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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 



HEADS OF GRAIN 



From Different Fields 



FLOUR METHOD OF INTRODUCING A SUCCESS; HOW IT 

 WORKS IN UNITING. 



I have introduced some twelve or fifteen queens by 

 the flour method and had good success, so that I feel 

 just as secure in using this plan as in using the old 

 candy method. 



When my hives are all supplied v/ith good young 

 queens I have a surplus of nuclei, so when I test out 

 the mismated I often introduce a tested queen, nucleus 

 and all, to the colony having the mismated queen. 

 The flour method is just the thing for this. I remove 

 the cover from the nucleus, sift f Jour over the bees and 

 frames plentifully, which keeps them busy, and leave 

 the cover off, if the bees are flying, while I go on with 

 other work until all the bees return from the fields. 

 There is no danger of robbers. I then carry the nucle- 

 us to the hive to which it is to be introduced, and, using 

 no smoke, I remove the cover and dust flour down be- 

 tween the combs or sections, and dump in the bees of 

 the nucleus, including the queen and the flour left in 

 the bottom of the box. If the nucleus is very strong I 

 put on an empty super, so that I can put the cover on 

 at once. It has been my experience that not ten bees 

 of the nucleus return to the old location, though it may 

 be only two rods away. I have great confidence in the 

 plan and am sure it will work with any colony, the 

 bees of which feel the need of a queen. If the queen 

 is pretty lively, it may be well to put a drone-guard 

 over ihe entrance for a few hours. A. D. Herold. 



Sonora, Cal. 



[If there is any one else who has tried the flonr meth- 

 od of introducing, let him report.— Ed.] 



ST JOHN'S-WORT POISONS WHITE-NOSED HORSES; RE- 

 QUEENING IN STRONG COLONIES. 



1 have noticed the discussion about alsike poisoning, 

 and will say that horses with white noses are fre- 

 quently poisoned by St. Juhn's-wori. Alsike clover is 

 almost unknown here. „ ,, . ^- n 



Will you please answer the following questions? 



1. Nearly all writers advocate requeening before the 

 bees supersede the queen, and also state that it is hard 

 to introduce i'l a full colony. Then how is one to re- 

 queen if he buys his queens and does not use ripe 

 cells' 



2. Would taking away all unsealed brood from a full 

 colony make introducing safer? 



Greeneville, Tenn., Sept. 15. WM. H. BROWN. 



[1. While lit is generally advised to requeen before 

 the bees supersede their old mother, it is not true that 

 it is hard to introduce to a full colony. While a strong 

 force of bees requires a little more care thm a weak 

 nucleus, yet thousands and thousands of queens are 

 introduced every year by the cage method in stocks of 

 full size. As to the matter of ripe cells, it is not neces- 

 sary to use them. - , ^ . , 



2 Taking awav all unsealed brood might help some- 

 what; but usually it is not necessary to go to that 

 trouble.— Ed] 



\ MIXTURE OF LIGHT HONEY AND HONEY-DEW IN THE 

 SAME COMB. 



Before my bees stepped bringing in honey-dew they 

 began to work on linden and other flowers, so both 

 kinds of honey were being brought in at the same 

 time I had half-filled comb-, some of the cells of 

 which contained black honey, while others close by, 

 and promiscuously mixed throughout the comb, con- 

 tained as clear honey as I ever saw. I supposed that, 

 if the bees gathered both kinds at once, it would be 

 mixed in ihe cells, and possibly this may be true to 

 .some ext-nt: but I certainly saw some cells contain- 

 ing black honey-dew, while others next to them con- 

 tained clear basswood. In other years I noticed ihat, 

 wh. n the honey-dew began to fail, the honey stored 

 began to get lighter as the black honey-dew gave out; 

 but this case seems different, as each kind seemed to 

 have been put in cells by itself. W. M. Janes. 



Paducah, Ky. 



IDuring the present year, at our south yard, when 

 several sources of honey, including dark honey-dew, 

 were available at the same time, many of the combs in 

 the hives were quite spotted. There seems to be no 

 invariable rule in the domestic economy of the hive. 

 in some cases, all the honey will be more or less 



mixed, while in others some cells will contain a strict- 

 ly dark honey, and others a light. During the past 

 season at our south yard, when basswood and honey- 

 dew were available at the same time we found there 

 were some colonies that seemed to favor the honey- 

 dew, gathering largely of it, while others showed a 

 decided preference for the basswood. 



