220 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



takes four or five mouths for the timber to 

 seasoii properly. In fact, it had better not 

 be used for almost a year after it is cut. 

 We anticipate our needs a year ahead in 

 getting basswood lumber, and have to keep 

 a stock of from S5000 to $10,000 worth in our 

 yard all tbe time. 



FEEDING AT ENTRANCE DURING THE DAY. 



Please tell me If it would do to place a feeder at 

 the entrance of a hive through the day, and cover 

 the feeder with a box, and have it so arranged that 

 the bees can get to the feed, but not out of the box. 

 My bee-3 get wild when T feed them a little. 



Muncie, Ind. E. W. Hitchens. 



Friend H., you could feed bees in the 

 manner you propose, but we would not ad- 

 vise it. Better put the feeder on top of the 

 brood-frames. If there is not space under 

 the cover, put on an extra super or brood- 

 chamber. Feeding at the entrance during 

 the day is dangerous business, especially for 

 beginners. We sell an entrance feeder, to 

 be used during the day, but after all we re- 

 gard it safer to use an entrance feeder at 

 night, or, better still, put it upon the brood- 

 frames as stated. Bees are apt to rush out 

 of the hive in excitement if fed during the 

 day, when no natural stores are coming in. 



A SHRUB WHICH BLOSSOMS WITH THE SNOW ON 

 THE GROUND. 



Forsythia viridissima is a hardy early-flowering 

 shrub, introduced some years ago from Japan, 

 where it is said to blossom on and under the snow. 

 I have seen it flower more than once on top of 

 snow one or two feet deep, in this country. It 

 seems that, while the ground is covered with snow, 

 the sun causes the buds to burst, partly by reflec- 

 tion I suppose. Some people call it golden-bell. 

 The branches are thickly covered with yellow 

 flowers, which it produces anyway; and if it is no 

 honey - plant, I should say the pollen would be 

 very acceptable where enough of it could be plant- 

 ed for bees to gather it. The shrub is hardy, very 

 attractive, and not very fastidious about soil or lo- 

 cation, but blooms, often, when nothing else can 

 be found, like the witch-hazel in the fall. Perhaps 

 others will send in their experience. 



Sandusky, O., Feb. 3, 1889. F. J. M. Otto. 



Friend O., where can this plant be ob- 

 tained? Is it found in the catalogues, or 

 does it grow in the woods like witch-hazel? 

 I do not suppose it would be worth very 

 much to the bees, as it blossoms almost too 

 early, but it might be interesting as a curi- 

 osity. 



A SUGGESTION FOR THE CLARK SMOKER. 



I have bored an inch hole opposite the large end 

 of the cold-blast tube in the Clark smokers, and 

 over that hole I fastened securely a 2-inch tin screw 

 cap, of the flat variety (not the kind that have a 

 convex base), so that we can more easily clean out 

 the tubes that are sometimes so liable to choke up 

 with soot. Please try this feature on an old smoker 

 that needs cleaning. The spring need not interfere, 

 as the center of the tin cap need not be exactly over 

 the tube. It is true, there is a patent on the caps, 

 but the caps do not know it or say so. 



Terre Haute, Ind. H. 



When we had the old blast tube we had 

 thought of putting on the feature you speak 

 of ; but since enlarging the tube, such a pro- 



vision is not so necessary. It might prove 

 a convenience, but the advantage we think 

 would hardly warrant the expense. 



AN EYE-WITNESS TO THE QUEEN'S SEPARATION 

 FROM THE DRONE AFTER MATING. 



On page 92, Mr. E. A. Pratt speaks of queens and 

 drones mating. I was going out to my bees one 

 day, when two bees came whirling down in front of 

 me and fell on to a pumpkin leaf. It proved to be 

 a queen and drone. The drone acted as if he had 

 been stung by a worker. He held fast to the leaf 

 with his feet, and the queen kept whirling over and 

 over, about as a fly would if caught in a spider's 

 web, until she freed herself, then she flew out of 

 sight in an instant, and the drone remained where 

 he was on the leaf, but showed life for only about 

 three minutes. S. R. Fletcher. 



Onawa City, Iowa, Feb. 19, 1889. 



Very good, friend F. We now have the 

 whole thing from beginning to end, and I 

 think that others have in times past report- 

 ed pretty nearly the same thing you wit- 

 nessed, so that we are able in our text-books 

 to describe the operation from beginning to 

 end, providing it always happens after about 

 the same fashion. 



CHAPMAN HONEV-PLANT SEED— HOW TO GET IT OF 

 THE GOVERNMENT. 



As I see some complaint in Gleanings, on page 

 134, by A. L. Lane and you about the distribution of 

 the Chapman honey-plant seed by the Department 

 of Agriculture at Washington, I want to say that I 

 too read the notice in Gleanings last spring, and I 

 at once wrote to Hon. Norman J. Colman, Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture, at Washington, for some 

 seed, and soon got a little package of the same. I 

 sowed some, and almost every seed came up all 

 right. Some plants had, by fall, leaves 28 inches 

 long. I believe if Mr. Lane had applied to Hon. Nor- 

 man J. Colman, Commissioner, for the seed, in- 

 stead of to his Representative, he would have re- 

 ceived some Jacob Ruch, Jr. 



Gruetli, Grundy Co., Tenn., Feb. 21, 1889. 



DISTURBING BEES IN COOL WEATHER ; CLOSING 

 THE ENTRANCE. 



Referring to Question 90, disturbing bees in cool 

 weather, please insist that all of your ABC class, 

 and others whom you can influence, do make it a 

 point, when examining bees while weather is too 

 cool for them to fly, to close the front entrance of 

 the hive with a cloth or block before opening the 

 hive, removing the cloth or block when the hive- 

 cover is replaced. You may try the plan in your 

 dwelling when the weather is just right. One door 

 or window may be open to advantage; but open a 

 door opposite the one already open, and you can 

 feel the draft, if you do not see the point. I hoped 

 to read of this feature long since; but no paper 

 that I have seen advances the advantage of shut- 

 ting off the draft. H. 



Terre Haute, Ind ! 



SALT AS A FERTILIZER. 



Have any of the readers ever tried sowing salt on 

 buckwheat ground? What was the result? I am 

 contemplating sowing about 24 acres of Japanese 

 buckwheat. I can get the salt for $3.50 or $4.00 per 

 ton, and the ground is heavy loam. 1 have tried 

 it on common wheat, and I think it makes it plutnp- 

 er and whiter. 



