154 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



are very interesting 1 . For mv part, T should like to 

 seethe sorghum department installed in Gleanings. 

 Leading: growers and manufacturers would furnish 

 Interesting- matter on the production of the cane, 

 and the manufacture of syrup. 1 think that the 

 manufacture of cane syrup and the keeping- of bees 

 work well tog-ether, for the main part of your work 

 wiih the bees is over when cane is ready to work. 

 In regard to the bees interfering- with cane work- 

 i-ig, I would state that my apiary and evaporator are 

 not more than twelve rods apart, and the hees do not 

 come around when there is any honey in the fields 

 for them to gather. It is necessary to have your 

 evaporator in a building-, for you cannot make good 

 syrup when the wind blows on the pan. The win- 

 dows, ventilators, etc., may have screens, which will 

 keep bees away from the pan. Juice-tanks and fil- 

 ters may also tie covered without much trouble. I 

 have noticed that the bees worked freely on the ba- 

 gasse, and t do not think that they get anything 

 around a mill that is hurtful to them. My experi- 

 ence with sorghum for bee-feed has been favorable. 

 J cousider a good article as goo 1 for bees as coffee- 

 sugar syrup. "Where there is free acid in the syrup, 

 it should be neutralized with soda: the bees will thou 

 take it more readily. We are going to make sugar 

 from the amber cane in sufficient quantity to supply 

 home demand, before many years. Any questions 

 pertaining to mills, pans, culture, or manufacture, 

 will receive prompt attention where stamp is en- 

 closed. W. P. Clement. 

 Monticello, Wis., March 15. , 18S0. 



the ABC class against locating the apiary 

 next to, or anywhere in the immediate vicin- 

 ity of, the hog-pen.* 



» .» » 



QUEENS BY MAIL,. 



FEEDING SORGHUM TO BEES. SEE P. 105, MARCH NO. 



The 200 gal. of sorghum fed in 1864 was of very in- 

 ferior quality, unsalable in the market. We bad no 

 white clover here at that time, and June was nur 

 starvation month. I had several starved colonies 

 with dried, stinking larvae in cells. I commenced 

 feeding warm sorghum water, in long shallow 

 troughs, with corn-cob floaters for the bees to "sit 

 on." Honey water had been thrown over corn cobs, 

 to attract the bees. Having selected a stock out of 

 stores and semi-dead, I poured warm honey water 

 over the mass and kept them as an index to the api- 

 ary. Brood soon appeared, and I fed just enoua-h, 

 in the open air, to have sorg-hum water in this hive 

 about all the time. I had that season 250 clonies in 

 my apiary, and fed daily about 15 gal. diluted sor- 

 ghum in .lune, or up to honey season. We fed 2 

 barrels of Davenport grape sug-ar in 1878, and, while 

 we are not ahle to give a qualitative analysis of the 

 two articles in question, we feel certain that sor- 

 ghum is as good as grape sugar. We have been 

 feeding sorghum on the wing for several years. We 

 would not feed it in the fall; better feed it in the 

 spring, and you may not need it in the fall. We do 

 not think our bees expelled any of the water on the 

 tiling between troughs and hive; everything kept dry. 

 When fed very thin, it was thin in the hive. 



Jesse Oren. 



P. P.— We plant 7 acres early amber this season. 



La Porte City, Iowa, March 11, 1880. 



LOCATING (?) AN APIARY. 



¥OU see, Mr. Merrybanks' neighbor 

 thought he would keep bees too ; and, 

 in spite of Mr. M.'s remonstrances, he 

 would set them up on a bench leaned against 

 the hog-pen. 



MR. MERRYBANKS' NEIGHBOR. 



The tragic end of his neighbor's apiary 

 may, we hope, prove a solemn warning to all 



M GREAT variety of cages have been 

 7o\ sent in for our inspection, and we have 

 ' made some experiments in sending 

 queens, during the month of March, but so 

 many of them have been failures, that I have 

 little faith in being able to send queens long 

 distances by mail, unless we can have our 

 vial of water in the cage, as well as the can- 

 dy. During warmer weather, say in May 

 and June, freshly prepared, soft candy will 

 probably do for short distances. Below we 

 give you one of the cages Prof. Cook took 

 with him to Washington. 



HARRIS' MAILING QUEEN CAGE. 



The cage is very pretty, very neat and con- 

 venient, but from the experience we have 

 had in mailing, I should say it would be 

 smashed and punched all to pieces, every 

 now and then. It seems almost impossible 

 to realize the amount of strength that is 

 needed to stand all that goods by mail may 

 be subject to. Friend Nellis proposes to use 

 the bottle of water, but Prof. Cook thinks it 

 will only result in our being excluded again. 

 At present I have nothing further to offer 

 than what I gave last month, and am await- 

 ing developments. 



The cover to this cage (there are two) is to 

 be used for caging the queen on the comb. 

 Friend H. writes in regard to it : 



In Gleanings for March, p. 132, you say your ex- 

 perience with a cage to be attached to the comb has 

 not been satisfactory. I think if you settle these 

 cages Id to the center of the comb, you will have no 

 trouble. I have used them for a year past, and have 

 been uniformly successful. I claim to be one of your 

 ABC scholars. J. L. Harris. 



Wheeler, Ind., March 10, 1880. 



CIRCULARS AM) PRICE LISTS OF BEE 



KEEPER'S SUPPLIES RECEIVED 



DURING THE PAST MONTH. 



THE FOLLOWING ARE ON A POSTAL CARD- 



Jas. A. Nelson, P. O. Box 83, Wyandott, Kansas. 



SINGLE-LEAF CIRCULAHS. 



C. E. Wright & Co., Beaver Dam, Wis. 



TWO-LEAF CIRCULARS. 



S. Valentine, Double Pipe ('reek, Carroll Co., Md. ; 

 H. PL Brown, T-ie-ht Street, Columbia Co., Penn.;. 

 Chas. Dadant & Son, Hamilton, Hancock Co., 111.; J. 

 Beam Wingerd, Jackson Hall, Franklin Co., Penn. 



FOUR-LEAF CIRCULARS. 



Chas. Olm, Fond du Lac, Wis.; E. W. Hale, Wirt C. 

 H., W. Va. 



CIRCULARS OF 12 TO 40 PAGES. 



L. C. Root and Brother, Mohawk, Herkimer Co., N. 

 V.; Chas. Muth. 976. Central Avenue. Cincinnati, O.; 

 Lewis & Parks, Watertown, Wis. ; D. S. Guin, Hoopes- 

 town, 111.; Dr. J. P. H. Brown, Augusta, Ga. 



* Our artist has been sick this month, and could 

 not make his accustomed number of pictures. As 

 he worked very hard and a great while on the " hog- 

 pen tragedv," we hope you will look at it often^ a,p,<i 

 ponder well the moral. 



