GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. ]5 



dowuvvard jolt. When, as is uearly always 

 the case, only one wheel falls in a hole or 

 strikes an obstruction, the result is a side jolt; 

 and to guard against these the cotnbs must be 

 placed across the wagon. The only exception 

 I can see to this rule would be in the case of a 

 very steep hill ; but by driving very carefully 

 and slowly there would be but very little dan- 

 ger if any. My yards are 10 and 15 miles 

 from the railroad, and I have hauled comb 

 honey over as rough roads as can be found 

 anywhere. I use springs under the load, and 

 the broken sections have never amounted to 

 any thing, the breakage being confined to 

 those that were not well attached to the wood. 

 GusTAVE Gross. 

 Lake Mills, Wis , Jan. 7. 



GtEANINGS FAMILY A PICKED COMPANY ; 



GLEANINGS AS AN ADVERTISING ME- 

 DIUM. 



I have received so many letters in answer to 

 my request for information which you were so 

 kind as to insert in a recent number of your 

 paper that I find it utterly impossible to an- 

 swer them all. I desire to thank my many 

 unknown friends for their kind invitations to 

 come to their neighborhoods, but of course I 

 can go to but one place, and now I am in more 

 of a quandary than ever as to where I had best 

 locate. I have letters before me from people 

 living in Wisconsin on the north to Florida 

 on the south, and from New Jersey on the 

 east to Utah on the west. It strikes me that 

 your paper must have a wide and general cir- 

 culation, and hence must surely be a good ad- 

 vertising medium. I have before me several 

 otfers of good apiaries and other preperty ; and 

 as I am not ready to buy I would suggest to 

 the owners that they advertise it in Glean- 

 ings, as I am satisfied they will soon find a 

 buyer. Judging by the kindly spirit pervad- 

 ing all these letters I believe the Gleanings 

 family is " picked company." 



Henry Detmers. 



Carlsbad, N. M., Dec. 15. 



EXTRACTED HONEY FROM DARK COMBS. 



Is it an established fact that dark combs im- 

 part a dark color to the honey stored in them, 

 as I understand Mr. Chalon Fowln to state? 

 See page 960, Dec. 15, top of right-hand col- 

 umn. R. J. Fox. 



Natick, Mass. 



[I know there are some who say that old 

 dark combs should not be used if one wishes 

 to get a first-class article of white extracted 

 honey. If they (the combs) do have any ef- 

 fect, the darkening is almost imperceptible. 

 If one wishes to put a fine article of extracted 

 honey on the market, or for exhibition pur- 

 poses, or for a fancy trade, it would, perhaps, 

 be belter to have such honey stored in combs 

 not more than three or four years old. I say 

 it would perhaps I do not know. I myself 

 am inclined to believe that for ordinary mar- 

 keting purposes old dark combs would answer 

 as well as newer ones for the production of ex- 

 tracted honey. Of course, some combs might 

 be stained by pollen, or they might come 



from hives on which bees had recently win- 

 tered. Such combs, of course, could not fur- 

 nish a first-class article of extracted honev. 

 — Ed.] 



how many drones does a colony re- 

 QUIRE ? 



How many drones do I need per colonv ? 

 Perhaps the question is not plain. It is like 

 this : I bought a few colonies of bees, and 

 their increase has been put in hives where I 

 used full sheets of brood foundation, so they 

 have no drone comb whatever. Since reading 

 your paper I have made up my mind that it is 

 not a good plan to inbreed, so I am going to 

 buy a few colonies of well-bred bees to raise 

 drones from. I have 60 old colonies now. 

 How many shall I buy to furnish drones? 

 A Subscriber. 



Fort Lupton, Col., Jan. 28. 



[I would pay no attention to the matter of 

 drones, if you are working your bees for the 

 production of honey. Even if you are rear- 

 ing queens, one or two colonies of choice 

 stock could rear all the drones you require. 

 One great advantage of comb foundat on is 

 that it restricts the useless rearing of a lot of 

 drones, that are only consumers. The ordina- 

 ry apiary, consisting of hives containing 

 combs built off from foundation, even if there 

 is not a drone-cell, apparently, in the hives, 

 would have all the drones it needs for the fer- 

 tilization of its queens during swarming time, 

 or any other time, in fact, when bees can fly. 

 — Ed] 



honey cough medicine. 



Friend Root: — Why don't some of your 

 great doctors tell us how to medicate honey 

 for coughs, colds, and throat and lung trou- 

 bles, and perhaps flavor too ? 



Dexter, Me. A. R. BODGE. 



[You will find quite a number of recipes 

 for honey cough preparations in our regular 

 honey - leaflet, and under the heading of 

 "Honey-cooking Recipes," in our ABC 

 book. As these recipes were selected by C. C. 

 Miller, an M. D , they are probably the very 

 best known. — Ed.] 



FEEDING BACK FOR COMB HONEY ; CONDI- 

 TIONS UNDER WHICH IT MAY BE 

 PRACTICED. 



Will you tell me what per cent of extracted 

 honey fed back can be obtained sealed in 

 boxes, if none going into the brood-combs is 

 taken into consideration, said boxes filled 

 with foundation ? F. H. Cvrenius. 



Oswego, N. Y. 



[It is impossible to give an estimate of the 

 percentage, as so much depends on the kind 

 of honey fed back, the time of year, the kind 

 of bees used, and the man. Mr. Hutchinson, 

 who has had much experience, says it is im- 

 portant to get the right kind of colonies. 

 Some stocks are away ahead of others ; and 

 in general the black bees are the best ; the 

 next best are hybrids, and the poorest are 

 Italians. The combs in the brood-nest must 



