170 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



DRONES FLYING IN FEBRUARY. 



It would be perfectly splendid to keep bees, if our 

 winters were always as warm as this. To-day, the 

 17tb, as I was watching my bees carrying flour to 

 their hives, a drone came flying by. I soon found 

 that they were flying from a strong colony of Ital- 

 ians that were in a simplified L. hive, with 4 in. of 

 chaff all around them, achaff cushion in upper story, 

 and hive reduced to 7 frames with chaff division 

 boards, a \a Root. 



Fearing they might have a drone-laying queen, I 

 overhauled them at once; but they were all right. 

 There was as much worker brood as one could ex- 

 pect at this time of year, and more. I think this 

 will enable me to raise some early queens. Who in 

 Michigan can beat this report'/ M. D. York. 



Millington, Mich., Feb. 17, 1880. 



ROW MUCH DOES IT TAKE TO WINTER BEES? 



We weighed our bees, Oct. 13th. Feb. 13th they 

 had a gor d fly, and Feb. 14th we weighed 34 swarms, 

 and lind they have consumed on an average W% lbs. 

 each in 4 months. How does this agree with other 

 records? H. Knupp & Bro. 



Warren, Pa., Feb. 17, 1880. 



The 5i lbs. kept them 4 months, it is true, 

 but the winter has been mild. During the 

 months of March and April, I believe they 

 usually consume in brood rearing more than 

 in two of the winter months. Will you 

 please report again, about May 1st, friend K. ? 



QUEENLESS STOCKS THAT WON'T START CELLS. 



I have a queenless colony of bees, to which I have 

 given a frame of brood, but they will not raise a 

 queen. You will oblige me very much, if you will 

 send me some instructions, as I am a beginner and 

 need all the help I can get. W. T. Hearn. 



Montezuma, Tenn., Feb. 15, 1880. 



The bees are probably old, and very likely 

 discouraged, and you will therefore have to 

 reinforce them with a few young folks, to 

 give vim and energy to the household. Give 

 them some more brood, and keep giving it 

 to them until they do start queen cells. Af- 

 ter the young bees hatch out, you will have 

 no trouble. It sometimes requires consider- 

 able brood to make the colony of any value, 

 and therefore it may be cheaper in the end, 

 to unite them at once with some stock that 

 needs more bees, for it injures almost any 

 colony to take away their brood at this seas- 

 on of the year. 



PATENT-RIGHT BEE HIVES. 



We have a family of six children, and all are small 

 but one. and I have my father to take care of; he is 

 in his 82d year; so you see I have about all I can do 

 to live without being able to get a home. I squan- 

 dered some of my property for patent rights, and 

 they never did me any good. When I wanted to sell, 

 I had to tell the truth, and they would not sell on 

 the truth. A. J. Hoover. 



Huntsville, Penn., Feb. 24, 1880. 



I think that is the universal verdict in re- 

 gard to patent hives, friend II; they will 

 not sell on the truth. The worst feature 

 about it is, that the loss almost always falls 

 on honest, hard-working people, like your- 

 self, while the unscrupulous slip out of it, 

 by some dishonest means. 



QUILLS FOR BRUSHING BEES OFF THE FRAMES. 



I send you a sample of quills by to-day's mail. Use 

 them for brushing the bees off their combs. I think 

 you will like them. I have a few to spare at one 

 cent a piece or $1.00 per hundred. 



G. J. Flansburgh. 



Bethlehem Center, N. Y., Feb. 18, 1K80. 



They are very good, friend F., and I think 

 will be gladly appropriated by many. Any 

 kind of soft feathers, such as a feather dust- 

 er enrages bees so much, that 1 have been 

 rather averse to them; but the quills you 

 send are firm and stiff, and free from down, 

 and, since you suggest it, I remember that 

 our neighbor Shaw uses just such ones. I 

 have, as you know, advised asparagus tops, 

 but they get sticky with honey, and willed 

 in the sun, besides getting little fibres in the 

 hives, and possibly in the honey. The quills 

 you send might be washed and dried in the 

 sun, when daubed with honey. If enough 

 good ones can be furnished. I think they 

 will be perhaps the best thing we can use to 

 brush the bees off while extracting. They 

 can be safely sent by mail, when ordered in 

 half dozen or dozen lots. I presume they 

 are the stout quills from a turkey gobbler. 

 If anybody can furnish them to me, say for 

 about $5.00 per thousand, 1 will sell them 

 for 10c per doz. If wanted by mail, 15c per 

 doz. Or, if friend F., who started them, pre- 

 fers to supply them, I will most cheerfully 

 allow all the business of supplying to remain 

 in his hands. 



GRAPE SUGAR, THE SAGETOWN (ILL.) NOT "POISON'* 

 AFTER ALL. 



I have never fed any grape sugar to bees till Christ- 

 mas day, when I thought I would treat 7 or 8 weak 

 stocks that I knew were nearly out of stores. I had 

 made the candy according to your directions, using 

 the grape sugar made at Sagetown, a sample of 

 which our friend W. H. McQuiston sent you. When 

 Jan. Gleanings came to hand, and I read your 

 warning, "It would kill anything that ate it," I went 

 down cellar and tapped on the hives, and they an- 

 swered. I had given them enough to last them as I 

 thought to the middle of January. Well, I was taken 

 sick and could not attend to them till last week, 

 when, on examination, I found them all alive but 

 one; it had starved. The others still had a little left. 

 I gave them another dose, and have not bothered 

 them any since. I think the bitter taste is the same 

 as that in Epsom salts, and comes from the sulphur- 

 ous acid used. It is about as fine as any I ever saw 

 from Davenport, except one sample. I saw a sam- 

 ple of that you shipped Mc Quiston, which is much 

 sweeter and is beautiful in color. 



SORGHUM MILLS AND BEES. 



A sorghum factory within M, niile of my apiary 

 killed thousands of bees for me. As soon as they 

 flew into the hot steam, it killed them. 



T. G. Mc Qaw. 



Monmouth, Warren Co., TIL, Feb. 24, 1880. 



I am very glad indeed to hear that the 

 sugar is not positively poisonous; the man- 

 ufacturers can doubtless, without much 

 trouble, remove the objectionable feature 

 you mention. The sample I sent your neigh- 

 bor was the best quality made by the Buffa- 

 lo Co. If the hot steam from the sugar mill 

 kills the bees, it may be a hard matter to ob- 

 viate it. I presume the bees would only go 



