1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



43o 



you will be so kind as to solder them, and 

 thus save me from loss, friend I)., I shall re- 

 gard it as quite a favor. The pails hold a lit- 

 tle over a pint, and perhaps this fact may 

 pay for the soldering. Now I will tell you 

 what we are going to do. We are going to 

 make pint pails with covers for 6c. each, 

 and we are going to make those that won't 

 leak either, if it costs well, say consider- 

 able machinery, and smart brain work too. 

 We can make them up in the fall, when we 

 have plenty of time. — You are right about 

 the cheirograph. Much more glue is re- 

 quired in warm weather. Friend Hutchin- 

 son's price list made on a cheirograph is per- 

 haps as fine a specimen of the work as any 

 we have seen. 



CANDY AND ITS EFFECT IN SETTING BEES TO WORK. 



A B C is invaluable; yet, before it came I had 

 made candy,— 5 lbs. of sugar (grains from sawing cut 

 loaf) 1 lb. of flour, and a quart of water; after it 

 had boiled awhile and all the skum had been taken 

 off, I poured it into frames made smaller by a divis- 

 ion strip half way from the top, and when it got cold 

 I put it into two hives. The effect was wonderful; 

 the colony of sluggards on the next morning were 

 at the entrance by light, and although a drizzling 

 rain was falling they were on the fly. About 10 

 o'clock the sun came out warm and balmy, and they 

 literally poured out of the hive, so that in two hours, 

 I am sure, two thirds of them were out. About 

 noon, they commenced their return, and 2 out of 5 

 had pollen on their legs. I thought their flight was 

 for water, but their industry since shows that the 

 feed started them to work. I gave half a frame to 

 the little colony you sent me, to which I had already 

 given a comb of brood and the thousand or two bees 

 on it, and the effect of the candy upon those has 

 been excellent ; they are twice as industrious, and 

 it is pleasant to see the bright gold-braided aristo- 

 crats working side by side from the same door with 

 the humble black bee. Yet a dozen or so of the 

 golden banded ones became disgusted, and went 

 straightway to the hive from which the brood frame 

 came, and are now domiciled with them. Every 

 good day they are to be seen playing guards or 

 workers. 



MOTH WORMS, HOW THE ITALIANS SERVE THEM. 



Yesterday morning I found on each of the broad 

 boards placed between the alighting board and the 

 grass in the yard a moth or web worm. Both were 

 alive, and had evidently just been ejected from the 

 two Italian hives. I could find no evidences of them 

 inside. 



BUYING BEES(?) AND SUMAC AS A HONEY PLANT. 



A little lame negro boy came to me in breathless 

 haste the other morning, as I was crossing over into 

 Danville, saying,— 



"Mr. Shumaker, done -done yer want ter buy 

 some more bees?" 



"Oh yes;" I replied. 



"Well," he says, "I dun found a great heap on um, 

 and I'll take fifty cents fur um all." 



So I started with him, and, after a walk of a quar- 

 ter of a mile, he showed me, in a hollow, a very large 

 sumac tree (not a mere bush) in full bloom, and cov- 

 ered with the bees. ' Of course, I laughed and told 

 him he could not sell bees in that way; and, besides 

 that, those bees belonged to other people, and no 

 doubt some of mice were there. 



HORSE MINT. 



He was disappointed, but the walk was profitable 

 to me, for in passing through the old field (common), 

 I saw a number of the gold-banded workers on a 

 plant with a little blue flower. It grows in bunches, 

 and sends out long spines which are filled with di- 

 minutive tulip shaped blue flowers. I took two of 

 the spines to Mr. Hickock, and Mrs. H. pronounced 

 it wild, or horse, mint. The entire common was 

 covered with it, and I saw bees everywhere; so 

 there must be some honey in it. 



To-day I am making ABC candy for all our bees, 

 except two strong colonies that seem to have honey 

 enough and to spare. We shall keep all our surplus 

 for our bees, which we shall remove to a small bee- 

 house, as a protection from both the weather and 

 the thieves. Bees never freeze here, and seldom 

 starve except where they have been wickedly rob- 

 bed late in the fall. L. M. Shumaker. 



North Danville, Va., Aug. 9, 1880. 



I received my selected queen and pound of bees 3 

 days after they were shipped, although they were at 

 the express office the night of the same day they 

 were shipped. There was plenty of candy and wa- 

 ter in the cage. I let the queen and bees out on one 

 frame of honey, two of hatching brood, and one of 

 fdn. The queen is a beauty and is laying, but she 

 has laid as high as 4 eggs in a cell, with 3, 2, and 1 in 

 others. Why does she do so? 



I commenced the season with 6 colonies in L. 

 hives, ran 3 for comb honey, got 25 lbs. per colony, 

 and increased to 12 by artificial swarming. White 

 clover affords a tolerably fair crop of blossoms, but 

 has very little honey. Basswood was passed almost 

 before we knew it was here. We expect honey 

 enough from fall flowers and buckwheat for winter 

 stores. 



BUILDING UP WEAK STOCKS. 



Will small swarms having now 4 or 5 frames, build 

 up strong enough for winter, without surplus combs 

 or foundation, if they are fed? 



QUEENLESS STOCKS CROSSER THAN OTHERS. 



Why are queenless colonies crosser than colonies 

 with laying queens? Mine, at least, have been so 

 this season. 



FDN. CURLING TTP AT THE LOWER EDGES. 



Why do sheets of fdn., L. size, warp and kink at 

 the bottom? I fasten full sheets by placing the 

 frame bottom bar up, and wetting a chisel with my 

 tongue, and placing the fdn. J 8 in. past the centre of 

 the underside of top bar, then smashing the fdn. the 

 width of the chisel at a time, until the entire length 

 is so fastened. I have had no trouble with sagging 

 or breaking down, but the sheets will warp or kink 

 at the bottom. What is the matter with the car- 

 toons, that they do not appear any more? give us 

 one occasionally anyhow. J. H. Bby. 



North Robinson, Crawford Co., O., Aug. 9, 1880. 



Where a good queen lays two or more eggs 

 in a cell, we generally find it is because she 

 has not cells enough, or has not bees enough 

 to care for more cells. If she does not do 

 better with a wider Held, let us know.— Four 

 or five combs is enough to winter almost any 

 colony, and often better than a large num- 

 ber, providing they are well filled and bulged 

 out with stores. — Queenless colonies are al- 

 most always crosser than others having lay- 

 ing queens. You have just reminded me, 

 friend E., that this is a point I have over- 

 looked in the ABC, and I have this mo- 



