708 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Sept. 



I should have said in my report, that I had no 

 other colony than the one in question, save one; 

 for that spring-, and the spring preceding-, I sold my 

 bees, keeping hut two— one for honey, for family 

 use, and one to experiment upon. Of late years I 

 keep bees only for the love of them, and for the en- 

 joyment of sitting- under the cherry-trees and 

 watching- them at their work. The above, I pre- 

 sume, is an answer to j our last query, viz., if I kept 

 any account of my time. I can only say that there 

 was no time lost; but if it must be considered lost, 

 I can say that I enjoy that loss more than I do the 

 profit (however great) or the employment of my 

 time. 1 may say that I am an invalid, entered upon 

 my 73d year, and am very feeble— more so than 

 some in this vicinity 15 or 20 years older. Of course, 

 then, my time would be of little consequence. 



Whigville, O., Aug-. 7, 1889 Henry Large. 



Many thanks, friend L. Your further 

 facts remind me of my strawberry story in 

 another column. 



JlE^Dg 0F fillips 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



HALF DRONE AND HALF WORKER. 



I mail you to day some Italian bees from a fine 

 select tested queen reared this season. Five of the 

 bees have heads and shoulders like drones, and ab- 

 domens like workers. They also have stings; and 

 as soon as they hatch they crawl out of the hive on 

 to the ground. All of the bees are fine yellow, 

 three and four banded, except a lew of the queer 

 ones, which are black, like the one in the cage. 

 This is the first queen that I ever raised that pro- 

 duced half worker and half drones, as I call them. 

 As I do not recollect of seeing any account of such 

 strange bees, I should like you to explain through 

 Gleanings what they are, and whether you think 

 there is any black blood in the queen by some of 

 the queer bees being black. My bees have done 

 very well this year. C. F. Grubb. 



Jubilee, N. C, July 29, 1889. 



Half drone and half workers have been 

 noticed a great many times, and have fre- 

 quently been mentioned. It is nothing 

 more, I believe, than a freak of nature, or a 

 malformation. 



THAT NEW BEE DISEASE IN CALIFORNIA ; LATER 

 DEVELOPMENTS. 



I am happy to say that the plague, of which I 

 wrote, see page 583, is now apparently subsiding; 

 and bees that have survived seem to be rapidly re- 

 cuperating. Losses in the apiaries under my im- 

 mediate control amount to about 250 stands- 

 enough to make one feel decidedly sick, and to test 

 thoroughly the virtue in man for which our ancient 

 friend Job was celebrated. I am negotiating, with 

 the view to aequiriug new slock, should indications 

 continue favorable. A feature of the disease is, 

 that in all cases it doesn't prove fatal. A number 

 of colonies that were badly affected last season 

 have pulled through, and are strong and prosper- 

 ous now. The same might be said of this season. I 

 also put new colonies upon combs and honey from 

 diseased hives of last season, many of which are in 

 good condition to-day. I learn from an old resident, 

 that this is the third time bees have died in large 

 numbers here within twenty years. Whether it 



has affected other localities, I am not as yet able to 

 learn. Why we should be thus afflicted is at pres- 

 ent mysterious. While in the coast counties foul 

 brood is common, none has ever been seen in Kern 

 Co. We are a dry county, and depend entirely up- 

 on irrigation. The average rainfall is about 4 

 inches per annum. The heney crop will not be 

 over 50 per cent of the average yield this season. 



ALFALFA. 



In your comments on friend Burr's letter you ask 

 for information in regard to alfalfa. My opinion 

 is, that, as a honey-plant in the States, it would 

 have little value, for the reason that it appears to 

 secrete honey only under the most favorable condi- 

 tions of dry heat, and only in the middle of the day; 

 that is, no doubt, the reason why so many doubt its 

 value as a honey plant. With us it is the founda- 

 tion and superstructure of the honey yield. We 

 have several plants and willows which build up the 

 bees in spring, but alfalfa is the backbone of the 

 crop. W. A. Webster. 



Bakersfleld, Cal , July 25, 1889. 



CARNIOLANS EXCESSIVE SWARMERS. 



Since writing our article on Carniolans, 

 we have noticed the following in regard to 

 them, which we take from the British Bee 

 Journal, page 309 : 



There were some remarks lately about these bees, 

 and I must corroborate what is mentioned; and 60 

 far as I am concerned they are nothing less than a 

 nuisance, owing to the way they swarm. I got a 

 nucleus last year, from a good source, a well-known 

 party in the B. B. J., and I now wish 1 had let them 

 alone. Let me give you the result. First swarm 

 came off about a month ago. I then changed stock 

 to a new stand, and put swarm on the old one. Sec- 

 ond swarm came out of the old stock about a fort- 

 night after, and up to the present the first swarm 

 has thrown three swarms, good-sized ones too, and 

 I can not get them to work on the sections, though 

 I had them on all the swarming time. My hives 

 are all standards. What is to be done with them? 

 No doubt they are good breeders, but what good is 

 that if it is honey you want and not bees? Up to 

 the present I find no bees working as well in the 

 sections as they ought and have done other years. 

 I wish others would give their experience of the 

 Carniolans.— H. J. 



TOP-BARS, ABOVE WHICH NO BURR-COMBS WILL BE 

 BUILT. 



In answer to the inquiry concerning the modifica- 

 tion of the top-bar of the frame to prevent burr- 

 comb, I will say that it can be done. In 1888 I made 

 a number of frames having top-bars % inches 

 square, and spaced them ? 3 inches apart in the hive. 

 There has been no burr-comb built on them thus 

 far (two years), though other frames immediately 

 alongside of them had them. I have tried them 

 with honey-board and without. 



TO GET THE TOP ROW OF CELLS IN SECTIONS 

 CAPPED. 



C. F. McColm can get the top row of cells capped 

 over by tiering up and not leaving a bee-space be- 

 tween the sections, and then crowding the bees; 

 but they will likely build them against the separat- 

 ors, so that his sections will drip badly. Such has 

 been my experience. 



TOBACCO PLEDGE 



I quit using tobacco about a year ago, after read- 

 ing Gleanings. If I am entitled to a smoker, send 

 it along. I will pay for it if I begin again. 



Lewisburg, Pa., Aug. 6, 1889. W. C. Mauser. 



May God bless yon, friend M., in holding 

 on to your tobacco pledge. No honey report 

 gives me such a thrill of pleasure as does the 



