1SS0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



167 



%&ad§ c§ §vain, 



From Different Fields. 



STEALING HONEY, AND RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. 



HAVE, at this time, 10 hives of black bees, all 

 doing well except one. Some bad boys, or it may 

 have been men, robbed it on Christmas night 

 and Left it open, and the snow was prett y thick in the 

 hive the next morning. I have forgiven whoever it 

 was, and hope the next time they want honey they 

 will ask for it, and they shall have some if I have 

 any. Lej«ter B. Carrington. 



Mt. Joy, Delta Co., Texas, Feb. 24, 1880. 



May God bless you, friend C. I wonder if 

 it is not possible that some one whose eye is 

 resting on these pages may not bave robbed 

 a bee hive some time in their lives. I know 

 of one wbo is guilty, and the few hives of 

 bees that the honey was stolen from belong- 

 to a good, kind minister, too. The poor man 

 has gone to his last home now, but perhaps 

 I can hnd some of his relatives, and make a 

 little atonement for my wrong. It would be 

 a joy now to be able to pay back for that 

 honey, with compound interest. I did not 

 think then what 1 was doing, even though I 

 did know it was wicked. 



FLOUR FEEDING IN THE SPRING. 



I have 50 colonies of bees in splendid condition. I 

 have fed them in the open air not less than 1001b. of 

 rye flour, so you see my bees are raising brood right 

 along, while bees that are left to take care of them- 

 selves are rearing very little or none at all. Some 

 bee men seem to think it will not pay; but just let 

 them try it. You want to start your bees 6 weeks 

 on meal, before the first bloom comes. 



J. C. Pommert. 



Greenfield, Highland Co., O., Feb. 26, 1880. 



It seems a little singular that there should 

 be such conflicting reports and opinions in 

 regard to meal feeding, and, in fact, in re- 

 gard to any kind of feeding in the spring be- 

 fore natural stores. L. C. Root not only ad- 

 vises keeping the bees in the cellar until 

 natural stores are to be had, but, if I am 

 correct, disapproves of all flour feeding, can- 

 dy feeding, and every thing of the kind. 

 While I have seen stocks built up to the 

 swarming pitch, by judicious feeding before 

 natural stores came, I have also seen others 

 that seemed to have sustained injury, by 

 having been induced by spring feeding to 

 start brood too early. A difference in seas- 

 ons may have much to do with it. 



FLOUR IN LIQUID FOOD, AND HOW TnE BEES PRE- 

 VENT LIQUlfaS FROM SOURING. 



I took cold syrup, and stirred in flour to make a 

 thick batter, and gave it to my bees. Some of them 

 became entangled in the dough. They seem to take 

 hold of it slowly. The questions I wish to ask aro, 

 will it sour? and is it a good way to feed? 



Anderson, Ind., Feb. 27, 1880. A. J. Davis. 



It will sour, but you can prevent this by 

 mixing only as much at one time as they 

 will take up inside of -lA hours. After the 

 bees once get a substance into their combs, 



they will take care of the souring, unless 

 they have such a quantity that they can not 

 cover and care for it. The way in which 

 they do this, if I am correct, is not fully un- 

 derstood. They will take maple sap, cider, 

 thin honey, and other such diluted sweets, 

 and, even during warm weather when if out- 

 side the hive it would sour in a very short 

 time, they will spread it out in the cells, and 

 by some process of ventilation, or working 

 it over, will ripen it into thick syrup pure 

 and sweet ; more than that, they will take 

 syrup slightly soured, and, if the bees are 

 strong enough, and the quantity given them 

 at once not too great, they will make it pure 

 and sweet. It is because of the danger of 

 souring, that I have recommended the flour 

 to be put in candy, rather than in syrup. 

 In the candy, it may remain a year, for 

 aught I know, without injury. 



CHICKEN CORN FOR BEES. 



Now I wish to know if anybody fouud that chick- 

 en corn, mentioned in April No. cf last year, to be 

 good bee-feed. It was not good bee-feed here. I 

 never saw a honey bee on it, and bat very few other 

 insects. I sent to Mr. Battle for seed, fearing you 

 would be out. I have a half bushel of seed, but if 

 it is only good in Tennessee it is of not much use to 

 plant it. There is no sweet in the stalk. I cooked 

 some seed and found it edible. It was very dry here 

 last summer, so that the buckwheat and Spanish 

 needles yielded very little honey. I saw a tew bees 

 on artichoke bloom. Is it good for bees generally? 



Nashville, Mo., Feb. 24, '80. David Sensney. 



Are you not a little rough on your friends, 

 friend 8. V Friend Battle certainly would 

 not take the trouble to send the seeds to me 

 free of charge, if it had not proved a good 

 honey plant with himself. We planted the 

 chicken corn, but it was rather late, and we 

 did not notice any bees on it. Almost all 

 plants fail at times to secrete honey. Such 

 is the case every little while even with white 

 clover and basswood, the best honey plants 

 known. I have seen bees on artichokes to 

 some extent, and, as they are a near relative 

 of the sun-flower, it is rather to be expected. 



EARLY SWEET OR SUGAR CORN FOR BEES. 



While on the subject of chicken corn, I am 

 reminded that one of our neighbors who 

 keeps bees raised early corn for market one 

 year, and he says he saw more bees on his 

 early sugar corn than on almost any other 

 plant he has ever raised. We have as good 

 authority as our friend Gallup for saying 

 that they get honey from the corn, as well as 

 pollen; and, from the testimony of others 

 and my own observation, I am inclined to 

 think the early sugar corn will be a very 

 good investment for the bee keeper. If it is 

 a poor honey season, you will have the 

 roasting ears to sell, any way; and, later in 

 the season, a good patch maybe sowed for 

 fodder; this yields pollen in great quanti- 

 ties, and I have good reason to consider it of 

 more value to the bees, than the pollen from 

 ordinary field corn. Friend Hasty, can not 

 you raise us a variety of corn that will yield 

 large quantities of honey from the tassels? 

 Who will furnish us early sugar corn, cheap, 

 by the quart, peck, or bushel? 



