1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



llo 



earth close to it to keep in the fumes, and Struck 

 the hive with my hands to make the bees fall. I let 

 it stay that way for ten minutes, perhaps, when I 

 lifted off the hive and filled up the hole. Not a sin- 

 gle bee, dead or alive, was left in the hive. Next 

 morning I began to be a little anxious to know if 

 ihe queen had been driven out with myJjees, or if I 

 had smoked her. So I went to the hole and dug out 

 the earth with my hands till I could get hold of both 

 ends of the grass and turn it upside down, when eve- 

 ry dead bee could be clearly seen. "While I was leis- 

 urely examining them I saw a bee move its leg-, and 

 by and by another; then some would stand on their 

 feet, brush their wings and their antennae, and fly 

 away. I did not count them, but thought there were 

 from 30 to 50 which Hew away. There were a num- 

 ber of drones, also, but they were every one dead ; 

 there was no resurrection for them. These bees, 

 after they had been smoked with brimstone, and 

 buried at least 12 hours, lived and flew away to join 

 their companions, I guess, as they were replaced as 

 they were before. Benjamin Franklin speaks of a 

 still stronger case of suspended animation. He tells 

 of tiies coming to life after being drowned, I think 

 in Madeira wine, some years before. It's a long 

 time, may be 40 or 50 years, since I read it, but it 

 may be seen in the life of Franklin. 



TEA-CHEST MATTING FOR COVERING THE FRAMES. 



Did you ever try that kind of bass strips that come 

 around tea-chests from China and Japan, for cover- 

 ing your frames, instead of duck or enameled cloth? 

 1 think it is better than either. I get it from the 

 grocers for the asking. John Dawson. 



Pontiac, Mich., Jan. 28, 1880, 



So your wife objected to the bees being 

 brought into the bouse after they had got in- 

 to the boy's bed and stung him, did she? 

 Well, the boy doubtless had some ideas of 

 his own, in regard to the proper place for 

 bees during the hours of repose, and I pre- 

 sume you did right in keeping them outside, 

 even if yon did err in the brimstoning part of 

 it. The bees that revived were probably on- 

 ly stupefied partially, and the fresh earth so 

 soon absorbed the sulphur fumes, that they 

 were simply imprisoned. I have known 

 bees to be stuck fast to the propolis when the 

 covering to the frames was put down, and to 

 start off lively, '2 or :i days afterward, when 

 released by the hive's being opened again. 

 Whether they had food enough in their hon- 

 ey sacks to support them all this time, or 

 whether the other bees fed them, I am una- 

 ble to say: but they seemed very glad to be 

 set at liberty once "more. Dr. Franklin does 

 make some remarks such as you mention. 

 but it refers to flies, and not bees. Flies are 

 <>f a different order of insects, and may re- 

 main dormant all winter, and then rouse up 

 in a few hours, after being wanned up. 

 Flies drowned so as to be to all appearances 

 dead, if covered with common salt and laid 

 in the sun, revive in a few minutes. Frank- 

 lin seems to have thought the salt had some 

 resuscitating power, but, after experiment- 

 ing in the matter, I conclude that it only ab- 

 sorbs the moisture so as to dry them quick- 

 ly. I could never revive t hem alter they had 

 been under water over about 48 or 72 hours, 

 just about the length of time a chilled bee 

 will be susceptible of being warmed to life, 

 rcnnbutconclude that the Hies which Frank- 



lin took from the wine had been in there on- 

 ly a few days, instead of years. I have nev- 

 er used the matting you mention, but it 

 seems as if it would be too frail to be dura- 

 ble. 



m ■«■ — 



IHPKOVEMENT IN QUEENS. 



THAT RED-CLOVER QUEEN. 



■ f I ST look here, Novice. As you are making 

 some noise about your red -clover queen, I 

 think it will do you good to let you know that 

 there is another that has the odds on her side. In 

 this month's Gleanings, you mention that her 

 workers are rather dark. Now, for facts: I have 

 not ieed t hat many of the best honey gatherers were 

 not those very yellow bees, but were from dark or- 

 ange to a mahogany color, the queens being from 

 leather color to brown, and often black tipped. 

 Now I will tell you of our queen, and what she has 

 done. She was raised in the month of July, 1878, and 

 she is the daughter of a very prolific queen that I 

 bought in '76. In '77, the mother stock gave mo 

 more honey than any two other stocks I knew of. 

 On this account, I took one or two frames of brood 

 from that stock every week, to get queen cells from, 

 and in '78 it stood best also for both honey and bees. 

 In '77, T bought another queen that was a great lay- 

 er, and I liked her so well that I raised queens from 

 queen No. 2, and drones only from queen No. 1, and 

 afterward sold queen No. 2, before the winter of 

 'TV'S. From the young queens of No. 2, I selected 

 the most prolific one, and one whose workers were 

 the best honey* gatherers, and from her I only raised 

 drones, all the drones I had in the whole season of 

 1878. I then raised quite a number of queens from 

 No. ], in 1878, and watched them closely, though I 

 kept only this one, and she was put in a black stock, 

 It miles from here, about the first of Sept., '78. In 

 the winter of '78 and '79 I lost both my queens, — No. 

 1 anil my drone queen. In the spring of '70, the 

 black stock having this queen ran quite low, and 

 was confined to 4 combs that measured 10"' s x 17! c . 

 Between May 2(lth and Aug. 20th, 11 frames of brood 

 were taken from her, and over 70 lb. of box honey. 

 Five combs, that were all capped, were extracted in 

 Aug., to give her breeding room, and 5 more combs 

 full of capped honey were taken in the fall, to help 

 weak Btocks when putting them up for winter. I 

 know that this yield is not extra for Italians, but 

 when we consider the poor season, and that other 

 stocks for miles around did not gather enough for 

 winter stores, and surplus was a thing almost un- 

 known in this vicinity ((jueenlessness and starvation 

 will take from 1 ( to '^, if no feeding is done), I think 

 you are not the only one who can praise up one 

 darkish-eolorcd stock. 



DOUBLE-QUEEN STOCKS. 



On page 12, Jan. No., I see that G. M. P. has a note 

 on two queens in a hive. I have been troubled with 

 two of that sort, and I noticed that they are gener- 

 ally a pale leather color; that the workers are bright 

 color, and very gentle; and that, to introduce a 

 queen to that kind of stock, you need only chuck 

 hex in as carefully afl you throw corn to the chick- 

 ens. I have one of those stocks now in good condi- 

 tion, and I have used bees from it to give queens to. 

 I just brush the bees off the combs on to the bottom 

 board of a new hive, put the combs in, let the queen 

 loose on a comb nnd shut up the hive, and a pint of 

 bees on a frame of hatching brood, with 2 empty 



