1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



743 



of August we had a bountiful rain, and the bees are 

 now at work on the fall Mowers, of which we have 

 an abundance, so we hope for some surplus, as we 

 labored to have our disii rig-ht side up. Twenty- 

 three colonies in the spring we increased by artifi- 

 cial swarming to thirty-nine. There is a (luestion 

 we want to ask you or ycjur readers: What is the 

 probable cause of the disappearance of young lay- 

 ing queens that luue bien found to be hiyiiig, and 

 apparently robust and healthy';' Wc have lost live 

 all together, some of tlieni recently, after having 

 been in the hive and laying all right for some time. 



Mits. M. Conk. 



My good t'rieml Mis. ('., 1 tloift know 

 that 1 can answer your (Hiestioii iil)oiit the 

 disappearance of your Inyiiig t[ueeiis. Two 

 or three times I have noticed soinetliing 

 ]ike it. and was beginning; to susp;ct tlierc 

 was some enemy gained iicctss to the hives. 

 that pitched directly lor the queen : l)ut as 

 they stopped disappearing, the matter w;is 

 dropped, and T thought no inoip iihout it. 



ARK BEES LIABLE TO DIE AFTER A I'OOF! MONEY 

 SEASON":' 



I can not let this time t-li]) without giving a warn- 

 ing note to bee-keepers on the wintering of bees for 

 the following winter, on account of our protract- 

 ed and extensive drought. Our hives are hardly as 

 heavy as they were in the spring. Some are on the 

 point of starving. My bees have had nothing since 

 fruit blossomed, except a light run on basswood. 

 They have about entirely quit raising young bees; 

 and unless they are fed to induce late breeding 

 thei'e %vill be none but old bees to go into winter 

 quarters, and consequently they will die by the 

 wholesale. 1 remember nearly 20 years ago we had 

 an extensive and verj- dry tall. That time my bees 

 worked on white clover till July 20, but got nothing 

 after that. Next spring, accounts from all parts of 

 the country told of bees dying by wholesale. Some 

 thought the honey was poisonous, as they nearly all 

 had plenty of honey. Many complaints came from 

 Ohio. Some of the old bee-keepers will remember 

 it. That winter, of tl colonies 1 lost all but one. 

 Several years after that we had two dry falls in 

 succession, in which I lost two-thirds of my stocks 

 each year. Two of my neighbors lost their entire 

 stocks. One lost 20, the other over 40 colonies, all 

 by dwindling, all being alive when set out, and oth- 

 er years I have seen the same result from an ab- 

 sence of fall honey, though not so marked. 



Rockton. 111., Aug. 8, 1887. William Holley. 



WIVES THE BEST .IDDGES Of HOUSEHOLD CON- 

 VENIENCES. 



I have a question to ask. Why don't husbands 

 let their wi\es do their own planning? Now, do 

 not think 1 want my husband to know nothing of 

 my work or needs, for 1 know how pleasant an 

 occasional surprise in the way of some new con- 

 venience about the house is. If it supplies a long- 

 felt want it is doubly pleasant. To illustrate what 

 I do mean, I will tell a true story. Four years ago, 

 when our little daughter was a tiny girl of twenty 

 months, and our sturdy soti, who now turns the 

 wringer for mamma on wash-days, was a woe baisy 

 of five months, onr washings were liea\ y foi- me, 

 and 1 often told husband I could not do them ex- 

 cept for the wringer. This fact, and his desire to 



make my work as easy as possible, prompted him 

 to buy a washing-machine. 1 demurrtsd a little, 

 saying there were other things that I thought we 

 neetled more. He insisted that nothing was as 

 necessary as preserving my health, and declareil I 

 was working too hard. As we had several work- 

 men, this was true enough, at)d he ended by saying, 

 " We will ha^e the other things too. " .Vlthougli 

 not convinced, 1 Wits silenced idoubtful if I would 

 be now), and the machine was bought. It did help, 

 especiallj- when strung hands turned it; still, many 

 times iluiing the next year I thought if the ten 

 dollars it cost had l>een placed in my hands to use 

 as I chose for making my work easier it would ha\'e 

 helped me more. 



A/o»'ai.— 1 1 you can att<u-d lirusseis carpets for the 

 whole house, place the amount they would cost in 

 yonr wife's hands, with the understanding it is to 

 make her work as easy as possible, and it will do it, 

 whether it buys carpets or not. 



Mrs. FiyORA Hea<'m. 

 Corydon. i'a., Sept. 12, IHST. 



My good friend, you ha\e got Mrs. Koofs 

 ideas of this matter exactly ; and she has 

 had more than one washing-machine with 

 exactly the result you mention. Almost all 

 of them would do excellently, providing a 

 good-sized man or boy is on hand to use it. 

 In the absence of said commodity, the ma- 

 chine is soon set aside. Of late, every wash- 

 er that lias been presented has been accept- 

 ed only on trial, and not one has found a 

 permanent place in our home. In fact, 

 eyery convenience that comes up is turned 

 over to Mrs. Root, before we take hold of it 

 at all ; and with few exceptions she puts it 

 exactly as you do : " The device is quite in- 

 genious, and sometimes quite handy : but. 

 my dear husband. I should very much rath- 

 er have the same amount of money it costs. 

 to buy something else with.'' Now, I have 

 an opinion too, and a great many times I 

 don't feel satistied to liave something that 

 seems to me a wonderful household conven- 

 ience turned off in that way ; and I believe 

 we come as near having family jars in this 

 line, as we ever do. Of late, however, I 

 wind up by saying, '' All right; don't have 

 it under any consideration, if you don't 

 want it."' But I do think it is every wom- 

 an's privilege to have the money an 'article 

 costs, in place of the article itself, whenever 

 she wishes. _ 



the wad ok bees from a KING-BIKD'S CROP. 



I am getting no honey this year so far, and I miss 

 it greatly. T have not taken .")0 lbs. yet. I never 

 had bees in as good shape at the opening of the sea- 

 sou. I have not taken as much honey fi'om 8B col- 

 onies this year as I took from one last year. My 

 crop last year was about titMX) lbs., but this season 

 was too dry. We had no lack of Hora. White clover 

 bloomed profusely; basswood was as full as lever 

 saw it; but the continued drought did not permit 

 the secretion of au.\- honej . I trust it will have one 

 good eflect— that is, to clean up the surplus stock 

 from last year's accumulation. 



In regard to the king-bird's habits, my observa- 

 tions lead me to say'that, after he has tilled his crop 

 with bees, he has the I'ower to eject the "wad" 

 from his mouth. I have picked up the buuch Just 

 as soon jis drojipecl, which consisted of bees In a 



