410 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



dozen times a day. Perhaps it would be 

 well to commence with one sting a day, 

 and then give him more as he could bear it. 

 I should be very glad indeed to know that 

 the latter plan has succeeded, but I am 

 quite anxious that sunshine and outdoor 

 exercise have their full due. When the 

 days are so warm that 1 get real sweaty out 

 in the fields, my aches and paios and ner- 

 vousness almost invariably give way more 

 or less, so I believe in living outdoors a good 

 deal. 



VEI.LOW .jessamine; a case of honey-poison- 

 ing, AGAIN. 



Inclosed you will find a clipping from our county 

 paper, thai may be of some interest to you. 1 am 

 not acquainted with any of the parties, but I have 

 no doubt of the correctness of the statement. 

 Whether the death was caused by the poison of 

 honey may be questioned. J. C. Grayson. 



Wyloe, Ark., April 10, 1889. 



A SAD DEATH 



Mr. and Mrs. Birchfleld, with their 5 or H children, 

 had a bee-tree cutting near here last Saturday 

 evening. They all ate of the honey except one 

 child, and were all soon attacked with blind dizzi- 

 ness, and went to the house. Maud, their little 12- 

 year-old daughter, was taken very ill, and died in a 

 few minutes. The rest of the family soon recover- 

 ed and are now safe. Jessamine poison is suppos- 

 ed to be the cause. The bereaved family have the 

 heartfelt sympathies of the Locust Bayou vicinity. 



J. W. Hollis. 



Locust Bayou, Ark., April :.', 1889. 



Friend G., I wish you would give us the 

 full facts in this matter. If you will go and 

 visit the family, and find out all you can 

 about it, I will pay you for your time and 

 expense. 



CAN A QUEEN HATCH IN 11 DAYS FROM THE EGG? 



1 inclose a circular from Mr. Wallace, of Clayton, 

 III., containing a statement that queens may hatch 

 in 11 days from the egg. The statement I call in 

 question, reads as follows: 



One very curious freak in nature is, that the egg 

 laid to hatch a worker bee can be changed to a 

 queen, and be made to hatch in elrvai days: but if 

 to hatch a worker it would take twenty -two days. 



In fact, at the convention at Clayton last October 

 he claimed to usually get queens in 11 days, but he 

 failed to convince either my friend Spencer or my- 

 self that the bees started his cells from eggs. All 

 the books I have examined on queen-raising state 

 the time as 16 days. Are there any exceptions ex- 

 ceeding, say, two days either more or lees than the 

 16 days given as the usual time? Mr. Wallace cer- 

 tainly has some very nice-colored bees, and very 

 gentle ones; but we could not tell anything about 

 their working qualities, for in his region there was 

 no crop of honey last season, nor for one or two 

 previous ones. Daniel E. Bobbins. 



Payson, 111., April 5, 1889. 



I think you are correct ; in fact, any text- 

 book on bee culture should settle this mat- 

 ter. The queen may possibly hatch 15 days 

 from the egg ; but as a rule it is fully 16. 

 Your friend, without doubt, gave the bees 

 both eggs and larva?, and the queens were 

 hatched from larva? which was five or six 

 days old. 



WHAT MAKES BEES DWINDLE? 



About a week ago a cold northeast wind brought 

 a couple of chilly days. On the coldest of these 

 flays we were away from home. Throughout the 



day the sun either shone hazily or was thinly 

 clouded. When we got home we found bees in the 

 water-tubs, bees in the chicken-troughs, bees in the 

 buttermilk, bees in the grass, bees on the walks, 

 bees on the pump, bees everywhere, benumbed, and 

 unable to get home. That is what I find always 

 dwindles bees— chilly, cloudy, damp weather. Of 

 course, bees that are least healthy and rugged are 

 least able to stand such weather, and, of course, 

 the colony that is situated and packed so as to be 

 dryest and warmest will be the healthiest. High- 

 pressure methods of stimulation, very early in the 

 spring, also drive bees out to perish, often tearing 

 down faster than building up. Geo. F. Bobbins. 

 Mechanicsburg, 111., April 19, 1889. 



I think, friend R., that you are exactly 

 right in the matter; and we should endeav- 

 or to have the bees stay in their hives dur- 

 ing such weather, if there is any way to 

 manage it. 



HART'S HIVE-CART. 



Jn moving hives, both single and double, I have 

 often w ished for some means of moving other than 

 by hand. It has occurred to me several times that 

 a two-wheeled skeleton barrow would fill the bill, 

 the axle being cranked as shown in the accompany- 

 ing drawing. From the cross-bar, two pieces of 

 stiff wire or light iron rods could be hung, as shown 

 on each side. To pick up a hive it would be neces- 

 sary only to run the machine up to the back or front 

 of the hive, and tilt the handles up until the hooks 

 are on a level with the ground. Now slip the hook- 

 ed wires under the floor-board of the hive. When 



the machine is brought level, the hive will be lifted 

 from the ground and will swing level into place, 

 and could be easily moved anywhere, with this ad- 

 vantage—that one person could easily move either 

 a two or three stor3 r hive, and it could also be easily 

 adapted to weigh the hives, and also for an ordina- 

 ry wheelbarrow by laying boards across. 



There, friends, you who have to move your hives 

 in and out of winter quarters, I think you will be 

 glad if you could develop the idea into shape. 



Avery, Iberia Par., La. H. F. Hart. 



I judge from your description, friend H., 

 that you have not yet made such a cart, and 

 I think the principal trouble would be that 

 a hive would swing on the bearings above, 

 like a pendulum. It is true, this could be 

 stopped by fastening two of the arms to the 

 adjoining shafts; but then they would not 

 have the feature to take up and let down 

 the hive. If some device could be fixed, 

 either to let them swing or fasten them rig- 

 idly, quickly and simply, it might answer a 

 very good purpose. 



