4G2 



GLEAXiNcs In nk\L cl'LtIjUe. 



DOOI.ITTLE'S WAV OF MAKING NUCLEI. 



I tricil friend Doolittle's way of inakingr nuclei, 

 and at liist I made a failure of it, as thej- killed the 

 (luceii, i.i.d nearly half tlie liees died. T made them 

 till thcMiiseive'.-. well with hone.\, but did not think of 

 putting candy in, which did all the mischief. Next 

 time 1 put candy in, and it worked all right, and 1 

 thank friend IJ. for l)i-inging it uji. Some oiWthe 

 bees will return, but not many. Of course, the lib. 

 l)ackage for sending away bees by the pound will 

 do for a b«).\ to put them in. You presume friend 

 D. puts his best iiuecn in, but I am certain I would 

 not do so. 



SHlPPlXr, HKKS WITHOl T \ (.ILKE.N ()l{ »K()OI). 



What is your e.vperience in shipping bees by the 

 pound, without a (jueen or bi-oodV At a loss of flVe 

 lbs., I do not think it is a good way of putting them 

 up, and I am quite certain it is not good for them to 

 be confined in those small packages without a 

 queen* as they tear around till they are very nearly 

 exhausted or worn out; but just put a queen or a 

 frame of brood in, and they seem to enjoy the trip 

 hugely: and, again, I think the 1-lb. packages as you 

 make them are too email for a pound without a 

 (pieen. Why not put them up as friend Foster, of 

 Iowa doesy C. Wkckessek. 



Marshallvillc, O., .lune 12, 188.5. 



We often ship l)ees"witliout queens, friend 

 W., and I luive not been able to discover 

 that tliey did worse without a queen than 

 with, although 1 may be mistaken. I know 

 the> sometimes tear around until they get 

 themselves quite exhausted, and I presume 

 kill themselves, many of them, by fright or 

 worry ; but I was not aware that they did 

 this any worse when (jueenless. although 1 

 am aware that the presence of a queen or a 

 little unsealed brood exercises a^ver> marked 

 influence in the way of pacifying bees when 

 they get in an uproar. — In regard to the one- 

 pound packages being too small, we have 

 frequently sent U lbs. in a package, aud had 

 them go safely, and it is only during the ex- 

 tremely hot Vveather that as much room is 

 needed" as we allow. Perhaps you measured 

 a poiuid of bees when their bodies contained 

 no honey. If so, a pound makes a gocxl 

 many, buring the honey season, each .bee 

 contains more oi- less honey. an<l we can not 

 very well put them tip in "any other condi- 

 tioi"i. We do not remember "that we ever 

 heard how friend Foster does put ui) l)ees. 

 Won't you tell us V I know lie sells bees 

 very low, and makes successful shipments. 



A IlKKKI'.Kl'KK IN TKOl'llI.K A(!AIN. 



I have lour ssvarms of bees out of eleven 1 had in 

 the fall. I should like to sell three of them, biU I 

 don't know how I can get them to you. There arc 

 two double hives and one single one. I think they 

 nuist be full of honey, as they have been getting it 

 from the other hives where bees have frozen, and 

 that, perhaps, is what makes them so cross and 

 overbearing. Is not that the nature of some of the 

 human kind— the more stores they heap up, the 

 more unfeeling and quarrelsome they are? 



But, about these bees. Can't you send an expert, 

 or come yourself, and fix these bees in a shape so 

 they can be handled or taken away out of my sight 

 and hearing? I should like to sec you walk up and 

 conquer these savage little Insects. 1 am at this 

 writing smarting under their wounds. They take 



me under my hat-rim on the back of my head, and I 

 don't wish to have those bunips grow any more. If 

 you can give me as much honey as you think there 

 is in the combs, and pay for the liees, 1 shall be 

 moi'C than satisfied. Xow, please come and get 

 the bees ; or if you can't do that, drop a card with 

 some good ad\ice. luv Uknnktt. 



Windfall, Medina ('o., o. 



Friend ]>., it seem.s to uiexou have been 

 handling yoiii- bees at unseasonable times 

 again— possibly just during a gap between 

 fruit-blossom and white clover. \Ve should 

 l)e glad to take yoiu- bees off your hands, be- 

 cause we need "them now : but if you wait 

 just a few (lays I tliink you will lind they 

 are peaceable and amiable again, even if 

 they are hybrids. Yon want to learn to 

 take bees as well as human Ijeings on tlieir 

 best side ; and when you tiiid them spoiling 

 for a light, just wait unlil some other day. 

 and then you will, in all probability, be able 

 to get aloiig without these unpleasant differ- 

 ences ami iiumps. where no more bumps are 

 needed. 



HOW FAU .MIST THE OF.n STOCK Hi; MOXFI) IN 

 .MAlvlNO AN .\KTIF1C1AL COI.ONV? KT( . 



Will you please tell me whether the bees would 

 stay in a new hive where you had made an artifi- 

 cial swarm, and gave them a new cjueen, if I only 

 move the parent stock to the opposite side of the 

 bee-house? 1 had figwort and spider-plant seed 

 sprout in less than a week, by making a small hot- 

 bed and covering it with glass. The si)ider plants 

 were large enough to set out in two weeks. My bees 

 arc in fine condition, and building uj) very fast. 

 The.\ a i-e gathering honey very fast from locust. 



FlJED W.C^UANSTON. 



Woodstock, Ohio, ,June 5, ISH"). 



We do not understand yam- term "bee- 

 hodse."' friend ( '. If you niean house apiary, 

 moving your colony to the oi)jK)site side 

 would do very nicely. I think.— If you had 

 spider plants" ready' to transplant" in two 

 weeks from the seed, you certainly did well. 

 We have had a great deal of trouble in trans- 

 planting the spider plants this past seas(Mi. 

 although it usually seems very hardy. 



VAI.l'E OF A COMB FlI-LED WCrU I'OM.EN. 



Will you please tell me which is worth the most to 

 a swarm of bees— a nice card of comb whicli is 

 three-fourths fullof pollen, or a sheet of foundation? 

 Will bees clean the i)ollen from combs, if hived on 

 such? Mks. .Jennie Collins. 



Komco. :\Iich., .hineC, 1885. 



The answer to yom- query will depend on 

 circumstances. If bees have their combs al- 

 ready full of pollen, a comli three-fourths 

 tille(t with jtollen wcuild be no advantage, 

 but. rathei. a detriment. On the contrary, 

 when they aic short of pollen, ;ts bees are 

 here almost invariably in the spring, a comb 

 of i)ollen would be a very great advantage 

 to them.— I should say. that a comb of good 

 pollen is worth a good deal more than a sheet 

 of fdn., on an average. If the bees are hived 

 on combs containing too much pollen, they 

 will usuallv use it all up in brood-rearing. I 

 can not tell, though, what they would do in 

 case it were not needed for IJ rood-rearing. 

 Very old pollen they sometimes take from 

 the cells and throw i"t out from the entrance. 



