524 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



fight shy of statements of large yields — not because 

 they are not true, but because they are so much 

 above the general average, one year vnth another, 

 that the general public is a little inclined to be like 

 you — they want "a large piece of fat pork" in order 

 to enable them to swallow such tales. Come again, 

 Bro. Bennett, or anybody else who finds that 

 Gleanings is inconsistent with itself. — Ed.] 



Introducing Cell at the Entrance 



I have great pleasure in reporting an idea (re- 

 siilt of an accident) which sounds the death knell to 

 queen-cell protectors. My nephew, R. J. T. M. Muck- 

 le, a most enthusiastic teaman, going to introduce a 

 queen-cell, found nature had endowed him with 

 only two hands ; and as he was using a smoker, and 

 had to remove cover, etc., he found them inade- 

 quate, so he laid a cell on the entrance-board while 

 doing necessary work. He noticed that there was a 

 scramble of bees at once over the cell, so hurried to 

 the place where intended. Next day he found the 

 cell firmly fastened in place, and all right. As he 

 had had several cells torn before, he advised me to 

 try the plan. 



Now, I had a colony that would not accept a cell, 

 even digging under a wire cage imbedded in the 

 comb to destroy, so I followed the youngster's plan 

 of leaving it at the entrance for not over two min- 

 utes. When putting a drop of honey on the point 

 of the cell I placed it, and all was well. I have 

 done several others, and with the same results. 



A grand season is 1912, as was 1911: but there 

 has been no failure since I came to Manitoba in 

 1870. KOBT. J. T. MUCKLE. 



Clandeboye, Man., .July 15. 



[The idea of putting a queen cell in at the en- 

 trance of the hive has been before mentioned in 

 these columns; but we can not recommend it, as 

 such a cell is very easily chilled; and the baby 

 queen inside of the cell, if it comes too cold from ex- 

 posure, will be seriously injured. She may be able 

 to hatch out, become mated, and lay eggs ; but as a 

 general thing such queens are short-lived. Perhaps 

 in extremely warm weather the occupant of the cell 

 would receive no injury. 



We may say in a general way that, in most cases, 

 the aueen cell may be inserted right inside of a 

 queenless hive, without protector of any sort, and 

 the bees will not tear it down; but because there is 

 danger of their doing so, we advise putting cells 

 inside the protector. The protector not only pre- 

 vents the bees from gnawing holes in the cell, but it 

 prevents it from being crushed in handling. When 

 a queen cell is in a protector it can be pushed into 

 the comb and not injured. For that reason, when 

 we give cells we advise the use of protectors. — Ed.] 



The More Comb in Bulk Comb Honey, the Better 



I have just read Louis H. Scholl's communica- 

 tion, June 15, on bulk comb honey. I have a good 

 demand here in Chattanooga for the bulk comb 

 honey in different-sized packages in glass jars, pints, 

 quarts, half-gallon, and in tin pails, friction tops, 

 10, 20, and 60 lb. tin cans, and I find in a great 

 majority of cases the more comb the better the cus- 

 tomers are suited. I get the comb honey cut from 

 frames packed in ten-gallon kegs and fifty-gallon 

 barrels shipped me from Mississippi, which comes in 

 good condition when packed close with comb and 

 filled in with extracted honey. I have received a 

 few packages which were not properly packed, and 

 arrived in bad condition. 



As stated, comb honey is lighter than extracted. 

 The mo.st of my patrons are very particular to have 

 full weight exclusive of containers. My principal 

 trade is in supplying the retail grocery trade, and 

 they are not inclined to pay for the cans weighed as 

 honey. I am just like them. When I buy a barrel 

 of honey I want the weight of the barrel taken off 

 every time; but they have a custom in the South of 

 selling 13 lbs. for a gallon, and nothing off for the 

 barrel. 



Chattanooga, Tenn., June 24. G. E. Leavitt. 



readily I smoke them. Then I look over the hive 

 entrances, and, seeing one with bees standing with 

 buzzing wings and abdomens sticking up instead of 

 down, as ventilator bees do, I know that that is the 

 hive. I have located about fifteen such swarms this 

 season, and several last year, in an apiary of 120 

 colonies, often finding their hive in five minutes. 



