18S0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



ers and sisters, for years past. This is what 

 I do : I have a lot of lead-pencils sharpened 

 up to a keen point just like a needle. As I 

 read your letters carefully, weighing eaeh 

 line and sentence, I use these line-pointed 

 pencils to indicate to the clerks, between the 

 lines or words, the outline of their answers. 

 The words I put in, at the proper point in 

 the sentence, are something like this : •■ Yes; 

 no; perhaps; probably; (). K.; can't prom- 

 ise; see A 13 C ; see price list; accept his 

 proposition; do all he asks," etc., etc.; or, 

 in cases which specially demand it, I often 

 write more at length on the margin of the 

 letter. From these penciling the clerks 

 write the answers, and, before the cards and 

 letters are mailed, I read every one careful- 

 ly, and, with these same line pencils, amend 

 or correct the replies. As soon as a pencil 

 gets worn so it is not line, I take another. 

 and, when all are dull, have them all sharp- 

 ened again. Now, to do even this, for all of 

 you, I have to economize my mental powers 

 to the utmost. After working an hour or 

 two hours at the letters, I take a run over 

 the grounds or through the rooms, and see 

 how the boys and girls are doing, and this 

 alternation of duties is generally kept up 

 from before t> in the morning until after 9 at 

 night. It is true, I decide many difficult 

 points on pretty short notice, but I am 

 obliged to decide hastily or not at all. My 

 type- writer is used only for my work on the 

 journal, such as I am writing now, and it is 

 in use the greater part of the time. I have 

 made this explanation, mainly that you may 

 not scold, and call me unfriendly, when I do 

 not reply to you personally. 



HOW I INTRODUCED A QUEEN ON DEC. ]ST. 



Having one stand of black bees yet, and two 

 swarms of Italians that were not as large as 1 wish- 

 ed, I determined to Italianize the blacks and unite 

 the It dians. So I removed one Italian queen and 

 united the two Italian swarms by smoking- them; 

 then I removed the black queen, and smoked the 

 bees and queen thoroughly, then lifted a frame of 

 bees out, and placed the queen among them. Some 

 began to feed her; others, to bite her wings and legs; 

 one tried to sting her, and 1 took him by the wings, 

 held him out and smoked him, till he promised, 

 solemnly, never to sting any thing again. I watched 

 them a few minutes, and saw that they were not go- 

 ing to kill her .just then, at least. I -then placed the 

 frame in the hive and closed ir, and kept a watch on 

 them, but the queen is there to-day, and all right. 



FRIEND ALLEY AND HIS QUEENS. 



As a great amount of talking is being done in re- 

 gard to All'.v's business transactions, and about his 

 queans dupli'a ing themselves in their queen pro- 

 geny, I have this to say : Two years ago la»t August, 

 I sent to him for on •, "dollar" queen, and last 

 March or April, I sent for one tested queen to be 

 sent as soon as possible. The first came promptly; 

 the second, some time in July. Both are very yel- 

 low queens, but small. Neither one will duplicate 

 herself. I have raised but two queens from the 

 tested one. and they are nearly as black as black 

 queens, and both pro luce hybrid bees. How is that, 

 when a m in < ri'r j a queen that the breeder can 

 swear be, an 1 wh n one was wanted for the purpose 

 of breeding fellow uueens? 



Are you not mistaken about friend Alley's 

 agreeing to warrant his queens to duplicate 

 themselves V I did not know that anybody 

 offered to do that. 



ANTS VERSUS QUEEN ItEES. 



Under the above head, Mr. Geo. B. Peters, of 

 Council Bend, Ark., writes in regard to ants killing 

 queens; that ants trill kill queens and also worker 

 bees I kn )\v, fr m objervatiou, to be a fact. I once 



Obtained a queen and about a dozen worker bees in 

 a cage, wiih a sponge containing honey for food. It 

 being too late to introduce them, 1 placed them 

 under the quilts, in a strong stand of bees, that they 

 might not be chilled. Upon going to them in the 

 morning, I found the queen and nearly all the work- 

 ers dead, with ants still clinging to their thorax and 

 feet. Again; a friend of mine sent last summer for 

 a One tested queen. She was shipped in a candy 

 queen cage, and arriv, d late in the evening. He 

 placed her on a shelf in the kitchen until morning, 

 intending then to introduce her. When he went for 

 his queen, he found her in the agonies of death, 

 with ants still clinging to her. This I saw mvself. 

 I have often taken bees and queens, and placed them 

 among ants, when they would be immediately at- 

 tacked. That ants do any harm when clustered 

 about a colony of bets, I do not believe; but when 

 they are disturbed, they annoy the bees by running 

 among them. .1 can always drive ants away by plac- 

 ing bruised walnut leaves in the hives where ants 

 fluster. J. a. Buckxew. 



Chirks, O., Dec. 8, 18T9. 



I do not know but that I shall have to give 

 up in regard to the ants. It seems that 

 queens should, at least, be kept out of their 

 way. 



CLOVER seeds; alsike, white dutch, and com- 

 mon WHITE. 



I sowed some of both kinds of white clover, and 

 some Alsike clover seed, on ploughed land, without 

 any other seed. 1 mowed them once to cut off the 

 heads of pigeon grass. Some ot the Alsike stalks 

 grew Z' 2 It. long, and blossomed Some. There was 

 not much difference between the two white clovers. 

 Both grew very large and blossomed nicely. They 

 all spread tremendously over the ground. 



1 think either of the above clovers will be good to 

 mix sparingly with other grass seeds, to sow on any 

 grass lands. They will keep out the moss, and make 

 hay, feed, and good honey. William martin. 



Hudson, Wis., Dec. 2, 1&79. 



I was not aware, friend M., that common 

 white clover seed could be procured in the 

 market. Our seedsmen have invariably told 

 us the only kind they cotdd buy was the white 

 Dutch. Where did you get what you had ? 

 ami what did it cost '! I am glad to see, by 

 your report, that you have succeeded so well 

 with the clovers. It seems to me, with the 

 demand for seeds of these clovers, they ought 

 not to be so high. 15ee-keepers could cer- 

 tainly make it pay to raise them on good soil, 

 and the seeds would pay all expense of culti- 

 vation, and leave the honey they produced a 

 clear profit. No one should undertake it, 

 unless he can give us nice, clean seed, with- 

 out the possibility of any Canada thistle seed 

 in it, or anything of the kind. Wake up, 

 boys, and raise us clover seeds at a less price, 

 and show us what a nice show of blossoms 

 you can make for the bees. It is impossible 

 for us to raise, on our honey farm, a tenth 

 part of what we sell. 



INTRODUCING by special methods. 



Friend Hoot: — Last August, I had to go 30 miles 

 from home into Howard Co., and be absent 2 months. 

 1 did not know about going until 2 or 3 days before 

 1 started and had Ordered a lot Of queens from EL 

 Alley. Ten of them came while I wasaway, but I had 

 engaged my friend and neighbor, Capt.J. H. Raleigh, 

 to introduce tin n.. Capt. Raleigh is an experienced 

 and practical modern bee-keeper. I directed him to 

 use the Betsinger cages that 1 had in the honey 

 house. The cages were used, and the whole modus 

 operandi was precisely as directed by .Mr. netsinger, 

 or Prof. HasbroLiek, in li. K. .1/., and just one half of 

 the queens were lost. K. F. Wikr. 



South River, Anne Arundel, Co., aid., Dec. 9, 1879. 



This goes to verify what I have so often 

 told you, my friends, that no plan or cage 

 can be retted on, without special and con- 

 stant supervision. 



