401 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



OCT. 



Canada, or that any inconvenience has resulted 

 from allowing them to be carried, although I think 

 in some instances curiosity leads tojundual interfer- 

 ence with them. W. P. Taylor. 

 Fitzroy Harbor, Ontario, Ca., Sept. 5, 1879. 



I heartily agree with you, friend T., r and I 

 have long been in a quandary in regard to 

 bees by mail. I am very glad to hear they 

 pass in Canada, and make no trouble. In 

 fact, they go in our mails and make no 

 trouble, but they are constantly in danger of 

 being thrown out in a lump, as they were a 

 year ago. 



HOW OLD MAY AQUEEN BE, AND STILL BE FERTIL- 

 IZED? 



Bees have done very well in this locality the pres- 

 ent season. My Italians have given me an excellent 

 crop of honey, and several artificial swarms. X One 

 month ago, a very beautiful Italian queen hatched 

 in one of my artificial swarms. She was a medium 

 si ;ed queen and very yellow. In tenl days i 'after 

 hatching-, I opened the hive expecting to find plenty 

 of eggs, but not one could I find. I continued open- 

 ing the hive every 2 or 3 days for the purpose of 

 finding eggs, but without success, and concluded that 

 I would kill her, if she did not commence laving in 

 one month from the time she left her cell. But, on 

 the 21st day after hatching, she commenced laying 

 eggs, and has since proved to be a very prolific queen. 



Lynn, Ind., Sept. 3, '79. E. Jas. Hinshaw. 



MORE ABOUT THAT GRANULATED HONEY. 



The bees in this section have not done anything 

 extra this season, only they swarmed very late for 

 this section. There is something remarkable about 

 their honey this year; it granulates in 48 hours after 

 they deposite it in the combs. I have some on hand 

 as white as coffee A sugar. If you would like me 

 to do so, 1 will send you a sample of it, and guaran- 

 tee it to be honey, but almost any man would say it 

 is adulterated. • A. S. Smith. 



Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 27, 1879. 



FEEDING TO PROMOTE BROOD REARING I.V THE FALL, 

 AND FEEDING WHILE IN DOORS IN WINTE8. 



I wish to feed my bees this fall late, and from Feb. 

 on till fruit bloom, just to keep up the breeding, or 

 egg laying, especially in my expected Italian swarm. 

 I keep my bees in a dry cellar^'rom Dec. till April. 

 Is this as good a place to feed and ;to breed in as in 

 the open air? Of course, bees can't feed in a very 

 cold day out of, doors. I/want .to know'just what I 

 must do to induce these yellow pets, that I'expect 

 you will send me, to begin tojjraise bees in Jan. or 

 Feb., and from thence on till fruit bloom, at which 

 time I want a big hive, full to runuing over, of yel- 

 low bees. I shall get a bbl. of grape sugar. Is that 

 safe to feed at such times and for my purpose? 



Pawnee City, Neb., Aug. 15, '79. C. R. Miles. 



Your plan is a very unsafe one, friend M . 

 Bees can be fedln the cellar, but it is almost 

 sure to make mischief with a new hand. I 

 would not feed them until the .weather will 

 permit them to be set out doors and to fly. 

 Grape sugar is not'good for winter, but will 

 do very well in spring. 



A KDl'AL COMBAT RESULTING IN THE DEATH OF BOTH 

 QUEENS. 



Eleven^ years ago, I r keptl a few colonies, and (as 

 the folks used to sayl'always had "extra luck" with 

 them. FJhave been without them, however, till this 

 spring, when I purchased a good, strong stock of 

 black bees in a box hive. They increased to four. 

 I also bought two, small, July swarms. I'jwill tell 

 you how I united two swarms, and my "extra luck," 

 &c. My last swarm was] a" very small one; I also 

 bought a small one in a nail keg. Said I, you two 

 have to go into one; for both of you'are very weak. 

