19J9 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



677 



The creenhouse men used to scatter the pollen by 

 hand, and uei some fruit; but now they frenerally keep 

 bees, and pet much better results than by hand work. 

 Now, is not this the result of the bee workintr, or ex- 

 ercisinc the inlands of the flower in some way? I have 

 watched bees gathering pollen many times, and they 

 are always erowdiner into the blossom more or less. 

 Sometimes they have to open the calyx of the blossom 

 in order to eet into it. Who knows but that this mov- 

 intr or exercisintr of the stamens and pistils causes the 

 pollen-ducts to put forth extra elforts, or stimulate 

 them in just the manner needed for the performance 

 of their functions? There are many blossoms which, 

 seeminsrly, should need no help in distributing the 

 pollen: but they are or seem to be nearly as depend- 

 ent on the bees or other pollen-gatherers as blossoms 

 which are entirely self-sterile. I should ike the opin- 

 ion of some scientific hee-keepers on this subject, as I 

 think it is a profitable one for investigation. 

 Marion, N. Y. J. A. Crane. 



BEES AND HONEY AT THE INDIANA STATE FAIR. 



The bee and honey department was remarkably well 

 represented this year, there being five exhibits, each 

 being very creditable. Our S' ate Board offers the sum 

 of $248 in cash premiums in this department, and each 

 of the eight entries is open to any one who cares to 

 corapete. It is possible that, in the future, we may 

 have a building of our own for this department if the 

 interest taken continues. Our daily papers mentioned 

 in their headlines the attractiveness of this depart- 

 ment, and the interest shown by the visiting public 

 was more than gratifying. 



Our State Board have arranged the list so that no 

 hardships are required in entering, such as " must be 

 produced by the exhibitor," and so forth. There is 

 one entry for Italian bees in observatory hive and an- 

 other for foreign bees in observatory hive other than 

 Italians. No premiums are offered on black bees or 

 buckwheat honey, but each item is intended to pro- 

 mote the best in apiculture. The list is open to the 

 world; and if any other State has something better, 

 our State Board invites them to bring their goods and 

 come with us. WALTER S. Pouder. 



Indianapolis, Ind., Oct. 2. 



BUYING OR BREEDING QUEENS. 



Is it better for the average person to buy some good 

 (fheens from some reliable breeder and stick to that 

 line of blood, or buy occasionally from different 

 breeders, and introduce new blood in this way? Our 

 seasons are short, and I find that I must have the 

 best of queens if I get them strong enough to make 

 the most of the raspberry flow. 



Benzonia, Mich. JOHN A. VAN Deman. 



'It probably depends upon circumstances to a great 

 extent; that is, if the bee-keeper has the time and in- 

 clination to do some systematic work along the line 

 of breeding, he could probably succeed better by 

 starting with the best stock which he can obtain from 

 some one breeder, and then developing that stock to 

 suit his particular locility, system of management, 

 etc. For instance, if this bee-keeper produces comb 

 honey, he ought to be able, by judicious selection, to 

 develop the strain of bees particularly suited to his 

 needs in regard to keeping the honey white, entering 

 the supers readily, etc. If he produces extracted hon- 

 ey, on the other hand, he would not care so much 

 about white cappings, but would wish to develop bees 

 which might have some other good qualities. 



If the bee-keeper does not have the time to go into 

 the subject of queen-breeding in the effort to develop 

 bees for certain qualities, we think that, all things con- 

 sidered, it would pay him to buy (lueens from more 

 than one good queen-breeder, possibly in the end buy- 

 ing principally from one breeder whose bees seem to 

 be the best all-around workers. — Ed. I 



UPWARD VENTILATION OR SEALED COVERS DURING 

 WINTER. 



On most of my eleven hives I use a galvanized cover 

 over a super cover, and 1 put two sticks between the 

 two covers to provide an air-space. My plan for win- 

 ter last fall, was to replace this air-space with a layer 

 of newspaper carefully cut to size to keep the super- 

 cover warm next to the bees. Four of the hives were 

 arranged in this way. This spring, however, when I 

 removed the covers to examine the bees, under every 

 one of the covers the papers were ver>' wet and the 

 hives inside seemed damp or stuffy. The super-covers 

 a'so were wet through. The other hives were potfect- 

 ly drj-. and the bees were all right, even though some 

 of them had been nuclei and others had only the thin 



super-cover to keep out the cold. The colonies were 

 alive in all the hives; but our winter was exceedingly 

 mild, the temperature being below ten degrees for 

 only a few days. 



