1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE, 



feed is all taken, and the lid will be at the bottom of 



the can. The nice part is, a bee can not drown if he 

 should try; and another thing' is, they are as cheap 

 as dirt, and can be made any size desired. \ 



Martinsville, Mo., Apr. 5, 1.S85. D. Keech. 



I will explain to the readers, that friend 

 K."s feedei' i.s made Ijy putting a proper-sized 

 lloat into any glass or tin can having straight 

 sides, or sides nearly straight. A glass tum- 

 bler, with the sides nearly straight, I think ! 

 wonld answer. Get a wooden wheel that 

 just tills the tumbler while it lies at the bot- ; 

 tom. Jievel the npper circumference of this t 

 wheel so it will make a sort of knife edge all 

 around. Now if you lill the tumbler with 

 honey, and drop in the wooden lloat, a little 

 channel will be left all around next to the 

 glass, with honey in the bottom of it. As i 

 fast as tliey lick out the honey, the tloat will 

 sink. This will no doubt work nicely ; but 

 after a while your wooden float gets soaked 

 with honey, and becomes nasty and sticky, 

 and is apt to smell bad besides. This latter 

 objection would. however, apply to any feed- 

 er made of wood. Feeders made of tin get 

 rusty in time. Now, if we could have some- 

 thing made of glass, it seems to me it would 

 be a pretty nice thing; but even then it 

 would be liable to get broken. 



MUS. COTTON. 



The Farm (tnd Garden for May has the 

 following to say in regard to lier : 



Mrs. Jiizzie Cotton, whose acnuaintancc lias 



proved to h(> (vc;/ '/car to most of our boo-l;r'r'))ers, 

 has I'oilinl lUfiMiS lo csciilic llic \ i-ila;icr ni ■■ lariii- 

 er" Atkiiis.)ir,- \v;iicli do-. We --(■(■ hiT •■Mils'." in 

 oneoi' the oUici- oC ihc iiioii' caiclcsv ii-iiciiUiir:il , 

 papeis, but as Tor an cilitorial ondorscnicnl we 

 hail thought that a tliini' ot iin jK.ssihilit v. 



"i,i/./.ii-" lias brcii cvposf.l as an old Iraiid. I1,m- 

 hig-h-i-riccd modrl hoc hive is u \( rv xuioU model. 

 and (( fill! sl-,il liir, , in,ul< nfl, rlhis j,nil, m. t^ no l,ri- - 

 ter than anv comiiioii mo\ able '-com li lii\ c Sin- ha < 

 for man.\- .years swindled tlie gullible bee kee|;er>^o 

 persistently that e\cn Iut sc.v was .|iK.>tioiie»l. 

 Has she now turned oxer a new leaf'r Has she be- 

 come lionest? Tlie elianfrc is almost too sudden. 

 I.et onr friends steer clear of her. 



STKONG SW.VIOIS HOBBINO WE.VK OXE.s. 



This used to annoy inc very much. 1 could lind 

 no effective remedy in A B C or Gi.eani.vgs, so 1 

 hit on this plan: Watch where the robbers go, then 

 chang-e the hives; put the robbers' hive in place of 

 the one beiusTobbed, and the (Uher in their place, 

 then you will see how bad they will be beat. This 

 may be an old plan; if so, I have not seen it. 



TO GET THE COMUS lUll/r DOWN TO THE nOTTO.M- 

 It.M! 



1 raise the hi\"e up about one inch from bottom- 

 board. Isaac Wykokp, 17-1:.'. 

 Cameron, i'a., April :::;, 1 ^s,-). 

 Friend \V^, your i)laii of exchanging places 

 with a weak "and strong colony when they 

 are robbing is an old idea. It usually an- 

 swers well, I believe, but sometimes it does 

 not do at all, and it is always a severe shock 

 to the prosperity of a strong colony. On 

 this latter account I should hardly want to 

 advise it as a rule, esiiecially if the robbed 

 colony is very weak in numbers.— Your plan 

 of getting combs clear down to the bottom- 

 l)oard is all right. The same idea has been 

 suggested in our columns before, but not 

 quite as you put it. AVe accomplished it by 

 raising the frames, and you raised the whole 



hive. This could be done nicely with the 

 Simplicity hive by turning the bottom-board 

 hollow side upward. Separate them a little 

 at one end to make an entrance, and when 

 your combs are built down to suit you, put 

 them back in their proper place. 



c.\RP-PONDs; wir.ii they paW 

 I should like to inquire a little in regard to carp 

 flsh. Your pond is how larg-e, and how do the little 

 fish g-et along? But the most necessary thing: for 

 me to know is. Does it really pay to spend ^200 to 

 build a pond about 70 feet square, or, in other words, 

 can we i-eally expect to get that money out again? 

 If so, how soon? The above is a most important 

 question, as 1 intend to make one, and it will cost 

 me that much to get it done. D. E. Best. 



Best's, Pa., April 6, 1885. 



No, my friend, I do not think it will pay. 

 Our carp-pond is larger than you mention, 

 but it was made from a piece of waste ground' 

 that was of no value whatever, and the total 

 expense was less than one-fourth of ,S:200. I 

 would not advise anybody to make a pond 

 at the present time, in the present state of 

 our information, with the idea of making 

 money. If you can use the pond for other 

 purposes, such as a skating-rink for thechil- 

 tlren in winter, a place to get ice for sum- 

 mer, or by way of ornamenting your grounds, 

 it may pay indirectly ; but 1 should say tliat 

 :r^2(J0 would be a pretty good price for a pond 

 of the dimensions yoii name. With pioper 

 tools and a team, a pond can oflen be l)iiilt 

 during a time when you v.'oiild not he likely 

 to do much else. 



UEES WOKIvINf! ON EIU'IT-BEOOM A.Mi UAl'E Al' 

 THE SAME Tl.MK. 



My bees are now gathering honey from Iruit- 

 hloom and rajie. ('. l{. Schmeltzek. 



Scliolls Kerry, Oregon, April 7, IS.'^o. 



Fiom tlie above report it would seem that 

 rape can be made to bloom very early in the 

 spring: or. at least, it is practical inOregon. 

 Now the ()uestion comes up. What is the 

 differeiu'e l)etween this rape and the seven- 

 top turnipV or is not this kind of rape that 

 blossoms so early what we call winter rape? 

 and isit not identical with .seven-top turnipy 

 1 have seen both in bloom on our grounds 

 at the same time, and I could discover no 

 difference. 



niVINC; BEES WATEU [N THE CO.MB niKIXG SHIP- 

 >[ENT. 



When shipping bees 1 give them water differently 

 from any thing I have ever heard of. You advise 

 sending nine frames. I send ten. I put water in 

 one of them the same as (J. M. Doolittle puts in 

 syrup for feeding. You can put in a pint of water, 

 more or less, according to the distance they have to 

 go. It's the best of any thing: I ever tried, but per- 

 haps it's old with you. 



I wish you would tell us in (ii.EANiNf;s how jou 

 bend your tin rabbets for hives. I don't find any 

 one who can fold them with a tin-folder, but that 

 makes them round on the bottom. D. S. Bassett. 



Farninnsville, Mass. 



Friend B., we tried your plan some years 

 ago ; but as the most of our shipping is 

 done at a time when bees are gathering new 

 honey, we have hardly thought it necessary, 

 for new honey generally contains a large 



