1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



409 



We will send them wherever you direct, 

 free of charge. 



C. C. MILLER DISCOURSES FURTHER ON THAT HIVE- 

 STAND ; A CORRECTION. 



I'm sorry the picture in May 1st Gleanings 

 shows the bottom-boards of my stands projecting. 

 I'm not good at making pictures, and didn't know 

 how else to show where the boards were. But there 

 is no need of my stands projecting beyond the hive, 

 and, as a matter of fact, they do not. Sand or saw- 

 dust closes up every thing about your stands, and 

 that feature I like. I know no reason why it could 

 not be applied just as well to mine, and then I don't 

 know of any advantage yours has, while mine has 

 the advantage that the stands can be more cheaply 

 made, leveled in less than half the time (because 

 double), and will stay level better; and if a board 

 rots it can be replaced separately without renewing 

 the whole stand. As a matter of magnanimity on 

 my part, however, I'll let you continue to use yours. 



Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



JAPANESE BUCKWHEAT. 



Bees have wintered well in thisl'section. There 

 will be a good deal of Japanese buckwheat raised 

 here this year, as the test last season was so favor- 

 able. I think its introduction worth an immense 

 sum of money to the country, if it does as well in 

 the future as it promises so far. I raised 21 bushels 

 from the peck I got of you last year, on poor 

 ground, and one of my neighbors raised 81 bushels 

 from the same amount bought of you. 



Volney White. 



Findley's Lake, N. Y., April 29, 1889. 



HOW BEES GATHER POLLEN. 



Under the head <of " Pollen," in your ABC book, 

 you say the bee "sweeps] his tongue among the 

 grains of pollen." I have peeped around them, 

 and spied about them and under them till my neck 

 was tired, but I have never seen him " sweep his 

 tongue " yet. Last spring I mixed meal and flour, 

 and put it into a shallow box, as a substitute for 

 pollen. One day in passing by I observed a bee in 

 the bottom of the box, digging away with his fore 

 legs among the meal that had gathered in the top. 

 Holding my breath that 1 might 'peep closer, I dis- 

 covered that, with his front legs, he flirted the fine 

 meal or flour among those bristles, hairs, or feath- 

 ers, on his chest. When he has sufficient, he rises 

 on the wing and then "sweeps his tongue among 

 the grains of pollen," places it on his hind legs, and 

 is ready to get another batch. When gathering 

 from flowers he does the same way. The bumble- 

 bee gathers the same way, except that he sings 

 while flirting the pollen among his feathers. 



Smithville, Mo., April 18, 1889. J. M. Aker. 



I confess, my friend, that I never could 

 get a bee to work slowly enough so that I 

 could be satisfied just exactly as to how he 

 did it. Where they work on meal, however, 

 I am quite certain that the tongue furnish- 

 es diluted honey, or something equivalent, 

 to enable the bee to pack meal like dough, 

 and thus form pollen masses. Its tongue is 

 certainly a very important tool; but I am not 

 even now satisfied what office it performs. 



combs be built in solid." Now, that is just the 

 hive I am using, not from choice, but from necessi- 

 ty. There are some difficulties which, if I can not 

 overcome, will compel me to buy a saw and make 

 frame hives. 



How can I prevent swarming, especially after- 

 swarms? I wish friend Hetherington would give 

 us a few dots on that line. How about finding out 

 the condition of the hive as to stores, brood, queen- 

 cells, etc.? It seems that they are much more lia- 

 ble to leave the hive after they are hived thau if 

 they had a frame of brood or even frames with start- 

 ers. 1 think it would be a good idea to make the 

 inside of the chaff hive of the thick paper used 

 sometimes for ceiling houses, but without the var- 

 nish which is put on it. That would give porosity, 

 ventilation, lightness, and warmth. 



Cuthbert, Ga , Apr. 6, issy. L. A. Duggan. 



Friend D., you can not very well prevent 

 swarming absolutely, even with movable- 

 comb hives ; but if your boxes are shallow 

 enough you can, by holding them up to the 

 light, see the queen-cells, and cut them out 

 with a long slim-bladed knife from either 

 one side or the other. You can also, in the 

 same way, judge of the stores. If they 

 need feeding, instead of giving them an ex- 

 tra comb give them an extra section of 

 combs. You might, with some trouble, 

 give them unsealed brood, to keep them 

 from absconding. Very likely, thick paper 

 or straw-board would answer nicely for the 

 inside of chaff hives. 



THAT ORANGE-BLOSSOM HONEY. 



Your kind nocice of our orange-blossom honey is 

 very greatly appreciated. We have sold about 20 

 gallons of it, and have left about that amount on 

 hand. We receive for it here, in five-gallon cans, 

 10 cents per lb. We got about 40 gallons, same as 

 sample, and have taken since (on Saturday, April 20) 

 15 gallons, a shade darker, mostly from a laurel 

 bush. The next extracting will be from that also; 

 then palmetto and basswood come together so 

 close I fear we shall be unable to separate them as 

 distinctly as I should desire. I will send you a sam- 

 ple whenever I get any that will be worthy of it. 



Altoona, Fla., Apr. 22, 1889. John Craycrakt. 



HIVES WITH MOVABLE COMBS OR NOT. 



Friend Boot:— In commenting on Question 117 you 

 say, "A few have been bold enough to say there is 

 no particular need that wo should have frames at 

 all— just have a shallow brood-chamber, and let the 



BEE-STINGS A CURE FOR RHEUMATISM. 



Last summer I began bee-keeping, and up till 

 then I had been troubled with rheumatic pains; but 

 during the time I was stung by bees I never felt 

 any pain from rheumatism. The poison from the 

 stings seemed to cure the complaint. Do you 

 think there is any thing in it? F. Brown. 



Uttoxeter, England, Mar. 20, 1889. 



It has been pretty well demonstrated that 

 rheumatic pains do give way, at least to 

 some extent, when the sufferer is stung fre- 

 quently by the bees. It just now occurs to 

 me, however, that taking a good sweat 

 every day in the open air, out in the sun- 

 shine, might of itself have a beneficial ef- 

 fect on the rheumatism. We have plenty 

 of instances where people have been greatly 

 improved in health by taking up bee-keep- 

 ing or gardening, or any other like out- 

 door pursuit ; but I do not now remember 

 that we have had positive proof that the 

 patient would have been relieved by sitting 

 in his room and having the bees brought to 

 him so as to give him a sting, say half a 



