440 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



FRIEND TERRY'S ADVICE IN REGARD TO POTATO- 

 BEETliES— SEE P. 408. 



You see you are ahead of every one else, and 

 have g-ot to take all the beetles from all the nelg-h- 

 borhood. 1 think you will find picking an endless 

 job. I once planted very early and g'Ot into about 

 the same fix. I had to use poison. We delayed 

 planting a little this year, partly because we did 

 not want to get ahead of our neighbors and take all 

 their beetles. If all potatoes come up at once, we 

 get only our shai-e. I think you will find poisoning' 

 the cheaper way. T. B. Terry. 



Hudson, O., May 14, 18S7. 



But, friend T., we are ahead, and we did 

 not use poison either, although it might 

 have been easier. I took Blue Eyes, Cad- 

 die, and Huber, and one of the neighbor's 

 children, down into the potato-patch ; and 

 while the children took one row apiece I 

 took two rows, Huber carrying the tin cup 

 for me to drop the bugs in. We went 

 through the whole patch in alwnt an hour 

 and a half. I paid the children -5 cts. an 

 hour, or 5 cts. a hundred for the beetles, as 

 they might choose. Bine Eyes and her 

 schoolmate got 200 during the hour. I did 

 not count mine, but there was a big lot, I 

 tell you. The next d;\y one of our hands 

 followed them up again, getting every bug, 

 and picking every leaf that had eggs on it; 

 and now the patch is pretty well cleared. 

 It cost some money ; but if it is as yon state 

 it, haven't t benefited the neighborhood by 

 making such thorough work of the first 

 crop of bugs V I know you get less bugs; 

 but while you get 40 cts. a bushel for your 

 potatoes, I get 40 cts. a peck or more for 

 mine.— It is now May 20, and those potatoes 

 are. the greater part of them, budded ready 

 to blossom, and I tell you they are hand- 

 some. 



. BEES CRAZV FOR WHISKY. 



Do bees need whisky? As our well water is so 

 much impregnated with minerals as to render it un- 

 fit for domestic use, I have to haul water from a 

 spring about one-half mile distant. As my old bar- 

 rel was almost dilapidated, 1 purchased one of a 

 saloon-keeper (the only thing which I think is worth 

 buying of a saloon-keeper). As the barrel for some 

 time retained a sufficient quantity of whisky to im- 

 pregnate the water with its ofi'ensive taste and 

 smell, the bees seemed almost crazy after it. As 

 long as they could gain access to the whisky-water 

 they would not notice pure water, though it was 

 placed all around them. I have heard of box-hive 

 bee-keepers putting whisky in hives to keep swarms 

 from absconding when hived, but I do not know 

 whether whisky is any benefit to bees or not. I ab- 

 hor it too much to try it for any thing. I never 

 drank more than a quart in my life. 



QUEEN-CELLS NOT HATCHING. 



Can any one tell me why queen-cells will not 

 hatch? I have had no less than 40 fine cells reared 

 under the swarming impulse, and have had only 

 one cell hatch. I had a great many cells last season 

 that failed to hatch. I do not know the cause. The 

 queen larva begins to dry up or decay before it 

 comes to maturity. There is generally a g-reat 

 quantity of royal jelly in the bottom of the cells. 

 Not much surplus honey yet, but bees are unusually 

 strong at this date. It is getting too dry for bees 

 to do much. We have had only one shower in 53 



days. I never saw it so dry here at this season of 

 year since I have been here, about 30 years. I have 

 not seen many reports from Texas in two seasons. 

 What is the matter? Are bee-keepers too busy in 

 gathering- and selling their honey, and counting 

 their money, to write, or are they all in Blasted 

 Hopes? G. W. Beard. 



Milano, Texas, May 2, 1887. 



Eriend B., I am inclined to think the 

 trouble with yoifr queen-cells is only a tran- 

 sient one. We have sometimes had a lot of 

 cells that seemed to act as you state ; but 

 they hatched out all right soon after, and 

 you have probal)ly had the same experience 

 by this time. — We are very sorry to hear 

 that the dry weather is commencing again 

 this season in Texas. 



]S[0¥EP ;^]\ID QUE^IEg. 



A HIBERNATING BUMBLE-BEE. 



@N p. 302 friend Doolittle asks where and in what 

 state bumble-bees pass the winter. While 

 digging a hole in the ground, about the 1st of 

 April, 1870. when at a deplh of 18 inches I 

 threw out a bumble-bee which soon came to 

 life. There was nothing, apparently, for her tp eat, 

 so with friend Clarke 1 say it must have been hiber- 

 nation. F. D. Culver. 

 Quincy. Mich., May 11, 1887. 



[To be sure, it was hibernation, friend C, and the 

 real genuine hibernation too; but if you will bur^' 

 up some honey-bees — queens, drones, and workers 

 — and have them come to life in the same way, we 

 will pay you $1U0 cash. You must, however, bury 

 them on our premises, and dig them out in our 

 presence.] 



WHAT TO UO WITH A SWAUM THAT HAS REDUCED 

 ITSELF. 



Please tell me what to do when a colony of bees is 

 about to go to nothing', after swarming. It has 

 swarmed three times this year— April 6th, 12th, and 



14th. J. B. FOLLETT. 



Divine, Tenn., May 7, 1887. 



[i^ou have nothing to do, friend F.. but to see 

 that they have a queen. Don't you need the ABC 

 book?] 



CARNIOLANS VERSUS ITALIANS. 



I wish to learn something about the Cnrniolansand 

 albino bees. What points of superiority ai-e claim- 

 ed for them over the Italians? Do you consider 

 them as good or tietter than the Italians? 

 Trempeleau, Wis. W. M. Allen. 



[We did not consider the Carniolans, after testing- 

 one colony one season, as good as the Italians— see 

 p. 551 for iS86. However, some of our good friends 

 do not agree with us.] 



WAS IT FOUL BROOD ? 



I had every sj'mptom of foul brood, such as has 

 been described in your journal: but I stopped it 

 before it advanced to a virulent form, by simply 

 removing the queen and introducing a young one. 

 In about 17 days after, the young queen had all 

 dead brood removed, and not one of the cappings 

 of brood was perforated. All looked healthy and 

 clean. George Str.vngwavs. 



Elora, Ont., Canada. 



[Some of our foreign friends claim that the re- 

 moval of the queen will sometimes cure foul brood. 

 But we feel pretty sure it would not have cured 

 ours.] 



