1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



17 



about as well as giving them a young queen. 

 Many of our queens do better the second 

 year than they do the first ; would it not be 

 a great waste to kill all these off V Getting 

 your colonies to rear a nice lot of brood by 

 feeding, I think will answer every purpose. 



FROJI GERMANY. 



ANOTHER RELATION OF THE SIMPSON HONEY PLANT. | 



j Simpson honey plant. I am very glad to 

 hear that GLEANINGS " travels," and if you 

 do not get your numbers back again, let us 



j know, and we will send you more. I, too, 

 would be glad, my friend, if we were not so 

 far from each other ; but it encourages me 

 more than you can think, to hear that my 

 work has gone clear into the homes away 

 across the great waters. 



W 



THE NEW GRAPE-SUGAR REE-CANDY. 



ings how busy you are to furnish your bee 

 " farm with honey-producing- plants, and hare 

 learned, by your instructive journal, that you have 

 been very successful in procuring excellent plants 

 for summer and autumn bee pasturage. Now, I 

 think it would be agreeable to you to have also, on 

 your bee farm, a flower which yields honeyin abund- 

 ance early in the spring. I therefore take the liber- 

 ty to send you a small package of seeds of the 

 Scrophularia vcrnalis. It is a perennial, German 

 plant, and will blossom in the second year after sow- 

 ing, but as early as the crocuses. As soon ns the 

 snow is melted away, and the weather is favorable, 

 you will see the bees gather the sweet nectar from 

 it, all the day. Of course, a plant yielding' honey in 

 abundance so early in the spring, is of the greatest 

 importance to every bee-keeper. After a proti-act- 

 ed winter confinement, the bees long to have fresh 

 honey and pollen, and I take it for granted that one 

 pound of fresh honey does them more good than 

 two pounds from the old stock in their hives, or of 

 that which we feed them. Feeding in spring- will be 

 every time more profitable when the bees are able to 

 gather some fresh honey from the flowers. 



After reading- your report in regard to the Simp- 

 son honey plant, and more of the Spider plant, I 

 should like to have some seeds of these wonderful 

 plants. You would oblige me very much if you 

 would be so kind as to send me some seeds only in a 

 small package, by letter. 



We have not had, in most sections of our country, 

 a good honey year. The weather was too cold and 

 wet throughout the season. Only the bee-keepers of 

 the heath (Heidimker), in the province of Hannover 

 and the dukedom of Brunswick, have had some 

 profits from their bees. Buckwheat has failed, but 

 on some fine days of August and September, the 

 bees gathered honey from the Erica vulgaris. 



Your ABC, which I had the pleasure to see at my 

 friend Lohmann's, who did reside, last winter, in 

 Brunswick, is a very instructive and unparalleled 

 bee-book for everyone, both in the Old and New 

 World. Your Gleanings, I must tell you, is, in 

 fact, a genuine vagrant in Germany; at least, the 

 copies you send me are never at home, and their 

 migrations go further than those of the good old 

 Vicar of Wakefield, from the blue bod to the brown; 

 they go from one be^-keeper to the other. 



I might wish Medina were not so far from Bruns- 

 wick, and I could have, for a short time, the woid cut 

 of your " Home of the Honey Bees," for our Bienen- 

 zeituna. I would give a description of it in this pa- 

 per. The picture of your bee-farm is wonderful and 

 very attractive. C. T. H. Gravenhorst. 



Brunswick, Germany, Nov. 21, 18"9. 



Many thanks, friend G.. for your seeds 

 and kind letter. I value the seeds all the 

 more, as I judge, from the name, the plant 

 must be a relative of our much-esteemed 



IT SEEMS I AM NOT THE ORIGINAL DISCOVERER, 

 AFTER ALL. 



fN some cages of queens received last sum- 

 mer, I noticed some soft white candy that 

 ~* seemed to have the property of keeping 

 moist, even during dry weather. I tasted it, 

 and wondered a little what it was made of, 

 but passed it by. Just now comes the fol- 

 lowing : 



A. I. Boot: —J see by your October No., that you 

 have discovered a new bee-candy. I have used the 

 same (without the flour), since about the 1st of June 

 last, for food in queen cages. If you will look in the 

 cages of the queens I sent you, you will find the 

 same candy. I discovered it by accident, and also 

 discovered that queens can be shipped long distan- 

 ces without water, when supplied with this candy. 

 I have shipped a great many queens this season, 

 some in your section-box cages, and find that they 

 will stand confinement longer on this candy than on 

 clear honey. In fact, I do not know that I ever lost 

 a queen when provided with it, and I have sent them 

 very long distances, without water. This has been 

 a poor season, all things considered. Our apiary has 

 averaged us $12.86 per colony, cash, for bees, queens, 

 and honey sold, and we have a few hundred pounds 

 of honey on hand, but will keep it till spring. 



F. L. Wright. 



Plainfield, Livingston Co., Mich., Nov., 1879. 



Although I think this candy may be much 

 better for sending queens (as well as cheap- 

 er), I do not believe we can dispense entire- 

 ly with water. During warm weather, the 

 candy keeps quite warm and soft ; but at the 

 approach of cool or cold weather, the grape- 

 sugar mixture, like honey, becomes quite 

 hard. 



KEEPING QUEENS OVER AVINTER IN A 

 CAGE. 



A cage is now standing in our office, con- 

 taining bees which have been healthy and 

 lively for about two weeks. They are sup- 

 plied with candy, sealed honey, and a bottle 

 of water. Although the room gets quite 

 cold nights and over Sunday, it does not 

 seem to harm them in the least. With our 

 cage, such as we send a half-pound of bees 

 in, I have but little doubt but that we might 

 keep a queen in good health all winter. It 

 would seem they should be allowed a fly, at 

 the approach of a pleasant day, but there 

 would be a difficulty in this, as they would 

 be almost sure to swarm out. If the queen 

 was caged at such a time, I rather think the 

 bees would all come back safely. Who wants 

 a queen with a half-pound of bees, to see if 

 they can keep them over winter on water, 

 candy, and honey ? 



