40 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Jan. 1 



one or more combs are jarred from the wood 

 they are of very little service. This idea 

 would be practically the carton, with the ad- 

 vantage of being transparent (which is a 

 most desirable thing). The extra cost of 

 preparing the case, such as the no-drip case, 

 would, in our opinion, offset the cost of pa- 

 pering the sections after the fashion describ- 

 ed, as they would then be put in a perfectly 

 plain case; and if even half of the sections 

 should be broken from the frames the re- 

 mainder would be uninjured where the paper 

 itself was not broken. It occurs to us that 

 the paper could be made as a bag is made, 

 and the sections slipped into them and then 

 secured with mucilage or some form of paste. 



To-day we were going through some hon- 

 ey that came in carriers, containing eight 

 cases. Some of the comb had broken out of 

 the frames, and had leaked sufficiently to 

 fill more than the space between the strips, 

 thus necessitating new papers in the bottom 

 where the strips could be removed. In this 

 instance the nails used were cleated, and 

 this made it difficult and in some instances 

 impossible to put the case again in good or- 

 der. It would seem as though before anoth- 

 er season different experiments could be 

 made with this idea, and a heavier weight of 

 paper secured than has been tried. At any 

 rate, it is one of the devices that appeal very 

 strongly to us, and we hope by your Janu- 

 ary or February issues sufficient progress 

 will have been made with the idea already 

 demonstrated as practical, that will insure 

 its coming into use next season with those 

 who have to order supplies. 



Chicago, 111. 



WHITE ITALIAN CLOVER TRIED TWO YEARS 



AGO, AND ALMOST A FAILURE BOTH 



FOR HAY AND HONEY. 



Two years ago I bought some seed of white- 

 blooming and some of the old standard kind 

 of crimson clover from the firm mentioned 

 on page 1385, and sowed them side by side 

 at the same time, and on land prepared the 

 same way. The regular crimson clover made 

 a good crop. 



The white- blooming was so late in starting 

 in the spring that the weeds got ahead of it, 

 and it was almost a failure. I did not feel 

 that I had any ground of complaint against 

 the introducers, as at that time about all the 

 difference they claimed for it was that it was 

 later and had white blossoms. Since reading 

 the article by W. K. Morrison I have looked 

 up their latest catalog and am quite surpris- 

 ed at the claims they are making for it. 



As to its honey-producing qualities, I can 

 not remember that I took any notice of it. 

 I have never known bees to fail to work the 

 regular kind very freely as much as or more 

 than any plant I know. 



Barboursville, Va. A. R. Lockhart. 



THE BEST TIME TO REQUEEN; J. E. HAND RE- 

 CONSIDERS. 



Upon further experimenting with a view 

 to determine when is the best time to requeen 

 an apiary i am led to change my views as 

 expressed in my article on page 1586, Dec. 

 15; and with my pi'esent light upon the sub- 

 ject I now consider the latter part of the sea- 

 son, and after the close of the honey-flow 

 from basswood, which, in my location, is 

 about July 20, to be the best time to requeen 

 an apiary. One reason for this is we have 

 found that queens reared at this time will 

 keep up brood-rearing late in the season, 

 and will have stronger colonies the next 

 spring; and the other reason is, that the time 

 of our cell-building colonies is not worth any 

 thing at this time, and therefore it costs less 

 to rear queens, since we are out only a very 

 little labor. J. E. Hand. 



Birmingham, Ohio. 



ACID FOR DISINFECTING FODL-BROODY 

 COMBS. 



One of your readers at this place writes 

 to ask if it is not practical to dip foul-broody 

 combs, where it is dried to a scale, or nearly 

 so, into a bath of diluted acid or other liquid 

 disinfectant. He adds that, if he is correct- 

 ly informed, a weak kerosene emulsion will 

 effectually kill the San Jose scale, and that 

 gasoline is sure death to germs of almost any 

 kind; and as wax is in no way injured by 

 acid he does not know why some agent of 

 this kind could not be employed to aid in 

 the battle with foul brood. Will some ac- 

 commodating expert grasp a foul-brood germ 

 by ihe hind legs and jam his head into a bot- 

 tle of muriatic acid, then examine him in his 

 microscope, and give us the result? 



Jamul, Cal. Ben Biddle. 



[We hardly think the acid bath for dis- 

 eased combs would be effective. Better by 

 far melt them up. — Ed.] 



THE RAT PROBLEM. 



A year ago we moved on to this place, and 

 it was the worst-infested place one can 

 imagine, and has been for the last 24 years 

 that we have been acquainted with it. We 

 were fully determined to get rid of the rats. 

 We got four different kinds of traps, and 

 then tried every thing we could hear of; and 

 when you said "rat biscuit" my husband 

 laid in a supply at once; but they were like 

 all the rest— just seemed to act like a tonic, 

 and still the rats came. At last one of our 

 hired boys told me he had seen a sure cure 

 for rats, in a paper. I told him to tell me 

 quick, as we were at the point of collapse. 

 He said, pour syrup, or any thing the rats 

 are fond of, on to a board and sprinkle with 



