18S0 



GLEANINGS IN 15 EE CULTURE. 



71 



f ^ads cf pain, 



From Different Fields. 



THE QUARREL ABOUT THE SUNSHINE. 



- gpjpAVING been away and very busy, I neglected 

 "f~i to write in regard to thai "quarrel about the 

 l_C— h sunshine." in Nov, Gleanings. I have to 

 say, that I am wrong in the mxtier, and arnSF, there- 

 fore, beg Mr. Dean's pardon for ba\ iny contradicted 

 him. J have been busy ali day to-day, planting 

 orange trees, and « very one is complaining of the 

 heat. We have had no frost here, to kill e\en ten- 

 der tomato plants. On Christmas day, my bees were 

 carrying in gieat quantities of pollen. I have Simp- 

 son honey plants and spider plants up and growing, 

 and by the time it is warm enough ''up North," J 

 will be ready Jo try the experiment of sending- them 

 to those of jour readers who want the plants early. 

 N. K. FitzHugh, Jr. 

 Picolata, Fla., Dec. 31, 1879. 



Many thanks, friend F., for jour frank 

 and honest admission of your error. If all 

 controversies could end in so pleasant a 

 manner. 1 should not be so much afraid of 

 letting them creep into our journal. We 

 shall be very glad indeed to have you furnish 

 us early plants, and invite you to tell us how 

 much they will be worth, as soon as you 

 have them ready. 



HONEY PLANTS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



Are sweet clover, or melilot, Simpson honey plant, 

 and MollieO. Large spider plant wood for anything 

 except bee pasturage? If not, will they grow along 

 the lanes and road sides? Will any of them grow on 

 low lands? or will they do best in well lei tilized and 

 cultivated soil? Please give us directum how to 

 cultivate them. Will the spider plant bloom the 

 tirst year from the seedy 



None of the plants mentioned are of any 

 value, so far as I know, except for honey. 

 and none of them will bear honey to good 

 advantage, without cultivation. The Simp- 

 son honey plant does best, 1 believe, on 

 rather low land, but sweet clover will grow 

 on the poorest ground you have, and on the 

 stoniest road-side. For all that, I think 

 good soil will be most profitable for honey. 



The spider flower will blossom the same 

 year, but it will be best to sow the seed in a 

 box in the house, and transplant, as we do 

 tomato plants. The Simpson honey plant, 

 if treated in the same way, will blossom a 

 little the first season, but not fully until the 

 second season. 



The sweet clover is very hardy, and may 

 be sown the same as red clover. 



QUEEKLESSNESS IN COLD WEATHER. 



Can T discover, in cold weather, when a colony is 

 qneenless, without looking through them- If so, 

 how? G. A. Willis. 



Enfield, 111., Dee. 9, 1879. 



It is a pretty hard matter, at any time, to 

 tell, without opening the hive, whether a 

 colony is qneenless or not, and during cold 

 weather, when bees are not living, it would 

 require a pretty keen eye to tell much about 

 it by the looks of the outside of the hive. 

 Beg pardon, friend W.. I did not intend to 

 Le ironical. 



You tell one bee-keeper to punch holes in his 

 combs, for winter passages, with a sharp stick. I 

 will send yon something better than that to do it 

 with. 1 have .just lost two swarms of bees, which 

 starved with sugar in the hire. 



SAVING BEES THAT ABE to BE BBIHSTOBTBD. 

 If your A 11 C scholars w is j to keep, over winter. 



the bees which their neighbors intend to kill, tell 

 them to save up t be combs in the summer, and bang 

 them in an empty hive in the tail, and drive the bees 

 into them, and there will be no bother to make can- 

 dy. 



SURPLUS POLLEN. 



Nellis offers $25.00 for any plan that will take the 



bee-bread out of old combs. I can do it by I ging 



them up, and, with force-pump or large-sized syr- 

 inge, squirting water into the cells once or twice a 

 day, until they are clean; or else wet them and hang 

 them in the hive. David M. Goewey. 



Lansingbuigh, Kens. Co., X. V., Dee. 29, lsv.t. 



Shall be glad to see your arrangement that 

 is better than a sharp stick, friend G. Bees 

 are much more apt to starve on sugar or 

 candy, if away from the cluster, than with 

 honey or liquid stores. Combs of sealed 

 honey will enable you to save colonies that 

 are to lie biimstoned, every time, so far as 

 my experience goes. As 1 have never yet 

 seen too much pollen, 1 do not know how I 

 can offer suggestions in the matter. 1 should 

 take such combs and put them into hives 

 early in the spring, and have the pollen 

 transformed' into live Lees. 



DEAD BEES IN FRONT OF THE HIVES. 

 I have 12 stands of bees now, all in tine condition 

 except < ne. This one is a very power! ul swarm, but 

 1 find from one to two handluls of dead bees on the 

 bottom-board, every three to lour days. They have 

 plenty of food, are in warm quarters, and are pretty 

 lively too, as l found out by opening the hive a little 

 roughly. Now. what is the matter in this hive? 

 The other hives have hardly any dead bees, when 

 compared with this. I have made several chaff, or 

 rather double, hues, and tilled them with corn bran, 

 as 1 could nor gel any chaff. How will corn bran do 

 as a substitute forchaffV It seems to keep the hive 

 very warm. 1 also put corn bran in all upper stories 

 of my single hives. Thus far, it seems to do very 

 well. Please tell me your experience with bran. 



M. KlEllNE. 



Olmsted. 111.. Dec. 17. 1879. 



It maybe that the colony in question has a 

 greater number of old bees than the rest, 

 and it is only those that are dying of old 

 age, or they may be diseased. 1 have never 

 tried bran, but have no doubt but that it 

 will answer fully as well as chaff, and it 

 may do better, it would be more expensive 

 with us. You will have to be very careful 

 that no mice, by any possibility, can get in. 



ALSIKE CLOVER SEED— SOME POINTS IN REGARD TO 

 HARVESTING. 



About raising Alsike clover for seed. 1 would ex- 

 plain a little more in your A BC in i ee Culture, lor 

 it is not handled like red clover. If it should be, 

 there would be no seeds left in it. it is ripe here 

 just before harvesting, and should be cut in the 

 morning, before it gets too dry, and raked Into rows 

 the sa evening. When the dew- commences to 



dry on it the next day, il the weather is lair, it should 

 be drawn together. By handling it in this way you 

 will not only get the most seed, but you will also 

 have good feed after it is hulled. I would juntas 

 soon have it lor m \ sheep as the Inst crop of red 

 clover. Could I exchange Alsike clover seed, with 



you or your neighbors'.' I would like to exchange 

 seed, but hale to buy it. May be some of your 

 neigh I ors would like to change too. i would like to 



have no timotl-.y or any other seeds in it. 



Iv nst S. HlLDEMAN. 



Ashippun, Dodge Co., Wis., Dec. 29, 1879. 



Thanks, friend II.. for your practical hints. 

 As we are buying Alsike all the time from 

 different localities, it would be no objed loi- 

 ns to exchange. Possibly, some of our read- 

 ers may wish to do so. 'The matter of Al- 

 sike in the A B C has already been changed. 

 You probably have au early edition. 





