1880 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



595 



trouble at all, friend B.; but you want to 

 keep them going:, after you once get them 

 started. Bees, like people, sometimes get 

 discouraged, and won't try ; and we wish to 

 be careful to avoid letting them run short of 

 rations, or any thing of that kind. I think 

 you can make' your Italian colony swarm, by 

 February or March, if you crowd them along 

 as you are doing now. ' 



SAVING BEES FROM THE SULPHUR PIT. 



I had the good fortune to save four large colonies 

 from the sulphur pit yesterday, to which the owner 

 had determined to send them. I transferred them 

 to nice new L. hives and frames, and this morning 

 they are cleaning up theirhomes, throwing out dead 

 bees and other debris. But, strange to write, the 

 four box hives did not furnish a quart of extracted 

 honey, and not a single sheet of white comb. I have 

 now a pile of black stuff (once comb) that would All a 

 water-bucket, and I can not do other than burn it. I 

 saw young bees that had been hatched in some of 

 this comb that were but little larger than house-flies. 

 The time when the first colony was placed {not hived 1 

 in the oldest gum, was so far back that, as my Lord 

 Chief Justice Coke would say, " the memory of man 

 runneth not to the contrary." I never saw such 

 sheets of comb in my life, and hope I shall not soon 

 again. L. M. Shumaker. 



North Danville, Pitts. Co., Va., Sept. 2:;, 1880. 



A REPORT FROM THE CYPRIANS FROM FRIEND HAY- 

 HURST. 



I have one of Mr. D. A. Jones' "fifteen-dollar" Cy- 

 prian queens. She was received too late to test her 

 fully this season. Her worker bees are beautifully 

 marked on the lower as well as the upper part of the 

 body. I have ten laying queens from her; they also 

 are well marked, and so nearly alike, being almost 

 perfect counterparts of the mother, that it would be 

 difficult to make a selection. If she continues to 

 breed thus, I shall value her highly, as most of my 

 imported Italians have produced a great variety of 

 color in their queen progeny, many of them being 

 very dark, even when raised under the most favor, 

 able ciroumstances. E. M. Hayhurst. 



Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 20, 1880. 



AN A B C SCHOLAR'S REPORT. 



As I do not see Minnesota very well represented, 

 I thought I would report my success in bee culture, 

 although I am only an A B C scholar six months old. 

 Last spring I started in with six weak colonies of 

 bees; but not understanding the ways of the little 

 " busy bee," 1 was advised by our friend Hon. J. P. 



West, of Wells, to subscribe for a bee journal, and 

 so I sent to you for A B C, and also subscribed for 

 Gleanings, which I read with great interest. In 

 June my first swarm came out when I was away 

 from home, and left for parts unknown. Thought I, 

 I will put a stop to that, and so I went to work and 

 divided them. Then I sent to friend A. I. Root for a 

 queen. She came on immediately, and I introduced 

 her to my best colony. She went right to work lay- 

 ! ing, as though nothing had happened. She proved 

 to he a pure Italian, and I have raised over 20 beau- 

 tiful Italian queens from her, and have inereasedmy 

 apiary to 24 colonies, besides extracting over 300 lbs. 

 of nice honey, and got my apiary Italianized also. 

 How is that for an ABC scholar only six months 

 old? 



Don't drop the cartoons, for they will bring on a 

 smile when other things won't; and you know that 

 is very essential when a fellow has been transferring 

 black bees. L. C. Seaton. 



Banks, Faribault Co.. Minn., Oct. 25, 1880. 



STILL ANOTHER FEEDER. 



I will tell you how I made my feeders. They are 

 simple, and any one can readily obtain them. I pro- 

 cured some one and two pound oyster-cans (in the 

 back room of the stores;) at the bottom I punched a 

 hole from a quarter to half an inch ; rolled a piece of 

 tin a size larger, and two inches long; soldered it to 

 the can, and then tied a piece of flannel at the other 

 end, covering it like a strainer; then with my pock- 

 et-knife I cut a piece of soft pine to fit in the top, to 

 prevent bees from getting in. I use mine by boring 

 a hole just above the entrance and letting the spout 

 go in, and fastening the can by a wire hook soldered 

 to the side at top. It works well, and puts the feed 

 inside, while the can remains outside, to bo exam- 

 ined to at will. F. M. Ledbetter. 



Greenville, Ga., Oct. 15, 1880. 



MORE HONEY THAN A MAN CAN LIFT. 



I will state, that I think my bees have done well, 

 considering the fearful drought. I have swarms 

 that have filled three hives solid with honey; that is, 

 I placed two empty bodies of hives on top, one above 

 the other. I fail to find any one who has got muscle 

 enough to raise them off their foundation. 



I must state, that the 1 lb. of bees I got of you the 

 19th of June has built up to a rousing swarm, and has 

 filled a l'i story hive solid with honey. 



Greenwood, Col., Oct. 15, 1880. H. H. C. Bruce. 



A'ery good, friend 15 ; but if you had this 

 honey, or at least a part of it, in 1-lb. sec- 

 tions, it would bring you from 20 to 25c per 

 lb.; but as it is, you will probably be trou- 

 bled to get 15c for it. I know that great 

 amounts of honey can be obtained by piling 

 hives up in that way. 



QUERIES ABOUT HONEY-PLANTS, ETC. 



I am thinking some of setting out some Simpson 

 and Spider plants next spring, but, before doing so, 

 I should like to know if they are hard to get rid ol , 

 should a person desire to get them off from the land. 

 Also, will they grow on sandy soil (side hills)? 



Will sweet clover stay where sown, or will it run 

 all over the plantation? Our bees gave an average 

 of about 15 or lti lbs. per colony; some none, one 50 

 lbs. 



SOMETHING ABOUT FRIEND MORGAN. 



Though but 20 miles from friend Morgan, we did 

 not get hit by his big honey-storm. The hills be- 

 tween the two villages must have kept it confined 

 inthe Trempealeau. The fact is, friend Morgan has 

 scooped the pile of us this year. 



Our honey in 1-lb. sections took the "palm" at our 

 fair, besides making a stir among some of the bee- 

 keepers. F. O. Polleys. 



LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 11, 1880. 



The plants mentioned are in no more 

 danger of becoming troublesome weeds, 

 than tomatoes and cabbages ; in fact, they 

 are just about like them, in respect to hardi- 

 ness. I fear they would not bear much hon- 

 ey on sandy hill-sides, unless the ground was 

 good,— say any good corn ground. Sweet 

 clover is very easily got rid of by plowing it 

 up, because it never blossoms until the sec- 

 ond year. You must get up early, next sea- 

 son, friend P., and not let friend Morgan get 

 all of the great honey yields. 



