1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



399 



The brush illustrated on page 376 is the nicest 

 thing for brushing' bees off a comb ever invented. 

 Our boys throw away thoir quills, brooms, and 

 bunches of grass and weeds, in a hurry, when they 

 once got hold of one of them. They arc so light and 

 soft, besides being entirely vegetable, that no bee 

 ever thinks of taking it as an affront. 



I have been for some time studying- on a nail box 

 for the different sizes of wire nails, but our boys and 

 girls prefer the pretty little V% pint milk pang, to 

 anything we can get up. It is easy to put the hand 

 in them, and you can pile one in the other when 

 they are to be put away, so that they occupv but 

 small compass. Besides, nails are much less likelv 

 to get mixed, if you can take the dish of the kind 

 you are usine - , and carry it right along to your work, 

 away from the rest. By having a handle." like a bas- 

 ket handle, attached to the bottom one, you can 

 carry a nest of them very conveniently. Price of a 

 set of 5. one for each size of the bail nails most 

 used, with the wire attached to the bottom one, 15c; 

 price of the whole sent by mail, 3Cc. 



TIN PAILS FOR HONEY. 



Since glass is so high, many will doubtless use 

 tin. For liquid honey, we prefer the cans mentioned 

 in our price list ; but, for candied honey T , ptils hav- 

 ing a cover the whole size of the top are handier to 

 get the honey out of. We can furnish such pails as 

 Dadant uses, at his prices; viz.— 



For 25 lbs. Honey per hundred $32 00 



" 10 " " " '• U 00 



" 5 " " " " 10 00 



" 2'A " » '• T 50 



" VA " " " 4 00 



Assorted samples of each size, all put up inside of 

 the largest one, will be sent for 80c. The nest of 

 five cans weighs only 3V& lbs. These pails are very 

 handy for a variety of other purposes. 



queens that won't lay, etc. 

 I do not know how others do. but if I should send 

 out a queen that proved a drone layer, or whose 

 eggs did not hatch, or one that did not lay any eggs 

 at all (say after being in a good colonv for a week), 

 I should most assuredly send another free of cbarg-e. 

 When I receive a dollar for a queen, I expect to re- 

 turn something' of value for the money; but when a 

 queen after a journeys turns out to be like any of 

 the above mentioned, she is of no value, and I shall 

 make such good if it takes all of the profits and 

 more too. The highest priced queens in the mar- 

 ket are just as liable to turn out thus as the dollar 

 queens, and. as they are eenerally older and less 

 able to stand a journey, I believe a little more so. 



latest news from the spider plant. 

 You know l told yon on page 369 that they had 

 stopped yielding- honey. Well, 1 was talking aboui 

 it on Saturday nia-ht near 10 o'clock, and I finally 

 picked up my study Lamp, and declared I would go 

 down to the held then and there, in the night, and 

 see what the matter was. Matter enough; right 

 there, glistening in the lamp light, were the well 

 known drops, sparkling like diamonds, and giving 

 off a perfume that fairly made the damp night air 

 heavy with it. Some of the drops were so large, 

 they were nearly dropping off, and we took them on 

 the' tips of our fingers, and had a taste all around. 

 it was that same pure sweet of last season, but 

 where doesitgoto? Large moths were humming 



from flower to tlower. but they could not possibly 

 take up a tenth part of it. 1 was up by sunrise next 

 morning, but "nary drop." Did the bees gather it 

 all so clean before that time, or did they take it by 

 the bright moonlight later in the night. They work 

 at night until it is too dark to see. but where does 

 the accumulated nectar of the night go to? My 

 friends, I am hard at work on the problem, just as I 

 bid yon :idieu; and it must lie unraveled if it takes 

 all — nitjlil . 



siri.t, LATER. 

 :'.xtli. [am ahead this lime. Last night was a lit- 

 tle cooler, and I got up a little earlier, and had the 

 pleasure of seeing the spider plants drippingwitb 

 nectar. It is worth a day's work to witness the sat- 

 isfaction with which an Italian licks up this big 

 drop, and his apparent astonishment when he finds 

 he can not contain it all is most ludicrous. If he 

 ever shows three yellow bands, he does il then, you 

 may he sure. They came in such droves that they 

 had the whole field of flowers clean in about a half 



hour. Our half acre of Simpson plants in bloom, I 

 should judge, keeps 10 heavy swarms of bees busy 

 from daylight until dark, /wbile the J 8 acre of spider 

 plants employs only- say two heavy swarms, for a 

 half hour; but I till you the latter make the best 

 wages, Nexl season 1 shall plant more of both of 

 them. 



feeling extracted honey fob the purpose of 

 getting comb honey in sections. 

