(CLEANINGS IN BEE OULTUUB 



crop of lioney in the hives, and was con- 

 temi^lating exlraotinc Inst week. Two years 



lIoLl ei's c_-!e;iiiinj; up after the flood. 



of hard work lias also been swept away, 

 but 1 feel satisfied when I consider that our 

 old keeper did not lose his life. The only 

 thing that saved his house was the water, 

 that rose to a depth of over two feet on his 

 floor, keeping the wind from getting under 

 the house. I am starting all over again : 

 but the situation does look discouraging. I 

 had a hive at home used for experimental 

 l)uri)oses; but that, too, was lost. Not an 

 orange or pecan remains to tell the tale. It 

 will be a long time before the country re- 

 gains its normal condition. 

 New Orleans, La. 



WHERE THE QUEENS QUAHK 



BY A. TSCHOEBERLE 



Mr. Doolittle asks the question, page 750, 

 Sept. 15, " Did any of the older heads evei- 

 hear a virgin queen pipe or quahk in any 

 other place than the combs of the hives 

 where there were rivals among these 

 queens?" In answer I must say yes. 



A year ago last June' I had nine queen- 

 cells and no nuclei for them; so I thought 

 I would put them in cages for two or three 

 days till I got time to make some nuclei. I 

 caged and put them into the upper story of 

 a strong hive, and two days later I could 

 hear the young queens piping and quahk- 

 ing. The next day I opened the hive to see 

 how many there were hatched. All nine 

 were out. That evening I went over to lis- 

 ten, and T could hear the queens piping and 



qualiking. One would start piping and you 

 would think all the test would answer by 

 quahking. The next day I took them out 

 avd looked through the lower jjart of the 

 hive to see if there was any signs of queen- 

 cells, but there were none. 



Now as to the piping before the after- 

 swarm, you can always go by that. This 

 last summer I had two hives standing close 

 together, and both of them swarmed the 

 same day. Then I concluded I should let 

 them go until they commenced piping. I 

 Avent over every evening to listen, but I 

 never could hear one piping or quahking. 

 When I opened the hive there was only one 

 young queen in each. 



Marysville, Wash. 



A NOVEL PEAR -BLIGHT REMEDY 



BY J, C. GRAHAM 



About two squares from my home there 

 is an orchard of about 200 pear-trees be- 

 longing to a friend. In the opposite diree- 

 lion a friend has one pear-tree in his front 

 yard. Two years ago the orchard and the 

 single tree were badly affected with pear- 

 blight. I told each friend of a remedy I 

 had seen tried. The man with the single 

 tree tried my remedy, bat the other laughed 

 at me. Last season the orchard was in a 

 worse condition than the year before; but 

 the single tree was in much better condition. 

 This season the single tree is free from 

 blight. The orchard is about a third dead, 

 and the rest is in very bad order. 



I suppose you too will be skeptical, but 

 please try the remedy before you laugh. It 



is nothing more than this: Drive 8 or 10 

 nails into the body of the tree; and, if not 

 completely cured, as many more the ne.xt 

 season. You will find that the nails will 

 disappear and the head will drop oft'. The 

 sap takes up the iron as it rusts, and the 

 blight sim.ply does not come back. I don't 

 pretend to know Avhy, but have seen it tried 

 aii'ain and again, and find it Avill work. 



One other thing: W^hen my bees can fly 

 in the spring, when the orchard referred to 

 abo'>'e is in bloom my friend has a nice crop 

 of fruit. When it is too cold for the bees 

 to fly when the ti-ees bloom, he has no fruit. 

 I have been living here eight years, and t his 

 has alwavs been tiue. 



Mayfield, Ky. 



