250 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Wants Plan for Extracting-house 



Pleaso irive me a goofl pl:in for an extracting- 

 house. 



Bscondido, Cal. Sam Sakutt. 



[There are many possible arrangements of the 

 fixtures in an extracting-house, and it is hardly 

 possible to recommend any one arrangement that 

 would suit every one. The drawing, however, shows 

 the floor plan of an extracting-rooni, which is very 

 convenient. This is for a building 12 x 18 feet. .\ 

 smaller room would answer the purpose almost as 

 well, but the larger building costs so little more 

 that it is economy in the end. 



T-TT 



FLOOR PL.\X OF 12 X 18-FT. EXTRACTING-ROO:M. 



(A) Capping-melter ; (B) honey-extractor; (C) 

 honey-pump; (D) tank; (E) engine; (F) bench; 

 (H, I) small opening with wooden doors for pass- 

 ing supers in and out; (J) door; (K, L, M, N) 

 windows. 



There should be two shelves at least three feet 

 wide running the entire length of the building, and 

 located on each side above the windows, perhaps 

 seven feet high. These shelves permit the storing 

 away of such articles as are not in use, in order to 

 leave the floor clear for the work at hand. 



Remember that there should be no screens at the 

 door. Glass may be used if necessary for light, but 

 the screen should be at the windows only so that 

 there will be no bees bothering about the door dur- 

 ing extracting time. — Ed.] 



Has Lost No Colonies on Account of 

 Aster Honey 



The bees here have been flying a little nearly 

 every day for a week or more. I was afraid they 

 were. not going to winter well on the aster honey, 

 as some of them were showing signs of uneasiness 

 and dysentery. I haven't lost any on account of 

 the stores. I lost one from queenlessness. Not 

 over half a dozen colonies in my 80 could be called 

 weak. 



I have four nuclei that I wintered in the cellar 

 on aster honey. They are in fine condition. I have 

 them outside now. 



The bees are carrying in something that looks like 

 brown pollen. They will not touch flour. 



BVRON S. H.'VSTING.S. 



Brookville, Ind., Feb. 23. 



Sweet Clover in Kentucky 



It is one of the prettiest -sights the eye ever 

 beheld to see from five to ten acres of sweet clover 

 in full bloom, bees coming and going. Our county 

 has always had more or less of sweet clover. It soon 

 restores old waste land, so that in a few years it 

 will raise splendid corn, wheat, and tobacco. 



If the writer of the editorial, page 48, Jan. 15, 

 will call on pie in June I will show him a sight hard 

 to beat. I will take him through Pendleton and 



Robertson lounties. The statement lliat they grow 

 nothing else is, I think, a little strong. 



We have wliite clover, smartweed, and Spanish 

 needle. I do think there is too much tobacco grown 

 in the three counties. Let him come about the 

 middle of .\ugust and he can buy sweet-clover seed 

 by the carload. 



Brookville, Ky. L. T. Rice. 



Success with Soft Candy 



The temperature reached sixty here to-day, Feb. 

 13, and what a line flight the bees had! They have 

 come through thus far remarkably well considering 

 the cold weather. A few show symptoms of dysen- 

 tery. For this reason I made up fifty pounds of 

 i-oft candy by Dr. Gates' formula, and gave to about 

 tliat many colonies a pound each. I tried it last 

 spring on ten colonies, and found it remarkably 

 good to cure dysentery and bring them through 

 spring weather in good order. In fact, I believe it 

 saved those I tried it on last spring. For that rea- 

 son I gave it to more this time, believing it would 

 help them ail. 



In relation to Straw, p. 95. Jan. 15, I know Dr. 

 Miller's great crops of honey, and his success as a 

 keeper of bees. I desire to sit at his feet and learn ; 

 and while I know he has eight-frame hives in his 

 yard I never think of him as an eight-frame-hive 

 user from the testimony I have gathered from him- 

 self and those who have visited his apiary. Rather 

 he uses sixteen frames in the two hive-bodies. Many 

 times I have read his reply to the beginner's ques- 

 tion, "What size of hive shall I adopt?" He al- 

 ways advises a size larger than an eight-frame, and 

 rather apologizes for using it himself. 



Urbana, O. O. J. Jones. 



Home-made Bee-gloves 



Without suitable bee-gloves, and not able to get 

 them of the right size, I sewed long wrists with rub- 

 ber in the top to a pair of common six-cent canvas 

 gloves, then melted some beeswax and soaked them 

 in it. The bees rarely try to sting the wax-coated 

 surface, and it is practically sting-proof, as at the 

 most they can only prick through, not stinging to any 

 depth. 



The best thing I can do for a bee-sting is to 

 squeeze it until the blood starts. This seems to get 

 the poison out of it. A solution of chinosol removes 

 the soreness for me the best of any thing I have 

 found. If not attended to, stings poison me badly, 

 and this grows worse the oftener I am stung. 



Glover, Vt. Jean White. 



Is Honey Capped Air-tight? 



The value of bottled honey as a food might be 

 greatly affected by the knowledge as to whether 

 honey-cappings are absolutely air-tight. Can you 

 give any method by which definite determining tests 

 may have been made ? 



Ft. Smith, Ark. L. E. Kerr. 



[The principal proof that the cappings over honey 

 are not absolutely air-tight lies in the fact that, 

 when comb honey is stored in a damp cool place, the 

 honey absorbs moisture from the air, becomes thin 

 and watery, and oozes through these cappings. If 

 the cappings were air-tight this could not happen. — 

 EI..1 



Ohio Bees Gathering Pollen in February 



February 21 our bocs were gathering pollen and 

 nectar. Tlic temperature was 52 in the shade. This 

 is the first time in thirty years when bees gathered 

 pollen this early. It is remarkable, considering this 

 cold winter. The bees so far have wintered well. 



Lima, Oliio. Mrs. J. A. Mooney. 