Some years ago it was stated that, when buckwheat 

 and clover are in bloom at the same linie, black bees 

 will work on buckwheat while Italians will disregard 

 the buckwheat and work on clover. Whether a cer- 

 tain strain of bees recognizes quality or has a prefer- 

 ence for some kinds of honey we are not able to say. 

 Perhaps some of our subscribers may be able to throw 

 some light on this question. — Ed.] 



HONEY oozing THROUGH THE CAPPINGS. 



The comb honey I am receiving from Florida and 

 Alabama is weeping, or oozing out through the cap- 

 pings. Can you assign any cause? 



Chattanooga, Tenn., Sept. 17. G. E. LEAVITT. 



[Comb honey that is a year or more old is liable to 

 ooze as you describe. New comb honey that has been 

 roughly handled by freight or express companies may 

 have enough broken cappings to give ihe surface the 

 appearance of " weeping." In our northern climates, 

 honey that has been frozen will sometimes behave as 

 you describe. We have had one or two reports going 

 to show that honey from a certain source is inclined 

 to leak through the cappings shortly after it has been 

 taken from the hive. 



Taking every thing into consideration we should be 

 inclined to think the honey you refer to was old honey 

 of last year, because the crop has been short in most 

 sections of the United States east of the Missi^sippi 

 River. While the honey may have been sold as this 

 year's product, an investigation might show that it 

 was produced in 1908. — Ed.] 



ACTUAL NUMBER OF BEES ON SWEET CLOVER COUNTED. 



A sweet-clover plant came up under my bedroom 

 window and sent out three stalks. It covrrs a space 

 about three feet square, and it has been in bloom over 

 four weeks. In this locality sweet clover comes into 

 bloom when white clover begins to fail, and continues 

 for four or five weeks. It grows and flourishes on 

 rough or stony clay land that will produce nothing 

 else. I made an actual count one d<.y of the number 

 of bees on this plant. At seven o'clock in the morn- 

 ing there were ten bees; eight o'clock, eight; nine 

 o'clock, nine; ten o'clock, sixteen; eleven o'clock, 

 fifteen; twelve o'clock, seventeen; one o'clock, fifteen; 

 two o'clock, nineteen; three o'clock, seventeen; four 

 o'clock, eighteen; five o'clock, twenty; six o'clock, 

 eleven; seven o'clock, three. The total number that I 

 counted was, therefore, 178; but I th.nk I should be 

 safe in saying that there were three times that num- 

 ber that visited the plant that day. Is it possible that 

 all these bees got nectar from this plant? 



Harrison, Ohio. J. G. Creighton. 



[This is an interesting series of observations. If 

 more of our writers would get their information from 

 the hives and from the fields, our bee literature would 

 be much richer.- ED.] 



WOODEN BUTTER-DISHES UNSAFE FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



I wish to warn beginners not to use the butter-dish 

 or pie-pan feeders, as mentioned in the ABC and 

 X Y Z of Bee Culture. I tested some butter-dishes 

 with water, and the ones I used did not leak. Then I 

 placed them over my frames and nearly tilled them 

 witn syrup. The next noon I returned and found my 

 hives half covered with bees. The butterdishes had 

 absorbed the syrup, and considerable seeped through 

 the joints, hence the trouble. After this I ust d pie- 

 pans. I filled these two-thirds full of syrup; spread 

 cheese-cloth over them, and down to the fraH.es. The 

 cheese cloth acied as a siphon, and drew the syrup 

 over the sides of the shallow pie-pans down to the 

 bottom of the hive, and I had another time of it 

 Finally I went to the store and bought cake-pans 2% 

 inches deep, 10 inches long, and 4 or 5 inches wide. 

 I had no trouble with these. E. H. DiCKlE, M. D. 



Homer City, Pa. 



[Years ago we used wooden butler and pie dishes 

 in large numbers, running at that time something like 

 500 colonies. We have never experienced any trou- 

 ble from leakage, and this is the first leport we re- 

 member to have read where any thing of this kind 

 occurred. With a wooden dish it is not nec■es^ary to 

 use cheese-cloth; indeed, it better not be used at all. 

 When tin dishes are used, cheese-cloth is almost in- 



