1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



483 



From Different Fields. 



"HONEY FOR SALE (?)" 



9 HAVE waited patiently for the time when I 



could put up, in my door-yard, one of those 

 small signs having on it the words, "Honey for 

 sale." But, up to this time, my hopes have been 

 vain; my bees refuse to furnish any surplus. I 

 give them plenty of room, but they persist in lying 

 out. I fear it has become hereditary with them. I 

 thought that they certainly would be coaxed to fill 

 those nice sections in the honey crate I got of you 

 this spring, but they have not. 



There are no bee journals taken in this vicinity, 

 and one cannot make the people believe that they 

 are of any benefit. The only bee-keepers of any 

 note near me, are Dadant & Son, near Hamilton, 111., 

 about IS miles off. Many people keep a few bees 

 here, but mostly in box hives, and never see the in- 

 side of the boxes. Some of them do not believe 

 there is such a thing as a queen bee. 



I have twelve stands, and by the help of chaff 

 cushions, and candy made of flour and sugar, winter- 

 ed them all without loss. Now, if you can tell me 

 how to make them profitable, you will confer a last- 

 ing obligation. I read Gleanings each month, and 

 get much information from it. If I could make bee- 

 keeping pay, I would like to keep a hundred stands. 

 My bees have given me no increase this season. 



Henry J. Alvis. 



Montrose, Lee Co., la., Aug. 29, 1880. 



I think you are on the right road, friend 

 II., and that all you need to do is to hold on. 

 Go and see friend Dadant, hy all means. I 

 would go four times 15 miles to visit his 

 apiary. If he has no honey either, this sea- 

 son, of course you need not be discouraged ; 

 but, if he has, why then learn how he man- 

 aged. 



"HONOR to whom honor is due." 

 I feel that we owe the Post Office Department a 

 big vote of thanks for their promptness in forward- 

 ing queens. We have had three shipments of queens 

 this season, and in every case the queens came be- 

 fore the notice of the shipment, and came through 

 invariably in about four days from Ohio and Michi- 

 gan. You queen breeders also as a general thing 

 are just as prompt as you can be. 

 Cassville, Mo., Sept. 1, 1880. Mary A Terry. 



All right, friend Mary, and much obliged 

 to you for calling attention to the matter. 

 We do owe them a vote of thanks ; that is 

 so. And, while we are about it, I rather 

 think Ave owe another vote of thanks to 

 friend Cook, and others who bellied the mat- 

 ter of getting permission for queens to go in 

 the mails, to its successful termination. 



BOOK "LARNIN," VERSUS BOX niVES. 



Our honey yield is about over. I averaged this 

 season, about 107 lbs. to the coloDy. An old "box- 

 hive" bee-keeper told me, a lew days ago, that he 

 had taken from one colony, four eight-lb. boxt 8 of hon- 

 ey this year! He gave me this Information in an ex- 

 ultant tone, as if he thought he had "crushed" me 

 for good. A few days afterward, I saw him again, 

 and getting him "cornered," I coolly told him,— 



"Well, friend B., I yesterday took off the last sur- 

 plus boxes from one of my hives, and it foots up, 

 from this particular hive, 127 lbs. in beautiful, one- 

 pound section*." 



Although this was a positive fact, friend B. broke 

 rudely away, leaving one of his coat buttons in my 

 hand, and exclaimed " Geminy ! Christmas!" Of 

 course, friend B. thinks, to put it mildly, that I was 

 romancing on a grand scale. R. C. Taylor. 



Wilmington, N. C, Aug. 30, 1880. 



BALLING THE QUEEN; IS IT DANGEROUS? 



I let out my queens almost as soon as I got them, 

 and the bees received them without much fuss. 

 They balled one or two of them a little, but I kept 

 the smoker going. Now a question or two: What 

 harm do the bees do in balling a queen? they don't 

 sting her. I have had a queen balled for hours at a 

 time, and then run around all right as soon as freed; 

 and I never lost one from being stung while intro- 

 ducing. But it does look as if she would be stung, 

 when she first emerges from the cage, and two or 

 three wicked bees pounce upon her. Well, anyhow, 

 Mr. Root, I don't want them to double themselves 

 up in that way on my nose, for I have tried the 

 thing and do not come out of it in as good a temper 

 as the queen apparently does. 



Pawnee City, Neb., June 10, 1880. C. R. Miles. 



But they do sometimes sting them to 

 death, friend M., and that, too, right speedi- 

 ly. I have known the bees to ball them, and 

 keep them thus a whole day; and when they 

 were let loose, they were minus a wing or a 

 leg, but did good service after all that. The 

 maimed and wingless queens we often find 

 in hives, I think are from this balling at 

 some period of the queen's age. 



A "SWARMING" FLAO. 



Please tell that man that clubbed his bees with 

 stove wood, next time to prepare a flag, by getting 

 a pole similar to a flshing-rod, about 15 or 20 ft. long, 

 and attaching a width of factory cloth about 2!i yds. 

 long. Make the pole crooked so it will turn readily 

 in the hand (or better still would be two swivels), 

 and, my word for it, they will soon make up their 

 minds to alight; that is, if he swings his flag vigor- 

 ously in the front part of the swarm. 



Will you please tell me, if heavy swarms of bees 

 will be too warm packed in chaff on three sides, and 

 cushions on top, in a house apiary, with the front of 

 the hive to the open air. Also how large an en- 

 trance should they have? Mrs. Jane Collins. 



Romeo, Macomb Co., Mich , Sept. 2, 1880. 



P. S.— Much obliged for your picture in the jour- 

 nal, but would rather see the original walking in at 

 the door. Jennie. 



Now_, there is an idea for friend Hutchin- 

 son, with his banner apiary- If a swarm 

 started off, all lie would have to do would be 

 to take a Hag from a hive, and just "flax it 

 around" among them. If more swarms 

 came out, he could let his wife take a flag 

 too; and so on. — I do not think, friend Jen- 

 nie, it will be possible to make bees too warm 

 in the winter, with chaff packing, while they 

 have the entrance open as they have in the 

 house apiary.— I would a great deal rather 

 walk up to the door too; but there are so 

 many doors, I fear I should never get 

 around, even if I started out. 



