1388 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



I don't know how many colonies were in the cel- 

 lar; but I did not have as good success with 

 them. Last winter I put 22 colonies in the pit, 

 and all came through finely, and were so strong 

 that I put supers on all of them at the commence- 

 ment of apple-bloom. 



Here is a puzzler to me: One colony that was 

 on the bottom of the pit got the entrance com- 

 pletely covered with dry dirt that got in through 

 a hole in covering them. When I saw them I 

 said to my helper, " Here is a dead one," and I 

 set them down and jerked the cover off. Imag- 

 ine my surprise. They were alive and all right. 

 I had 79 more colonies in a dry cellar — one that 

 I would call an ideal cellar; but I have lost six, 

 although some of them wintered finely. I in- 

 tend to put all my colonies! n the pit next win- 

 ter. F. W. Walrath. 



Waterloo, la. 



[Beginners should be cautioned about attempt- 

 ing to winter bees in a pit unless they have a 

 sandy soil or provide good drainage in case of a 

 clay soil. What is more, they should not try the 

 experiment on too large a scale. Pit wintering 

 depends on a good many conditions; and one 

 will have to determine whether the plan is feasi- 

 ble or not for the locality by first testing it on a 

 small scale. — Ed.] 



IMPROVING A LOCALITY. 



I live in an open pine-woods country,. and bees 

 scarcely ever make more than they need for win- 

 ter use. Could you name some honey plants or 

 trees that would thrive in this climate and soil 

 that I could plant and cultivate so that my bees 

 could get a sufficient amount of nectar so that I 

 could get honey for home consumption.? 



Simpson, La. Elijah Williamson. 



[You would be safe in trying sweet clover in 

 your locality. It does not need cultivation at all, 

 and in time will improve the soil for other crops. 

 It grows very luxuriantly in Louisiana, more 

 especially in the sugar-cane fields. Both in 

 Mississippi and Louisiana it is a valuable forage- 

 crop. Alfalfa grows well in your State. Alfil- 

 arella, or pin clover, will probably grow well in 

 your section. You can possibly secure some 

 seed from Arizona of the last-mentioned plant. 

 Buffalo clover is worth trying, as it grows in 

 Texas. If we knew what sort of soil and climate 

 you have we could advise more intelligently. — 

 W. K. M.] 



A FURTHER SUGGESTION IN REGARD TO A HIVE- 

 CONVEYOR. 



On page 1119, Sept. 15, Mr. F. G. Marbach's 

 idea of a hive-lifter and conveyor looks pretty 

 good. But wouldn't it be better, instead of us- 

 ing only two posts and a wire csble, to make a 

 track of 2X4 or 2X6 lumber, and have it sup- 

 ported by posts, say every 8 or 10 feet, by means 

 of cross-arms extending 20 or 24 inches from the 

 posts, to give room for a load of supers or hives 

 to pass the posts.? Then a traveler similar to a 

 barn-door hanger could be used to run on this 

 track with a tackle or other hive-lifting device at- 

 tached to it. This would have the advantage 

 over the cable in being more rigid, and could be 

 continued to an indefinite length. It could be 



run right to the door of the honey-house, so that 

 no wheelbarrow or cart would be needed. If it 

 were necessary to cross a road or driveway a sec- 

 tion or two could be made removable, so when 

 not in use it could be taken down out of the way. 

 Blanket, Texas. [A. A. Ashley. 



[Your plan is perfectly feasible, and perhaps 

 better, but more expensive. It would have the 

 advantage that the track could be curved, and 

 this might be very important in some cases. — Ed.] 



PROPOLIS FROM WAX. 



A few years ago I had a cake of bright-yellow 

 wax lying out in the yard under some shade-trees. 

 One day I noticed some bees on this wax. I 

 watched them a while, and found that they were 

 gnawing on the wax and putting it in their pol- 

 len-baskets. As nearly as I could tell there were 

 only six of them. I looked over the hives in the 

 yard, and found that those bees were daubing up 

 a crack between the cover and hive-body on a 

 certain hive; and, as nearly as I could tell, those 

 few bees were the only ones working on this cake 

 of wax. I watched them perhaps half an hour, 

 and saw that, during their manipulation of the 

 wax, it got darker, and almost resembled, accord- 

 ing to my eye, the propolis on the hive in other 

 places. Some time after that, having occasion 

 to open this hive, I noticed that the wax those 

 bees deposited was the genuine stuff called pro- 

 polis, in color, stickiness, and smell; and ever 

 since that time my belief has been that propolis 

 is manufactured by the bees out of wax mixed 

 with some substance to change it chemically. 

 That the bees never gather any substance to use 

 as propolis I will not claim. During the sum- 

 mer and fall the mesquite exudes great quantities 

 of a gum we call mesquite wax. We gather it 

 and dissolve it, and make a very fine glue. Now, 

 I ask you, why do not the bees gather this glue.? 

 I have never seen any bees, nor have I ever heard 

 of any one else seeing a bee, working on this 

 gum. If our chemists hunt for it they may find 

 what the bee deposits and mixes with the wax to 

 cause that change. J. A. Ruff. 



Fort McKavett, Tex. 



VERTICAL WIRES AND HALF-INCH-WIDE STARTERS. 



Will you please state the objections to wiring 

 frames perpendicularly by driving the right 

 length of staples into top and bottom bars and 

 imbedding half-inch strips of foundation on 

 to the wires.? The objections to wiring, unless 

 you use full sheets of foundation (which I con- 

 sider too expensive), are that the bees often fail 

 to get the wire in the septum. This makes de- 

 pressions in combs, with the wires in sight. 

 Now, if this is an old idea will you please state 

 the objection.? I don't see why it would not be 

 a big improvement over all other methods of se- 

 curing straight combs. G. E. Philbrook. 



Lakeside, Cal. 



[This plan of wiring is one that has been and 

 is used to a considerable extent. It takes a lot 

 of time to prepare a set of frames in this way, 

 however. We don't quite understand whether 

 your narrow strips of foundation are to run ver- 

 tically or horizontally. The former would hard- 

 ly give satisfaction. — Ed.] 



