706 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 



introducing- by this method to a hive which has 

 just cast a swarm, precaution must be taken that I 

 will not state here. The feeding- drives the old 

 bees to the field with a rush. Old bees are enemies 

 to strang-e queens. Queens can be kept for several 

 days without injury, by placing- them, as shipped, 

 in a small light-proof box in any dry cool place. I 

 always keep mine in the honey-house on a shelf 

 near a small window. During- cool weather, take 

 the box into the kitchen. 1 never feed queens hon- 

 ey while in confinement. It does more harm than 

 good. 



I do not introduce by the Peet method of attach- 

 ing to the comb and removing slide— it is too fussy, 

 amounts to nothing, and is lalal to the queen, in 

 the hands of a novice. I am using the Peet cage, 

 though 1 do not like it. It is expensive in every 

 sense of the word. E. L. Pkatt. 



Marlboro, Mass. 



Friend P., while we publish your plan of 

 introducing we want to protest a little in 

 regard to the heading which you put on the 

 article. Drumming out bees to get the 

 queens is not a new method, but one so old 

 that it was in use before movable combs 

 were known ; neither is feeding a colony to 

 make them good-natured new ; and I do not 

 see very well how we are going to do this 

 feeding without opening the hive. It is 

 true, you may put the leeder on top of the 

 hive, but then you must make an opening 

 in the top board and have some sort of cap 

 or box over the feeder. 



In regard to the Peet method, I presume 

 that I am the one who first suggested sell- 

 ing queens at the low price of one dollar 

 each; and I think that, without question, 

 during the past ten years we have sent out 

 more queens by mail than any other one 

 person— perhaps more than all of the rest of 

 the world together. In fact, during all the 

 spring, fall, and summer months, the 

 queens are constantly on our table, ready 

 to be mailed by the first train, to any one 

 who wants them, south, north, east, or 

 west. As a matter of com se. it has been of 

 the utmost moment to us to select some 

 method, not only of sending queens by mail, 

 but some plan that would permit our pa- 

 trons to introduce them with the least pos- 

 sible risk. Well, after having tried so 

 many different plans that everybody began 

 to get out of patience, to say nothing of the 

 expense of such experiments, we finally set- 

 tled down on the Peet cage. We have used 

 this cage for years, and I am firmly satisfied 

 that, for a feeble queen (and they are gener- 

 ally more or less weakened by a long trip 

 through the mails), there is no other plan to 

 be compared with letting the queen right 

 on the comb in the hive, and letting her 

 help herself to the honey in the cells, at the 

 same time having her In the center of the 

 brood-nest, her natural and proper place. 

 Queens get discouraged, dejected, and 

 ready to die. I have oftentimes thought 

 that 'they get homesick, just as we mortals 

 do. Well, now, can any tiling revive her 

 drooping spirits, and make her feel as if 

 she were once more at home among the 

 loved ones, like being on a honey-comb, in 

 the center of a hive V I do not believe on a 

 float in a feeder. The feeding part is all 



right. During a dearth of honey in the fall, 

 a good heavy feed will contribute very 

 greatly toward putting the bees all in a 

 friendly and amicable mood, provided you 

 do not get robbing started. I have replied 

 thus at length, because of late there seems 

 to be a fresh interest starting up in this 

 matter of introducing. 



HONEY IS DIGESTED NECTAE. 



Shall the Great Big School of Humanity be 



Taught the Truth, or shall We Now and 



Then Keep the Truth from Them? 



PKOFESSOK COOK FINDS A LITTLE FAULT. 



@t'R friend Demaree has now a recruit— a doc- 

 tor. This doctor— see last Ami rican Bee Jour- 

 nal— makes several assertions that just a 

 little knowledge of chemistry would have 

 prevented. Is it possible that our " M. D.'s " 

 know nothing of chemistry? Such articles may 

 possibly be excused in a lawyer, but from a doctor 

 they are certainly indefensible. Even a lawyer 

 should not attempt to enlighten the public on what 

 he knows nothing about. His ignorance may be 

 excusable; his misrepresentation and pose as a 

 teacher are never venial. To say that nectar and 

 honey are the same, or that sugar syrup fed to bees 

 is identical with the honey placed in the combs, is 

 to show entire ignorance of the subject. It is too 

 bad that such men will write. Now, Mr. Editor, 

 why do not you editors get a little blue litmus 

 paper and a little copper sulphate, or, better, 

 Fheling's solution, and prove for yourselves the 

 truth of this matter? Then when such articles are 

 sent in, throw them into the waste-basket. You 

 would not insert an article about the king-bee. To 

 say that honey and nectar are the same, is as ab- 

 surd as to say that there is a king-bee. 



Again, it is urged that calling honey digested nec- 

 tar is revolting, and will injure the sale of this 

 delightful sweet. This is fear with no cause to 

 stand on. Honey is good, and will he eaten. Almost 

 all our green peas are wormy. People know it. but 

 they eat pe«6, and will so long as they are so good. 

 To the uninitiated, the idea of eating oysters would 

 be revolting. Here the animal is eaten entire, with 

 the digestive canal and its entire contents. Yet 

 oysters are good, and will be eaten in extent*, so 

 long as tin- quality remains, and men have a taste 

 for good food. So it will be with oysters. Truth 

 and honesty are always the best policy. Better 

 "tell the truth and shame the devil " than to preach 

 lies and delight him, even though we could sell a 

 little more honey. 



VIRGIN'S BOWER. 



Our friend Geo. E. Hilton send6 me the following 

 letter: " The inclosed liowers are from a plant that 

 grows abundantly here in the swamps. It clings to 

 bushes which it orten entirely covers, and is a great 

 favorite with the bees. In watching closely to-day 

 I could see no pollen. As you will remember, I 

 had a sample of the honey at Detroit. What is it?" 



This is the beautiful "virgin's bower," Gkmabte 

 Virginiana. It is not strange that Mr. Hilton did 

 not see any pollen. This plant is ditecious; that is, 

 the stamens bearing the pollen are on one plant, 

 while the pistils which are to receive the pollen are 

 on another. In such cases the flowers must secrete 

 nectar to exist, as bees or other sweet-loving insects 