 Although this can lie done, and with but little 

 loss, comparatively, as 1 have told you in the A It ( ', 

 1 should regard it as one of the greatest pieces of 

 folly, for a bee-keeper to extract his honey with 

 that end in view. Why not let the bees put it in the 

 sections in the first place, and thus save them and 

 you all trouble and waste? Another thing-: extract- 

 ed honey is almost sure to acquire a slightly un- 

 pleasant flavor; if it candies before it is fed back, 

 this candying gives it another unpleasant property 

 still, and after it is in the sections nicely sealed 

 over, you have candied honey in the comb, instead 

 of the usual liquid, comb honey. I have had comb 

 honey in sections for the past three years, produced 

 by feeding back extracted honey, and we are now 

 selling it at 15c retail, while we get 20c, for that 

 stored by the bees in the sections as they brought it 

 in; and if more comb honev produced by feeding 

 should be offered me, I would not give half price for 

 il. If you do not agree with me. try it yourself; 

 but I would advise you to try a little first. 



queens having the cramp. 

 Yesterday. Ernest brought me a beautiful queen, 

 which, he said, had stung herself, just as he lifted 

 her out of the hive by the wing, preparatory to cag- 

 ing; her. I told him she was not dead, but in a sort 

 of cramp or spasm; and that a young queen laying 

 rapidly would often double up in that way when 

 handled, apparently from fright. He left her caged 

 over the bees a half hour, but she was still doubled 

 up and apparently lifeless. She was then placed 

 riuht among the bees, hut he, I presume, had little 

 hope she would ever be a lively bright queen again, 

 as she was, although I assured him she would come 

 out all right. After supper we looked again and 

 j she was marching around the combs as large as life 

 and twice as natural, and as if to show us that she 

 was not by any means dead, she spread her wings 

 and sailed aloft. This behavior made him look al- 

 most as troubled as when she was doubled up, but 

 she soon came back and was caged and sent off with 

 a pound of nice Italians. I mention this, as some of 

 you might be so thoughtless as to throw a queen 

 away, when in a similar state. There are a good 

 many "kinks" with queens, as well as with bees, as 

 you see. 



THE CYPRIAN AND HOLY-LAND QUEENS. 



At present writing (27th), none of the workers 

 have hatched, although several queens are hatched. 

 They are like the queens and hres received, so far 

 as I can see. about a fair average in looks with our 

 usual queens and bees imported from Italy. If any- 

 thing, they are a little smaller and darker, but their 

 Long journey would naturally unfit them to show to 

 advantage. < if course, a careful test Will be made 

 of the workers, as soon as they are old enough to 

 gather honey. In regard to prices, it is true, it is as 

 eas\ io rear queens from their brood as from any 

 other, but. on the other hand, these queens have 

 cost friend Jones a great amount of money and la- 

 bor, and it is only fair that we should help him, by 

 taking- them off his hands, at such prices as he 

 thinks right and proper. One of ours has failed and 

 died already, and another has almost ceased laying; 

 so you see everyone who invests has a risk to run. 

 In view of this, 1 think double our usual prices for 

 larva 1 and queens is none too much. 



Friend Jones has sent us some beautiful samples 

 of Cyprian and Holy-Land queens preserved in al- 

 cohol. The workers are apparently extremely well 

 marked Italians, except t hat a few show a portion 

 of a fourth yellow band, and one single specimen, 

 put in a vial by itself, shows distinctly a full fourth 

 baud. The drones are yellower than any I have ev- 

 er Been before. Many of the bees seem remarkably 

 large, but this may be owing to the refraction of 

 the round surface of the vials. Whether these bees 

 prove superior or not, I feel it a duty to buy and 

 test them, to assist friend Jones ami Kenton in de- 

 fraying expenses, il nothing more. At last advices, 

 friend .1. had s,,i<i out on the Cyprian, but had plenty 

 of Holy-Land queens. . 



