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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Nov. 1 



I wrote the above before finishing Mr. 

 Do'olittle's article. His conclusion certainly 

 puts danger of overstocking a long way off. 



Jordan Harbor, Ont., Can. 



[There can be no question but that, when 

 a man brings a lot of bees into a locality that 

 is already well stocked, he is working against 

 his own interests. But the question is, 

 "How are we going to educate him so that 

 he will be ' wise ' enough not to locate there 

 in the first place? " Mr. Pettit has present- 

 ed a phase of the question that has not been 

 receiving the attention it should. — Ed.] 



HEADS OF GRAIN 



From Different Fields 



THE LIPPIAS, OR CARPET GRASSES, AS HONEY-PLANTS. 



Dear Mr. Root— I received your letter concerning 

 lippia in California, as well as your correspondence 

 with Mr. S. J. Morrison, of Chico, Cal. According to 

 Britton and Brown, there are about a hundred species 

 of lippia found in tropical and subtropical America, 

 with a few in Africa. About nine species occur in the 

 southern and southwestern United States. According 

 to this same authority, Lippia nodiflora is found in wet 

 and moist soils in Georgia to Southern Missouri, Flori- 

 da, and Texas. It is also found in California, Central 

 America, and the West Indies, and the warmer parts 

 of the Old World. You will find an article by W. K. 

 Morrison on this plant, in Gleanings, 1903, page 141. 



Concerning the introduction of Lippia repens, to 

 which Mr. S. J. Morrison refers, the following is quot- 

 ed from Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Horticulture: 



Under the name of L. repens. Franceschi introduced into 

 California in WOO a very interesting perennial plant design- 

 ed as a substitute for lawn grass in the South. It makes a re- 

 markably dense mat, and bears numerous tiny flowers an inch 

 or so above the ground. The flowers are borne in a dense, 

 bud-like head, covered with many tightly overlapping bracks. 

 The flowers appear in rings, beginning at the base of the little 

 head. Franceschi writes of this plant that it thrives in any 

 soil, no matter how poor, rapidly covers the ground, smothers 

 weeds, stands trampling, requires much less water than grass, 

 needs no mowing, can be easily taken out if desirable, and is 

 used in Southern Europe for tennis grounds. Voss pictures 

 this plant with an erect and tufted habit, and refers it, togeth- 

 er with L. etnn'scetiK. to L. iiiidi/liirii. These two names were 

 kept distinct by Schauer in De CandoUes Prodromus, and 

 specimens of Kranceschi"s plant come nearer to L. ca}ieseei>!< 

 than to L. iioitiflnra. Schauer's distinctions are given below, 

 but there is doubt as to the chief point of difference; viz . 

 whether any of the plants are annual. They all take root at 

 the .ioints. 



I saw a lippia, which is probably the one referred to 

 as Lippia repens, in the San Joaquin and Sacramento 

 Valleys. It is also found now in several places in 

 Southern California. E. F. PHILLIPS, 



Washington, D. C, Oct. 6. In Charge of Apiculture. 



SPLINTS VS. CUT WIRES; SHOULD WE PROVIDE FOR 

 DRONES IN THE BROOD-NEST? 



I have ordered my medium brood foundation large 

 enough to fill the Hoffman frame. I intended to use 

 splints, but I thought of the scheme of cutting wire 

 long enough to reach clear across the sheet of founda- 

 tion the narrow way, and imbedding into the founda- 

 tion before it is put into the frame; and when it is 

 fastened in the usual way, fasten the ends and bottom 

 with wax. If necessary I could put a drop of wax on 

 the wire to make it morcvsafe. I would put abeut 8 

 wires to the frame. I do not care about a little extra 

 work, for I can do all this in the winter, and I want 

 the best. How many square inches of drone comb do 

 you allow your colonies? WM. Middleton. 



Caro, Mich., Oct. 5. 



[Any wire large enough and stiff enough to hold up 

 the foundation without support at the top or bottom 

 will be rather too expensive. The wood splints would 

 be far cheaper. It would be our recommendation for 

 you to use splints it you desire to economize on cost. 



