as readily 

 as on the white. The statement heretofore often 

 made by others that Italians are not superior to 

 the blacks, in our minds, no longer admits of argu- 

 ment; as those who see may well know for them- 

 selves. Emma Stambaugh. 

 Beech City, O., July 21, 1879. 



I received the two hives and smoker on Saturday 

 last. I got home at five o'clock and had two large 

 natural swarms to put in them, and to-day, one 

 week, they have 6 brood frames full of comb and 

 honey in one, and the other is all full. I have used 

 wood frames but will never use any more, if I can 

 get metal cornered ones. J. Scott Fisher. 



Jordan's Mills, Pa., June 2V, 1879. 



COLOR for honey crates. 



Concerning the color of honey crates, I would re- 

 spectfully remind you that the Good Father thinks 

 that dark chocolate brown, mazarine blue, sky blue, 

 and royal purple, are the settings for yellow. 

 Brown and purple will make it (the honey) look bril- 

 liant and golden (see marigolds, ripe sunflower and 

 purple pansies); dark blue will make it look pale 

 and delicate (see moon, stars and sky); pale blue 

 will give an intermediate shade (see sun and sky). 



Hersey, Mich., July 15, '79. Mrs. E. Loring. 



after swarms returning to the parent hive. 



Why does a swarm come out with a young queen 

 or queens, and return without alighting? The phe- 

 nomenon is similar to that of a first swarm, when 

 the queen is so heavy that she can not fly. I have 

 had several such exhibitions this season. 



[I think it rare that a second swarm goes back to 

 the old hive, if the young queen is with them. I 

 should be inclined to think her wings imperfect in 

 some way, and that she could not fly. I can not im- 

 agine how you should have had several such.] 



WHICH WILL, THE BEES CHOOSE, A FERTILE OR VIR- 

 GIN QUEEN? 



If two swarms unite, one first and one second (one 

 matron and one virgin queen), which queen is usu- 

 ally destroyed? or is that merely accidental? 



I have had one such case, in which the laying 

 queen reigned supreme. 



[The unfertile queen would be most apt to be des- 

 troyed; for bees almost invariably give the prefer- 

 ence to a laying queen.] 



DEXTRINE FOR GUMMING LABELS. 



Also, how is the gum made and put onto the U. S. 

 postage stamps? Are your labels gummed with the 

 same preparation? The above three questions an- 

 swered would greatly accommodate me. 



"ItEMLE." 



Lebanon Springs, N. Y., July 17, 1879. 



[The gumming on our labels and postage stamps 

 is dextrine. It is a most tenacious paste, for any 

 purpose; almost like glue. It is obtained princi- 

 pally from starch, and is nearly allied, in souk: res- 

 pects, to grape sugar and glucose. We can furnish 

 it, for 20 cts. per lb.] 



HOW TO CURE DULL TIMES. 



I made a trip of 10 days and transferred 40 stands 

 of bees on the halves, 15 stands for $3.50, and sold 

 and delivered 3 stands at 17.50 each, and 7 hives for 

 $3.00. I start to-morrow to the same neighborhood 

 to work 25 more on shares, and expect Several for 

 cash. My son and I transferred 20 in one day. I 

 have made this winter 215 hives. T. C. Stanley. 



Jefferson villc, Ills., Apr. 15, 1879. 



I received the queens and smoker on the 8th. 

 They were a great curiosity to the people about 

 here. Every one at Greenwood had to take a look 

 at them, and it was soon over the neighborhood that 

 I had got some Italians from Mr. Root. I intro- 

 duced one all right; the other, I had to take out of 

 the hive three times, and drop them in water to un- 

 ball them. H. H. C. Bkeece. 



Greenwood, Col., July 12, 1879. 



PRUNING SHEARS FOR TAKING DOWN SWARMS. 



Small branches are often in the way, when taking 

 a swarm from a tree. Even branches 1 inch in diam- 

 eter can be taken off with pruning shears in less 

 time, and with less jar, than with a saw. 



Wm. H. H. Kirk. 



Waterbury, Conn., July 15, 1879. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS BY ROLLING IN HONEY. 



Being an amateur in the bee business, I got my 

 friend Hickok to help me introduce a queen. After 

 rolling her in honey, he put her in the hive and the 

 bees balled her at once; he then took her out and 

 put her back in the cage, and while we were getting 

 the frames all right in the hive, her own bees in the 

 cage balled her and stung her to death. 



Bethel, Conn., July 11, '79. Philo Gilbert. 



[I have not been able to discover that daubing the 

 queen with honey makes any difference; if she 

 would have been received weli without it, she prob- 

 ably would have been with it. The worst part of it 

 is, that if she has to be recaged, the honey is quite 

 apt to dry on her body and kill her.] 



BURYING BEES, ETC. 



Two years ago the middle of this month, I caught 

 a small swarm of bees that was crossing my corn- 

 field, and, although perfectly ignorant in regard to 

 bees, not knowing a drone from a worker, I hurried 

 to a neighbor's where I procured a L. hive, got the 

 bees into it, sent for Gleanings, and went to study- 

 ing both book and bees. From that swarm, last 

 summer I got two new ones, making three in all, 

 and about 70 lb. of honey besides. One of my neigh- 

 bors had two swarms in nail-kegs last fall, which 

 were too light to winter, so he buried them in the 

 ground like cabbage or potatoes, and one of them 

 lived through all right. He did this under the im- 

 pression, that they would not require so much food, 

 but would live more like bumble bees. What do you 

 think of that? E. A. Allbee. 



Pleasant Prairie, la., June 9, 1879. 



[Bees have been wintered very successfully when 

 buried, and I believe they consume very little honey 

 comparatively. The plan has been generally aban- 

 doned, I think, because of the trouble it involves, 

 and that they are very apt to be injured, if not kill- 

 ed outright, by dampness and mold. Caves or cel- 

 lars in dry sandy soils, are, 1 believe, just as good, 

 and much more convenient and tidy.] 



BLACK BEES AROUND SODA FOUNTAINS, ETC. 



In July No. of Gleanings, in reply to A. J. Bogel, 

 about driving off bees from soda fountains, you say, 

 "Such troubles only occur when the yield of honey 

 has ceased." which may be correct in Ohio, but 'tis 

 not here. With Italians it is correct, but not with 

 black bees. Here, black bees will trouble when 

 Italians are laying up a little surplus. I have prob- 

 ably used full as much fdn. as any person in the 

 South; but without wire, or other substitute, I con- 

 sider it half a failure in this part of the South. 



Shreveport, La., July 18, '79. C. R. Carlin. 



WHAT TO DO WITH AFTER SWARMS. 



I have just commenced bee keeping with two 

 swarms, this spring. One has swarmed four times; 

 the other, twice. The last swarm, after being hived 

 four days, marched into the first like a flock of 

 sheep, the hives being three feet apart. A few re- 

 mained in hive No. 2, and they are now going back 

 and forth. Please tell me what to do with them, 

 and how to strengthen the weak swarm and oblige. 



North Adams, Mich., July 8, '79. J. R. Hall. 



[Your hives are too close together, but no harm is 

 done so far. I think your stocks might all be fed 

 irp and saved, but it will probably be safer, to unite 

 them until you have only three or four good strong 

 ones. Too much depends on location, pasturage, 

 etc., for me to tell you just what to do here. See 

 feeding, wintering, etc., in A B C] 



