490 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Oct. 



A SUDDEN FLOW OF HONEY. 



It has been very dry with us. Bees have not gath- 

 ered a living- for about one year, until the past 10 

 days. I tell my husband that it seems almost as if 

 the windows of heaven had been opened, and honey 

 sent to us to save our starving bees. They are now 

 filling up for winter, and our 250 colonies perhaps 

 have already V% or % enough, mostly from old balm, 

 pennyroyal, and buckwheat. The buckwheat is so 

 spindling and scattering, we thought it could do no 

 good at all. Black bees have nearly all died out, ex- 

 cept when fed. We are Italianizing all of ours, as 

 each Italian colony proves itself worth 3 black col- 

 onies in a drouth. I think perhaps the yield was 

 from a honey dew, at first, as they got such an abun- 

 dance in so short a time, when there appeared noth- 

 ing to get it from. Then the very spindling buck- 

 wheat has yielded bountifully. 



Mrs. S. J. W. Axtell. 



Koseville, 111., Aug. 23, 1880. 



QUEENS THAT WON'T LAY. 



Last spring, the first of May, I had a colony of bees 

 with a beautiful yellow queen, and not a cell of 

 brood or eggs could be found. I pinched her head 

 and gave them a frame of brood from another hive. 

 I have just pinched the head of a queen because her 

 eggs would not hatch, and have two more of the 

 same kind in nuclei. Is it the fault of the bees or 

 the queen? Would it be safe to introduce them to 

 strong colonies? I have 30 colonies, mostly pure 

 Italian. Bees have made but little honey. Fruit 

 bloom yielded some, but our best flow came from 

 red-raspberry and basswood. White clover was a 

 failure. J. W. Wilson. 



Lottsville, Warren Co., Pa., Sept. 2, 1880. 



I have known a few queens that would 

 not lay, but the number is so small I think I 

 should be pretty slow about pinching the 

 head of a good-looking queen. They often 

 stop laying, or refuse to commence, because 

 their colony is small, or because no stores 

 are coming in. I have known queens to lay 

 finely in a large colony, that would not lay 

 at all in a weak nucleus. 



INTRODUCING under difficulties. 

 I received the queen from you on Thursday, 2d, 

 and put her in a queenless colony, caged by direc- 

 tions, and on Saturday about 1 o'clock tried to in- 

 troduce her to them; but "no go." She went down 

 among the bees unmolested at first, but about half 

 an hour afterward I found her balled. I released 

 her, and gave them a considerable smoking, and 

 thought they would desist; but about sundown, I 

 went in again and found her still balled. I gave 

 them another smoking more severe than before, 

 and thought surely, as she was in a queenless colony, 

 that they would accept her. I did not look at her 

 on Sunday, but on Monday morning, when I went to 

 look her up, I found her in a ball of bees, and nearly 

 exhausted, with one hind foot bit off, and the colony 

 going right ahead with queen cells (for I had been 

 supplying brood in order to keep out fertile work- 

 ers). I took the queen out, and caged her again; 

 and, in the meantime, fed the colony at night to get 

 them in a good humor. Tuesday morning I released 

 her again, but with the same result. I tried her 

 twice that day with no better success. I had ex- 

 hausted all my knowledge, and finally took all their 

 brood from them, and, in the evening, released her 



again with same result, under all the rough tobacco 

 smoking I could give them; so I concluded, as all 

 my remedies had failed, that I would resort to a 

 still rougher treatment. I just chloroformed that 

 colony, and soon had them all down on the bottom 

 board. Then I let the queen loose on an empty 

 comb, and when the bees came to, they accepted 

 that queen. Wednesday morning she was layiDg. I 

 had taken up the idea that it would not be trouble- 

 some to introduce a queen to a queenless colony, 

 but this colony disappointed me. Now the queen 

 that I lost from this colony was taken out of anoth- 

 er hive, and introduced to this one without any 

 trouble or ceremony, except smoking, and that as 

 soon as I had removed their old queen. I have in- 

 troduced several queens, some virgins, to colonies 

 this spring, but without any trouble; so I have 

 come to the conclusion that it is the actions of 

 queens more than anything else that causes the bees 

 to reject them, and especially of those that have 

 been on a long journey. I furthermore believe 

 that the best time to introduce is immediately after 

 unqueening a colony that is in the same apiary 

 where the queen was raised. J. D. Foosche. 



Greenwood, Abbeville Co., S. C, Sept. 9, 1880. 



spider plant outdone. 



The plant at last! Tea-cupfulls of honey from one 

 plant is not too much. A bee must take three or 

 four loads to clean one flower. It is the acassia,--a 

 shrub which grows from i to 6 feet in hight, blooms 

 from the first of June until frost, is perfectly hardy 

 with us, and blooms first year from seed. It is a 

 beautiful ornamental plant, and can be found in 

 every yard in the neighborhood. B. F. Carroll. 



Dresden, Tex., Aug. IT, 1880. 



My one colony of bees is working like beavers. It 

 is very pleasant to watch the workers when they are 

 civil, but not so pleasant when one of them attacks 

 you with his "business end," and makes you look 

 like a recent attack of erysipelas, as they have 

 served me quite lately. That kind of treatment 

 lowers the standard of one's enthuiiasm somewhat, 

 at least temporarily. I am at present, however, the 

 victim of "Great Expectations," which may dwindle 

 to "Blasted Hopes," but I trust not. 



J. M. Manwaring, M. B. 



Mishawaka, Ind., July 6, 1880. 



AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE. 



The queen that I purchased from you in July is 

 doing finely. I thought that I had lost her; for 

 when I was trying to introdnce her she escaped, and 

 went up in the air, and I supposed that I was out 

 $1.00. I looked for her in the hive the next day, but 

 could not see her. As I did not have any smoker, I 

 did not look again for 6 weeks, and then I was hap- 

 pily surprised to see the yellow bees hatching out. 



J. A. Wilson. 



Hanover, Mich., Aug. 30, 1880. 



rape culture; remedy suggested for the black 



FLEA. 



Try the following, with which I have been success- 

 ful in the old country, against the black fly of the 

 rape family: Mix as much coal tar or coal oil with 

 sawdust as possible, and leave the sawdust so as to 

 be able to sow it broad cast, at the rate of 4 or 5 

 bushels per acre. Sow this as soon as the fly makes 

 its appearance, and repeat if necessary. 



AUG. LEYVRA2. 



Palatka, Putnam Co., Fla , Aug. 26, 1880. 



