imi 



gleaningsjIN bee culture. 



27H 



doin? its best at blooming, the bees paid very little 

 attention to it. I got 15 and IK ets. per lb. 



There are, within halt a mih' of my bees, 10 acres 

 of alsike clover, wiiich was sown last spring, and it 

 looks well. How much honey per acre does it yield 

 on good ground ? Did you ever notice bees getting 

 pollen from dog-fennel V I have watched them load 

 from it. .1. E. Hendehson. 



Roney's Point, Ohio Co.. W. Va., Dec. U, 1880. 



1 do not know, friend II., what 10 acres 

 of alsike ought to do in the way of honey. 

 Our facts and tigures m this matter are very 

 meager. I would say. at a rough guess, 

 however, that 10 acres of alsike ought to 

 keep 100 colonies of bees busy for perhaps 

 three or four weeks ; and during these three 

 or four weeks they ought to store, say, 10 

 lbs. of honey each. This would make 1000 

 lbs. for the 10 acres. If anybody else can do 

 better, let him try his hand at it. 



security. Here in the North (and we have some 

 pretty hot weather too) we have all of our combs 



wired.] 



HOW TO M-\KK KIRE-KINDLKRS OVT OF (J(J)«S. 



Your coll kindlings arc good, but I will tell you 

 how 1 prepare them. Take a one or two quart 

 Mason jar, and till with oil, say Ya or % full, and put 

 the cobs in whole. The part above the oil will do 

 to handle without ditubiiig the hands. After the 

 kindlings are in, unscrew the cover and place the 

 cob in front, and ai)ply the match. Have some dry 

 cobs ready, and place in the jar, and screw on the 

 cover. One cob will burn 5 minutes, or longer. 



Vernon, O., .Ttin. 7, 1887. C. M. Tkunkey. 



Pi0¥Ef5 M^ QUE^IEg. 



.\ SAMPI.I; OF FLORID.A HONEY. 



T SEND you by to-day's mail a small sample of 

 1^ honey, made by those Florida '"lazy bees." It 

 ^l has been extractcil nearly 10 months. What 

 '*• think you of its keeping qualiticsy We "crack- 

 ers " think it very good. 1 also inclose a twig 

 from an orange-tree budded last spring. It is about 

 i feet high. W. J. Drumright. 



Sarasota, Manatee Co.. Fla., Mar. 15, 1887. 



LThe honey is certainly beautiful, friend D. Are 

 we to understand that it is from orange-blossoms? 

 The specimen sent is e.xcecdingij- thick, of very 

 fair color and beautiful flavor, although it would at 

 once be called Southern honey, and perhaps might 

 not bring as good a price as our white-clover lion- 

 ey of the North.— Thanks for the twig of orange- 

 bloissoms. The beautiful fraM'rance is still retain- 

 ed. If we could have some honey that tastes as 

 these blossoms smell, would it not be an acquisi- 

 tion V] 



TIERING UV; WORKING IN THE RAIN. 



In regard to tiering up cases of sections, the 

 trouble is that they get very brown on top, and, in 

 the T super, I think they would get brown on bottom 

 and top. How is this? 1 intend to try the Doolittle 

 surplus arrangement, as described by Viallon, 

 which protects the section all around. I propose to 

 use them on zinc honey-boards, with wooden rims 

 making a bee-space underneath. 



TRANSFERRING IN THE RAIN. 



Our experience has been, that a warm drizzly day 

 is the best time to transfer bees. F. C. Thomas. 

 Spring Valley, O., March, 1887. 



COMBS MELTING DOWN. 



Having received several letters from bee-keepers 

 In the Southern States, asking how I prevent combs 

 from melting down in the hot days of July and 

 August, I wish you to please state that I do not 

 know, for I never had a comb melt down yet. It 

 gets hot here in Oyster-Creek Bottom. T use the 

 Simplicity hive, two stories high, painted white, 

 entrance open full width, and a rousing colony of 

 bees in the same: and if that keeps the comb from 

 melting, it is all 1 know about it. John W. Ross. 



Phair, Texas. Feb. 1. 1887. 



[Thanks, friend R. 1 believe the whole secret of 

 not having combs melted down in hot weather is, 

 to have all the hives painted white; and if the col- 

 ony is strong, a full-width entrance is an additional 



how shall we keep cockroaches fr<jm 

 honey'/ 



Please tell how to get rid of cockroaches. A lot 

 of rats could iiot be more destructive to comb 

 honey, and not as nasty. They will crawl through 

 almost any crack where the air can come through, 

 then they multiply and grow fast. They fly from 

 place to place. Coal oil will effectually cure the 

 ants, but the cockroaches fatten on it — at least, 

 sulphur and coal oil has not exterminated them 

 for me. D. C. McLeod. 



Plena, Ills., Feb. 14, 1887. 



[As we have no cockroaches in our locality, we 

 have had no experience with them. Can some of 

 our readers who have had, offer a remedy?] 



can THE BEES OF TWO QUEENS WORK TOGETHER 



harmoniously? 



In regard to the question asked on page 99, Feb. 

 1, by friend J. M. Cruickshank, I have tried such a 

 hive as he describes, with the result that you give 

 in your foot-note: viz., that, as soon as the honey- 

 flow is over, the bees ball their queen in one 

 swarm and then unite. Franz Zschoemitzsch. 



Monticello, N. Y., Feb. 10, 1887. 



taking bees OUT FOR A FLY. 



What do you think of taking bees out of the 

 cellar on warm days, to take a fly? J. A. Tucker. 



Horace, Ills., Feb. L>1, 1887. 



[I believe the practice of taking bees out of the 

 cellar for a fly is generally considered unnecessary. 

 See what Dr. C. C. Miller has to say in regard to it 

 in our last issue.] 



what kind of honey is IT ? 



I send you by mail two samples of honey. Please 

 let us know through Gleanings how the lighter 

 compares with basswood honey in color and flavor; 

 also tell us, if you can, what gives the other such a 

 peculiar taste. It was the first we extracted last 

 season. It was taken about the 10th of July. 

 Milkweed, pleurisy-root, and sumach were in bloom 

 at that time. We have no basswood here, and not 

 clover enough to get a fair sample to judge by. 



Brock, Neb., Feb. 23, 1887. J. S. Johnson. 



[Your lighter specimen compares very favorably 

 in appearance with basswood honey, friend ,T.; but 

 there is an unpleasant flavor to it— something like 

 our autumn wild flowers-that would probably in- 

 j ure the sale of it. The taste of the other specimen 

 is something I am not familiar with.] 



THE 0NE-ST(^RY chaff HIVE A SUCCESS IN IOWA. 



On p. 189 Erne?t discusses the merits of one story 

 chaft' hives. I made ten of them thnc ycsirs ago, 

 with Simplicity half-story covers. I liave left them 

 at the same place, winter and summer. They are 

 all right yet. This is the third winter, and I haven't 

 lost anycolonies in them yet. J. N. Shedknhklm. 



Ladora, la., Mai-ch, 1887. 



