510 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



this one respect, and yet fall down when her 

 bees came to the honey-flow. Some strains 

 of colonies, however populous, are inclined 

 to loaf. By your test, a Holy Land queen 

 ought to be a great honey-producer because 

 she is a great layer. But an extended ex- 

 perience covering a period of years did not 

 show that these bees were superior, if as 

 good, in the production of honey as the less 

 prolific Italians. 



No. it will not take at least a season through 

 to test a good queen, and it would take a 

 year to give her an all-around test. — Ed.] 



a patch of brood near which I found several 

 cells full of this liquid. This may be noth- 

 ing new to some people, but it is something 

 unusual to me. Hugh Johnson. 



Reidsville, N. C, Jan. 23. 



CEMENT PAINT FOR OLD OR NEW HIVES. 



Having studied your ABC very carefully 

 for a year now, and from personal experi- 

 ence in painting hives for a year, and other 

 outdoor farming implements for many years, 

 I now use no more oil paints for hives, but 

 the following recipe for this country, which 

 is hot, is a perfect success so far as bees are 

 concerned, and very much cheaper and 

 easier than oil. 



Take milk containing a large percentage 

 of cream; add good cement slowly, stirring 

 well until a good thick paint is made. Ap- 

 ply with a broad flat brush. Two or three 

 coats put on will petrify the outside surface 

 of the wood. I claim the following advan- 

 tages for hives over oil paint: Cheapness, 

 ease, and quickness of painting; cleanliness, 

 no clothes or hands soiled; practically no 

 swell; certainly not objectionable to bees; 

 unaiiected by damp or weather for years; 

 fills up old cracks admirably; smooth sur- 

 face; and last, but not least, a porous paint 

 which does exclude air through the wood. 

 The natural color is a yellowish slate; but 

 any dry-powder paint may be added to give 

 the desired color. I prefer the natural col- 

 or, which always looks tidy and clean. One 

 barrel of cement will or ought to do for hun- 

 dreds of hives. It is necessary to paint oc- 

 cupied hives on a cool cloudy day, the idea 

 being to keep the sun off for six hours, so 

 that the paint will not set too quickly. The 

 slower it sets, the harder the surface gets. 

 Milk containing a good thick set of cream 

 on top is much more preferable than skim 

 or separator milk. It is also necessary to 

 use up all paint mixed, within a few hours. 

 Amerspoort, So. Af. U. L. Robertson. 



HONEY-DEW GATHERED IN JANUARY. 



I have seen bees gathering pollen here in 

 January, but not before have I noticed hon- 

 ey coming in at this time of year. Jan. 22 

 was a very warm day, and I was not sur- 

 prised to see bees flying out, but I could not 

 understand why some of them alighted so 

 heavily, just as they do in summer when a 

 flow is on. There is a small patch of pines 

 about 200 yards away, from which bees were 

 busily coming and going — some of them so 

 heavy that they dropped on the way. Upon 

 examination I found a sweet liquid on pine 

 twigs, which I took to be honey-dew. To 

 make sure the bees were gathering this, I 

 opened a hive that had a loose top, and found 



A WET BOARD FOR WATERING BEES. 



In watering bees in the spring of the year 

 I place a board about 10 feet long and 10 or 

 12 inches wide on an incline, lengthwise. 

 A bucket of water on the other end of the 

 board, punctured at the bottom so the water 

 will leak out and run down the board is just 

 enough to keep the board wet. 



I wet the surface of the board first, and 

 the leak will usually keep the entire surface 

 wet until the water has all run out. I teach 

 my bees by being prompt to supply the wa- 

 ter, so that they come regularly at a certain 

 time. After they once start, it is surprising 

 to see how many will get on the board in a 

 short time. B. J. Worsley. 



Theresa, N. Y. 



OUTDOOR FEEDING FOR STIMULATING. 



For stimulative feeding I fill gallon jars 

 with syrup, tie a cloth over the top just thick 

 enough so the syrup will not run too fast, 

 and turn the cloth end down on some short 

 sticks so the bees can get under. If these 

 are set in some nice warm place the bees 

 work on it nicely, and it causes no disturb- 

 ance. I use about 1^ to 2 lbs. of granulated 

 sugar to each, for it also supplies them with 

 the water they need. 



What does any one want of two queees if 

 he can have queens like some I have, that 

 fill two hive-bodies? One queen is enough 

 for me; but I want good ones or none at all. 



Mt. Jackson, Va. S. Click. 



SWEET CLOVER AS A FOOD FOR STOCK. 



Last week, seeing in the cornfield sweet 

 clover over two feet high in bloom I thought 

 of a writer who said it would not grow in 

 cultivated fields. The large plant which I 

 send in a separate inclosure has grown from 

 seed which has germinated since July 29, 

 when the corn was last cviltivated. I also 

 send two young plants which have grown 

 from seed since our first rain, Oct. l4. The 

 whole field was plowed late last spring, and 

 that part which is now covered with a dense 

 growth of young clover, being above the ir- 

 rigation line, was not planted. This part of 

 the field was free from clover last year, and 

 the seed must have lain dormant two years. 

 I consider it a good plow-under crop. To- 

 day I counted over 100 nodules on one plant. 

 This coming season I hope to save enough 

 seed to plant ten acres, and the following 

 spring plow it under for corn-planting. 

 Last week I gave some sweet clover to a pen 

 of young fatting hogs which had never eaten 

 any. They were all very fond of it. Some 

 horses and cattle do not relish it at first, but, 

 like human being, have to acquire an appe- 

 tite for some foods. I well remember my 

 first attempt to eat an olive. Now you can 

 scarcely feed me too many. If you have a 



