l8Bf> 



c;LliAi\i^'cis L\ IJKE cUJ/rUiik. 



iiig- to swarm, and hastens to divide liis bees, and 

 the result is frequently an entire loss of his bees, 

 either by immediate robbing or by starvation in 

 early winter. G. R. Replogt.e. 



Udell, Iowa, July 13, 1885. 



C'l.IPPPING QUEENS' WINGS, ETC. 



I see in July 1 Gleanings, page 454, Mr. Doolittle 

 speaks about clipping queens' wings, and you call 

 on the brethren for an answer. For my part I don't 

 want any clipped queens. 1 have had two or three 

 in my time, and that will do me. They made me 

 more bother than a dozen undipped ones. When 

 they would swarm, then I would have to run and 

 hunt for the queen, and about that time the l)ees 

 were coming back to the old hive; then if I had her, 

 the next thing was to move the old hive; and I 

 think it is a pretty big job to pick up a hive that 

 weighs all together from fO to 100 lbs. or more, and 

 get out of the way, or they would be right in again. 

 I for my part never saw a swarm leave for the 

 woods before it had clustered, and I have hived 

 quite a number in my time, though it may be. 1 do 

 not by any means say that they will not. 

 alley's trap. 



In regard to the queen-trap. Alley's trap will be 

 " boss" after you have a swarm in tlie hive. If you 

 think it might not stay in, just place the trap at the 

 entrance of the hive, and if they come out you will 

 have the queen in the trap. It will do ilic work, for 

 I had a trial of it. 



The bees are doing veiy well just now. They are 

 making lots of honey, but il is not quite as nice as it 

 might be. G. M. Waggonb-r. 



Carlisle, Cumb. Co., Pa., July 18, 18S5. 



CLIPPING queens; strawberries, etc. 



You ask about clijjping wings. Let me put in my 

 vote for it. The bees are doing very nicely now. 

 Your experience with strawberries differs some 

 what from ours this season. Perhaps it was in the 

 soil, which is a heavy black lo:un, with clay subsoil, 

 and was heavily manured. Our Sharpless were the 

 poorest berry that we had. They ripened poorly, 

 and rotted badly. True there were some veri' large 

 berries, but not a cnti). The Jucun(his were our 

 best. Give them a trial, Mr. Hoot, before you say 

 too much about the Sharpless. Fueu S. Cl \rke. 



Bowling Green, Ohio. 



I vote aijainst clipping queens, although I have 

 had as high as seven swarms emerge at the same 

 time. Li'.ONiDAS Hiiujard. 



Waldron, Mich., July 10, 1.S85 



HONEY THAT CANDIES IN THE COMB 

 AS SOON AS IT BEGINS TO RIPEN. 



H. HOOT:— Be so good as to advise us what 

 is best to do, in this case nuide and not i)ro- 

 \ided for: Last year, througli Mr. Porter 

 wc ordered from you an extractor, with 

 which from twelve colonies wc took four or 

 five hundred pounds of honey. But this year, hav- 

 ing tixed most of the apiary to be extracted, we 

 found upon beginning, yesterday, that most of the 

 frames are filled with candy. 8ome ten days ago we 

 extracted over two gallons, which was very thin- 

 some of it not capped over. We found one or two 

 frames filled with young bees, which we gave to nu- 



clei which wo were building, and put in the place 

 some frames of foundation. We thought we would 

 wait a few days till the bees had finished their 

 work. When we began again, we found all the hon- 

 ey gathered since that time candied, and the frames 

 of foundation worked out and filled with this candy. 



In Gleanings for 1884, p. r,2f», Mr. Lower, of Geor- 

 gia, reports a similar case— at just the same time of 

 year that we find it. I am sure it is the white su- 

 mac, for this is the only plant upon which the bees 

 have been working for the last ten days, and from 

 which they have been bringing in a large quantity 

 of honey. I have seen ten or twelve bees upon one 

 cluster of flowers. The black sumac will not bloom 

 for two or three weeks yet. 



Last fall we had extracted honey made from ihe 

 black. It did not candy, though the winter was so 

 cold, and it was iu an open house. Now, what am I 

 to do? I eau't sell this honey in the frames, and to 

 cut it out and muck it up will be trouble for noth- 

 ing. I am going, if you don't advise something bet- 

 ter, to cut it out and fix it in the section boxes, and 

 let th? bees stick it, and then i)ut foundation in the 

 frames, and see if they will continue their confec- 

 tionery business this full. If they do, I shall have 

 to dispose of my extractor. J. C. Gordon. 



Joy Depot, Alb. Co., Va., July 13. 18S5. 



Friend (i., I do not believe I would put 

 any in section boxes. Yon will spoil tlie 

 reputation of vonr comb honey. If you 

 could keej) it until yon wanted stores during 

 a dearth, I thiidv tlie bees would use it all up 

 in broo(l-rearin<f — that is, when you have a 

 dearth durins warm dry weather. Terhajis 

 the i)ro(ess jijiven on paj^es 4")Sand 4-')!) of tiie 

 Jiilv 1 nutnber niiLdit assist you some. 



THE TELEPHONE AS A SWARM IN- 

 DICATOR. 



AN ADVERSE REPORT. 



§KE1NG a glowing advertisement in Glean- 

 ings, concerning the telephone as a success 

 in swarming, I immediately made a rush for 

 telephones, and received two-one running 

 from the dwelling to the shop, and one from 

 the shop into the apiary, which contains 'j acre, in 

 a square. My hives are set in a hexagonal form 

 (.50 of them at present), lo feet apart each way. I 

 ran the wire from the shop through the center of 

 the apiary to the back part, being about 160 feet of 

 wire in all. I fixed up the mouth-pieces, and had 

 every thing in good working order. " There, now," 

 I said to my wife, " I can work in the shop without 

 liaving to run every few minutes to see if the bees 

 are swarming. Now, boys, you can help your ma, 

 and hoe in the garden, etc. We have got 'em fixed 

 now. 1 know it will do it, for your Uncle Amos said 

 it would, "and so I gave a great sigh of relief as I 

 sauntered toward the shop. 



On going in 1 distinctly hoard the wires ting, ting, 

 and it sounded to me very nicely indeed. But I felt 

 a little hurt to think the little fellows were bump- 

 ing their heads so abruptly against the wires. I 

 worked away, feeling probably as happy as I ever 

 did in my life, when, in less time than I have been 

 writing, I heard the alarm. But it was not the tele- 

 phone. It was, '• Pap ! pa - ap ! pa - pa I the bees are 

 swarming I" 

 1 made a rush for the bees, of course, and the boys 