 I got hold of Langstroth's old work on the honey 

 bee, and made one of his hives. I then obtained an 

 empty box hive, inverted the box that contained the 

 swarm, and, smoking them pretty well, I put the 

 empty box over them, and commenced "drumming" 

 them up. They took their own time in going up, I 

 can assure you. After I had most of them in, I took 

 the keg and did the same thing, but they did not 



relish going up among the strangers one bit; sol 

 shook what I had in the box, among those in the keg, 

 and then proceeded again. They were very angry, 

 however, some friends standing around getting 

 "pricked" several times; but my smoke kept.them 

 from my face. After I had got as many in as'.I 

 co'ild, I carefully removed the combs from the box 

 and keg, and crowded them fast into the[f rames, 

 putting them in my new Langstroth. Then I shook 

 the bees out on the top of the frames all in a bunch, 

 quickly laying 1 a piece of oil cloth over them, the 

 weight of which soon drove them down among the 

 combs. Now, as all this took time, it was fast get- 

 ting dark or I would have hunted up one of the 

 queens, but I did not. I put them all in together, 

 thinking they would soon dispatch one of the rulers, 

 and again settle down to business. After closing 

 the whole of the portico with wire cloth, I left them 

 to their fate. This was done on the 26th of July 

 last. I kept the sun from the hive, and, on the 

 evening of the 28th, I removed the wire cloth. The 

 morning of the 29th, they seemed to have got used 

 to their bad treatment, and the afternoon of the 

 3)th. they were, to all ootside appearances (as far as 

 I could judge), "all O. K." again. Looking at them 

 the next morning about 9 o'clock, the 31st inst., lo 

 and behold! they h^d gone! "every mother's son of 

 them!" I removed the frames with the combs 

 which they had begun to make fast, and I made a 

 discovery that is enth-ely new. at least to me. Bolh 

 queens were on the bottom, tightly embraced, with 

 the sting of one fast in the other!, both dead. The 

 sting of one had pierced the other in the tirst ab- 

 dominal ring. Was it not queer that both were kill- 

 ed? So ended my "extra lnc'i" that time. 

 Freehold, N. J., Sept. 1, 1879. F. C. Lockwood. 



This is the first case I have ever heard of, 

 where both queens perished, and what is 

 more singular, it seems that the bees ab- 

 sconded without any queen. Now, I shall 

 hazard the conjecture that neither thing 

 happened, and that there was a third queen 

 that came out of the combat alive, and de- 

 camped with the swarm. In that case, of 

 course, one of the stocks had two queens 

 when united, but this is quite a common 

 thing comparatively. 



ARE WE TO CONSIDER BUMBLE BEES AS ENEMIES? 



The second crop of re 1 clover has been an entire 

 failure with us, as far as honey is concerned, for the 

 first time since we have had Italians. The bumble 

 bees have been awfully thick, which I think is the 

 whole cause. We plow out nest after nest when 

 preparing our ground for fall wheat, and they just 

 swarmed over the clover blossoms the whole time. 

 I never saw anything like it in my life. The bumble 

 bees took the honey from the deep tubes, before it 

 could rise high enough for the honey bees to reach 

 it, and they were therefore prevented from getting 

 any. Now, suppose we offer one cent each for all 

 the dead bumble bees the boys and girls bring us in 

 May, June, and July. Ila Micheneh. 



Low Banks, Ont., Ca., Sept. 2, 1879. 



NON-PROLIFIC QUEENS. 



I have delayed making that demand you invited 

 me to make for the non-prolific queen which I sup- 

 posed I had got in that nucleus you sent me in July 

 last. Well, it turned out just as you said, that when 

 she got over her journey she would be all right. At 

 this date, she has her improved Langstroth hive full 

 of beautiful yellow banded workers, and the combs 

 full of brood and honey. It has been a splendid hon- 

 ey season here. I am thinking of putting on a sec- 

 ond story to see what she can do. Therefore I will 

 not ask for damages, but say that you have sent me 

 an excellent queen. K. L. Meade. 



Nassagaweya, Ont., Ca., Sept. 2, 1879. 



I am doing very well with my bees. I had 5 swarms 

 in the spring-, and have 12 now. Two went together 

 and one left for the woods, and I gave one away, so 

 1 have had 15 in all. I have about 200 lb. of white 

 clover honey. * Buckwheat has been in bloom about 

 two weeks, and bees are doing well on it. Honey i? 

 low in price here in Jackson -only worth 10 and 12c. 

 per pound— but it is nice to have about the house 

 even at that price. M. V. Miller. 



Liberty, Jackson Co., Mich., Aug. 8, 1879. 



