18S0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



US 



above statement corroborates it. I should 

 think corn silk would do very well, but 

 where are we to get enough of it? 



BEES TO LOOK AT, OR BEES FOR HONEY. 



I am anew beginner, but have had bees the last 4 

 years. A year ago last season, I had only 5 stands of 

 bees, but got more honey than my little family could 

 use during the next year to come. That gave me 

 the beginning of the bee fever. I thought I was 

 netting a bis- surplus from my 5 colonies, although 

 it was but a little over 100 lb., until I heard of others 

 getting such great yields that it laid me clear back 

 in the shade, where the sun won't strike me for a 

 week. I now have 13 colonies, 3 Italians, the rest 

 blacks and hybrids. I received twoqueens last year, 

 June 3d, and introduced them safely. I gave one to 

 a colony deprived of its native queen, the other to 

 an artificial swarm. The first one mentioned led off 

 a swarm about the 20 th of June, which was some- 

 what under size. They issued from a hive of 8 frames, 

 and I put them in the same sized hive, and, to make 

 them sure, I gave them a frame of brood from the 

 parent hive. They stored honey in that little hive 

 until it was surprising to me and every person that 

 hefted it; it was quite a little load to lift with the 

 cap off. The hive still remains heavy. It was the 

 heaviest I had last fall, out of 13 hives, most of 

 which were larger. The bees of thi3 queen are of a 

 dark color, showing but two bands, and very cross 

 also; while the other produces bees of a brighter 

 color, showing 3 bands plainly, and more docile. 

 Now, which queen would I better breed from? Let 

 me have your opinion. Last season was poor here 

 for surplus honey. Bees made enough to winter on 

 very nicely, by exchanging frames between the 

 heavy and light stocks. E. Salisbury. 



Ossian, Wells Co., Ind., March 3, 1880. 



Friend S., if you want honey, and do not 

 intend to sell queens, I should be reckless 

 enough to advise you to raise your queens 

 from the hybrid queen, rather than from the 

 other; but I should endeavor to get, if pos- 

 sible, a purely mated queen as good as the 

 hybrid. Are you sure your best queen is a 

 hybrid? These dark colored Italians are 

 often pronounced hybrids, but our test giv- 

 en in the ABC will enable even the veriest 

 novice to decide easily, and that without 

 very much trouble. Much has been said 

 about testing the length of the tongues of 

 the bees by me microscope. I have no ob- 

 jection to this, but it seems to me we take a 

 shorter cut by going right into the apiary, 

 and selecting a queen from the colony that 

 gives the most honey at a season when hon- 

 ey is scarce. 



QUEEN CELLS FROM NATURAL SWARMING. 



In the Jan. No. of Gleanings, page 12, friend 

 Doollttle tells us how he gets early, natural queens. 

 When I wish to obtain a large number of such queens 

 from a selected colony, I practice, in addition to 

 what he there directs, the following: When the 

 swarm issues, put it into a hive filled with brood 

 taken from other stocks. To lesson the probability 

 of the bees starting a lot of queens from this brood, 

 for the first week give them plenty of room to store 

 surplus honey. At the end of that time, remove the 

 surplus honey room, and confine the bees to the 

 brood department, and, in a few days; they will 



probably issue again leaving a second lot of natural 

 queen cells. The process can be repeated as long- as 

 the bees continue to collect honey from natural 

 sources, or can be induced to swarm by feeding 

 them. 



early drones. 



My first Italian queen was received and introduc- 

 ed in the spring of 1866. As I wished to raise a large 

 brood of drones at once, 1 took all comb from the 

 colony with the Italian queen, at the time she was 

 introduced, and put in its place, in one side of the 

 hive, four frames filled exclusively with drone comb 

 and also a division board. Bees were then at work 

 on fruit blossoms; and, in the course of two weeks, 

 I had all the drone brood I wanted, and I filled the 

 rest of the hive with worker comb. I have not re- 

 peated the experiment, but know of no reason why 

 one can not, in the same way, get all the drones he 

 wants, whenever he wants them, by feeding some 

 substitute for honey and pollen, if the bees are not 

 collecting it. J. H. Townley. 



Tompkins, Jackson Co., Mich., Feb., 1880. 



WINTER RAPE AND 7 TOP TURNIP. 



I understand that there is a winter variety of rape 

 seed. I should like to know where it can be found. 



John Baker. 

 New Hudson, Alleghany Co., N. Y\, Mar. 1, 18S0. 



Who can tell us about the winter rape? I 

 sowed some last fall, hoping it would winter 

 over like the seven-top turnip, but it did 

 not, even during this mild winter. A win- 

 ter rape would be a great desideratum. By 

 the way, is it not possible that seven-top 

 turnip is winter rape? the seeds are so 

 much alike I can not tell them apart, and if 

 the turnip seed only yields oil like the rape, 

 I suppose that is all we want. It is very 

 easily raised, and scarcely interferes at ail 

 with raising another crop on the ground. 

 The seven-top turnip sowed in Oct., failed 

 to winter over ; it must be sowed early 

 enough to make a good top and foliage, to 

 withstand the frost 



PURE FERTILIZATION; WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? 



Will you please tell me whether a queen ever goes 

 outside of the apiary to mate or not? that is, the 

 apiary in which she is kept. I am a beginner, and 

 want to Italianize my bees, and want to know wheth- 

 er I can keep the young queen from mating with 

 black drones or not. Sam. H. Stokeu. 



Buford, Highland Co., O., Mar. :.', 1880. 



As a rule, queens will lie fertilized by 

 drones of some other apiary. This seems to 

 be a law of nature, to keep up the vitality of 

 the race. If you are keeping bees for honey, 

 you will get all the benefit of the Italians, 

 by allowing them to do so. For the first 

 fevvseasons.it there are no other Italians 

 near you, you will raise mostly hybrids, but 

 as the neighboring bees (those in the forests 

 too) will, by the same rule, become Italian- 

 ized more and more every year, you will 

 soon have stock of your own raising nearly 

 if not quite pure. There seems to be much 

 misapprehension in the matter. I heard of 

 one man who kept his black bees on the oth- 

 er side of the orchard, that he might raise 

 pure queens for sale. I am by no means 

 sure that we want bees absolutely pure, to 

 get the best results in honey. 