I have caught a good many stray swarms by put- 

 ting out decoy hives. 



When I was attending public school I put a hive 

 under my buggy-seat and took it to school every 

 day. ( I did not know then that I could carry a 

 swarm home in an old sack. ) Well, a swarm took 

 possession of this hive one day, and I took it home 

 without taking it from the buggy 1 



Lakeside, Cal,, June 3. G. E. Philbeook. 



The Tupelo Tree as a Honey-plant 



A subscriber sends us the clipping below, which 

 he says was taken from the Florida Grower : 



I want to find a good location for an apiary 

 where the tupelo tree grows plentifully ; also want it 

 where there are some large orange-groves near by. 

 Some of your subscribers may know of such a loca- 

 tion. 



Stuart, Florida. E. S. 



[Note. — Perhaps some subscriber can answer this 

 question. We have never heard of the tupelo tree 

 before; and in a list of over 300 Florida trees this 

 name does not appear. 



There are some very successful apiaries in Mana- 

 tee Co., and along the west-coast keys. — Ed.] 



[The above illustrates how poorly some editors are 

 equipped for giving information. On pages 596 and 

 597, Oct. 1, 1911, J. J. Wilder describes and illus- 

 trates the tupelo ; and it is also illustrated in the 

 last paragraph on page 374, June 15, this year. I 

 have just interviewed Mr. Marchant, our apiarist, 

 and he says that in Northern Florida, where his 

 father is located, they have taken out as much as 

 100 tons of tupelo honey, and the tupelo tree is 

 thickly scattered over a region of 100 square miles 

 in Northern Florida. If I am correct, there is but 

 little or no tupelo in Manatee Co. — A. I. R.] 



To Tell which Hive Cast the Swarm 



My way to tell which hive the swarm comes from 

 is this: I hive the swarm as usual except about a 

 cupful of bees, and take it to the further side of the 

 apiary, or cover it up with a cloth so the bees left 

 can not find it. Now, if these bees do not take wing 



Why Winter Bees at the North ? 



I agree with some of the imaginings put forward 

 by your anonymous writer on p. 307, May 15, for I 

 was arguing similar ideas with my brother the day 

 before receiving our copy. I can sympathize with 

 his wish to remain anonymous, for I found that un- 

 orthodox suggestions are not always gratefully re- 

 ceived. I protested there was need for imagination 

 in beekeeping as well as in science. I suggested 

 what I termed a more free treatment of bees, some- 

 what as follows : 



Our grandparents set 13 eggs under a hen, brood- 

 ed the chicks under the hen, and seldom transferred 

 them far from home. Now we send eggs miles 

 away, incubate them by hundreds, rear in brooders, 

 and have a big trade in day-old chicks. Bees are 

 conservative things (they reject new queens, they 

 resist uniting, and they refuse to be changed in po- 

 sition) ; yet is it not possible to adopt a similarly 

 free treatment of bees ? 



When, suppose, the only honey-flow of a district 

 is an early one, or early because of being in the 

 South, why not, when it is over, catch most of the 

 liying bees which then become consumers, and a nui- 

 sance in the apiary (I used to suggest destroying 

 them), and sell them to be hived on foundation in a 

 district where there is a later flow ? They might be 

 fed on sugar for about three weeKS before the flow 

 commenced. One can imagine bees being transfer- 

 red once or twice durin<' the year, and some of the 

 keepers keeping them for only about two months of 

 the year, while others keep them all the year round 

 and rear them in large quantities to supply those 

 who don't. 



Vv'hy so much cellar wintering ? Why not buy 

 bees by the pound from the South, where they may 

 be reared in large quantities ? Why not the price of 

 bees by the pound be given in the daily paper like 

 that of other commodities ? One can imagine a big 

 yearly trade or seasonable migration of bees, with 

 local importers and exporters. Why shouldn't they 

 be transferred from south to north, and from one 

 honey-flow to another? Why shouldn't a beekeeper, 

 if the honey-flow of his district is of short duration, 

 whether early or late, if he does not want to keep 

 bees all the year round, double or treble such re- 



