182 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



could keep comb honey. I took twelve secions 

 each, of basswood and white clover, putting them 

 in a twenty-four section case, storing them in a 

 closetadjoiningour dining-room. It neverfreezes 

 in this room. For two or three years following 

 I took out a few sections, replacing them with 

 that year's product. In the last two or three 

 years we have been giving the honey a trial to 

 see what it was like. Some of the combs were 

 somewhat granulated, others not in the least. I 

 have just looked to see what is left. I find one 

 section dated 1889, one 1890, two 1891, one 1892, 

 and one 1893. 'i he color is that of any white 

 two years old. The flavor is very fine, consis- 

 tency thick and ropy, as it will string out a foot 

 or more without breaking. Taking color, flavor, 

 and consistency, I think the clover is a little ahead 

 of the basswood. J. W. Caldwell, M. D. 

 Steamboat Rock, Iowa. 



[This is interesting as well as remarkable. We 

 never had the record before of any honey in the 

 comb as old as this — certainly not if we take in- 

 to consideration condition and quality. Can 

 any one go one better? — Ed.] 



A PLAN PROPOSED FOR THE INSPECTION OF BEES 

 IMPORTED INTO HAWAII. 



That importation of queens into Hawaii reads 

 funny, p. 1490, Dec 1. Let us imagine they did 

 not consult a practical bee-keeper before framing 

 the law. If the island is going to have a law for 

 the protection of disease, why not have a quaran- 

 tine station five or six miles from any other colo- 

 ny of bees, and let the importer bring nuclei to 

 the station, and have the queen introduced on ar- 

 rival? then the brood could be inspected once or 

 twiceaweek for one month; and if nothing broke 

 out in that time, give the importer a clear bill of 

 health for his queens. Isaac Balmer. 



Burlington, Ont. , Can. 



SWARMS WITH VIRGINS LEAVE PARENT COLONY 

 HOPELESSLY QUEENLESS. 



Referring to Dr. Miller's Straw, page 988, Aug. 

 15, I would say that, while I lived in Iowa, I 

 thought I could depend upon a colony not to 

 swarm with a virgin queen and leave the parent 

 hive hopelessly queenless; but here, with the 

 same strain of bees, it has been of rather frequent 

 occurrence. I have known swarms to issue re- 

 peatedly and return, the young queen failing to 

 go with them until at last she would "yield to 

 popular opinion " and swarm too. It was evi- 

 dently no "bridal party," but a bona-fide leaving 

 for parts unknown (to me). The usual amount 

 of bees would always remain in the old hive. 



Leslie, Ga , Aug. 21. T. W. Livingston. 



COMB-BUILDING IN TREES; DEATH-RATE OF COL- 

 ONIES IN TREES GREATER THAN IN 

 MODERN HIVES. 



Bees follow no rigid methods in sheeting their 

 combs in box hives or in trees. The central 

 combs in all box hives or trees are invariably 

 straight and methodically spaced, showing a pref- 

 erence for uniformity, but the rest of the work is 

 quite crooked. At the beginning of work in any 

 hive all operations are influenced by the queen's 

 persistence in laying eggs; and thus it is that the 



central combs are always true and flat; but as 

 soon as the queen, according to her prolificness 

 and the flow of nectar, has plenty of brood space, 

 the crookedness of work materializes. 



The form of the hive influences comb-construc- 

 tion more than any other thing; but the impres- 

 sion that bees in a Langstroth hive are working 

 under abnormal conditions or following unnatu- 

 ral impulses is, in my opinion, radically wrong. 

 It seems to me that any effort on our part to guide 

 normal colonies to finish all operations in nature's 

 symmetry is a step forward. As to wintering — 

 well, combs built in Langstroth hives with Hoff- 

 man frames are just as favorable to ideal results 

 as cofnbs built any old way, J A. Crane, p. 35, 

 Jan. 1, notwithstanding. The death-rate of bees 

 in trees far surpasses that of those in L. hives, and 

 to find the real cause necessitates rigid search else- 

 where than in comb construction. 



Great Meadows, N. J. Ralph P. Fisher. 



STRONG-TASTING COMB. 



I have one super which was well filled with 

 nice white honey except three sections in the 

 center, which were a dark-brown color. I gave 

 one to a neighbor. They did not like the taste 

 of it. We used one ourselves. It is the comb 

 that is strong and does not taste good. When 

 you take the honey out of the comb and com- 

 pare it with the white comb honey you can not 

 see any difference in color or taste. The comb 

 has the appearance of being made of propolis, 

 and the comb is thicker than the white comb. 

 Now if you can explain this I should be glad to 

 hear from you. Columbus Mills 



Gas City, Ind. , Dec. 8. 



lA comb in the process of building partakes 

 somewhat of its surroundings. If it is next to 

 old dark combs it takes on somewhat their char- 

 acter and color. — Ed.] 



very little WHITE CLOVER LIVING; JOINING 

 NAUONAL BfE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



I have found very little white clover living, but 

 there is an abundant crop of seed. There is very 

 little red clover. 



I just started to keep bees only fhis last sum- 

 mer, and would thank you very much if you 

 could tell me how I could join the National Bee- 

 keepers' Association. Wm. Hosier, Jr. 



Terre Haute, Ind., Jan. 11. 



[Write to N. E. France, Platteville, Wis., en- 

 closing $1 00 for membership.— Ed ] 



WOULD it be A GOOD PLAN TO UNITE WEAK 

 COLONIES FROM THE CELLAR IN THE SPRING.? 



I have read about uniting weak colonies of 

 bees in the fall when putting them in the cellar. 

 How will it work, when taking them out in the 

 spring, to unite light or weak colonies and let 

 them mix while taking their cleansing flight.? 

 Would you put any thing between the two 

 hives when they are united.? Chas. Doan. 



Hull, Iowa, Jan. 7. 



[The plan is perfectly feasible, and, indeed, is 

 practical to a considerable extent. — Ed ] 



