44fi 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



think it unsafe to transfer bees at any season when 

 comb building is not going on naturally. One year 

 ago, I stated that I intended to have 60 colonies of 

 Italian bees by this time. Owing to some office 

 business, I could not attend to it as I should have 

 liked, but I have 28 colonies in good condition, hav- 

 ing increased this season from 8, and have taken 

 3001b. surplus. I have accomplished this by artificial 

 swarming, and giving all the fdn. they could use. I 

 use the Dunham fdn., 5 feet to the lb., and have 200 

 sheets worked out, and have never had one break 

 down. I have lost one Italian queen, by trying to 

 introduce accompanying bees at the same time. 

 Since then, I roll wire cloth around my finger, pinch 

 one end together, put the queen in alone, put in a 

 cork, place the cage, thus made, with the queen, 

 between two combs, and leave 48 hours; then I pull 

 out the cork, leaving the cage in place several days. 

 The queen goes among the bees, when all is quiet. 

 I have never lost one since doing this. 



E. A. Morgan, or 

 "The ABC Child That Grew So Fast." 

 Arcadia, Wis., Oct. 8, 1879. 



SWEET POTATOES AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR POLLEN. 



The sweet potato pollen seems to work all right so 

 far. I mix potato and sugar, in equal weights, and 

 bees eat it readily. Potatoes are steamed and dried 

 off, then mashed, and mixed with a syrup as for 

 feeding, and placed in flat boxes as you recommend 

 for flour candy. John CropCROFt, 



Salem, Ind., Oct. 13, 1879. 



Thanks, friend C. The idea of using sweet 

 potatoes has been given before, some time 

 ago, but not with sugar as you recommend. 

 I hardly think I would use much of it in pre- 

 paring bees for winter, but, toward spring, 

 if the potatoes can be procured, you might 

 use it safely. From their composition, we may 

 expect them to furnish both starch and sugar, 

 or, in other words, both honey and pollen. 

 I should be careful about feeding such vegeta- 

 ble sweets in the fall, because I have seen so 

 much bad work from sweet apples, sorghum, 

 brown sugar, and the like. 



THE FIBROUS MATERIAL IN BROOD COMBS. 



In August No. of Gleanings, I noticed something 

 concerning the composition of brood comb, and un- 

 dertook to see if I could find out from whence the 

 strange substance came. By close observation, I 

 think that I have made the discovery. I went fre- 

 quently to my observatory hive, and carefully 

 watched the maneuvers of my busy pets, and no- 

 ticed, while some were taking the wax from the lit- 

 tle pockets, others were biting and pulling at the 

 downy hair that grows on the bees. Now I think it 

 is reasonable to conclude that this fine hair is what 

 the bees use in the caps of brood comb. If they get 

 the substance in question elsewhere, we certainly 

 could discover the bees bringing it into the hive. 



C T. Clark. 



Bentonville, Aik., Oct. 14, 1879. 



Your suggestion has been made before, 

 friend C, but I cannot think the source you 

 mention would furnish enough material for 

 all the brood combs, and the cappings of both 

 drone and worker brood. We have a couple 

 of young microscopists among us, and I will 

 set them at work at the problem at once. 



persistent absconding . 

 I transferred a very strong colony about 3 weeks 

 ago, and they seemed to be all right; but, to my sur- 

 prise, they swarmed. I saved the swarm all right, 

 then went to the hive and found it was the one that 

 I had transferred just a week before. They had 

 plenty of brood and fresh eggs. The next day, they 

 came out again and I hived them in another hive, 

 and still they were not satisfied. They started the 

 third time, and I gave them still another hive. Af- 

 ter I hived them the third time, I stopped their en- 

 trance, and in the evening I took about two-thirds 

 of the bees and put them in the hive with their 

 comb and brood and set it about 15 feet away; sure 

 enough, next morning they came out again. I hap- 

 pened to be there when they started, so I closed 



their entrance again and saved what was in the 

 hive. I put them in with the others and they are 

 doing right well. They have three queen cells start- 

 ed, one of which will hatch this week. They work 

 right well now. Jacob Reitz. 



Millstadt, 111., Sept. 4, 1879. 



Once in awhile,we find a colony that, after 

 some unusual disturbance, such as trans- 

 ferring, being brought home from the woods, 

 or something of that kind, will persist in 

 swarming out continually ; and, in such 

 cases, the very best thing we can do is to 

 divide them up, and scatter the discontented 

 bees around in well behaved colonies. In 

 my experience, I have encountered one or 

 two such. You did exactly the best thing, 

 in my opinion. 



can we have too much brood, and wired frames 

 for foundation. 



My bees are rearing a large lot of brood from 

 buckwheat, and some colonies have drones flying. 

 Is that best for them? and when will they be likely 

 to stop rearing brood, and give some honey in box- 

 es? It has been a bad year with us, on account of 

 being so dry. My bees did almost nothing in June 

 and July, though they held their own until buck- 

 wheat bloomed, and they have been very busy ever 

 since, as in spring. Some say Oct. is the best month 

 in the year for honey. 1 hope it may prove so this 

 time, for we have not had much yet. The queen I 

 bought of Brown, of Augusta, Ga., I think is pure. 

 She has done well since I introduced her. I think 

 the fdn. I got from you is all worked out, and full 

 of brood. 1 wired it successfully, and like it very 

 much. J. D. Fooshe. 



Greenwood, S. C, Sept, 8, 1879. 



Let them rear the brood, friend F., and 

 do not fear; I never yet saw too much brood 

 at any time of the year. Brood means young 

 bees, and young bees means honey, some 

 time in the future. If they have reared 

 brood largely in the fall, give them stores 

 accordingly, and in the spring you will have 

 a colony that will be capable of giving one 

 of those great yields we hear about occasion- 

 ally. I am glad to hear you have succeeded 

 with the wires stretched' in the frames. Our 

 wired frames are beautiful, and we have no 

 fear of their breaking in frosty weather or 

 any other kind, no matter where the bees 

 are shipped. 



WHAT CONSTITUTES PURE ITALIANS? 



As I am a beginner, I should like a careful descrip- 

 tion of a pure Italian. I have some with one band, 

 some with two, and, what puzzles me, some with 

 four bands, the third and fourth being not so golden 

 as the first and second, but the fourth is as clearly 

 defined as the third. J. D. Gage. 



Cambridgeboro, Penn., Sept. 24, 1879. 



Your statement that some of the bees have 

 four bands would rather indicate, friend G., 

 that you are blundering in the dark. In the 

 A B C, I have gone over the whole ground 

 carefully, with the aid of engravings, and, 

 by the rules given there, I think no one need 

 make a mistake in deciding which are pure 

 and which are hybrids, and you can decide 

 in regard to a dead bee, almost as well as 

 with a live one. 



ANOTHER ABC SCHOLAR FROM MAINE AND HIS 

 CHAFF HIVE. 



You see, when Mr. Green wrote his letter, giving 

 his report, golden rod was not in bloom. I dou't be- 

 lieve he got much honey from it this year. I don't 

 remember of seeing a single bee on it myself, in this 

 section. Now, Mr. Root, I— I— I— as the feller said, 

 I thought [ had done a good thing with my bees, un- 

 til this Green man that is not so "green" after all 

 told you his big story. I would like to know if his 

 big swarm of bees is in a chaff hive. Here is what I 



