1887 



GLEANINGS JN BEE CULTUUE. 



623 



crops; and taking into consideration the fact that 

 they come around when the drones are out, and al- 

 most always go away when they go in, 1 conclude 

 that their missio!i is the destruction of (lucens 

 onlj-. In fact, I have seen them dart down where 

 drones were flying- thickly, catch something' and 

 make off with it, and about a dozen or more bees 

 follow it as far as the eye could reach. Now, I 

 think if there were no king-birds few queens would 

 be lost. T. G. H. .Ione.s. 



Nicolaus, Sutter Co., t'al.. .July 13. 1S87. 



ARE THK STRIPS OF ZINC IN THE SliA'I'TK.D HON- 

 EY-BO.VRDS A HCNDRANCK TO THE lUOKS V 



1 have been using-, this summer, your slatted 

 wood-zinc honey-board, the Heddon slatted honey- 

 board, and the Hutchinson (|ueen-excluding- honey- 

 board, ten of each kind. 1 think the wood boards 

 of either kind are of very little if any hindrance to 

 the bees going- into the sections to work, but I have 

 not been able to get a single colony to work well 

 through the zinc. In one of T)r. C. C. Miller's let- 

 ters he spoke of one of his friends who was able to 

 kee|> the (jueen from laying- in the boxes, without 

 the use of a <]ueen-excluding honey-board. Dr. M. 

 also said he could prevent the (lueen from going 

 iiito the boxes. His friend said it was one of the 

 secrets of the trade. Now, if he or the doctor 

 would divulge that secret I think he would do many 

 bee-keepers a kindness. 



KING-BIROS. 



I have found bees in the crops of king-birds. 

 They are often in my j'ard, catching bees by sun- 

 rise, and late in the evening, when no drones are 

 flying. The English sparrows catch many bees for 

 me. 1 often see the large dragon-flies near my 

 yard, catching the bees, and they do it very nicely 

 too. 



White clover was a failure here. Basswood did 

 very little. Sumac has turned out honey well, and 

 is yielding some yet. E. D. Howell. 



New Hampton, N. Y., July, 188T. 



In our experience this season with the 

 slatted honey-board, and tlie same with 

 strips of perforated zinc slid in between the 

 slats, we could see no decided difference in 

 favor of either. However, it seems to me 

 that under certain circumstances the bees 

 would more readily enter sections where the 

 strips were not used between the slats. If 

 we are correct. Dr. Miller uses no perforated 

 metal in his honey-boards, and we think, 

 also, he has no trouble from the (jueeu going 

 into the supers and laying. 1 am sure 

 there is no secret about it ; but whatever it 

 is. Dr. Miller will, on seeing this, give us 

 further light. There is this to be said, how- 

 ever, in favor of the slatted wood-zinc hon- 

 ey-board : When contraction is carried to 

 such an extent tliat the brood-uest is re- 

 duced to one-third of its former capacity, 

 the qtieen, on tinding her Held of labors lim- 

 ited oelow, will pass'above into the sections. 

 To prevent this the strips of perforated zinc 

 have been added to the i»laiii slatted honey- 

 board. 



PERSISTENT SWARMING, AND THE CAUSK. 



1 am going to write to you to see if you or any of 

 the readers of Gle.\nings can tell me the cause of 

 our bees acting so funny. Wo started out this 

 spring with five hives, an<l we have had but one 

 swarm fi-om them. It was a small swarm. We put 



them in a Simplicity hive. They all went in, and 

 were quiet the rest of the day; but the next morn- 

 ing, before we had eaten breakfast, they came out 

 again and we put them in another hive, Init they 

 would not stay. They came out about every half- 

 hour that day, and we put them back every time. 

 We went out the next morning to see what had be- 

 come of them. They were still in the hive, and arc 

 there yet, but are not doing anything. That was 

 on the 30th. C. C. Bruce. 



Helena, Ark., .lune ai, 1887. 



Fiieiid 15.. the old stereoty])ed remedy for 

 troubles of tiiis sort is a fraine of comb coii- 

 taiuiug iiiis;'al;-(l brood. Of course, there 

 are excei)lioiis occasionally to this itile ; but 

 tliey ai-e so few I should call it almost inva- 

 rial)le. 



BAD NEWS FROM .1. B. MASON & SONS; DOING BUSI- 

 NESS WITHOUT HAVING PROPERTY INSURED. 



I seat myself to write you with a heavy heart. 

 Saturday morning, at half past two o'clock. Are 

 was discovered in our sho)) and store. The alarm 

 was given, and every thing- done that could be done 

 with what facilities there were at hand, but it could 

 not be saved— nothing was saved— 3000 dollars' worth 

 of goods burned up in a very short time. After 

 years of struggling along to build up a business it 

 seems very hard. You know, friend Root, some- 

 thing how to sympathize with us. I don't know- 

 that you do wholly, for it has taken every thing we 

 had but our bees; and we want to say through 

 Gleanings that we shall be unable to fill any more 

 orders for this reason, at any rate, except for bees 

 and queens. J. B. Mason & Sons. 



Mechanic Falls, Me.. Aug. 1, 1887. 



I am sure the readers of Gleanings all 

 extend their sympathy to friend Mason in 

 his trouble ; but I scanned the letter through 

 anxiously to see whether or not he was in- 

 sured ; and I wish to sa\ once more, that 

 dealers, in bee-keepers' supplies especially, 

 should make it a point to carry some insur- 

 ance just as snon as tlie> begin to do any 

 business of any accoimt. If the insurance 

 cover even a part of the stock, it furnishes 

 ready money to start up in business again ; 

 but where there is no insurance whatever, 

 the result is many times almost ruinous. If 

 you can not afford to pay tlie trifling amount 

 needed to insure the property, don't go into 

 that kind of business. I once knew of a 

 wholesale house doing a large business, that 

 refused to give credit to a man of moderate 

 means unless he would constantly carry in- 

 surance. Ii;surance helps a man to pay bis 

 honest debts, and thus keep liis name good, 

 where, without insurance, it might be en- 

 tirely out of his power. I do not mean l)y 

 the above that you should carry thi' matter 

 of insurance to extremes, but carry a mod- 

 erate insurance, i:atroni/,ing some one you 

 know — yoin- u;'ighbors or lellow-townsmen ; 

 and have an airangement nutde so it can 

 not run out and iu^ neglected. We trust to 

 hear that friend Mason had at least some 

 insurance on liis factory. ^Vhen our ware- 

 house was burned, the iusurance covered 

 only a littl/ more than lialf the amount lost ; 

 but this iuotie.\ iu ready cash enabled us to 

 replace iiromptly and without delay every 

 thing lost that was necessary to go ahead 

 with business. 



