360 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



May 



Bees are booming- fully SO per cent better than 

 last year at this time. S. L. Klutts. 



Clear Creek, N. C, April 12, 1889. 



ENCOURAGING FOR CALIFORNIA. 



There was 7 inches of rain three weeks since. 

 This makes every thing- boom. R. Wilkin. 



Ventura, Cal., Apr. 1, 1889. 



TRAT ABSCONDING SWARM OF MRS. CHADDOCK'S. 



The queen that was left under the goblet belonged 

 to one of the swarms that absconded. The swarm 

 was not joined by any other swarm, but went off 

 alone. Generally bees do come back to the queen. 

 I clip all my queens' wings, but I do it early in the 

 season, and they might possibly have a new queen 

 by swarming time. The one mentioned had her 

 wing clipped. Mahala B. Chaddock. 



Vermont, 111. 



[I am quite sure, my friend, that your absconding 

 swarm did have a new queen. Where they got her 

 is another question.] 



SIDE VS. TOP STORING. 



I have 8 swarms of bees; 2 of them are in hives, 

 with sections at the sides of the hive. Do you not 

 think the bees would enter the sections quicker if 

 they were on top of the hive? W. C Marsh. 



McLane, Pa., Mar. 27, 1889. 



LThe bees will enter the sections quicker at the 

 sides, usually, than above: but the objection to 

 side storage is its inconvenience, and also the fact 

 tb;it there is not room sufficient for storage of a 

 very large amount of comb honey. Top storage is 

 now generally preferred.] 



BLACKS AND ITALIANS. 



Why is it that Italian bees do not carry any pol- 

 len? I have two colonies of blacks and one of Ital- 

 ians. The blacks are busy carrying pollen and 

 honey, while the Italians are bringing in honey 

 only, from maple bloom. R. I. Cromley. 



Muncy, Pa., March 22, 1889. 



[The Italians do carry pollen, and, as a general 

 thing, more than the blacks. If, however, honey 

 were to be had, I rather think the Italians would 

 put in their time on the honey while it lasted, and 

 depend on getting pollen when they could not get 

 any thing any better. Was it not so in your case?] 



CHAFF FROM TIMOTHY SEED. 



In March 15th Gleanings a friend asks about 

 packing bees with oat hulls. I packed mine with 

 chaff blown from timothy seed while cleaning ours. 

 1 think, so far as 1 have experimented, that it goes 

 far ahead of oat or wheat chaff. Has it been tried 

 before, and with what success? V. E. Freeman. 



La Grange, O., March 23, 1889. 



LI do not know why chaff from timothy seed would 

 not be exactly as good as that from oats or wheat. 

 1 suppose any thing of that sort which one happens 

 to have handy would answer about as well. I should 

 think, however, that, timothy chaff might be a little 

 more liable to pack down tight and get moldy.] 



ON THE EDGE OF 80 ACRES OF CLOVER. 



I have a good place for bees at the foot of the 

 Rockies, with plenty of clover, alfalfa, and wild 

 flowers all around me for miles. I intend to keep 

 my bees at the edge of a clover-field of 80 acres, 

 and in this section it blooms till snow flies, and the 

 flowers are in bloom from April till November. 



Mrs. M. A. Depp. 



Pueblo, Colorado, Mar. 25, 1889. 



[I should think your place would be wonderful 

 for bees. We should be very glad indeed to have 

 you tell us what the crop is trom an apiary on the 

 edge of 80 acres of clover. I presume, of course, in 

 your locality you are obliged to irrigate, to keep 

 the clover from dying during the summer drouth.] 



0a^ QaEgJFieN-Bex, 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



All queries sent in for this department should be briefly 

 stated, and free from any possible ambiguity. The question 

 or questions should be written upon a separate slip of paper, 

 and marked, "For Our Question-Box." 



Question 121.— When a prime swarm clusters, it 

 hangs in the cluster for a certain lengtli of time; and 

 if not hived it goes off. a. What is Uielongest time 

 you ever knew a prime swarm to remain thus clustered 

 before going off 1 b. The shortest? 



a. For 21 hours; b. 21 hours. O. O. Poppleton. 

 a. Half a day; b. ten minutes. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 

 a. Thirty-six hours; b. perhaps an hour. 



James A. Green. 

 a. I have known them to remain over night, b. T 

 knew one not to alight at all. A. J. Cook. 



Bees never do any thing invariably. I consider 

 it wholly a matter of circumstance. 



H. R. Boardman. 

 I have had them remain 2 days. I have seen 

 them off in 10 or 15 minutes after clustering. 



Paul L. Viallon. 

 I have had little experience with natural swarms. 

 We have always had our queens clipped, and have 

 made our increase by division. P. H. Elwood. 



I do not remember more than two prime swarms 

 leaving me; one of them was an hour and a half, 

 the other T did not know when it came out. 



R. Wilkin. 



a. Over night, b. We have, as a rule, to hive the 

 swarms as soon as possible, and advise bee-keepers 

 not to defer the hiving, for no two swarms act the 

 same. Dadant & Son. 



I never had a swarm cluster and then leave. Tn 

 fact, T never knew but one swarm to leave that had 

 clustered, and I don't know how long that had been 

 clustered. A. B. Mason. 



a. For almost 2 day 8; b. an hour or two. I have 

 seen a first swarm settle for about 10 minutes, and 

 then leave for a hollow tree, in a bee-line. It had, 

 however, a virgin queen, to the best of my judg- 

 ment. Chas. F. Muth. 



When they have alighted in a sheltered place at 

 the trunk of a tree, or upon a fence where a limb 

 or board protects them, I have known them to com- 

 mence building comb and remain until removed. I 

 have also seen them start to go away before all had 

 clustered. L. C Root. 



a. I've known them to remain over night several 

 times, and I think some of them remained about 24 

 hours, and they might have remained longer if they 

 had not been hived, b. I think about three hours, 

 but I am not sure, and I never knew nlany swarms 

 to go off. C. C Miller. 



1 have known a swarm to thus remain two days. 

 I always consider it somewhat risky to leave them 

 over ten or fifteen minutes. I can not answer the 

 second part of your question, for I never had a col- 

 ony leave their new home when I knew how long it 

 had been clustered, out of the many thousands I 

 have hived. James Heddon. 



Oh! I don't know. Small second swarms I have 

 known to. hang to the limb of a tree in the grove 

 for several days, and even build comb; but large 

 swarms will usually decamp if not hived within a 



