iio 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 



LEAKY COVERS. 



fHERE is a passage that reads "As you would 

 have others do to you, do ye even so to them." 

 Well, the bees and I have lived ou one farm 

 for over 50 years, and 1 have noted down some things 

 in my experience. 



In looking through my apiary last August, I found 

 I had 50 stocks in good condition; and, as I had had 

 a little trouble the previous winter with leaky cov- 

 ers, I put a new half-story on all of them, and fixed 

 them up nicely with 7 inches of chaff over the 

 frames, and left them on their summer stands. I 

 examined them to-day, the 8th of Feb., and found all 

 in good condition; but more than one-half of the 

 covers had leaked more or less, and wet the chaff 

 packing, so I had to renew nearly all the chaff, of 

 which I happened to have plenty. 



I began to think before I got through that the 

 rain would run right through a solid inch board; 

 but you know it takes but a few drops of rain with 

 the moisture from the breath of the bees to wet the 

 chaff packing. I had one hive that I bought of Bro. 

 Shane, of Chatham, last summer, that had a tin roof 

 well put on. When I came to examine it, it was as 

 nice and dry and sweet as the day I put the chaff on; 

 and, when I uncovered the bees, they looked so 

 pleasant and said, or seemed to say, " Hurrah for 

 tinl" 



Well, I have made up my mind this minute that I 



shall not try to winter another colony with w len 



covers; it is pure '•penny-wise and pound-foolish." 

 Tin costs a little more, but " a job well done is twice 

 done." 



Just think how you would feel some wet night 

 with the rain running in, and saturating your bed 

 clothing. Can you imagine how uncomfortable you 

 would feel? Then think of a zero freeze setting in, 

 and no Are in the house. Well, that would make a 

 heathen rage. Now a man feels better and is better 

 and sleeps better, when he knows all the creatures 

 that God has committed to his care are comfortably 

 housed anil well cared for. J. Elliott. 



Easton, Wayne Co., O., Jan. 8, 1880. 



Very good, friend E. I do not know but 

 that I, too, am ready to say that I do not 

 want any more wood covers for wintering 

 bees. The Simplicity and the story and a 

 half covers do well enough in the summer 

 time, and, as we now winter bees only in the 

 chaff hives, we are about on the same ground 

 with yourself. 



CALIFORNIA SAGE. 



fl HE sage seeds are hard to get, because we have 

 so many birds that, unless they are gathered 

 as soon as matured, they are all destroyed. 

 You mention three kinds; though there arc three 

 kinds near me, and perhaps five, yet there are only 

 two of any practical importance, — one the white, 

 well known everywhere, and the other, by some 

 called black, by some blue. The latter is confined to 

 certain favored localities, and is also called by some 

 " button sage." If you will agree to take quite a lot 

 of the seed, I will make arrangements to gather it, 

 provided the price given is enough. You must re- 

 member labor is dear here. Let me know what you 

 could afford to give, and in what quantity you would 

 probably wish it. 



HOARHOUNn AS A HONEY PLANT. 



The hoarhound seems to me to be a better plant 

 to propagate here than either of the sages. It flour- 

 ishes in as dry places as they do, and blooms nearly 

 all summer. Last summer when the bees would 

 work on nothing else, you could always see them on 

 the hoarhound. The quality of honey is yet in dis- 

 pute, but there is but little doubt of its being a fine 

 grade, though some say not. What we have was 

 first planted by the old Mission Fathers (Padres), 

 and it has since spread over a wide area, and flour- 

 ishes everj'where I've seen ir, except in the brush; 

 that is, it don't seem to hold its own except in open 

 ground. Last summer you know was a very dry one 

 here, yet the most flourishing plant I saw was in an 

 old roadway, as unpromising a place as could well 

 be, dry, and on the side of the hill. I see that bota- 

 nists put it down as a "desert plant." Quinby 

 speaks highly of it. Rcfcs Morgan. 



Glen Oak Apiary, Bernardo, Cal., Jan. 29, '80. 



We have hoarhound on our grounds, raised 

 from the seed. It blossoms nicely the first 

 year, and seems very hardy and easy of cul- 

 tivation. If it answers as well as the Cali- 

 fornia sage, it will certainly be much easier 

 of cultivation, in our climate. Can any one 

 tell its if it has any commercial value for its 

 medicinal properties V We wish to make all 

 these things count as far as possible. 

 Thanks for your report, friend M. i cannot 

 say what the market price of sage seed will 

 be another season, but it is certainly high 

 enough now. 



SOMETHING FROM OUR GOOD FRIEND, 

 M IS. L.ANGSTROTH, ONCE MORE. 



PEA FLOCR FOR POLLEN. 



R. LANGSTROTH handed me a London Jour- 

 nal of Horticulture, containing an article on 

 the treatment of condemned bees, as they 

 j term it (bees that are too weak to winter), and re- 

 quested me to give you a condensed sketch of it, as 

 his health will scarcely permit him to write, but he 

 thinks it worth giving to your readers to experiment 

 upon. 



The writer says that he commenced feeding a hive 

 with syrup, ou Sept. 19th, and kept it up for 9 days, 

 at the rate of over 3 ft. per day, in which time, they 

 more than half filled the hive with beautiful white 

 comb, yet the queen laid but few eggs. Acting upon 

 the theory that pollen is absolutely essential to brood 

 rearing, and knowing that it was at that time very 

 scarce in that vicinity, ho mixed some pea-flour 

 (perhaps other flour would answer) with syrup, and 

 added a small quantity of salicylic acid (which I 

 would leave out), and, removing a comb, applied it 

 with a flat knife in the form of paste, just as some 

 people spread butter to fill up all the holes in the 

 bread. He returned the comb to its place in the 

 hive, and, on examining it two hours after, found 

 that the Vices had sucked out the excess of syrup, 

 and packed the pea-flour down nicely in the cells, as 

 they would pollen gathered in the natural way. By 

 the next day, the greater part of it was consumed, 

 and, by repeating the doses, breeding quickly com- 

 menced and progressed rapidly. D. A. McCORD. 

 Oxford, Ohio, Feb., 1880. 



Who can furnish us pea flour? 