CASCARA SAGRADA AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



I don't see chiitim {Cascara sasrada) mentioned in 

 the A B C of Bee Culture as a honey-plant. I can't say 

 as to the ciuantity or quality of the honey it produces; 

 but the trees were covered with bees for nearly if not 

 quite two months. 



In this locality fruit bloom and Oregon maple start 

 the season, followed by chittim, white-clover, and 

 vetch. From June 25 on they work on dog-fennel and 

 lobelia, both of which make very poor honey. People 

 here generally pay very little attention to their bees, 

 and have them in all kinds of hives and boxes. 



Corrallis, Ore. F. B. Hassett. 



[It is easy to understand why your paper packing 

 became wet. Apparently the under cover was not 

 sealed down after cool or cold weather commenced. 

 The bees would have no means of sealing the same, 

 and consequently the warm breath of the bees would 

 escape from the crack, strike the colder air and con- 

 dense, making the folds of the pap^'r packing soggy 

 and wet. When an outside protection of this sort is 

 used, the single cover must be sealed down by the bees 

 — that is to say, the cover should not be disturbed after 

 they have sealed it during warm weather; for it is im- 

 possible to make it tight when the nights become cool 

 and chilly. With an unsealed cover your plan of hav- 

 ing a space not packed by which the excess of mois- 

 ture could escape would be far better. We suggest, 

 however, that during the coming winter you try hav- 

 ing a number of hives with the cover sealed down; 

 then paper-pack as you did last winter, and compare 

 these colonies with others having unsealed covers and 

 air-space not packed. 



Cascara sugrada in medicine is a well-known cathar- 

 tic. If it also produces blossoms that yield honey, 

 said honey ought to have an important medicinal val- 

 ue. If any of our subscrihers have been enabled to 

 obtain a pure honey from Cascara sagrada we should 

 be pleased to know if it has any of the aperient quali- 

 ties of the plant itself.— Ed.] 



does FOUL BROOD EXIST IN BEE-TREES? 



Has any authenticated case of foul brood been found 

 in a bee-tree? There are several small apiaries here 

 affected with the disease, and I have heard of ten or 

 twelve colonies taken from trees this season in the 

 surrounding section, and all of them healthy. 



Walton, Ky., Aug. 18. J. G. Crisler. 



fJust at this time we do not remember a definite re- 

 port going to show that foul brood has been located in 

 bee-trcf s; but there is no reason why that disease could 

 not be developed in such a domicil as well as in a hive. 

 We may say that a swarm from a colony affected with 

 foul brood will not carry disease; and, consequently, 

 if it absconds to a hollow tree no disease will be subse- 

 quently found there. As the average bee-tree is locat- 

 ed a mile or more from a bee-yard, its own bees prob- 

 ably would not find an unprotected entrance of a col- 

 ony where foul brood exists; or, rather, we would say. 

 such diseased colony would be discovered and robbed 

 out clean by the bees in the same yard long before the 

 bees of the bee-tree would get knowledge of it. The 

 presumption is, taking every thing into consideration, 

 that the average bee-tree will not be affected by foul 

 brood. — Ed. J 



HONEY AND ICE CREAM— NOT HONEY SODA. 



On page 521, Sept. 1st, you give my suggestion as to 

 the use of honey in connection with the sale of ice 

 cream and soda fountains, etc. However, my idea of 

 this is not clear to all. I recommend that extracted 

 honey be poured over a dish of ice cream and eaten, 

 not drank, not only at soda-fountains, but in every 

 home where ice cream is used. It beats "maple-jack 

 wax." Try it. 



A good salesman could make a paying business of 

 selling honey alone. Furthermore, if honey could be 

 placed on sale in Schram automatic sealers in candy 

 stores or where ice cream is sold, it would provide a 

 large outlet for honey. Extracted honey is worth 10 

 cts. a pound wholesale, and if we work we can get 

 that price. It always makes me vexed to see good 

 honey offered below that price. Percy Orton. 



Northampton, N. Y. 



fWe understood that you did not have in mind 

 honey soda; but we saw no reason why honey could 

 not be used in a soda drink in place of a fruit juice 

 thickened with sugar syrup.— En. ) 



