438 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Sept. 



TRANSFERRING SUCCESSFULLY THE FIRST TIME 

 TRYING. 



I have been taught many things in Gleanings 

 and ABC, and, practicing from some of the teach- 

 ings, I successfully transferred to-day a large swarm 

 from a common box hive into the chaff hive I got of 

 you, and did not get a sting, although I never saw 

 the operation before. I filled 8 of the frames with 

 combs in one piece, and gave two frames of brood 

 and comb to the 2 frame nucleus of Italians to keep 

 them along. 



FRAMES OF CANDY. 



I have twice given frames of candy to bees, and, 

 each time, the bees ate the top away and it fell in a 

 mass at the bottom. How do you manago about 

 that? 



PUTTING ON THE COUNTY. 



I was amused when I went to address my letter to 

 you on a previous occasion, having just been read- 

 ing your explicit directions about putting the coun- 

 ty on; I had to get my post-office book out, to find 

 your county. Frank J. Bell. 



Moosehead P. O., Luzerne Co., Pa., Aug. 7, 1880. 



I beg pardon, friend B., but just as the 

 last page of Gleanings was in the press 

 last month, some of my frames of maple 

 sugar began to fall down, and I regretted 

 much that I had not directed that the sugar 

 should be poured into wired frames. After 

 doing this all troubles were at an end. — As 

 Medina is a county seat, the county is also 

 Medina, but, for all that, you would have 

 found the county on all our postals for the 

 last year, and on most of the bill and letter 

 heads. Since you have mentioned it, and 

 that we may make a start in the right direc- 

 tion, we have decided to put it on Glean- 

 ings and our catalogue. 



WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH A POUND OF BEES AND 

 QUEEN AFTER MAY 24TH. 



The pound of bees you sent me, with tested queen, 

 came to hand in due time. I was somewhat disap- 

 pointed when I first received them, as the comb was 

 broken down at the top, and lopped over to one 

 side, and few bees were to be seen; but I thought I 

 would make the best I could of it, so I got a frame 

 of brood from another hive. I then opened them, 

 took out the comb, fastened it in the frame, put the 

 2 frames into a Langstroth hive, and put in 3 

 frames of comb, making 5 frames all told. I then 

 put the bees in with the combs and shut the hive, 

 and let them go to work; and work they did. They 

 filled the 5 frames with brood as soon as the young 

 bees began to come from the cells. I put in 5 more 

 frames, and left them until they were full of bees, 

 then divided them, and now I have 2 swarms from 

 them. That queen was a great layer. 



David P. Gibson. 



Healdville, Rutland Co., Vt., Aug. 3, 1880. 



FRIEND BUCHANAN'S APIARY. 



I am going to start a 25 colony apiary on the hills, 

 2 miles from my valley apiary, and will get 25, 

 dollar queens to run the ranch, buying one or two 

 from each breeder, for novelty's sake. If you had a 

 picture of my home and apiary, you would say it is 

 away ahead of all of them for neatness, style, and 

 arrangement for convenience. I bought 18 acres 

 one mile from the Ohio river, in this valley, and 

 have everything new on it, from a fine house down 

 to my honey-house. Every fence and building is 



well painted, and all bee hives painted different col- 

 ors, which, from their elevated position from the 

 public road and railroad, show most beautifully. I 

 think I have the best improved and neatest bee- 

 farm in this country, and don't owe any one a cop- 

 per either; but, with all this fine fix and the best 

 and most timely attention to the bees, this has been 

 by far the poorest season in this locality for. many 

 years. Our market, Steubenville, just across the 

 river from us, has not seen 25 lbs. of honey this sea- 

 son, and will not unless it is sent here from a dis- 

 tance. You can put us all in your Blasted Hopes for 

 18S0. Still we enthusiasts will feed up, and keep on 

 till the laugh gets shifted to the other side of the 

 face. There is not one coloDy in 50 that will winter 

 unless fed. Many are now starving. It's a bad job 

 for us, that we did not get, last fall, a big, long- 

 tongued,, red-clover queen for each colony, isn't it? 

 John A. Buchanan. 

 Holiday's Cove, W. Va., Aug. 12, 1880. 



If not too much trouble, send us a photo, 

 friend B., and we will try to let them all see 

 your apiary. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS BY FREQUENTLY SMOKING 

 THE BEES. 



I send you some of my experience with red clover 

 and other queens. I received the red-clover queen 

 in good condition, and introduced her by letting her 

 loose on a frame of brood and black bees (I pur- 

 chased 6 colonies last spring) in an upper story, L. 

 hive, with wire cloth top and bottom, top being 

 hinged, and set this extra top on the one I took a 

 frame from, so as to keep them warm. I put her in, 

 in the morning, and every 20 or 30 minutes, for 

 six or eight times, while extracting, I gave them 

 a good smoking, and left them. The next day 

 I carefully lifted up the frame, and she was all 

 right. The third day, I gave them a few puffs and a 

 frame of brood. Two d lys after, I found her balled 

 and nearly exhausted al :er her long confinement. I 

 shut up the hive, and gave them 2 or 3 good smo- 

 kings, and the next day found eggs, and, giving 

 them 2 frames of brood and closing the hive, smoked 

 her again. But when giving them brood again, 

 which I found while extracting, I neglected to 

 smoke them after closing the hive. Three or 4 days 

 afterward, while looking to see how she was getting 

 along, I found cells. The little black rascals had 

 balled and killed her. 



DON'T BE IN HASTE TO PINCH A QUEEN. 



In due time the cells hatched, but I did not look in- 

 to the hive till after the young queen had had time 

 to be fertilized. I then looked for eggs, and found a 

 few scattered ones, and the queen with her wings 

 gone, except }i of one, on the first frame I looked at. 

 I was certain she was a drone layer and instantly 

 pinched her; but, on looking farther, I found two 

 frames nearly full of eggs. She was almost exactly 

 like her mother. 



BLACKS BALLING THEIR QUEEN. 



I do not want any more of the blacks in my apiary, 

 as they do not do anything as thoroughly as the 

 Italians, and are a great deal worse about balling 

 their queens and robbing. I lost 7 queens during 

 the spring by being balled, 3 from 6 colonies of 

 blacks and 4 from 40 coloneis of Italians. Two of 

 them were my best ones. And now I do not open a 

 hive that contains one of my best queens without 

 giving them two good smokings after closing it. 

 Also I am careful not to pinch a young queen that 



