1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



99 



We solicit for this department short items and questions of 

 a practical nature; but all questions, if accompanied by oth- 

 er matter, must be put upon a separate slip of paper with 

 name and address. 



A GOOD REPORT FROM ONE OP THE FRIENDS IN 

 CALIFORNIA. 



TT would do you good to see my bees tumbling in 

 ||P with pollen to-day. The tomato-vines that you 

 W saw on my fence are maturing' fruit every day, 

 **• and the hills of corn you saw are now in silk. 

 We have had more rain, and the prospect for 

 a honey crop is good. 1 have not been able to de- 

 cide whether I will go to the mountains this spring 

 or not. W. J. Morrison. 



Long Beach, Cal., Jan. 7, 1889. 



I raised 32 bushels of Japanese buckwheat from 

 Vi bushel I got of you. J. V. Hcrless. 



Archer, O., Jan. 14, 1889. 



PAINT FOR HIVES. 



I have used lead oil, but I find a paint made by 

 Lonoman & Martinez, of New York, wears best. 

 Some of my hives have been painted five years 

 with that paint, and are still in good condition. 



Sara Sota, Fla., Jan. 8, 1889. S. C. Corwin. 



DRONES IN WINTER. 



Can you tell me how it is that I have drones in 

 one of my hives at this time of year, Jan. 8 ? I 

 never saw it before. Seth Tompkins. 



Tarrytown, N. Y. 



[Friend T., the presence of the drones you men- 

 tion is probably due to the mild weather. If such 

 weather should continue they may be found in the 

 hive throughout the winter. You will probably 

 find considerable worker brood in the hives.] 



AN EIGHT OR TEN FRAME HIVE FOR COMB HONEY. 



Were you working for comb honey, and did not 

 care to practice contracting the brood-chamber, 

 would you prefer an eight or ten frame hive, of S. 

 Size? A. B. Baird. 



Belle Vernon, Pa., Jan. 7, 1889. 



[Friend B., as your question states it I should 

 prefer an 8-frame hive. Usually they would not re- 

 quire contraction with dummies.] 



HIVES WITH DEAD-AIR CHAMBERS. 



In having a dead-air chamber in a hive, would 

 you have it between the packing and the outside 

 wall, or would you have it between the packing 

 and the bees? H. F. Gressman. 



[You don't need a dead-air chamber if you have 

 packing around the bees. It is used only when no 

 packing of any kind is made use of. A chaff hive 

 without chaff between the walls would be a dead- 

 air-chamber hive; but if you insist that you want, 

 in your locality, the dead air and packing both, it 

 seems to us it would be immaterial whether the air- 

 space were between the outside wall and the chaff, 

 or the chaff and the inside wall.] 



REPORT FROM OUR FRIEND DR. LAY. 



We have had a very prosperous year in every 

 thing except honey, and that a fair crop. Bees are 

 in good condition, and all honey-plants are up and 

 well advanced. We have had a wet season. We 

 are yet enjoying garden vegetables. You were 

 within 18 miles of our home when you were at 

 Schulenburg, on your trip to California. I am sor- 

 ry you could not stop with us. We are happy to 

 note that Gleanings is improving all the while. 

 It is read by us with much pleasure. J. E. Lay. 



Halletsville, Tex., Dec. 28, 1888. 



TEXAS AND THE HORSEMINT. 



Our main honey-plant here is horsemint, and I 

 am fearful it will be scarce this year. It has been 

 a warm wet winter so far, and there is a great deal 

 of horsemint up and green, which will be killed if 

 there comes a freeze, and I am afraid it will leave 

 but little seed for spring. There is now blowing 

 the coldest "norther " that has been felt this win- 

 ter. W. A. Cartmell. 



Crowley, Tex., Jan. 8, 1889. 



PROSPECT FOR THE HONEY CROP IN TEXAS FOR 

 1889 NEVER BETTER. 



The prospect for a big honey crop was never bet- 

 ter in this part than at present. We have had a 

 warm wet winter, and the horsemint is making its 

 appearance in all of the waste places, and in many 

 places even the wheat and oats on the cultivated 

 lands. Yes, and the buds on the elm are swelled 

 and bursted, and will be in bloom in a few days, 

 and then our little Italian pets will be in their glory. 



Cross Timbers, Texas, Jan. 14, 1889. L. B. Smith. 



SWARMING OUT IN JANUARY. 



On Christmas day one colony of my bees rushed 

 out and clustered on a tree. They stayed three or 

 four minutes, separated, and went into three dif- 

 ferent hives. They were all right, but had to fight 

 their way into the third hive. They swarmed out, 

 probably because they had a sickly-looking queen, 

 damp hive, and very little stores left behind. 

 About 12 bees remained with the queen. 



Wetheredville, Md., Jan. 9, 1889. J. A. Heidler. 



[Friend H., I believe you are correct in your rea- 

 soning. Where bees get damp, they often swarm 

 out in the way you mention. The dampness is usu- 

 ally caused because the cluster of bees is too small 

 to produce sufficient heat to dry out the combs and 

 bees.] 



HONEY FROM HARD MAPLES. 



Having noticed in Gleanings that there is a dif- 

 ference of opinion as to whether or not bees store 

 honey from hard maple, I wish to state that last 

 spring, before there was any other source of hon- 

 ey, I could have extracted more than 1000 lbs. of 

 maple, or sugar-tree honey, but did not take much 

 on account of its oily flavor. I have a3-lb. can of 

 pure honey from that source yet, and can send it 

 to you if you would like to have it. 



Clarksburg, Ind., Jan. 8, 1889. H. F.Shannon. 



[Friend S., I do not quite understand what you 

 mean by the term "oily flavor." If you mean 

 something like what we call " buddy," applied to 

 the last sugar or molasses of the season, then I 

 think I understand you. You may send us a sam- 

 ple of the honey by mail, in the little wooden block 

 we mail you for the purpose.] 



in straight rows. 



Mr. Axtell says if trees are planted in perfect 

 squares, or in straight rows two ways— that is, per- 

 fect rows east and west, and perfect rows north 

 and south, then the diagonal rows will be perfectly 

 straight and there will also be an infinity of them, 

 provided the orchard be large enough. For proof 

 of the above, you would only need to see one of our 

 large cornfields when six inches high, that was 

 planted perfectly with a check-rower. 



Roseville, 111. Mrs. L. C. Axtell,. 



[I know a check-rower will do it, my friend, if the 

 operator is very careful to start on a line when he 

 commences at each end; but the orange-trees in 

 California were set so very exact that it made me 

 think they had some new process for doing it rapid- 

 ly and quickly. You will notice that the subject 

 has been taken up by two other writers in this is- 



BUl'.] 



