1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



851 



it would not pay to do so; and, besides, it would 

 not be honey; it would be nothing but sugar." 



She then turned to her boy, and said: 



" Here, Johnny, come here; here is the great bee- 

 man your father told us about. Have you written 

 a book on bees, sir?" 



"No; I never have, nor do I intend to; but here 

 are some I will give you. They are published by 

 men who know all about bees. Here is the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, published weekly, and here is 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture, published twice a 

 month, and here are also two others, published 

 monthly. You may take them home to your hus- 

 band." 



Third person; looking at a sample of foundation, 

 and remarking to a friend: 



"Oh I 1 know what that is. It is that yellow stuff 

 the bees have on their legs. The bee-men make 

 wax of it, and weave it into this kind of cloth for 

 the new bees." 



Fourth person, to a friend : 



" Oh ! look at the wasps." 



"No, Jane, they are flies, and those things are 

 a new kind of fly-trap. Oh, yes! I see now." 



"Oh! look at that yellow stuff there. It looks 

 like wax." 



" No, Jane, it is soap, made into large cakes to 

 show, and that there is also soap made into thin 

 sheets so we can roll it up with the clothes to boil." 



Fifth person, an old farmer: 



" Are you the great bee-man? is your name Ma- 

 num?" 



" My name is Manum, and I keep bees." 



"Yes; wal, I thought so, seeing all this honey and 

 bees. Wal, I want my boy to learn to keep bees, 

 fori hear you make lots of money with your bees, 

 so I bought the boy a hive of bees last spring, but 

 they have not done well this summer. He has 

 watched them every day, but they don't swarm. 

 That's why he did not come to the fair. He is at 

 home watching the bees. They are all on the out- 

 side of the hive. It is so full of honey he says they 

 can't get in, so he tried to put them in an empty 

 hive, but they don't stay there, and they sting him 

 terribly. I hear you charm your bees so they don't 

 sting. Would you mind telling me how you charm 

 them? I want to help the dear boy all I can." 



"Yes, sir, I can tell you how I charm mine. I do 

 it with one of these smokers. They are only $1.00 

 each, and here are some bee-papers. Take them 

 home to the boy, and subscribe for one or more of 

 them, and let the boy study and work at the bees." 



Sixth person, a practical bee-keeper: 



" How do you do, Mr. Dodge? How are the bees 

 doing with you this fall? " 



" Well, Mr. Manum, I hardly know what to say. 

 They are storing lots of honey, but it is dark-look- 

 ing stuff, and I feel a little suspicious that the bees 

 will not winter well on it. What is your opinion 

 about it?" 



"Well, I feel somewhat suspicious myself, and I 

 thought 1 would extract the stuff from the center 

 combs and feed 10 or 15 lbs. of sugar syrup to each 

 colony, just enough to carry them through the 

 coldest weather; .and I did secure extra help last 

 week, and started in with three extractors; but we 

 did not work long] before I changed my mind. and 

 decided [that this .business would injure "the bees 

 more than the dark honey would;. and even if I lose 

 a few colonies by; leaving it in, [the loss may not be 

 more than the expense of extracting and feediDg 



would be; so I have decided to pack them as they 

 are, and run the risk. I have kept bees nearly 20 

 years, and never before have they gathered fall 

 honey enough to winter on; hence I have had no 

 experience with it. I have written, aud sent sam- 

 ples of this honey to several parties who have had 

 experience in wintering bees on such honey, and 

 they write me that they would not hesitate to win- 

 ter their bees on it, so I am going to try it, hit or 

 miss." A. E. Manum. 



Bristol, Vt. 



Your decision in regard to running the 

 risk, in your last paragraph, would accord 

 exactly with my experience in this line. 

 When bees have* got poor dark honey— even 

 honey-dew — sealed up and stored, just as it 

 is wanted for the bees, I would let it be and 

 take the chauces rather than to throw it 

 out and feed something else. If just be- 

 fore they go into winter quarters there is 

 room in the combs where this dark honey 

 has been used up, aud we fill that room 

 with sugar syrup, with a good heavy feed, so 

 as to make every thing full all through the 

 hives, it has never, in my experience, done 

 any harm. In fact, I have had reason to 

 think that the extra sugar syrup given them 

 had many times come in so as to save them 

 from the consequences that might ensue 

 from using the poor dark honey just in the 

 depth of winter, when a long cold spell hap- 

 pens to come. 



POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS OF 

 THE SOUTH. 



SCORPIONS, GRAMPUS, ETC. 



TN compliance with the request of friend Walker 

 Ijp and yourself (see page 109, Sept. 1st Glean- 

 W ings), I contribute my mite. In regard to 

 ■*■ snakes, I would say I was born and raised 

 about 50 miles north of New Orleans, La., and 

 have lived here over two years. I have rambled 

 over the woods on foot, both here and in Louisiana 

 a great deal, being very fond of hunting, and I can 

 confidently say I have seen more poisonous snakes 

 in one week in Louisiana than I have seen all togeth- 

 er since living in Florida. We have a good many 

 harmless black snakes. I came across only one 

 ground-rattler, and one of the large species, a 

 small one. about 2 l / 2 feet long. A neighbor of mine, 

 while out in the woods about a mile, killed a large 

 rattler about 5 feet long. These are the only two I 

 have seen here. I have killed two or three coach- 

 whips here, but not one of them showed " fight." I 

 have ^killed a few water-moceasins^here, but none 

 of them showed fight until wounded. They would 

 all run and try to get away. Large rattlesnakes 

 are said to be quite plentiful down on the islands 

 about 25 or 30 miles below here. A man living here 

 killed one down there that measured nine feet in 

 length, and had 20 rattles on him. As to the " gram- 

 pus," they are also found on these islands. We 

 have none up here. I have seen one or two dead 

 ones, brought up from there. I inclose you a clip- 

 ping from the Bartow Informant, a paper publish- 

 ed something over 100 miles above here. 



WANTKII— A NAME. 



One day last week we were shown an insect pe- 

 culiar, we believe, to this portion of the country, 

 and which, as far as we can learn, has no scientific 

 name. It is known in Florida as under the various 



