260 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



\rAY 1 



the date is omitted, written some years ago, and 

 referring to a different set of conditions. While 

 we do not question the purity of their honey, to 

 use an old letter, as if it were something recent, 

 is hardly fair to the writer — at least without his 

 consent. 



OUR ALSIKE BOOKLET. 



Despite the fact that alsike clover has been 

 grown in this country for many years, it is prac- 

 tically impossible to get any thing in books re- 

 lating to its culture; yet it is well known that in 

 our cities the highest-priced hay is a combina- 

 tion of alsike and timothy. It is surpassed by 

 no plant as a yielder of fine honey, except, pos- 

 sibly, white clover, which it much resembles. 



In view of this we have just published a book- 

 let which consists of excerpts from the farm jour- 

 nals relating to the culture of alsike for hay or 

 for seed. These are all written by able and suc- 

 cessful men, so that the subject-matter is abso- 

 lutely reliable. To our subscribers the booklet 

 is free for the asking. 



HOW TO SHIP CARLOADS OF BEES SO THAT THEY 

 WILL ARRIVE IN GOOD CONDITION. 



The following telegram was duly received: 



Am shipping car of bees to Idaho. Would you use refrigera- 

 tor.' If so, would you use ice? Answer fully at my expense. 

 Longmont, Colo. M. A. Gill. 



We wired back as follows: 



Common box car- Important for man to accompany. Pile 

 ives so he can spray each wire screen with water when bees get 

 hot. 



This telegram was followed upby a letter which 

 we give here also: 



Should, for any reason, the shipment be delayed, we should 

 like to explain that it is very important to spray the tops of the 

 wire screens when bees get to clustering on the wire cloth too 

 closely, and that the hives should be piled far enough apart to 

 provide a free circulation of air. There should be an aisle clear 

 through the car, so that a man can get at each individual hive. If 

 any one particular colony gets too warm, and clusters too closely 

 on the wire cloth, it can be sprayed. If the car is to pass through 

 a hot country there ought to be wire cloth at top and bottom; but 

 wire cloth for the top only will be sufficient for the journey you 

 are to take. When the car goes over the mountains there will 

 be no danger of the bees getting too warm; but the constant jar- 

 ring may stir them up and get some individual colonies excited. 

 Those should be cooled off with water. A little hand force pump, 

 with several square cans containing water, ought to be taken 

 along. A common watering-pot may answer in place of a force 

 pump. 



We sent two carloads of bees to Cuba some years ago, and did 

 not lose a colony, and scarcely any bees; but had we not used 

 the water spray we would have lost over half the bees. It is 

 wonderful how the water will give the bees relief. 



A refrigerator car is not necessary, and we would not advise 

 taking along ice, since it may be too cool in the car. Water 

 will answer better. E. R. R. 



As Others may be expecting to move a carload 

 of bees, the suggestions here given may prove 

 helpful. If any one of our subscribers who has 

 had considerable experience in shipping bees has 

 any thing to offer on the subject, we should be 

 pleased to hear from him. 



PURE LEAD AND OIL AS A PAINT FOR HIVES. 



Elsewhere in this issue Mr. E. D. Townsend 

 emphasizes the importance of using pure lead and 

 oil as a paint for hives. In more recent years 

 many of the mixed-paint companies have advo- 

 cated putting small percentages of zinc in with 

 the lead. But zinc makes too hard a coating, 

 and in our locality it cracks off, while a pure 

 lead and oil leaves the wood in fine condition 



for another coat of hf^ s nie material if a part 

 lead and part zinc pain sje used, there is almost 

 sure to be flaking in a few years; and this paint 

 will come off in large or small patches, giving 

 the surface a very uneven smallpox-like effect. 



Bee-keepers should be very careful of whom 

 they buy their paint. The national pure food 

 and drug law does not assess any penalty for sell- 

 ing an adulterated paint. Tlie average dealer 

 will tell you, of course, that what he has to sell 

 is the best paint there is in the market. Ask any 

 good painter, and he will tell you what brands 

 are reliable. 



A bee-keepers' big CATCH. 



Mr. M. H. Hunt, of Lansing, Mich. , has been 

 spending the winter in Florida. He told us once 

 that he had the ambition to catch a large alliga- 

 tor, and accordingly in April he and his brother 

 caught one big fellow 13 feet long with hook 

 and line. He writes that they had " an awful 

 fight to bag him," but now they have him in a 

 good big strong cage. There are a good many 

 alligators; but such large ones as this are very un- 

 usual, and therefore the Hunts are very proud 

 of their big catch. They do not propose to kill 

 him; and if they can not dispose of him to some 

 park or museum they will liberate him 



At one time M. H. Hunt kept bees quite ex- 

 tensively, and later on he and Iriis son went into 

 the bee-keepers' supply business at Bell Branch, 

 near Detroit, Mich. The senior Hunt is well 

 known throughout all Michigan, and used to be 

 quite a prominent figurehead at the conventions, 

 both National and State. 



In later years the mantle has fallen on his son 

 Elmer, who is the junior member of the firm of 

 M. H. Hunt & Son, of Lansing, Mich. During 

 winter, the senior member is "turned out to 

 grass" in Florida, like our own Mr. A. I. Root. 

 Long may they both live. 



ARE there MANY APIARIES IN THE UNITED 



STATES WHERE 700 COLONIES CAN BE KEPT 



IN ONE SPOT.? 



Mr. Isaac F, Tillinghast, on page 267, this 

 issue, has an excellent article on improving our 

 bee pasturage. But he makes one statement 

 which we fear may be misleading. In referring 

 to the remarkable locality at Delanson, N. Y., 

 where the late E. W. Alexander kept some 700 

 colonies with an average yield of 100 lbs. per 

 colony, our correspondent makes the statement 

 that he does not believe that this surprising yield 

 was due to locality or to any special environ- 

 ments; that a careful study of the surroundings 

 shows nothing unusual or different from thou- 

 sands of other localities. 



Some three or four years ago we spent some 

 two or three days at the home of Mr. Alexander, 

 during which time we were convinced that he 

 not only had a remarkable locality, but that he 

 was an extraordinarily good bee-keeper as well. 

 In other words, we do not believe that if he 

 were alive to-day he could run 700 colonies in 

 95 per cent of the localities of the United States, 

 either north or south. The vicinity around De- 

 lanson starts off with ordinary fruit-bloom; this 

 is followed by the whitp-honey flow from bass- 

 wood and clover; and next comes the main or 



