1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



2& 



cheapest separators lhat could be made. But it is 

 too tedious to undertake to weave many of them by 

 hand, though it could be done with a little loom for 

 the purpose (which would cost but little) very handi- 

 ly and rapidly. J. B. Turner. 

 Jacksonville, Morgan Co., 111., Jan. !», 1880. 



I agree with you, friend Turner, and since 

 tin lias come up so much, Mr. Gray and I 

 have had some lonsr talks in regard to the 

 matter. At present, a square foot of wire 

 cloth is a little cheaper than a square feet of 

 tin, and I am quite sure it will answer bet- 

 ter, for the reasons you have given • although 

 I am a little inclined to doubt that a mesh i 

 inch would do, for I have seen bees bulge 

 the combs when crowded for room, into a 

 hole not very much, if any. larger than that 

 size. It would certainly be safe to make 

 them s, and perhaps -] may be all right. 

 Who will experiment fully on this? Of 

 course, it will be an advantage to have them 

 large enough to have the bees pass through 

 easily, if we can. Well, as wire cloth cut 

 into strips will ravel badly, we must have it 

 woven of just the right width for separators, 

 as you say, friend T., and the man who gets 

 up a machine to do this cheaply, will find a 

 great demand. Meanwhile, friend T., we 

 will try to remember you for having suggest- 

 ed the idea, and demonstrated that it could 

 be done. As w r e wish to use a very fine wire, 

 and make a very large mesh, we shall have 

 to use wire cloth with hexagonal meshes, 

 like that used for wire fences, etc. If you 

 do not move fast, perhaps I shall do it first. 

 For the Simplicity sections, it will need to 

 be just about '6i in. wide. 



LENGTH OE TONGUES, AND THE RED-CLOVER QUEEN. 



Hurrah for the gift of tongues! The tongues of 

 the bees you sent from the "red-clover" queen are 

 lots (?) longer than ordinary bees' tongues. But, 

 hold on; let me crow a little. I can show bees that 

 will beat that. See specimens I send to-day. They 

 are sisters of those that made you the most honey in 

 1878. To compare the lengths of tongues by the mi- 

 croscope, stretch them out side by side upon a glass 

 coated with mucilage. May be they shrink,— dry up 

 —in shipping; soplease compare these with the red- 

 clover bees' tongues. 



Query.— After all, do they not owe their success 

 more to Vong-windedncas than to long-tonguednessl 



The bees sent are, or were, "boss" workers, and 

 died like martyrs for the cause of— science (?) and 

 bee culture. Oliver Foster. 



Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Jan. 19, 1880. 



I shall have to explain that friend F. sent, 

 about a year ago, to know what I would 

 take for the stock in my apiary that had 

 gathered the most honey in the" preceding 

 summer of 1878. I sold him the colony, and 

 it is its queen that he is sneaking of, and 

 some of her bees that he has compared with 

 some I sent him from our red-nlover queen. 

 I confess, friend F., while I admire and ap- 

 prove of these microscopic tests, it seems to 

 me a safer and shorter cut, to select from 

 queens whose bees gather most honey. We 

 shall then include long-windedness. and ev- 

 ery thing else ; for we shall get exactly what, 

 and almost all that, we desire in honey bees 

 —those that are the best honey gatherers. 



I have five colonies of bees. I bought one weak 

 swarm in the spring, and they gave me three little 

 swarms on three successive days— the 23th, 20th, and 

 27th of June. I bought empty combs for them, and 

 they increased nicely in brood, but gave very little 

 hi nicy. 



A HINT ON KEE-nUNTING. 



I also found, by lining from, my watering-trough, 

 one black and one Italian swarm, about }.% of a mile 

 distant, and about 20 rods apart. The blacks had 

 about 100 lb. of honey and comb; the Italians, which 

 I judged by the comb to be a swarm of this season, 

 had about 00 lb. I saved the bees of the latter, hived 

 them, and fitted their empty comb into the frames, 

 bought a few more combs, and gave them their own 

 honey, what we did not eat ourselves, and some cof- 

 fee A sugar. The weak swarms I fed some of the 

 black-bee honey and coffee sugar. Do you think 

 they will get through this winter? They have plen- 

 ty of honey, but very little bee-bread. 



RADI8HES AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



I sowed a patch of radishes, which were in bloom 

 in the last of October, and the honey-bees and bum- 

 ble-bees were on it in a regular swarm. About ^j 

 carried pollpn. I will sow some for next fall if I 

 live. They bloom about " robbing time." 



BRIMSTONING BEES. 



I see in Gleanings that some bee-men still brim- 

 stone their bees which have not honey enough. I 

 am afraid they will get " brimstoned " if they don't 

 repent. I believe that God has given them only for 

 us to use their surplus, and if I have any minus 

 honey I will unite them to others or feed them. 



H. L. Warstlek. 



St. Johns, Clinton Co., Mich., Jan. 11, 188J. 



I guess you keep a sharp look out, friend 

 W., or you would not have noticed the bees 

 on the watering trough. As bees always 

 hold to a certain place for getting water, af- 

 ter they once get accustomed to it, we can 

 often line wild bees by this means. Aft^r 

 filling up with water they always take a di- 

 rect bee line for home, much more direct 

 than when they have been fed diluted hon- 

 ey, or something they will gorge themselves 

 with. 



What kind of radishes were yours? and 

 when did you sow them? Our first crop 

 from the greenhouse was radishes, and it 

 was such a novelty to see fine radishes in 

 the month of March, that it made quite a 

 stir among the boys and girls. They seem 

 to be remarkably easy to raise; with the 

 stimulus of a little guano, they made such a 

 wonderful growth, it was worth all they cost 

 just to look at t hem. 



BALLING OF THE QUEEN; BOMB KXCEI.LENT SUGGES- 

 TIONS FROM FRIEND MARVIN. 



The balling of queens is sometimes caused by poi- 

 son of the bees, on the queens or bees, on the hive 

 or contents, or even in the air. The remedies are, 

 feed highly scented feed, smoke or change the odor 

 of hives, bees, and queen, anil caging the queen has 

 sometimes to be resorted to. A robber bee in a hive 

 sometimes starts the balling. A scarcity of pas- 

 turage, or lack of stores in the hives (creating idle- 

 ness), or a want of eggs, or of brood in some of the 

 stages of development, causes the balling and re- 

 newal of some queens. Balling is not liable to occur 

 in a Xo. 1 stock. Place all such stocks in good order, 

 and have no weak ones to demoralize the apiary. 



St. Charles, 111., Jan. 0, 1880. J. M. Marvin. 



