1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



781 



last to be destroyed by the frost. I inclose you a 

 sample of the plant. Christian Illig. 



New Athens, 111., Aug. 12, 1889. 



If you are talking about the same plant 

 described in the A B C book, under the 

 name of gill-over-the-ground, I am surprised 

 that you find the honey bitter. In our local- 

 ity there is seldom enough of it to extract, 

 but the flavor is not at all unpleasant. It is, 

 however, a terribly bad weed, and on that 

 account I think you did well in destroying 

 it. 



JAPANESE BUCKWHEAT IN EIGHT WEEKS. 



I sowed the peck of Japanese buckwheat I got of 

 you June 20th, and send you a sample picked eight 

 weeks after. Of course, it is not all ripe, but will 

 be before long. I sowed it on 50 rods of ground, 

 and it is too thick. It stands from three to four 

 feet high, with blossoms on branches nearly to the 

 ground, and is filling nicely. Bees worked on it 

 well in the forenoon each day. I have sown a few 

 kernels for a second crop. 



Our honey crop here is about half what we ex- 

 pected, but the quality is good. Bees had the worst 

 kind of swarming fever, but basswood bloom was 

 of short duration, and theu swarming ceased. 



Linden, N. Y., Aug. 20, 1889. E. L. Eighmy. 



REMINGTON'S PHARMACY; MORE FALSEHOODS. 



Remington's Pharmacy was copyrighted in 1885. 

 I have the 1888 edition. Joseph P. Remington, the 

 author, is professor of theory and practice of phar- 

 macy, and director of the pharmaceutical laborato- 

 ry in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. He 

 was also first vice-chairman of the committee of re- 

 vision and publication of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, 

 and pharmaceutical editor of the U. S. Dispensato- 

 ry. J. B. Lippincott& Co., Philadelphia, are publish- 

 ers. On page 279, speaking of mellita, or prepara- 

 tion containing honey, he also says, " Their advan- 

 tages over syrup are not very apparent, particu- 

 larly since of late years the difficulty of obtaining 

 pure honey has greatly increased." 



Geo. F. Williams. 



New Philadelphia, O., Aug. 20, 1889. 



HONEY- BOARDS; THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF 

 QUEENS. 



I should like to know whether or not there is a 

 patent on the break-joint honey • board, queen- 

 excluder, and Heddon hive. Also, what is meant 

 by mismated, untested, warranted, and tested 

 queens? Chas. S. Lewis. 



Litchfleld, 111., Aug. 14, 1889. 



There is no patent on the honey-board. 

 Mismated queen means a hybrid, or a queen 

 which is supposed to be an Italian herself, 

 but has met a black drone. An untested 

 is one that is a pure queen herself, but no 

 guarantee is made as to whether she has 

 met a pure drone ; sbe has been laying only 

 about a week. If kept in the hive three 

 weeks or a mouth, and her workers are 

 pure, she is called tested. A warranted 

 queen is an untested queen, but the breeder 

 guarantees that she will prove to be pure. 

 If in the hands of the purchaser she turns 

 out to be a hybrid or a '"mismated," the 

 breeder agrees to send another until he suc- 

 ceeds in sending a, pure queen. As there is 

 a good chance for jangles, and also a chance 

 for a customer to claim his warranted is a 



hybrid when she was not, we have never 

 sold queens in that way. Sell goods for 

 what you know them to be, and you will 

 avoid many disputes. 



BEES AS THICK ON RED CLOVER AS ON WHITE. 



Bees are gathering enough honey to keep them 

 from robbing, and to carry on queen-rearing nicely. 

 1 was wondering where they were getteng it ; and 

 so, yesterday I took a walk at 1 p. m., to a twenty- 

 acre field of red clover, about one-fourth mile from 

 my apiary; and 1 must say that I never saw bees 

 as thick on red clover before. They were as thick 

 as I ever saw them on white clover. I caged twenty 

 queens this afternoon, beginning at 2, without any 

 robbing at all. May God be praised for his bounti- 

 ful blessings. J. P. Moore. 



Morgan, Ky., Aug. 27, 1889. 



RED CLOVER A HONEY-YIELDER IN MISSOURI. 



I notice in the answers to Question 136 that a 

 large portion of the writers seem to consider red 

 clover of very little importance as a honey-produc- 

 ing plant. This year, at about the time that honey 

 ceased from white clover, we had a field of red clo- 

 ver in full bloom (the second crop), and I am sure I 

 never saw bees more busy on white clover than 

 they were on that field of red clover. My opinion 

 is, that if all the honey secreted by red clover could 

 be gathered it would yield more honey per acre 

 than any other flower that grows in this part of the 

 country; for I have for years been in the habit of 

 examining heads of red clover, and seldom failed to 

 find nectar that could be seen and tasted. 1 have 

 also often examined the heads of white clover, and 

 tried to discover honey, but have never found 

 enough so that it could be seen or tasted; and if I 

 did not know that it does produce honey, I should 

 say that it contained very little. Now, let the old 

 heads say what they will; but if red clover were as 

 plentiful as white clover is here, and I had bees 

 that could reach all of it, I could show some big 

 crops of honey. But there never was, is not, and, I 

 think, there never will be, a honey-bee that can get 

 all of the nectar secreted by red clover. 



Bluffton, Mo., Aug. 24, 1889. S. E. Miller. 



BEES POISONED BY A P1E-MAKEK, BECAUSE OF 

 THEIR ALLEGED NUISANCE. 



I take the liberty to ask you for your opinion in a 

 matter in which I know you are interested. A gen- 

 tleman from Baltimore, director of a pie company, 

 called on me the other day and asked me the best 

 method of getting rid of bees which had so invaded 

 his factory, on the outskirts of the town, as to cause 

 him great auuoyance, pecuniary and otherwise. 

 He stated that his company had been turning out 

 20,003 pies a day. He employed some 20 hands, be- 

 sides 10 wagons and drivers; but in consequence of 

 the bees, which crawled all over the pies, died in 

 them, and made them unsalable, his business had 

 considerably decreased, and he was now making 

 only 3)00 pies daily. He stated that the nearest 

 apiary to him was 10 miles away; that he had driven 

 round for three or four miles, making inquiries, 

 but had discovered no bees. I asked him if he was 

 in the neighborhood of woods and hollow trees. He 

 said there were several round him. The bees were 

 black. I concluded they were wild bees, and I re- 

 luctantly advised him to use poison, supposing that 

 he was not injuring anybody's trade, which he was 

 particularly desirous to avoid. Nevertheless I ask- 



