18S0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



233 



prices, if the quality and appearance are fair. When 

 there is a large crop, prices are apt to be low, as 

 with other rural products. I have just purchased 

 several hundred pounds of maple sugar for 8c per lb., 

 ouV Medina market being so full that dealers would 

 not make any offer at all. 



MAPLE SUGAR FOR BEE CANDY. 



You cannot very well get a better "bee-candy" 

 than maple sugar, and if you give them a whole tin- 

 pan cake, it won't hurt them any. Our neighbor H. 

 thinks 2 lbs. of maple sugar will make a pound of 

 bees. When bees are worth $2.00 a lb., this would he 

 pretty good business; eh?] 



[I am glad to know your lath chaff-hives please 

 you, friend M., but if you really mean to say that the 

 16 kept on dwindling after they were dead, I believe 

 it is the worst case of dwindling I ever knew. I pre- 

 sume it is some more besides the 16 that died.] 



THE "BIG BUMBLE BEE." 



The insect sent by Mr. Henry Knapp, of Oxford, 

 Mich., is a bumble bee. It doubtless entered the 

 hive sometime last season, when the hive was open, 

 intent upon felony. It was caught by the closing of 

 the hive, ingloriously murdered and scalped by the 

 bees, which will brook no such intrusion. I have 

 often seen bumble bees and wasps thus treated. The 

 bees, in their attempt to carry a large insect out of 

 a small hole, pulled out the hair. a. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Mich., March 21, 1880. 



PAPER SLATES. 



Allow me to suggest the use of a piece of "water- 

 proof" paper, such as will allow pencil marks to be 

 erased, to be tacked on each hive, for remarks, dur- 

 ing the honey season. It seems to me that it would 

 be a great convenience. Chalk is used here, but it 

 is inconvenient, and your "pin tickets" don't exact- 

 ly fill the bill. Rufus Morgan. 



Bernardo, Cal., Mar. 17, 1880. 



[I do not know of any water-proof paper that you 

 can write on with a pencil; will somebody send me 

 a sample? It may prove quite an acquisition.] 



HOW IS THAT FOR "HIGH"? 



I have a swarm of bees in a limb which I took 

 from a tree about 80 ft. high, and which I am going 

 to put in the hive I got of you. J. E. Hand. 



Wakeman, Ohio, March 29, 1880. 



EGGS FOR BEES. 



Have you ever tried feeding the yolk of eggs, 

 boiled dry and mixed with honey, instead of pollen? 

 My bees prefer it to sweet potatoes or any thing else 

 I have tried. John Darr. 



Darrtown, O., April 13, 1880. 



BOX HIVES NOT ALWAYS A SUCCESS. 



A friend nearby me had over 100 colonies in box 

 hives last fall. They are all dead but 1."). 

 Bell Plain, Wis., April 5, '80. Johan Jackel. 



CHAFF HIVES MADE OF LATH. 



Good morning, friend Boot; I thought I would 

 write and let you know how I get along. You will 

 remember that I told you, in the March No., p. 120, 

 about the 3 colonies in the chaff hives made of lath. 

 I was so well pleased with them that, after writing 

 to you, I made 10 more, and put the bees right into 

 them, as fast as I could. They are doing splendidly. 

 Hurrah for chaff! Sixteen that were in the common 

 hives, not packed, are dead, and still dwindling. I 

 never will try to winter in the common hives again, 

 and I am very sure that there should be 1 or 2 holes 

 through every comb for the bees to pass and repass. 

 I will tell you, in my mind, a damp cellar is a "death 

 dungeon." O. It. Munson. 



Meredith, N. Y., April 9, 1880. 



HOW TO MAKE SECOND SWARMS "STAY." 



Can you tell what makes second swarms abscond 

 after they have made 3 or t lbs. of honey in their 

 new hive? I have had second swarms, with young 

 queens, issue the next day after the first swarm , 

 and, after making 3 or 4 lbs. of honey, go back to the 

 other hives; then, in a day or two, they would 

 swarm again. Now, can you tell what will stop 

 them from going bock to the old hives again? 



[Yes sir; I think I can. A second swarm always 

 has a virgin queen, and, at about the time you men- 

 tion, she goes out on her wedding trip; the bees, 

 having no brood'or eggs to keep them, sometimes 

 start out after her, and, being unable to find her, go 

 to their old home again. To stop this work, put a 

 frame of unsealed brood in the empty hive when 

 you hive the swarm; in fact, I should always do 

 this, with every swarm, just to make a sure thing of 

 their staying.] 



HOW TO GET SURPLUS FROM BOX HIVES. 



I have 10 last year's swarms from which I want to 

 get some section honey. How would it work to put 

 a one-story Simplicity hive, filled with section box- 

 es, under these 10 swarms? There arc only 2 small 

 holes in the top of each hive, and the bees do not 

 seem to want to work through them. 



[Take the whole top off your old hives, friend B., 

 and set the one-story Simplicity over it. You can 

 make the joint bee-tight by tacking pieces on the 

 old hives, and this will be much better than placing 

 them under your hives.] 



A SWARM FROM A 17 DAYS OLD SWARM. 



I had a swarm of bees which issued June 10, 1879, 

 and June 27, this young swarm sent out a swarm. 

 It was a very large swarm, and I had the hive filled 

 with fdn. starters. Can you tell why I found young 

 bees at the entrance of this swarm, before it 

 swarmed ? 



[If you gave the bees fdn. to start on, they should 

 have young bees hatching in 21 days; but you state 

 they were out in 17 days; did you not make a mis- 

 take of just about I days somewhere, friend B.? If 

 you gave them a comb of brood to start with, it 

 would be all very plain; but, as you state it, I pre- 

 sume you did not. A new swarm always takes 

 along some very young bees, and were those not the 

 ones you saw.'] 



A PROFITABLE SI'ECl'LATION. 



March 1, 1S79, I bought of Mr. Thew, of Saranac, a 

 Simplicity bee hive, and paid him $3.50. June 10, 1 

 put a swarm in this hive, and the 17th day of July it 

 was ready to take off. This hive brought me in 

 $s.:,d worth of honey. Et. H. Bailky. 



Ausable Forks, Essex Co., X. Y., Apr. 10, 1880. 



TURKEY QUILLS. 



I have used turkey quills for 5 years. They are 

 the best thing I can find for brushing bees off the 

 combs. I have one at each hive. 



CHEAP FEEDERS. 



Take pieces of lath about 8 inches long and gouge 

 them out on one side, forming a little trough. They 

 make good feeders between fruit bloom and white 

 clover. I place them close to the entrance, and fill 

 them from a coffee pot, after sundown. 



Euclid, O., April 12, 1880. F. C. White. ■ 



