1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1L'7 



field of blue thistle, and he will be convinced of its 

 untold value as a honey plant. We have no other 

 plant growing in Va. which produces so much honey 

 as the blue thistle, and no honey which commands a 

 better price in the Baltimore market, white clover 

 not excepted. If our friends need any statistics, I 

 will try to obtain them. J. W. Shcll. 



Pleasant Dale, W. Va., Maach 11, 1880. 



Well, friend 8., there is one comforting 

 thought about the blue thistle as a honey 

 plant, it would not have to be nursed and 

 fussed with in hot beds, as do the spider and 

 Simpson plants, to get them started. After 

 all that ijas been "said, I do not feel very 

 much afraid of it. 



HOW AN A B C SCHOLAR SUCCEEDS IN MAKING CHAFF 

 HIVES. 



The chaff hives arrived safe, in due time. I ought 

 to have acknowledged this sooner, but was anxious 

 first to have them built, and see what they looked 

 like, and if they were all there correct. You have a 

 talent for packing in your packing room, and you 

 ought to be praised for it. I intended building them 

 myself, although not a carpenter, and having never 

 seen such a thing as a chaff hive before, had not the 

 least idea how any of it was to go together. When 

 the box was opened, and the stuff for 5 hives, in so 

 many pieces of different sizes and shapes, was laid 

 on the floor in a pile, you can hardly im igine my be- 

 wilderment. But, undaunted, I went at it, following 

 carefully the directions in the ABC book, and suc- 

 ceeded in put ing them together without the least 

 trouble. By this time, they are all in their places, 

 well painted, the bees comfortably in them, and they 

 look very beautiful indeed. It seems to me that the 

 "nature of things," and common sense were faith- 

 fully consulted when these hives were invented, and 

 I can not but have faith in them. I hope to be able 

 to get all my bees into such hives before next winter. 



ANOTHER QUEEN THAT ALWAYS HAS A DAUGHTER 

 WITH HER. 



I have already several beautiful queens from an 

 imported mother, and one also that has the habit of 

 having a young queen with her in the same hive. I 

 took 5 from that hive last season. T. C. Davis. 



Pittsburgh, Pa., March 16, 1880. 



FEEDING FLOUR CANDY FOR^WINTER. 



I am a beginner in bee culture, and have 21 colo- 

 nies all in good condition. I wintered 20 in the cel- 

 lar, and one on the summer stand. I think cellar 

 wintering preferable. Last season was a very poor 

 one for honey in this locality, and I have been oblig- 

 ed to feed them all winter. 1 fed them on candy 

 made of sugar and flour, and it caused them to keep 

 breeding all winter, so they are quite strong to com- 

 mence the season, which 1 hope will be a good one. 



L E. Welch. 



Linden, Genesee Co.. Mich., March IS, 1880. 



GETTING OUT OF "BLASTED HOPES." 



The "bugs" are quiet, and seem to be coming out 

 pretty well this year. Since my report in Blasted 

 Hopes, three years ago, [ have been going a little 

 slow, and find that going slow is better than haste, 

 in this business. Observation, books, papers, etc., 

 are very necessary, but no one can become a suc- 

 cessful bee-keeper, without practical experience, 

 and this cannot be obtained in a day. 



AUTOMATIC HIVING — A SUGGESTION. 



You that don't clip your queens, and report their 



all lighting where your first swarm clustered, just 

 cut that branch off, and hang it on an automatic 

 hiver. This is theory; how would it work in prac- 

 tice? My queens are clipped so I can't try it. 

 Conklin, N. Y., March 10, 1880. W. Kuger. 



Your idea is worthy of trial, friend R. 

 The question seems to be as to whether a 

 swarm would persist in settling on a limb 

 previously occupied by other swarms, after 

 the limb had been moved to a new locality. 

 The green foliage would wilt, and I believe 

 the bees have rather a fancy for green, grow- 

 ing branches ; but perhaps we may manage 

 to get around this objection some way. 

 Glad to hear you have pulled bravely out of 

 Blasted Hopes. 



IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD NAME. 



After reading Mitchell, I thought you must be a 

 great humbug, but I notice Prof. Cook and T. J. 

 Newman don't so regard you, since they quote you 

 as good authority. Bees did not winter well here. 

 About half in this vicinity died. Many were trans- 

 ferred into the Mitchell hive last spring, and they 

 seem to have lost a much greater per cent than 

 those left in the old hives. Van Job. 



Fillmore, Ind., March 30, 1880. 



Truly, friend J., it is well to be well spo- 

 ken of, and I am very much obliged to the 

 friends you mention. 



SELLING HONEY. 



Will you please, during the coming year, give us 

 some method, not patented, for selling honey at re- 

 munerative prices. The home market does very 

 well up to a limited amount, say a tun or so, but 

 honey producers need an honest market were any 

 reasonable amount may be sold for the cash and at 

 fair prices. If bee men would combine, and fix 

 their prices, buyers might be compelled to pay 

 something near the true value of the honey produc- 

 tion of the country. No one can afford a nice article 

 of extracted honey for 6c. to 8c. per pound, and yet 

 those are the prices frequently seen quoted as Chi- 

 cago prices. 1 believe that bee-keepers are general- 

 ly better posted on producing honey, than on selling 

 it, which should not be if honey producing is des- 

 tined to take its place among the remunerative pur- 

 suits. Jas. B. Hawker. 



Arlington Heights, Ills., Feb. 26, 1880. 



I can give you no better advice, my friend, 

 than to do as Doolittle, Grimm, Ilethering- 

 ton, Harbison, and other large, honey pro- 

 ducers do. I do not quite like the word 

 combination, for it savors too much of 

 '•rings," does it not, friend II. V 



GIVING BEES ALL THE ADVANTAGES. 



T am going to subscribe for all of the bee journals 

 of America this year, and if my bees don't make 

 honey it will be beciuse they don't know how to 

 read. I'll not be to blame for not furnishing them 

 with something good to read. Now spur up, "Eds." 



Send al >ng the Gleanings, Mr. "Novice," and let 

 us see how Blue Eyes is getting along now days,— 

 heh? H.A.Davis. 



Moretz Mills, N. C, Mar. 23, 1880. 



I have been urging "Blue Eyes" for 

 some time, to write a small article for 

 Gleanings, just enough to tell her 

 many friends their kind w 7 ords are all 

 appreciated, but she is something like 