As to how many square inches of dro e comb we al- 



low our colonies in the brood-nest, we will say that, 

 ordinarily, there will be enough of drone-cells when 

 full sheets of foundation are given, so that no special 

 provison for drone comb need be provided. In asking 

 this question we suppose you have in mind that, if 

 there are no drone-cells in the brood-nest, the queea 

 will be likely to go up into the sections, where she 

 would find some drone comb and lay drone eggs. 

 While this is true, as a general thing there will ba 

 enough drone-cells scattered around here and there 

 in the brood-nest so that, ordinarily, we would not 

 think the queen would be inclined to go above. Should 

 she show a disposition to do so, we would use exclud- 

 ers or change the strain.— Ed.] 



CAN HONEY-DEW BE MADE LIGHTER IN COLOR? 



In replying to the query of a subscriber recently as 

 to what to do with dark bitter honey-dew, it seems to 

 me that you gave too little attention to what be a most 

 important point. You said that it had been suggested 

 that such honey be filtered through charcoal, but that 

 it probably would not help the flavor. Now, I read 

 that the bone-black charcoal used by sugar-refiners 

 not only decolorizes but that it entirely removes the 

 bitterness of ale. Being a bee-man I don't know any 

 thing about ale; but it seems to me that any thing 

 which will remove the bitterness from either the taste 

 or the effect of such things ought to have a wider ap- 

 plication — that even the worst honey-dew might be 

 made into a decent article in that way. But aside 

 from bad flavor, could not dark honeys of any kind 

 be prevented from becoming the drug on the market 

 which they are in many places, if, by some such 

 process, they could be made of fair color, especially 

 when refiners can sell white sugar only a cent or so 

 higher per pound than brown? and surely no one 

 could object to pure honey being made more so. If 

 any such thing is possible, these dark times ought to 

 be a good time to discuss it. 



McConnellsville, O.. Sept. 21. H. D. Tennent. 



[We are not able to inform our correspondent wheth- 

 er bone charcoal would lighten dark honey or irn- 

 prove its flavor. Perhaps some of our readers can in- 

 form us. Whatever we do we must not make the 

 mistake of ch?nging the character of our honey chem- 

 ically or we may get into trouble with the pure-food 

 law. It is presumed, however, that the elimination of 

 coloring matter and certain unpleasant flavors would 

 not in any way affect the chemical composition of 

 honey or honey-dew. Perhaps, therefore, some of our 

 readers who have experimented along these lines can 

 give us some information. — Ed.] 



MORE HONEY STORED IN SUPERS PROVIDED WITH SHAL- 

 LOW FRAMES; HANDY FOR UNCAPPING. 



Mr. Louis H. Scholl is certainly right when he rec- 

 commends the use of shallow extracting-frames. I am 

 using quite a number this season, and in my opinion 

 they have many advantages over the deep L. frames. 

 As we had a rather light flow of clover honey this sea- 

 son I noticed that all colonies which had shallpw 

 frames stored considerably more honey than colonies 

 that had the deep L. supers. While the honey was all 

 capped over clear to the bottom in the shallow frames, 

 there was not more than a third capped over in the 

 deep L. frames. 



It is now July 26th, and colonies having shallow su- 

 pers are storing a little honey, while nothing is done 

 in the deep L. frames. Another great advantage in 

 using shallow frames is seen in extracting-time. They 

 are much easier to uncap than the deep L. frames, and 

 they are certainly fine for chunk honey. In the future 

 I shall use them exclusively. 



La Crescent, Minn. G. A. BARBISCH. 



A QUICK WAY OF GETTING RID OF LAYING WORKERS. 



After trying a number of plans to rid a colony of 

 laying workers I hit upon a plan that may help others. 

 I took an empty hive, put in two frames of brood and 

 several frames of foundation, and introduced a new 

 queen in the usual way. I next took a hive with lay- 

 ing workers, set them aside, and put the new hive on 

 its stand in place of it. I then put on a screen in place 

 of the cover, with a mesh small enough so that bees 

 could not get through. I removed the bottom-board 

 from the old hive and placed the old hive over the new 

 one. I next put a Porter bee-escape on the entrance 

 of the old hive; then when the be^s came out and 

 would return fr.>m the field they would enter the new 

 hive. In four days the bees had released the new 



