o42 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



horses can be detached in double-quick time from 

 the load till things are righted. S. I. Freeborn. 



Ithaca, Wis., June, 1889. 



Yon have hit it exactly. Have the pin 

 that holds the donhletrees, made with a 

 loop or eye in the top, and then hitch a 

 stout rope to it that will not break, or, 

 better still, a chain, and let the driver sit 

 on the front end of the wagon, with the bolt 

 between his feet. If the bolt is greased, as 

 you suggest, and does not stick, he can jerk 

 it out, even if the team were drawing on the 

 doubletrees. With one horse, the whiffle- 

 tree to the wagon would have to be arranged 

 the same way; then fix the hold-backs so 

 they will easily slip off from the thills, and 

 the driver can skip, leaving the wagon be- 

 hind at any moment, on short notice. 



HONEY STATISTICS, ETC. 



FROM ONE OF THE FRIENDS IN THE SOUTH. 



fRIEND ROOT: — Gleanings, June 1st, is at 

 hand, and you are to be congratulated on its 

 beauty, valuable contents, and general com- 

 pleteness. The new feature, " Honey Sta- 

 tistics," is a most important one. I was sur- 

 prised, however, to note the large percentage of 

 " bees wintered," in the Southern reports, as ex- 

 perience in this section coincides with that report- 

 ed from Louisiana, where a large per cent starved. 

 Box hives, of course, and those governed by 

 "kings," are the chief sufferers. The winter was 

 so mild that bees were flying a large part of the 

 time, and stores were consumed to an extent un- 

 usual. Leaving my apiary well supplied, and the 

 hives equalized as to sealed stores, 1 was absent all 

 winter. Returning I found one colony out of 26 

 starved— a very strong but energetic colony. Its en- 

 ergy was doubtless its ruin. Though this colony 

 need not have been lost, and my "showing," as it 

 was, a very fair one, still, a cold winter would have 

 started things off in spring in far better trim for 

 the honey season, while many box-hive men lost 

 all, and many more from 50 to 95 per cent. 



I use Simplicity single-story hives on summer 

 stands for wintering, with some natural shelter 

 (cedars) on the north. In this connection I will 

 add, I use old pieces of ingrain carpet on top of the 

 enamel cloth, on some hives, and on crates, when 

 first placed; and 1 am satisfied in both cases it is 

 beneficial, and I know a large piece of the same ma- 

 terial thrown over the outside will cause bees to go 

 into sections in cool weather when they will not 

 otherwise. 



I have obtained real clover honey this spring, 

 to a very considerable extent— something unusual 

 here. It was from white, alsike, and red, the Ital- 

 ians going 3% miles for the latter. Sweet clover 

 is just coining in and promises great things, being 

 7 feet high, and the few blooms open are covered 

 with bees. 



MORE ABOUT THE BUTCHER BIRD. 



The butcher bird Prof. Cook tells of is a familiar 

 acquaintance of mine, and I have often seen him 

 doing what the genial professor describes. A fa- 

 vorite tree is the honey-locust, on whose thorns 

 this little butcher impales his prey. In my daily 

 walk to the village 1 always see one near a thorn- 

 bush that had been cut down and thrown into a 

 gully. Only a few days ago I stopped a little friepd 



to show her a large grasshopper that I had just seen 

 this bird transfix on one of the sharp thorns. 

 When in Florida some years ago, one of these spe- 

 cies used one of my young orange-trees to such an 

 extent that it seemed to bear, as fruit, scorpions, 

 lizards, small birds, grasshoppers, and the like, all 

 at "one crop," so to speak. Wilson. Nntall, Audu- 

 bon— all, I think, speak of this trait in the great 

 shrike. 



LOSING CARP EGGS. 



I can sympathize with you in the matter of los- 

 ing carp eggs by the thieves, such as minnows, 

 frogs, snakes, and turtles, and, 1 almost forgot, 

 crawfish; and I am satisfied that, for those of us 

 who are not expert pisciculturists, and who can 

 not afford to drain often and have special breeding- 

 ponds, carp culture will prove a failure unless 

 some cheap, easy plan is adopted, by means of 

 which the eggs and very young fry can be artificial- 

 ly protected till the young fish are large enough to 

 care for themselves. Here is a plan I think cheap 

 and practicable: Make a wire-cloth cage, as large 

 as you wish (tacking the cloth on a wooden frame), 

 having a door that will shut tight, on top. When 

 the fish spawn, collect all the grass or other debris 

 on which the eggs have caught, and place it in this 

 minnow and frog proof cage, which should be put 

 in shallow water. I take it for granted you know 

 how to tell when carp spawn. It can be told by the 

 commotion they make in the water the first warm 

 weather. I always know, and see them. The above 

 will succeed, for I have used a barrel this year, and 

 hatched them successfully. Plenty of drift grass 

 or straw should always be supplied for this purpose 

 beforehand. My ponds are also flower-gardens, and 

 it might interest you and some of your readers to 

 know how easily such a spot may be beautified. I 

 will only say, that if you should come this way some 

 time I could place you on a diminutive island sur- 

 rounded by flowers, let you thrust your fishing-rod 

 through a " virgin's bower," drop your hook among 

 the lily-pads, and land your tenth carp in a bed of 

 pausies, if, in your excitement, your fish did not 

 catch in a Marechal Niel rose, fifteen feet over- 

 head. C. P. Coffin. 

 Pontotoc, Miss., June 7, 1889. 



I am very much obliged indeed, for the 

 additional facts you give us in regard to 

 the butcher-bird; also your suggestions on 

 raising young carp. I do know that all you 

 say might be done; but just now I am 

 watching and waiting for some boy who 

 loves fish, just as you and I used to love to 

 study about bees." When this boy makes 

 his appearance, I am going to give him 

 charge of my carp-pond, and he and I to- 

 gether, I am pretty sure, can raise carp as 

 easily as our boys in the garden raise celery- 

 plants. May be we could sell little ones at 

 the same price, if we could only send them 

 by mail. Your flower-garden in the middle 

 of your carp-pond almost induces me to 

 promise to pay you a visit. I have had 

 dreams of such an island, but I didi.'t know 

 that anybody had worked it out. My straw- 

 berry-bed alongside of Champion Brook ter- 

 minates on the bank of the carp-pond, and 

 I have long thought of having some flowers 

 on the banks of the pond where the weeds 

 grow so rampant; but I tell you, friend C, 

 it not only takes money but brains to keep 

 any thing of this kind nice. Perhaps your 



