1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



287 



KED BUD. SEE PAGE 220. 



Friend Runt: —I think the red bud will grow and 

 bloom in Ohio. It grows here, and in Kansas, Mis- 

 souri, and Iowa, very plentifully, along the streams 

 and bluffs. It is not a large tree here, but a large 

 shrub. It blooms In 4 or 5 years. 1 will furnish any 

 reader of Gleanings with seed, who will send me 

 his address and a stamp to pay postage. The seed 

 is ripe in September. Postage is one cent per oz. 

 No one will want more than 3 oz., unless he raises 

 trees to sell. James Boston. 



Cincinnati, Neb., May 13, 1880. 



ROBBER BEES; HOW TO DISGUST THEM. 



Here is something good, for I have tested it, and 

 will warrant it to do what I say. Take some coal 

 tar and spirits of turpentine, mixed, and it will stop 

 the worst case of robbing I over saw, in ten min- 

 utes. Take a brush and put a little around the en- 

 trances. It is fun to see them go home like a 

 whipped dog. Tbe bees that belong there will go 

 on about their work. 



SAFFRON AS A HONEY PLANT. 



I have never seen saffron mentioned as a honey 

 plant. I had a few stalks in the garden, and they 

 were covered with bees. Fayette Lee. 



Cokato, Wright Co., Minn., May 9, 1880. 



[Strong odors will sometimes drive robbers away, 

 and it has been said that when a bee comes home 

 smelling badly, he will be driven out or killed. I 

 have never been able to verify the latter.] 



BEE-KEEPERS AND BEE-LOSERS. 



Some time last year, I purchased a Simplicity hive 

 with the bees. I left them on the summer stand 

 through the winter, and fed them with A coffee 

 sugar. They did well. In April, two swarms issued 

 within a week of each other. The first, I hived; the 

 second went back to the old hive 4 times, and at last 

 to the woods. I took the mat off the old swarm for 

 them to go to work in the upper story, but as yet 

 they have not done anything. I find a few dead 

 bees in front of the hive every day. Please tell me 

 what to do, as I am anxious to get a start in bee cul- 

 ture. The weather is very fine, and it looks as 

 though bees should gather honey by this time. 



Hillsboro, Miss., May 12, '80. II. W. Abraham. 



[Friend A., when you fed your bees A sugar, and 

 built them up, you were a bee-keeper, and a pretty 

 good one, I should judge; but, when you left the 

 mat on until they got so full that they had to swarm, 

 you were not a very good one. Neither were you 

 when you hived the swarms without giving them a 

 frame from the old hive to start with. After two 

 swarms had gone out, you removed the mat, but it 

 was not at all strange that they would not go into 

 the upper story after being twice weakened by 

 swarming. Do you not see that your feeding, with- 

 out keeping a careful watch on the inside, was what 

 made most of your trouble?] 



BLUE THISTLE, CANADA THISTLE, ETC. 



I desire not to be hasty, but I may say that, for 

 about 22 years, I have had an unsuccessful fight 

 with Canada thistles. At the present, the odds are 

 in their favor. I can cripple them, but they are the 

 possessors of the soil; hence I dread the name this- 

 tle. You should know that you are not the only 

 medium through which blue thistle may be ob- 

 tained. Now I notice there are some who speak of 

 blue thi3tlc as not only harmless, but useful as a 



manure. Well, there is nothing and nobody in this 

 world so bad that they have no friends. A thistle 

 that grows everywhere and in every manner of 

 crop must be a nuisance and a pest. 



Relmont, Can., May 16, 1880, S. T. Pettit. 



[If I am correct, the blue thistle dies root and 

 branch, after the second year; if such is the case, it 

 is in no respect anything like the Canada thistle. A 

 few of the plants are now in our garden, but I fear 

 they have all died from the dry weather, in spite of 

 all we can do in the way of watering, shading, etc. 

 That does not look like Canada thistle very much; 

 does it, friend P. ?] 



PRETTY GOOD FOR AN A B C SCHOLAR. 



I have got through transferring 13 boxes of bees, 

 all in good condition now. I did not lose any 

 through the winter. I transferred 3 box hives for a 

 neighbor on Thursday, the 6th, just in the close of 

 apple bloom. They were very strong. One of the 

 boxes threw off a good swarm on the next Monday, 

 which was just 4 days from transferring. Can you 

 beat that? A. H. Duff. 



Flat Ridge, O., May 13, 1880. 



I am a beginner, this spring, in bee-keeping. I 

 bought 3 stocks for $14.50. They are black bees. 

 One is in a box hive, and I am going to transfer 

 when swarming time comes. Bees are very forward 

 this spring. My box hive is very full of bees, and 

 they are clustering out to-day. I was in Toledo yes- 

 terday, and saw some honey for sale at 18c per lb. 

 It was black and uneven comb, and all candied. If 

 prices are accordingly high all summer, I think I 

 will do well. J. c. Webb. 



Le Moyne, Wood Co., O., May 8, 18S0. 



KING BIRDS OR BEE martins. 



I beg permission to speak a few words of a certain 

 bird, known in the South as the "bee martin," but 

 commonly called in the North, the "king bird." 

 This bird has proved a dangerous enemy to South- 

 ern bee-keeping, and has often caused mischief in 

 the apiaries of Hawkinsville, by destroying the 

 virgin queens on their bridal tour. When killed or 

 captured, the bird can be identified by a small bunch 

 of bright yellow feathers on the top of the head, 

 which, though hidden from view, can be readily 

 seen by turning the feathers in the opposite direc- 

 tion. I have observed that this bird is as common 

 in the North as in the South, and deem it expedient 

 that you warn your readers against it and recommend 

 its destruction, as far as possible. As one of the 

 boy bee-keepers, I am,— Chas. R. Mitchell. 



Hawkinsville, Ga., May 17, 1880. 



AN A B C SCHOLAR'S FIRST TRANSFERRING. 



Here I am again. I transferred one of my stocks 

 of bees the other day,— put them in movable frames. 

 It was the first I ever transferred, but I succeeded. 

 It is quite a strong swarm, but it contains no queen, 

 brood or eggs. I tried to get brood or eggs out of 

 the other colony, but was compelled to abandon the 

 attempt. It is impossible to get brood from a box 

 hive. Aug. Tigges. 



Marathon City, Wis., May 7, 18K0. 



[Since you succeeded so well, friend T., why did 

 you not go right on and transfer some more, and 

 then you would have brood? You surely could 

 get enough from a box hive to enable them to rear 

 a queen, could you not?] 



