issf 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



295 



nated from the water we drank. We were 

 in a new country, and no wells had been 

 dug. Where I was boarding, the water they 

 used and drank came from a hole dugin a 

 low spot in the woods. They called it a 

 "spring," but it was so full of organic mat- 

 ter that a very cheap microscope showed the 

 wigglers by the thousands. 1 changed my 

 boarding -place, and commenced drinking 

 water fiom a deep Well that showed none of 

 this unimal life, and I was myself again, al- 

 most at once. 



By the way, it may not be amiss to state 

 that it is a popular fallacy to suppose that 

 thete are live animals in our best drinking- 

 water. It is not so. The water from a 

 f food well or spring is almost if not entire- 

 y free from anv such forms of living ani- 

 mals. I have often wished we could have a 

 cistern made of glass. A great big glass 

 bottle would suit me. Then, of course, we i 

 should want a good filter to prevent dust, i 

 leaves, and trash of any kind from getting in- i 

 to our glass-bottle cistern. I do not like ce- 

 ment cisterns, for the reasons I have given ; 

 but perhaps when the taste of lime has all 

 been washed away they may do very well. 

 Wood is used entirely iii some places ; and if : 

 kept well cleaned out, it may do quite well— i 

 I mean for constructing cisterns. Iron or 

 wooden pipes for the water to pass through 

 are perhaps unobjectionable, but I have 

 never given them the test mentioned above. 



VARIOUS TOPICS. 



HARK HONEY FOR THE COMBS. 



fOV iisk to hear from readers who have found ! 

 it best to have extracted honey liglit, and to 

 get the dark honey in combs. That is my ex- I 

 perience. Some people were prejudiced 

 against extracted honey, because they sup- | 

 posed it would necessarily be dark and strong:. ' 

 The raajoritj' of customers prefer light honey to 

 dark, and comb to extracted. 



My bees were not Inclined to help me in this mat- 

 ter, however. They work more readily in frames 

 at any time, but especially during buckwheat 

 bloom, some refusing to enter sections, and others ' 

 doing but little, although 1 contracted the surplus I 

 apartments, and tucked them up wai-m. The gro- 

 cer to whom I sell asked, "Why don't you have I 

 more of the dark honey in the comb? " He also 

 tells me that yellow wax brings a higher price than \ 

 the light. Why is it so? The light is made from 

 cappings, the dark from old combs. He sometimes ' 

 melts over the light wax, adding butter-color. 



KING-BIRDS, AND WHY gUEENS DISAPPE.iR. ' 



In answer to one who asked why his queens dis- 

 appeared Just when they should commence laying, 

 I would say they were probably killed while flying 

 out. I had a similar experience, the trouble ending j 

 when a king-bird was shot. Prof. Cook asks wheth- 

 er the king-bird receives stings. I think not. I ' 

 watched this one for some time. He would catch 

 a bee, alight on an old apple-tree, thump the bee 

 against a limb, and then swallow it. I watched him 

 catch and eat thirteen. ; 



SALT FOR BEES. 



Bees want salt, but not a large quantity— about a 

 tablespoonful to a pail of water. When I make a ' 



strong brine they prefer fresh water; otherwise they 

 work on the salt water early and late, and work 

 right on, during rainy days as well as sunny ones. 



Ar,SlKE. 



Will you please tell us how to itlanage alsike clo- 

 ver tohave it come into bloom just as white clovei* 

 begins to fail? Should it be pastured or cut early, 

 and how would that affect the hay and ^ecd crop ? 



RASPBERRIES. 



so many are praising the Cuthbert rasberry that 

 I wish to say that we think the Philadelphia more 

 profitable, both for honey and fruit. It is true, the 

 plant is a trifle less hardy, the berries at-e not as 

 good a flavor (some think them better), abd thfey 

 are not quite as large or hard; but they fill both 

 berry and honey boxes. The Cuthbert is good foi- 

 a late fancy berry. 



I am glad to see the recipes for cakes and can- 

 dies. Writers should mention the kind of honey 

 used. Buckwheat honey makes A richer cake than 

 white-clover honey. The strong taste and stronger 

 smell do not recommend it tb the fastidious ones, 

 however. What can be done to destroy that and 

 the sharp twang in some of the light honeys? A 

 trace of propolis sometimes causes a smarty taste. 



Delavan, Wis. 6— L. Williams, 13—13; 



Thanks, friend W., for your hint in regard 

 to the amount of salt to be used in a pailful 

 of water. I think now that I can remember 

 failing to get bees to use salt water, just be- 

 cause I made it too strong.— Alsike clover 

 can be kept from blooming either by mow- 

 ing or by pasturing. I can not tell what the 

 effect is on the hay or seed. Perhaps our 

 readers who are accustomed to cutting it 

 early can answer.— I do not know how it is 

 possible to remove the sharp twang you 

 mention, noticed in some kinds of honey. 



SPREADING BROOD. 



A FEW HINTS FUR BEGINNEKS AND OTHEHS. 



l|p S spring is drawing near, a few words on the 

 gij^i above subject may save some beginner in 

 ^^[ bee culture much loss by the untimely 

 ■^^^ spreading of brood in early spring. For a 

 number of years I have been in the habit of 

 spreading the brood in spring, and I am satisfied 

 now that I have gained little if any thing by so do- 

 ing; and as I struck on a plan last spring that suits 

 me much better, and is perfectly safe, I wish to 

 give it. As soon in the spring as the bees begin to 

 gather pollen they are confined to the number of 

 frames containing brood by a division-board, or a 

 frame solid full of honey. VA'hen these are full of 

 brood, the division-board or frame of honey is 

 pushed back, and an empty comb placed beside the 

 brood-nest. If the colony is in a prosperous condi- 

 tion, the queen will take possession of this empty 

 comb just as quick as she would if it were placed 

 in the center of the brood-nest. The above plan is 

 the one we used last spring, and I never had bees 

 build up so fast and become strong as early in the 

 spring as they did last year. 



I believe it is a bad plan to break the brood-nest 

 in the spring, as it is a shock to the bees that they 

 do not get over in a number of days; but when the 

 combs are placed at the side, the brood-nest is en- 

 larged without disturbing it. G. A. Wright. 



Gleowood, Susq. Co., Pa., Feb. 1, 1887. 



