1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



o31 



red clover. As I had never seen many bees work- 

 ing on the red clover before, I commenced to look 

 closer, and found the cause to bo this: The grass- 

 hoppers, which are very numerous here now, had 

 eaten the flowers off even with the head, leaving 

 the tube ot the flower only about one-third long, thus 

 giving every access to the nectar it contained. 

 Bees have not done much so far. 



1— Ira Williams, 4—8. 

 Georgetown, Iowa, .luly 4, 1885. 



Friend W., the case you mention is novel 

 indeed, and 1 believe it is the first time that 

 I have heard of grasshoppers being of any 

 use to anybody or any thing. 



C. D. Wright, on p. 4')0, asks, "What ails the bees?" 

 I have had the same trouble, and think I have found 

 out what it is. My bees last fall put in large quan- 

 tities of fall honey, and some of it was left uncap- 

 ped. This honey absorbed moisture, and soured in 

 the cells. I have put these combs into the hives for 

 the bees to clean up, and in all weak swarms the 

 bees get drunk and tumble out of the hive. Some 

 get over it and go back for more, but many never 

 get back. I put in two combs to a swarm last even- 

 ing, and this morning a number of bees were com- 

 ing out staggering. Metheglin is too much for 

 them, and they get out of the hive into the gutter, 

 like human beings. This soured honey should be 

 extracted before the combs are given to tlie bees to 

 clean up. I think this soured honey has caused the 

 loss of several nice queens for me this season. 



East Saginaw, Mich., July 8. I,, c. Uhiti.ng. 



IlKVEKStULK FKAMKS. 



Friend Root, I am rather surprised that you are 

 in favor of, and bt)thering with, a reversible frame. 

 "Localities difl'er;" but with us, any ijuccii that does 

 not fill with brood to the top bar the shallow L. 

 frame, neels "reversing," and usually g(>ts it quick. 



The situation at this date, June :i4, with the bee- 

 keepers in eastern Indiana, is this: No surplus yet, 

 and only a few colonics that have commenced 

 storing in sections. Hees generally strong, l)ut so 

 far but very little swarming. Weather is unfavor- 

 able for the secretion of honey; white and red clo- 

 ver is mostly winterkilled. We still hope iov some 

 surplus, although the season here usually ends 

 July 10th. 



Our own bees wintered well; lost 5 out of 70, two 

 of which the winter is not to blame for. We were 

 never in more sjilendid trim, and ready for business, 

 than this spring. 



Lyons Station, Ind. Jonas Scholl, 65—70. 



QUEEN-CELLS ANU A LAYING QUEEN. 



The two queens I bought were introduced safely; 

 but had I written you about a week ago I would 

 have said that one was killed, because a frame of 

 eggs given the colony at the time contained five 

 queen cells six days later. Would you please tell 

 me why they started queen-cells when they had a 

 laying queen? I can not find any thing about it in 

 the A B C book. ;:— Gust. Wiedehhold, 3—7. 



Yonkers, N. Y., July le, 1885. 



Friend AV., your case is one of the excep- 

 tions that occur once in a great while. I 

 should say the bees were not (piite satisfied 

 with the other queen, and stubbornly pushed 

 ahead witli their preparations for raising an- 

 otlier. ISucli cases are so rare, however, tliat, 



in the presence of queen-cells, especiallv if 

 at the same time we find no bees or very 

 small larvtp, it may be considered practically 

 conclusive tiiat the colony is queenless. 



SOUU HONEY, AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT. 



I have some sour honey, and do not know what to 

 do with it: please tell me. Would it do to feed the 

 bees? and if stored in the sections, would it do to 

 sell? I looked through all of the bce-.iournals for a 

 year and a half, and did not see any thing about 

 sour honey. I also looked through the A B C. 



Blue Springs, Mo., July 17, 188.5. G. E. Hughes. 



Friend IL, according to my experience the 

 honey will not be made fit for use by feeding 

 it to the bees, although they will often im- 

 prove it considerably by taking it up and 

 storing it in the combs.; "I do not know any 

 thing you can do with it except to feed it a 

 little at a time during a dearth of honey 

 from the fields, to weak colonies or nuclei 

 that will u.se it all up for brood-rearing or 

 queen-rearing. 



FKOM BLASTED HOPES TO nEPOIlTS ENCOURAGING. 



I was almost a fit subject for Blasted Hopes last 

 spring, having lost 75 out of 80 colonies of bees; but 

 remembering that always after a storm comes the 

 sunshine, I determined to try again. I bought 14 

 one - frame nuclei with tested queens, of friend 

 Oliver Foster (who, l)y the way, is a square man to 

 deal with). They have done extra well. I got them 

 the 10th of May. All but two have cast very large 

 swarms, and all have made more or less box honey 

 —some 40 to 50 lbs. We got some white-clover hon- 

 ey—the first we ever had here. White clover is just 

 getting started here. We are just through bass- 

 wood, which was very good this year, and lasts with 

 us eight or ten days. I had a hive on the scales 

 during basswood flow. They brought in from six to 

 eight lbs. a day, and during the night would evapo- 

 rate abt)ut one-sixth. Did you ever know how much 

 honey would evaporate? I have about 6(!0 n)S. of 

 comb honey ready for market now. I am selling at 

 20cts. Have now 35 swarms. We get most of our 

 honey here in .Vugust and September. 



Hillsdale, la., July 18, 18S5. E. W. Pitzer. 



Yes, friend l'.,l did know that new honey 

 during a damp spell of weather would evap- 

 orate fullv as much as you mention. 



cutting smooth sections with a saw only, 

 and no pl.aner. 



I read with great interest the article in regard to 

 making smooth sections with an ordinary saw. 

 Now, 1 wish to call your attention to the piece I 

 herewith send you, as a specimen cut with a 

 Simonds saw, 8 inches diameter, 30 guage rim, on a 

 mandrel which has been in constant use for nine 

 years, and has never t)een trued up or rebabbited. 

 The saw originally had 100 teeth. I cut out half of 

 them. The saw has been in use for two years, and 

 has been set a number of times, and has a slight 

 set now. It requires some care and skill to run a 

 saw so thin as this; liut it cuts so "sweet," and 

 takes out so little, it is almost like cutting with a 

 knife. The great secret about this smooth-sawing 

 business, besides having dry straight-grained wood, 

 is to give the saw time to do its work without 

 crowding it. You may hear from me again on the 

 section question. S- Y. Ohr. 



Morning Sun, Iowa, July 4, 1885. 



