64 



GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTURE 



From the time I set the bees out last spring uutil 

 about Now 1 we had almost a steady flow of some 

 kind. I was not troubled at all by robbers. I had 

 four swarms about Sept. 1. All made good. How 

 many hives should I purchase next year normally ? 



Lewistown, 111., Dec. 12. Calvin Browx. 



[The number of new hives you will need depends 

 largely on your management. If you intend to do 

 all you can to keep down increase you would not 

 need many new hives — perhaps ten would be suf- 

 ficient. But if you permit natural swarming, or if 

 you follow artificial methods of making increase, 

 you may need as many as thirty or forty. — Ed. ] 



Mixing of Bees in a House Apiary 



Dr. C. C. Miller: — I have built for little chickens 

 a brooder-house 100 ft. long and 16 ft. wide. I wish 

 to use the floor for the little chicks, and a shelf 18 

 inches above the floor to set the hives on, facing 

 the outside, with an alighting-board running the 

 full length of the building. Some distance above 

 the hives is a door 18 inches wide and the length 

 of the building, to raise up in summer time. Do 

 you think the bees would have any trouble in find- 

 ing their proper entrances, or would give any trouble 

 inside the building i 



I thought this a good plan for protection of hives 

 in all weather, and chicks on floor space below. 



T have noticed that some say the building must 

 be painted different colors on the outside. 



Lafayette, Ind., Dec. 15. Wm. H. Robixsox. 



[As the entrances are well lighted there should 

 be no trouble about the bees finding them. Yet with 

 entrances so close together, and all alike, there will 

 be some mixing. Different colors painted over en- 

 trances will do some good, but I suspect that bees 

 pay even more attention to form than to color. 

 Some advise different form as well as different color 

 over entrances, as a circle over one, over others a 

 triangle, square, etc. Still better, have trees, or even 

 posts, to help locate entrances. One or mo^re trees 

 within five feet of the building will help much, 

 even if the trees are small. Instead of having the 

 alighting-board continuous, you had better liave a 

 separate one for each hive. There should be no 

 chance for bees to get into the building near en- 

 trances from outside, unless the building be so freely 

 open that no bees would be imprisoned. — C. C. 

 Miller. 1 



Small Introducing-cage did Not Work Well 



I have used a queen-cage with the block on one 

 side, described by A. V. Small, page 762, Dec. 1, 

 but it did not work well for me. The queen would 

 stay in the cage for a week after the candy was 

 eaten, rather than crawl out through a hole % inch 

 in diameter and one inch long. 



I find that it works better to press the cage into 

 the comb about Vs inch, and place in it five or six 

 bees just hatched from the colony to which I wish to 

 introduce the queen, together with the queen. I tie 

 a wire around the frame to keep it from pulling off. 

 I place tne frame at one side of the liive, and after 

 four or five days remove it without using smoke. 

 If the queen is out I remove the cage, replace the 

 frame, and do not disturb it for ten days or more. 

 "a. L. C. 



The Carbolic Acid Solution Should Not be too 

 Weak 



On page 761, Dec. 1, E. D. Townsend says, "We 

 use a one-to-one-thousand solution of corrosive 

 sublimate or carbolic acid." The corrosive-sublimate 

 solution is of the proper strength, and will work all 

 right, but must not be made or used in a metal 

 vessel. A solution of carbolic acid of 1 to 1000 is 

 not strong enough to be of any use for killing spores. 

 When used in place of a 1-to-lOOO solution of cor- 



rosive sublimate, a carbolic-acid solution should not 

 be less than 1 to 20, and should always be made 

 by pouring boiling water into a vessel in which the 

 proper quantity of acid has first been placed. 



THE COFFEE A SUGAR. 



On page 771, regarding "' A " sugars, before the 

 introduction of granulated sugar in this section of 

 the country we had what was called " Standard " 

 or " Straight A " sugar. This has been displaced 

 by granulated sugar. We also had "Coffee A" 

 which was of a light yellow color, and fits the de- 

 scription given by Mr. Miller of the " Coffee A " of 

 to-day, with which I am not familiar. Before the in- 

 troduction of granulated sugar, many merchants 

 would substitute what were known as " Off A's " 

 for "Standard A" sugar; the "Off A's," as the 

 name implies, were a little off in color, and moister 

 Ihan the " Standard." 



Scrauton, Pa., Dec. 9. " L. F. HlORNS. 



How to Recognize Honey-dew 



How can I recognize honey -dew when examining 

 for winter stores? 



St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 9. J. Peters. 



[It is rather difficult for a beginner to recognize 

 lioney-dew, especially when there is but little of it in 

 projiortion to the amount of lioney in the comb. In 

 fact, it is often difficult for one who has had experi- 

 ence to be able to say definitely whether there is. 

 hojiey-dew in the combs. A chemical analysis reveals 

 honey-dew, of course, but this is out of the question 

 ordinarily. 



By Iiolding the comb up to the light, one can often 

 detect honey-dew by the muddy dark color. Pure 

 lioney which is dark in color, unless it is beginning 

 to granulate, is generally clear, though dark; while 

 lioney-dew, if there is very much of it at least, has 

 a dirty smoky color. 



The taste is different from that of any kind of 

 honey, as it is rank and disagreeable; and if the 

 contents of the comb are nearly all honey-dew, the 

 fiavor is often quite bitter. — Ed.] 



Cause of Fermentation of Jamaican Honey Late in 

 Season 



In .lamaica. lionev ferments in the comb as well 

 as ill the extracted form : lut this happens only to 

 honey gathered after the month of May. In June 

 and .July, fruit commences to ripen in great quan- 

 tities, especially the mangoes, and it is the juices of 

 the fruit which the bees gather, and with which they 

 adulterate the honey, that cause the fermentation. 



BEES GATHER POLLEX WHETHER THEV HAVE A 

 QUEEX OR XOT. 



The fact that the bees are carrying in pollen is no 

 proof that the colony has a queen. The above re- 

 minds me of a youth of about sixteen summers who 

 visited my apiary, and who professed to know a 

 lot about bees. On seeing a bee enter its hive with 

 a load of pollen, he exclaimed, "Oh! I am sure that 

 colony has a queen." "Why are you so sure ?" I asked 

 him. Then he began to explain that, if there was 

 no queen in the hive, there would be no young larv;e 

 to feed ; hence the bees would not gather pollen. 

 Becoming somewhat interested in the lad I asked 

 him to see whether the colony really had a queen. 

 I now discovered that all the youth knew about bees 

 was the difference between a cross colony and a 

 gentle one. He must have read about pollen in some 

 ancient bee-book. 



F. A. Hooper. 



Four Paths. Clarendon, Jamaica, B. W. I. 



Meeting of New Jersey Beekeepers 



We were obliged to change the date of the meet- 

 ing to Dec. 20, but we had a large and successful 

 meeting, fifty being present. There was a fair show 

 of honey, considering it was the first attempt at 



