1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



635 



bloom a little longer, and perhaps yield a few more 

 bushels per acre; but as a honey-plant, with me 

 the silverhull is far ahead. The 500 sections came 

 to hand all right. J. W. C. Gkay. 



Atwood, 111., July 10, 1889. 



Your experience doesn't seem to agree 

 with others'. The Japanese, according to 

 most reports, has fully equaled the other 

 buckwheats as far as the yield of nectar 

 was concerned ; but in grain yield, in every 

 case it has been vastly ahead. We should 

 be glad to hear from others as to the com- 

 parative yields of nectar. 



TO GET THE BEES TO CAP THE TOP HOW OF CELLS. 



I can't get my bees to cap the top row of cells in 

 the sections which are in T supers. What can be 

 done to remedy it? 1 couldn't find any thing about 

 it in the ABC. C. F. McColm. 



Lexington, 111., July 10, 1889. 



We sent the above to l)r. Miller, who re- 

 plies as follows : 



The T super differs in no respect from wide 

 frames or other receptacles with regard to finish- 

 ing sections. The upper part of the section is seal- 

 ed over before the lower: but as a general rule the 

 row of cells adjoining the wood at top, bottom, and 

 sides, remains unsealed Sometimes they are filled 

 with honey, and sometimes left empty. I do not 

 know what the conditions are, to secure the com- 

 plete sealing of this outside row of cells, and I shall 

 be glad to hear from any one who does. Perhaps a 

 heavy flow of honey and a somewhat crowded con- 

 dition in the hive is all that is necessary; but the 

 majority of sections have this outside row of cells 

 uncapped, whether raised in T supers or what not. 



Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



WINTERING QUEENS IN NUCLEI. 



Is it possible to winter queens in three-frame nu- 

 clei, such as I have ordered, to have for building 

 up in spring? ABC and Boot's Quinby do not 

 mention it. Is it now too late, if possible? My sin- 

 gle box colony has grown to 6 very good ones; 2 

 are rather strong, and working in the sections— in- 

 duced to by Dr. Miller's plan. 1 shall increase to 15 

 or 20 next year. J. B. Enos. 



Connellsville, Pa. 



Yes, it is possible to winter queens in 3- 

 frame nuclei, providing that the same is 

 packed in chaff hive, between two division- 

 boards, or providing they are to lie put into 

 a good dry cellar ; but it is usually better to 

 have a stronger colony— one that will cover 

 6 frames will usually winter very success- 

 fully. AVe have wintered a great many 3- 

 f rame nuclei in chaff on their summer 

 stands, but we prefer stronger colonies. 



SERIOUS STINGING IN THE THROAT, BUT NOT 

 FATAL. 



A neighbor of mine who keeps a lot of bees in 

 box hives wished me to take some honey out of the 

 top they bad made ibere. I smoked them and took 

 a long knife and cut out the combs, which contain- 

 ed honey and some brood. When I had finished he 

 gave me some of the honey to take home, and that 

 honey came very near being the death of my wife. 

 She put a piece of the comb in her mouth; and as it 

 so happened one of the cells contained a bee, which 

 stung her on the tongue, which swelled so large, 

 and her throat also, that she came very near dyiDg 

 from suffocation. She could hardly speak so as to 



be understood. You can just think how much I 

 thought of bees about that time. But the good 

 Lord spared her life. I wish you would print this 

 in Gleaninos, as a warning to others to look out. 

 Durham, Ct., July 10, 1889. C. L. Bose. 



BEES IN A HOLLOW ROCK. 



I havearauche in Texas, on which there is a canon 

 about 100 feet deep, and about half way up in one 

 of the solid walls there is a hole in which I have 

 seen the bees coining and going in a stream about 

 as big around as a barrel. It has never been rob- 

 bed, as no one cm get to it without infinite trouble. 

 I have written you for a smoker. I have one hive 

 here in the city, and four in the country. I think I 

 shall get more. The hive here is doing famously. 

 I see the bees rushing in, loaded down with honey. 

 They beat any thing I ever saw for hard and hur- 

 ried work. A. L. Redden. 



New Orleans, La., June 29, 18S9. 



There are several places in California 

 such as the one you mention ; and one place 

 was pointed out to me where a man lost his 

 life in attempting to take out the honey. 

 The bees went at him in such numbers, and 

 stung him so fiercely, he lost his hold and 

 fell upon the rocks. Where you speak of a 

 stream of bees as big as a barrel, 1 suppose 

 vou mean that a space equal to the size of a 

 barrel is pretty well filled with bees on the 

 wing, going to and fro. 



J. D. FOOSHE EXPLAINS. 



I shall bo glad if you will say that I have never 

 seen Mr. Doolittle's book. I read last year in 

 Gleanings, I think, where he gave his plan in de- 

 tail as to how he reared his queens by nature's 

 plan. At that time I think he said that he saved all 

 the old cell-cups, and transferred eggs or larva 1 ; 

 and this year, in the Queen-Breeder's Journal, I read 

 another article giving the same plan, with perhaps 

 his plan, of using the manufactured queen-cell 

 cups, in which he said he transferred larva- and 

 had cells built out in upper stories, with queen 

 present. I tried transferring eggs, or larva 1 , to old 

 cell-cups, and made such a poor success that I 

 thought of the plan of letting bees start cells and 

 transfer them to upper stories. I gave friend Doo- 

 little credit for my plan for it was suggested to me 

 by him. Friend D. has a masterly article in the 

 April number of the Que en -Breeder's Journal, upset- 

 ting the Dzierzon theory. I can't help but believe 

 he is right, so far as my experience goes. 



Coronaca, S. C, July 8, 1889. J. D. Fooshe. 



NATURAL HONEY-COMB WITH SQUARE CELLS. 



I have a piece of new honey-comb made entirely 

 by the bees, the cells of which are square (4-sided), 

 and the bottoms of the cells are quartered instead 

 of being in three parts; there are about 50 contigu- 

 ous cells like this, and the surrounding comb has 

 regular 0-sided cells. Is this new, or does it often 

 occur? C. W. COSTELLOW. 



Waterboro, Me., July 3, 1889. 



In the experiments made with plates for 

 foundation, some years ago, considerable 

 foundation was made with the cells square ; 

 and reports were made through the journals 

 that the bees used it just as well as six- 

 sided foundation. As, however, nothing 

 was gained, but something lost, the idea 

 was dropped. 



