1887 



GLEANINGS IN JiEE GULTURE. 



828 



ined both hives in regard to ventilation, 

 protection from the wind, and all these 

 matters. It is possible, although hardly 

 probable, that the queen hail something to 

 do with it. The case 1 me'iioned recently, 

 of combs of sealed store.-> that killed the 

 bees during one winter and wintered them 

 all right the next, is in the same liiu'.— We 

 are to understand from what you say. that 

 your bees swarmed without the <|ueen. 

 This is very unusual : but I should suppose 

 in such a case they would scatter about or 

 go into other hives, or wherever it happen- 

 ed. 



THE GIVEN I'KESS. 



VTes, 1 am still holding- to the Given press, aud 

 like it as well as ever for making- fdn. foi- the brood- 

 chamber; but I have never been able to make as 

 nice thin and even Idn. on it as can be made on the 

 roller mill, therefore I prefoi- purchasing- my thin 

 fdn. You speak of the Given fdn. being- made right 

 inside of the wired frames. That is no advantage 

 at all. I now prefer putting: in the fdn. with a wire- 

 imbedder. I. K. (ioni). 



Nappanee, Ind., Oct. -M, J88;. 



1 am glad to hear that you still use the 

 (xiven press, friend G.: but I confess I don't 

 quite understand why you have abandoned 

 making foundation right in the wired 

 frames. At one time we thought that that 

 was going to be a very great labor-saving 

 device. AVill the friends who are using the 

 (iiven press tell us if their experience is the 

 same ? ' 



TEXAS BEK-KlfiLEK. 



The insect sent by Edwin HoUkamp, Belleville, 

 Texas, is an asilus fly ground to powder. There is 

 .just enough to show me that it is one of the long- 

 slim AsilUhv, like Aiiilus Mhsourifnsitt. and that it is 

 a new species to me. That makes me very sorry— 

 shall I say vexed?— that it was crushed in the mail. 

 Now, Mr. Editor, I wish to give my spare minutes 

 for the next ten years to studying and describing 

 our wild bees, and those insects that prey upon 

 bees; so i shall be very glad to get bees and bee- 

 enemies from all parts of the United States. These 

 insects should be carefully killed by use of chloro- 

 form or gasoline, which may be poured immediate- 

 ly on the insects. They should not be marred or 

 injured at all, and they should be mailed in a strong 

 box, which must be of wood or tin. Pasteboard 

 will not stand the pressure. So T hope all readers 

 of Gleanings will aid me. 



THE N.\TIONAT. CONVENTION. 



I wish to emphasize every point made by Ur. 

 Miller, as to our Nationarconventiou. 1 think he 

 is right as to change of officers. I know of no 

 other association where the officers change at the 

 meetings. I think there is no reason for the 

 change, and many against it. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College. Mich. 



SOMETHING ABOUT BEE-VEll.S. 



1 notice that the Excelsior Manufacturing- Com- 

 pany are offering the Charter-Oak stove for sale un- 

 der a new phase— that is, the gauze wire, in the 

 oven-doors are said to turn in a certain amount of 

 the air, and yet it does not permit the heat of the 

 oven to escape. We also know that miners use 



gauze wire to prevent their lamps from igniting the 

 damp in the mines, and coal-oil stoves have gauze 

 wire to prevent the oil from igniting or the fumes 

 from the same taking Are. Does not this ))rincii)le 

 also apply to the bee-veil, whether of wire or other 

 netting? We all know that they are insufferably 

 hot to wear, and now it remains for some of your 

 scientific readers to devise something to wear over 

 the face that will keep the bees out and at the same 

 time permit the heat to escape, and be otherwise 

 pleasant to wear. Is it not the meshes that keep 

 the heat in? and can not something be devised to 

 remedy the trouble? T. R. Hanbuhy. 



Box 98, Atlanta, Ga. 



If I understand yon, friend II.. yon mean 

 that we need some wire cloth witii meshes 

 just as large as tliey can possibly be and not 

 permit a bee to crawl through, and at the 

 same time have the wire just as small as 

 possible. 1 have spent a good deal of time 

 and some money on this problem. What we 

 want is something made after the fashion 

 of poultry-netting. The size of mesh must 

 be just about that which we use for our 

 honey- extractors ; but the wire should be as 

 tine, or tiner,than that used for queen-cages. 

 No wire-cloth manufacturer in the world is 

 prepared at present to furnish us such wire 

 cloth, and it will require very expensive 

 machinery to produce it. AVhere the wire 

 is so line nnd the meshes so large, the wires 

 would not keep in place unless twisted 

 around each other, in about the same way 

 our finest silk lace is woven. If anybody in 

 the world can furnish us such a fabric-, I 

 should like to see it. I would suggest thai 

 it be made of brass or copper wire, to pre- 

 vent rusting aud breaking. 



BEE-HIVES IN THE GROUND IN AUSTRALIA. 



I came across a strange freak of bee-nature the 

 other day that I think may be interesting to many 

 of your readers who wish to study the habits of the 

 bee. Some boys out bird-hunting reported to me 

 they had found a bee's - nest iu the bank of a 

 creek in an out-hill. I went out aud found it as 

 they had reported. A colony of bees had taken 

 possession of a hole on the bank of a creek. It had 

 been an ants'-nest, and either the ants had deserted 

 it or the bees had driven the ants back. This latter 

 I believe to be the ease, for I found afterward, on 

 getting the bees all out of the hole, and digging the 

 comb out, that the ants had a nest side by side with 

 the bees, and had access to the honey. The hole, or 

 nest, I found to be about two feet deep, and about 

 eighteen inches to two feet wide, and was full of 

 comb, and a good supi)ly of honey. It was one ol 

 the strongest colonies of bees I have ever seen. Al- 

 though a great number were destroyed I was able 

 to get a big tine swarm out of them. I have si)Okeii 

 to a number of the old woodsmen in these parts, 

 and they all say they have never come across such 

 a thing-, as they have always found that the bees 

 build in old trees. I have also spoken and written 

 to several old bee-keepers about it. T'hey, also, say 

 they have never seen or heard of such a strange 

 freak on the pai-t of the l)ees. Perhaps some ot 

 \our readers will tu- able to say if any thing of the 

 kind has ever come under fheir notice. I'rom what 

 I saw of the samples of the earth, and the small ani- 

 holes side by side. I feel convinced that the bees 



