l88o 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



605 



off the early liooey they went right into the new | 

 sections and went to drawing' out the Idn., even be- , 

 tore there was any honey to put into them. They 

 are now worlting on buckwheat, which is looking 

 well. Basswood was never better, but we haven't 

 enough of it, the most being cut off and sold to 

 make ('randall's toys, and there are about 250 col- 

 onies of bees in this range. i 



I have bees in three different places, besides my 

 home yard. I find that they do much better where 

 there are only a few bees in a place. T can get 

 more honey in my liouse apiary than T can in chaff 

 hives. ('. J. HAKiHT. 



Hush, Pa., Aug. l(t. 188;-.. 



AlJOl'T THAT AUTO.MATIC HON EV-KXTRACTOR. 



Charles West, on page 5*') of Gleanings, wants 

 some "late information about the practicability of 

 the Stanley automatic extractor." I purchased a 

 four-frame machine of that make last spring; have ■ 

 extracted about 4000 lbs., and can say that it is prac- j 

 ticably reversible. The working parts are strong, 1 

 well put together, and it looks as if it ought to last j 

 a long time. It is certainly a great sa\ing of time 

 and labor to be able to reverse the combs almost in- 

 stantaneously, instead of lifting out one at a time , 

 and putting them back to get the honey out of the 1 

 other side. While 1 am delighted with the working 

 parts, 1 am not so well pleased with the can. It is 

 made of good material, and well put together, but 

 it has a Hat bottom and no honey-gate, but a tin 

 tube instead, and J do not consider any extractoi- 

 complete that will always have two or three gallons 

 of honey standing in it unless you tip it to one side 

 so it can get out. Hro. Stanley, in the cut of his 

 extractor, shows a honey-gate; but when he makes 

 it he prefers a tin tube and cork. I do not find 

 fault with Uro. Stanley for making his extractor 

 with a tin tube instead of a honey-gate, but I was 

 not a little disappointed to find mine that way; and 

 I think when goods differ in anyway from a cut 

 that is intended to describe them, such differences 

 ought to be made known by private letter or other- 

 wise. 4— A. R. NiSBET, 100—143. 



Dobyville, Clark Co., Ark. 



To be sure, friend S. ought to make some 

 explanation, if he sends out a inathine that 

 does not agree with his illustration, and lie 

 certainly can afford a good honey-gate for 

 the price he gets for them. As" we never 

 heard this complaint befoie, may be yours 

 was, finished in that way by mistake", and 

 that the others are as they should be. 



DOES CONTKAt'TING TJHE BROOD-NESr INtJREASE 

 THE TENDENCY TO SWARM? 



Do not wide frames forsections, or the contracting 

 of the brood-nest, in any way cause bees to swarm 

 more than they otherwise would? If a swarm of 

 bees has plenty of room all the season through, 

 would they swarm at all? In introducing virgin 

 queens as you describe in last issue of Glean- 

 ings, does it make any difference whether they 

 come from the lamp nursery or the hatcher? I 

 kept a lot of virgin queens caged up. four or five 

 days, then tried to introduce them by the same 

 plan by which I had successfully introduced a 

 lot of fertilized ones. I lost about every one 

 of them, proving true what yon say in July 15 No., 

 page 504. In Aug. 1 No. you want some plan for in- 

 troducing a virgin queen, five to seven days old, to 

 a colony queeuless 24 hours. Where can they be 



kept so that the bees will receive them? I believe, 

 that if there is a plan found it will be by a cage that 

 allows the bees to liberate the queen, the length of 

 time for keeping her away from the bees being reg- 

 ulated by the thickness of candy or material they 

 have to work through. 4— Wm. Fuller. 19—45. 

 Woodville, Wis. 



Friend F., giving plenty of room in a hive 

 will often be the means of inducing the bees 

 to store honey and not swarm : yet the rule is 

 by no means" invariable, for swarms often 

 come out when the hive is only half full. 

 AVheuacolony of bees get their sections full, 

 however, and their owner neglects to give 

 them more, they are pretty certain to get the 

 swarming fever. Your success in introduc- 

 ing virgin queens four or five days old is 

 just about what I should expect, lliey can 

 by no means be introduced as easily as a fer- 

 tile laying queen^ 



WHAT AII,S THE BEES? 



This spring I bought from a farmer two colonies 

 of bees in old box hives. One of them sent out 

 three large swarms, and all are doing well. The 

 old hive is now in a bad condition. It smells badly, 

 and they don't seem to be doing much. Is it foul 

 brood? if so, is there anj- remedy? As you are 

 good authority on bees, I would thank you to tell 

 me what I had better do. If it is contagious, would 

 it not be better to destroy them? N. W. Ecidy. 



Toledo, <)., Aug. 24, 1885. 



Friend K., T hardly think it is foul brood, 

 from your statement, although it may be. 

 Your great trouble is, that your bees are in 

 a box hive, and the only thing for you to do 

 is to break or cut out a comb containing 

 brood, so that you can make an examination. 

 If you find tlie combs r.eally contain dead 

 brood, and when the cells are punctured 

 with a little stick or the point of a knife, 

 you find this brood in a pasty condition, 

 emitting a bad smell, you may be certain it 

 is foul brood. Another symptom of foul 

 brood is, that after the caps of the cells have 

 sunken in, a small hole like a pin-hole is 

 seen in the center of each cap. 



HONEV-DEW AGAIN, BITT ONLY A SLIGHT TRACE. 



I notice in the editorials of July 15, that you have 

 heard no report from honey-dew this year. We 

 have had some here, but not nearly as much as last 

 year. There is just enough to give the honey a pol- 

 len, or bready taste. I find it helps such honey 

 greatly to heat it a little. How long will it take un- 

 capped honey in the hive to ripen? The honey crop 

 is a failure, compared with last year; bee-keepers 

 will not get half a crop around here. 



Hartland, Wis., Aug. 6, 188.5. E. M. Crouch. 



SOME QUESTIONS EROM FRIEND BAUM. 



j I e.vamined a uucleiis that died of dysenteiy, and 

 [ found some white substance on and in the comb, 

 [ and, to my astonishment, I found it was table-salt 

 j crystals. Now the question is. Where did they get 



it, and what did they want of it? 

 j Will the queen voluntarily leave the old hive in 

 ' swarming time, or is she compelled to do so by the 



workers? 

 t Bees are doing pretty well yet. They are still 

 ; dropping in the forenoon. The honey and pollen 

 I come from corn-fields and part form red clover. The 

 I grasshoppers are destroying much red clover. 



