678 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



eluding lioney itself, as the l)ees usually 

 gather it from the flowers, contain a vast 

 amount of foreign substances, which are 

 (luite likely to make it unfit for such a diet 

 as the l)ees re(]uire when kept for months in 

 confinement as tiiey are during the winter. 



Inclosed find a piece from the New York Sun of 

 August .'{d. It may be well lor you to keep triuk ol 

 that station, to inform your readers. 



Bees are makin^i- but little honey this summer. 

 They are at work on buckwheat now. We shall get 

 but little honey from it, as it will be a short crop. 

 Geohge Kichaisds. 



Harpcrsville, N. Y., Aujr. 11, 1885. 



EXPEKI.MEXT.S IN BEE CCLTUKE. 



An agricultural station has recently been estab- 

 lished at Aurora, 111., in connection with the ento- 

 mological division of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. Mr. Nelson W. McLain has been appointed to 

 take charge of the station, and Prof. Kiley has in- 

 structed him to pay particular attention to these 

 subjects: 



To secure the introduction and domestication of 

 such races of bees as are reported to possess desir- 

 able traits and characteristics; to prove by experi- 

 ments their value to agriculturists of tlic I'nited 

 States, and their adaptation to our cliMiatc and hon- 

 ey-producing Hora; tomakee.vperinifnts in the cross- 

 ing and mingling of races, and endeavor to secure 

 the type or types best adapted to the uses of our 

 bee-keepers; to make experiments in the methods 

 of artificial fertilization; to test the various methods 

 of preparing bees for winter; to gather statistics 

 concerning the bee-keeping industry in the United 

 States; to make observations concerning varieties 

 of honey-producing plants for bee-forage; to study 

 the true causes of diseases yet imperfectly under- 

 stood, and the best methods of preventing or curing 

 them ; and to obtain facts as to the capacity of bees 

 to injure fruit. 



WILL IT PAY TO FEED BEES DESTITCTE OK STOKES? 



My black bees have not honey enough to take 

 them to mid-winter, except about three stands. All 

 my Italians, the new swarm or colonj-. will have to 

 be fed. One colony (new) has not one ounce of hon- 

 ey. Will it pay to feed enough to them, while the 

 weather is warm, to winter? How much sugar to a 

 colony? This season has been very poor for honey 

 here excejit a week or so during the bloom of bass- 

 wood. Lots of buckwheat here, but it doesn't fur- 

 nish honey. W. S. Jones. 



Central Station, W. Vn., Sept. S, 188.5. 



I suppose, friend J., circumstances will 

 have to decide the matter to a certain extent; 

 but I should say it would most assuredly 

 pay to feed l)ee"s ; and for myself I Avould 

 feed them, even if it did not i)ay— that is, 

 unless 1 had found by experience" that bee- 

 keeping was a much poorer business than 

 any reports we have had yet ; at least, 1 feel 

 sure it will pay in the end instead of letting 

 them starve. You may not get your money 

 back the fust season after feeding, but this 

 is true of almost any farm crop. I can not 

 answer the question as to how^ much sugar 

 l)er colony, any more than a farmer could 

 tell how much it would cost to feed a cow 

 through the winter ; but as a rule we might 

 say from hi to 20 lbs., if feeding is com- 

 menced this month. 



WILL THE CLAHK SMOKEU BLIiN ( MOlM'EDtP 

 CORN-COBS? 



Please let me know if your (lark smokers will 

 burn corn-cobs that have been ground on a feed- 

 mill, into pieces the size of three or four kernels of 

 corn, and dried in the oven. I think the chatT and 



small pieces of cob blown from the large corn-shell- 

 ers would be good fuel, but have never tried it. 

 Corn-cobs prepared as above burn well in the Bing- 

 ham smoker. Geo. M. Tho.mson. 

 Grand Junction, la., Sept. 11, 188.5. 



The Clark smoker would be a rather poor 

 affair, friend T., if it would not burn such 

 fuel as you mention. Corn-cobs make a 

 large volume of smoke, and for a time it 

 w^as thouglit to be the best fuel that could 

 be procured : and tlie only drawback is, that 

 it contains a much larger quantity of tarry 

 matter than rotten -wood, and many have 

 discarded it because it lills u)) tlietulesof the 

 smoker so quickly. I should think that the 

 chaff and small pieces of cob you mention 

 would make splendid fuel. 



WHY DO BEES ABSCOND FHOM TUEIK HIVES? 



I should like to ask you concerning some dissatis- 

 faction among my bees. One of my Italian queens 

 came out this spring, carrying with her all the 

 workers that were able to fly, leaving the brood- 

 chamber full of brood, from that hatching, down to 

 eggs, with some little storage. Soon afterward an- 

 other one of ray Italians came out of her own hive, 

 bringing with her all the bees in the hive, and went 

 in the hive the first had left, and stayed till next 

 day, when they came out and settled. I caught the 

 (jueen and cropped her wings, and put them back 

 in their own hive. She seemed to be very badly 

 dissatisfied, and the bees came out for three or four 

 successive days and would settle, and in a few min- 

 utes would go back. On examination I found they 

 had lost their (jueen, and found they had exhausted 

 their stores. I gave them some stores, after which 

 they went to work and reared a line queen, as they 

 had a good supply of eggs, and are now doing well. 

 This crazy way of doing puzzled me very much, and 

 I shall be very thankful if you or some of the 

 friends would give me some clew to it and remedy 

 for it. My bees are not gathering much honey yet, 

 on account of too much rain, but they seem to be 

 gaining rapidly. J. W. Sf.glek. 



Paris, Texas, July 6, 188,'). 



Friend S., this matter is fully discussed in 

 the ABC book, under the head of -'Ab- 

 sconding Swarms." Jn your case they ab- 

 sconded because of scanty stores. This they 

 are especially apt to do in the spring. A 

 good many limes they go off with a little 

 honey left in the hives, as you mention. 



ADULT BEES CAN SECIIETE WAX. 



Can working bees secrete wax? I sec that W. 

 Connelly takes the ground that bees old enough to 

 be workers can make no more; wax (page 164). I 

 just feel like saying a word, and will give you a 

 case that 1 know to be a fact. One hive of bees 

 swarmed, and the swarm was hived in the usual 

 nuinner. That swarm flUed theii- hive full, and 

 swarmed in just 23 days. As it takes 21 days to 

 hatch a bee from an egg, this last swarm were the 

 san;e Ices as the first sv.arin, ml they had been 

 workers for 20 days. But they filled up the second 

 hi\e with comb and honey. It took three weeks to 

 fill the last hive, so those bees old enough to be 

 workers did secrete wax, and build comb for six 

 weeks. E. France. 



Platteville. Wis., Aug. 24, 188.5. 



Will the friends who claim that old bees 

 can not secrete wax please answer friend F.? 



