1SS0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



131 



SIMPSON" AND SPIDER PLANTS. 



As I am a grower of hot-bed plants, and have been 

 for years, I can furnish you with all the spider 

 plants, or any other variety of hot«bed plants, you 

 or any body else may need, at prices you have 

 named in Gleanings, or even lower; and will take 

 fdn. and other apiarian supplies. 



J. K. Greenough. 



Mechanicsburg, Champ. Co., O., Feb. 11, 1880. 



ITALIANIZING; CUTTING OUT DRONE BROOD, ETC. 



We have 13 swarms of black bees. Can I not buy 

 a tested queen, and Italianize by cutting- out all 

 drone comb from the other hives and thus avoid hy- 

 brids? Mrs. Jennie Howard. 



Lawsville Center, Susq. Co., Pa., Feb. 3, 1880. 



[Cutting- out, all drone comb will do something 

 toward preventing hybrids, if followed up faithful- 

 ly; and. in time, you can Italianize all your stocks, 

 no matter how many black bees there are belonging 

 to neighbors around you, or in the woods, where 

 cutting out the drone comb would be an impos- 

 sibility.] 



THE SHOUT L. FRAME COMPARED WITH THE GALLUP 

 AND THE AMERICAN FRAME. 



Are the frames made to fit the Simplicity hive 

 crosswise as good, summer and winter, as the Gallup 

 or American frame? D. B. 



Sandy Hill, N. Y., Feb. 2, 1880. 



[I should consider them better than either, be- 

 cause they are shallower. The frames you mention 

 are neither of them suitable for a two-story hive.] 



"LOOKS" NOT ALWAYS A SAFE CRITERION. 



Friend Root:— Last spring. I ordered of you one 

 imported queen, and received her in due time, with 

 a 2 frame nucleus. She was very small, of a dark 

 color, and did not look very promising; but I can 

 only say of her bees, they are as fine as I have ever 

 seen, being very light in color, and good workers. 

 Anyone wishing an Italian can not be better served, 

 than I have been by you. Six dol'ars is a big price 

 for one little bug, but I believe brother Root sends 

 no humbugs. 



A CHEAP BEE FEEOER ; MY PLAN. 



Take a piece of ash or maple, and, with a 1 .i inch 

 bit, bore a number of hol^s about ?.£ in. deep, being 

 careful not to bore them through th<^ piece, which 

 sh >ul1 be 1 in. thick, and 1 ft. long, for outside feed- 

 ing-. If inside feeding is required, take a common 

 frame and put a piece in the frame near the top, 

 and bore a hole through the top; or, what is better, 

 cut away the top of the frame, so you can lift up 

 the cover and fill the feeder from the top. This 

 makes a good and cheap fepder, and comes nearest 

 to natural comb, of any thing I can conceive. 



J. H. HERMANCE. 



Columbus, O., Feb. lfi, 1880. 



ITbanks. Your feeder is virtually the Simplicity, 

 but, for us, it would he a great deal more work. 

 The idea of cutting away the central part of the top 

 bar, letting the feeder take its place, is quite inge- 

 nious, and may be adopted.] 



HOW TO DECOY RUNAWAY SWARMS. 



I have not seen anything in Gle w i ncs yet, that 

 comes up to my experience in regard lo saving hees 

 from running olT when they swarm. F had a black 

 queen that I kept 7 days. She answered the swarm- 

 ing of 6 colonies. I toik her OUl and introduced a 

 tested queen. I put the black lady in the cage, and 

 fare hor some honey. At 9 o'clock Id the morning, 



I discovered that one of the stands was going to 

 swarm, and I fastened the cage in the fork of a 

 bush. The bees were soon clustered about her. 

 Two swarms were saved In the same way the next 

 day; and soon I thus saved all my bees. My neigh- 

 bors lost lots of their bees. J. B. Salyer. 

 Connersville, Fayette Co., Ind., Feb. 13, 1880. 



OATS FOR BEES. 



"Good morning, Mr. H." 



"Good morning." 



"How are your bees getting along? are they all 

 dead?" 



"No; but I don't believe they have much honey. 

 Mr. G. was here the other day. and I asked him to 

 come out and look at my bees. He turned down the 

 hives (box hives), and looked at them, and said they 

 had no honey; but, if I would put some oats under 

 the hives where the bees could come down and eat 

 them, they would live on them, and come out in the 

 spring all right." 



Now, friend Root, I will not give you any more of 

 the conversation, for I have given you enough, 1 

 think, to convince you that bees, as well as horses, 

 can winter on oats. All I hate about it is that I did 

 not know it last fall, and save that sugar and candy. 



West Union, Mo., Feb. 8, '80. O. A. Hoag. 



[Neighbor G. was right, at least in part; but. to 

 feed bees oats, your neighbor needs to be told that 

 they must be ground finely, and fed outdoors in the 

 sun. They might thus help a little honey to go a 

 great ways, but I do not think they would entirely 

 take the place of honey, unless they were first taken 

 to the yrape sugar factories, and the starch convert- 

 ed into sugar, as they do with Indian corn.] 



GRAPE SUGAR CANDY THAT WON'T HARDEN. 



I wrote you a postal the other day, about our 

 grape candy. It is all right now. After standing 48 

 hours, it became hard. John A. Wells. 



Valparaiso, Ind., Feb 11, 1880. 



BINGHAM'S SMOKERS. 



I have used one of Bingham's large smokers the 

 last two years, and like it very well. Half rotten 

 wood burns out too fa^t. but I have not been able to 

 keep it going with hard wood alone; Use some cloth 

 with it. C. R. Carlin. 



Shreveport, La., Feb. 9, 1880. 



THE NEW ALL-IN-ONE-PIECE SECTION. 



Samples of fdn. and sections received. This is the 

 handsomest section I ever saw. Your mode of put- 

 ting them together is perfect. I did not glue this 

 one, as I wanted it to show; but I think when it is 

 glued it will b" like a solid piece of wood. 



Greene, N, Y., Feb. 11, 1880. L. E. St. John. 



AGE OF DKONES. 



On page 31, friend Butler d >es not think my theory 

 a "true one," and gives a reason, but not evidence 

 which admits of no doubts. How " certain " are you, 

 friend B., that none of those drones were reared 

 after the 20th of Oct.? Did you examine thoroughly 

 and often? If not, how can you be "certain" that a 

 succession was not kept up all the while, from a few 

 scattering drone cells? Such has been my experi- 

 ence without an exception; but I do not accept this 

 as "conclusive," because tho experience of other 

 close observers may bo different. Although I am 

 aware that drone cells on very old dark combs may 

 escape the eyes of the closest observer, I am still 

 willing to concede this much. G. W. Demahkb. 



Christiansburg, Ky, Feb. 18, 19H0. 



