102 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



the past season to sell such comb honey. 

 All sections not No. 1 were cut out and 

 placed in Mason quart jars, two sections to 

 the jar. The jar was then filled full of ex- 

 tracted honey of a fine quality, and sealed 

 with a neat label containing my guarantee 

 and name. If you live up to your guaran- 

 tee your name will sell your honey. 1 speak 

 in regard to the local trade. When rightly 

 handled it is the best market we have. I 

 placed this with the grocer at 20 cts. per lb., 

 3 lbs. to the jar, 60 cts. per jar. This will 

 dispose of the off sections and quite an 

 amount of extracted honey at a good price. 

 Mannington, W. Va. B. A. Ammons. 



[The plan here spoken of is excellent. It 

 is the same that is used in Texas, only pails 

 are used instead of glass.— Ed.] 



A BUGGY-SPRING HIVE-SCRAPER. 



I have been using a cheap and practicable 

 hive-tool which can be made of a wagon or 

 buggy spring. The broken end of a spring 

 can generally be found at any blacksmith 

 shop, and the thin end can be filed sharp for 

 10 or 15 cts. Have it sharpened as per the 



illustration, the thin end sharpened and one 

 side about two inches back, to be used as a 

 scraper or screwdriver, and the thick end 

 can be squared on one edge to drive a nail 

 with. I find it very handy for all purposes 

 around an apiary. Virgil P. Cutler. 

 Canon City, Colo. 



the relative position of the brood and 

 honey depends upon the loca- 

 tion of the entrance. 



In the Nov. 15th Gleanings, page 1435, 1 

 notice the writing of Bro. Hand in regard to 

 the position of honey and brood in a normal 

 colony of bees, and it seems to me that he is 

 mistaken, to some extent at least. 



Mr.' Hand refers to bees in a normal state 

 unrestricted by man. Very well; we will 

 take our ax and go to the woods, and here 

 we have a bee-tree with the entrance high 

 up at the extreme upper end of the cavity. 

 Upon examination we find brood at the top 

 and honey below; next we find a tree with 

 an entrance at the lower end of the cavity. 

 Upon examination we find brood at the bot- 

 tom and honey above. The fact is, bees pre- 



fer to store honey away from the entrance, 

 regardless of other conditions. As our hives 

 usually have the entrance at the bottom, the 

 honey is usually stored at the top, or above 

 the brood. Jf Mr. Hand will take notice he 

 will find that the end of his brood-frames at 

 the back end of the hives usually contains 

 more honey than the end nearest the en- 

 trance—at least that is the case here in Texas. 

 Sabinal, Texas. Grant Anderson. 



TRANSPARENT WRAPPERS FOR COMB HONEY; 

 RUBBER BANDS TO HOLD THE PA- 

 PERS IN PLACE. 



In the Dec. 1st issue, page 1499, I see an 

 article by H. A. Sackett in regard to using 

 transparent wrappings for comb honey. I 

 also note the editorial reference to butter- 

 paper. I have used it for wrapping fancy 

 comb honey in 4^X4^: plain sections, and 

 find it answers nicely and makes a very neat 

 package. Instead of mucilage or glue I use 

 a small rubber band placed around the sec- 

 tion after the ends are folded down. I find 

 these answer every purpose, and the combs 

 can be inspected at any time without destroy- 

 ing the wrapper. I usually cut a diamond- 

 shaped opening in some of the papers, and 

 these I set next to the glass in the cases, so 

 that the color and quality may be seen with- 

 out opening the case. G. W. Byers, Jr. 



Dundee, Oregon, Dec. 10. 



CAUCASIANS CROSS; PLURAL QUEENS NOT AN 

 UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS. 



I have a Caucasian queen, imported direct 

 myself; and, notwithstanding I opened her 

 colony and passed out the frames for 156 

 high-school students to look at and handle, 

 they are, at times, very vicious. They came 

 through last winter all right, and are very 

 strong at present. I have also some import- 

 ed Italians which are very vicious, but won- 

 derful workers. 



Many years ago I tried a plurality of queens 

 at various seasons of the year. About 30 per 

 cent would hold out in the honey-flow. Ex- 

 cept in case of supersedure I never managed 

 to keep two in a hive only as above mention- 

 ed, and I tried it many times with brood and 

 without and in all ways. A No. 1 vigorous 

 queen with energetic and long-lived offspring 

 suits me. Douglas D. Hammond. 



Truro, la. 



TWO QUEENS IN A HIVE. 



If two queens in one hive are separated by 

 perforated zinc, does one of the two show up 

 missing in the fall? J. L. Zeinz. 



Chicago, 111. 



[Yes, as a general rule, if there is no fall 

 flow of any kind. — Ed.] 



red pollen from aster. 



The bright-red pollen in our parts of Penn- 

 sylvania, 28 miles north of Philadelphia, 

 comes from fall aster. My bees brought it 

 in up to the middle of November. 



SoudertoD, Pa. M. B. Berguy. 



