18So 



(CLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



749 



think it. furnishes more lioney. The Cuthbcrt is lat- ^ 

 cr, and very good, but it does not yield verj- well j 

 with us. One of the first and best for honey is the '. 

 Purple Cane, but it is not g-ood for market. The 

 bees work on the black as well as on the red. 



I can not agree with Mrs. Chaddoek. 1 wish to 

 liave religion the chief business of my life. I leave 

 my bees to swarm naturally through the week if 

 they will. If I think any of them likely to swarm 

 on Sunday I swarm them artificially on Saturday, or 

 take the risk of losing them. If you do not wish to 

 have them swarm at all, give them plenty of room. 

 Mis.^L. Wii.r.iAMS, '.I— 11. 



Delavuii. Wis., Aug. .5, 1885. 



Thank you, my Irieiul. for your report in 

 regard to the different kinds of raspberries. 

 If we could get at the kind of laspberries 

 most profitable for bee-keepers in different 

 localities, and during average seasons, it 

 would be (luite a valuable fact. 



THK NKW JOHNSTON inTMP; HOW i.o.vc noKs it 



TAKi: TO EMl'Tr A PAll.? 



October Gr.EAXiNOS, page 067, that .lohnston 

 pump. Aliout what is its time in using up a pail of 

 water"-* The continuous stream is a great improve- 

 ment, [ think. I shoulil like one or two before 

 swarming-time again. I have no report to m^e. 

 I had 10 hives last spring: obtained IHKJ lbs. of hon- 

 ey—about 300 of it comb honey: increased to 10 

 hives. In this community we have no basswood, no 

 white clover, no buckwheat. Honey this season 

 from the middle of August to the iJOth of Sept.. 

 mostly from smartweed and asters. 



El Dorado, Kan., Oct. 1:.', 18.«'). K. W. Pei;k^ns. 



The .lohnston pump, as sent out by the 

 luanulacturers. will en>pty an ordinary pail 

 of water in two minutes, and will send a con- 

 stant stream -jO ft. and over. If, however, 

 llie oriticc is reamed out with an awl so that 

 the opening is a little larger than i in., you 

 <?an emi)ty a pail in about a minute, at the 

 same time forcing the stream just as far as 

 before. Jn this case, however, the stream 

 will not be as constant as when the orilice is 

 smaller. We will send out the pumps un- 

 changed, and the purchaser can easily make 

 the orifice to suit himself. 



THAT CnVSTAI,r-l/KI> !1<)N KV-I)K W. 



The following should liave been used 

 some little time ago. It is in regard to the 

 crystallized honey-dew mentioned on page 

 r>m. AVe sent it to Prof. Devol, with direc- 

 tions to forward to I'rof. Cook, after he had 

 examined it. Frientl ( 'ook's reply appeared 

 on page ()2(). 



I did not stop to mixkv a microscopical examina- 

 tion of the "crystallized honey-dew" on those 

 plants, but mailed them immediately to Prof, t'ook. 

 I think the amoiuit of honey-dew present on those 

 specimens something- remarkable — much more 

 than I had ever before seen. It hardly seems possi- 

 t)le that it could be produced in such quantities; 

 but it is there; and how else is its presence to be 

 accounted for, if not from the insects'/ 



Columbus, Ohio, Aug. ^'7, 1885. W. S. Devoi,. 



niiAPE SUGAR FOR WINTER STORES. 



A few years ago you recommended grape sugar 

 as a good article to feed early in the spring, to 

 stimulate bees to breeding. 1 tried it, and found it 

 to be the very thinjj-. I should be much obliged if 



you would let me know if it would do'well to feed 

 now for wintering bees on. We have had such a 

 drought that my bees have nothing to live overwin- 

 ter on, and I should like to feed grape sugar If It 

 will answer the purpose. Please let me know, and 

 also if you have the grape sugar for sale, and at 

 what price. 



My bees might have half enough honey to winter 

 on. If I were to feed half as much aslthey would 

 want of grape sugar, would they use the grape 

 sugar first, as it was gathered last, or not? If they 

 would use it first, it would not get hard before they 

 would use it, and would answer their purpose. 

 Did you ever feed it for winter stores? 



G. W. ROSENBERGER. 



New Market, Va.. Oct. 1, 188.".. 



Friend R., although grape sugar has been 

 used for wintering, and sometimes success- 

 fully. I would not advise using it at all at 

 this" season of the year. We have not sold 

 it for several years, even for spring feeding, 

 because the low price of cane sugar would 

 make it no object. The bees might use the 

 grape sugar lirst, although they greatly pre- 

 fer good honey when they can get it. as you 

 may have noticed. But even if they would 

 take it first, I think J should prefer to invest 

 the same amount of money in coffee A sugar. 

 which can now lie had by the barrel for only 7 

 cents per lb. (irape sugar always hardens 

 in the cells in cold weather, whicli'is t]u> prin- 

 cipal object ion we have found to a ;/';n(/ article, 

 r am sorry to say that some of tlie factories 

 that started ui>"a few years ago turned out 

 an article so jioor thai it was unlit for bees 

 t)r for any other purpose. This latter reason, 

 in connection with the recent low prices of 

 cane sugar, is jirobably why it has lieen al- 

 most of not entirely discarded for feeding 

 bees. 



SINFI.OWERS; A REPORT OK. 



I got a nice lot of sunflowers from the seed you 

 sent me, but the bees did not work very much on 

 them : but the seed will pay inc for my trouble. As 

 to the spider and Simpson honey-jihints, 1 never got 

 any of them to conu- up. .John Mote. 



.Jenkins, Ala., Sept. is, 1885. 



Friend M.. it is a little remarkable that 

 bees sometimes work on sunllowers, and 

 again they do not. 1 do not know whether 

 it is because it is only occasionally there is 

 honey in the blossoms, or whether the bees 

 never work on suntlowers at all, unless they 

 are obliged to.— In regard to the seeds of the 

 spider and Simpson plants. I think you will 

 get the seeds to geruiinate every time, if you 

 follow the directions given in our price list. 

 For ne.xt season's use we shall have these 

 directions very plainly i)rinted on the wrap- 

 per. We mail you a package of each, free of 

 charge. 



WIM, IT DO TO rSK STOKES FOR WINTER, SAVED 

 OVER FROM BEES THAT DIED THE WINTER BEFORE? 



Last fall 1 had swarms of bees. I fed them su- 

 gar syrup till they were well filled, and then put them 

 in the cellar. Three of them were dead in the spring, 

 and the rest died of spring dwindling. There is a 

 lot of the stores left. What hall 1 do with it? Will 

 it do to feed bees yet when they can fiy, or not? 

 Would it be wise to melt the combs all up and make 

 wa.\? The hives are in the barn, with the frames in 

 them. I have not seen them since the fore part of 



